JBD News (march 2023)

Hello everybean! Hopefully everyone's been faring well this past month, and coming into March ready for some big news! We've got a lot to cover in this issue of the Newsletter, so buckle up and get ready for a ride!

QUESTING

February's quests have concluded! We have 5 lucky users who have won a Breeding Voucher as a special raffle prize for completing the main quest. You can check out the results of the raffle here. Congratulations to our winners, and to the lucky beans that are about to be parents!

With February done, March's quests have now arrived!

✦ A TALL TAIL ✦

The snow across northern Lentilia is starting to melt away, and with it, many JBDs are spending time enjoying the outdoors again. One thing in particular has the little town of Lima Lake buzzing with activity- residents have been claiming to have seen a strange seven-tailed monster lurking in the woods by the lakeshore! Of course, Lima Lake is known for these kinds of monster stories, usually using them to drum up tourism at the beginning of spring. This time, though, the proof just seems to be piling up, and tons of monster enthusiasts are flocking to Lima Lake to try and catch a glimpse- and maybe a photo- of the beast.

Depict your bean on the hunt for the seven-tailed beast of Lima Lake! Do they actually think it’s real, or are they trying to prove it’s a hoax?

BONUS: On top of the usual 100 token reward, ONE lucky winner will receive JBD-3506!! Four additional winners will be drawn to receive a Multi-Tail Tonic!

Side quests have been updated for the new month. As usual, they can be found and submitted to here!

Multi-Tail Tonic?

You might be wondering what this is- it's the first of a brand new type of cosmetic item that grants just one specific mutation!
This particular item will grant a JBD the Multi-Tail mutation. 

More items of this nature can be expected to pop up in the future, as they will allow us to give out specific mutations as themed prizes to match specific events or prompts! (As an example, a Fins mutation item might pop up as a reward during a beach-themed event, or perhaps something spooky like Eye Glow may be given out during Halloween!) We have some additional plans for these items as well, but that's information for another time. ;-)

Goodnight, official linearts

The time has come for us to officially make our official linearts unofficial. 

To be more clear, the commonly-used V2 and V3 linearts are no longer standardized bases with their own set of special rules- they are now just regular bases.
What does this mean? Read on.

Recently, you may have sometimes sent in a JBD on the V2 or V3 lines with traits redrawn from the ones packaged with the base, but were told that they appeared too similar to standard traits to pass as custom. In these cases, you were generally asked to either change the art to be more distinctly different from our existing standard trait, or revert the lineart to the one that came pre-packaged with the base and list the trait as being standard. That is no longer the case.

Now, if you send in a JBD on the V2 or V3 lineart with standard traits redrawn in your style, we will simply ask you to list them as a standard trait (and possibly add some Removal Powder or a Small Trait Potion, if they originally had a custom trait/different standard trait.) This is because every part of the V2 and V3 linearts can now be redrawn- just like any other base. As long as the trait looks like a standard trait, it will be accepted and approved as a standard trait. If it looks like a custom trait or mutation, it will be accepted and approved as a custom trait or mutation. If you've been using custom references or bases other than V2 or V3, you may have already experienced this! We're basically just making our "official" bases work like any other reference that comes through our queue.

 
Here are a couple examples of beans showing off their redrawn (but still very standard) traits!
(If you like them, you can even enter to win them here!)

V2 and V3 linearts are being reclassified as "Free to Use Lineart", and will be joined by a new free to use base, as well! Please enjoy editing these bases to your heart's content- change their expressions, redraw their ears, change their tail's pose. Be free.

(Though do keep in mind- they are still bases made by another artist! Please be respectful and don't do anything to them that you wouldn't do to any other base you've downloaded for free. This also means that they shouldn't be redistributed elsewhere or claimed as your own work!)

JBD Resale/voucher/trade terms

As promised, we've been workshopping our terms for JBD resales and vouchers. To be transparent, our previous rules left a lot of unintended room for abuse, and we are sorry for that. Our new terms are intended to make things more fair for both the potential buyers of a JBD, and for the original artist of that JBD, especially in the case of JBDs that they put time and effort into creating for free.

JBD RESALE VALUE

Your JBD's resale value is determined by two things:

1. The original purchase price of your JBD. 
2. The added value of commissioned art. This is the total cost of all art that was commissioned of the JBD. This includes the initial cost of a design if you used a MYO slot but paid another user to design it for you. This does not include any personally drawn art or art that was gifted to you for free, only commissioned work.

These two values added together form your JBD's resale value.

We will not be tracking total resale value onsite, only the original purchase price, which will continue to be publicly viewable on each JBD's ML entry. It is up to users to keep track of the value of their commissioned art, if they would like to sell for the JBD's total resale value. In order to resell your JBD for their resale value, you must have the art on hand to be able to show your prospective buyer what they are paying extra for. It is okay to only show thumbnails/heavily watermarked images until the sale is complete- you just need to show your buyer proof that the commissioned art exists before they complete their purchase.

If a user reports abuse of this system, staff may ask to see the extra art themselves to verify that it does indeed exist. If a user is found to be abusing this system by raising the price for art that does not exist or by lying about the cost of commissioned art pieces in order to inflate the JBD’s resale value, they may be subject to strikes or bans from the species as necessary.

trades, vouchers, and resales

Exchanges of JBDs for goods and/or services are defined in the following ways:

TRADE - User A exchanges their JBD for goods owned by User B, or for services to be performed personally by User B.
(ex. trading a JBD for a JBD, or trading a JBD for art)

VOUCHER - User A exchanges their JBD for goods that User B will purchase, or for services to be paid for by User B but performed by a third party. User A should have some sort of good/service already in mind before seeking vouchers, as vouchers cannot be run like auctions with open-ended value. The price of a JBD's voucher does not need to match their resale value 1:1, but should remain reasonably close (within $30.)
(ex. vouchering a JBD with 0 resale value for a character that is currently UFS for $30, or vouchering a JBD with a $50 value for a video game that costs $60.)

RESALE - User A exchanges their JBD for currency that has some kind of real-world value, such as USD, CAD, or gift cards. JBDs can only be sold for an amount lower than or equal to their resale value. 

These new terms mean that if you own a JBD with a resale value of 0 (such as a free JBD that has no commissioned art), you may voucher them for goods or services that cost $30 or less. If you own a JBD that you won from a free raffle but have purchased $100 worth of art of them, you may resell that JBD for its full resale value of $100. If you purchased a JBD via auction for $500 but have purchased $150 worth of art of them, you may resell that JBD for $650. All beans can still be traded freely, with no changes to those rules.

Remember- if you wish to sell or voucher for a JBD's resale value, you must have the extra art on hand. If you purchase a JBD via resale but then delete all of its art and there is no art to pass on to a new owner, you will only be able to resell for the JBD's original price! Hold onto that art if you think you might resell your JBD someday! It doesn't need to be public, you just need to be able to pass it along to the new owner somehow.

Thank you for your understanding and patience while we've been working on this. These new terms will go into effect starting on March 8th. Until then, if you have any JBDs you have been intending to voucher under the previous rules, please get them taken care of as soon as possible.

February Changelog

A few small things around the site have changed!

Fortune has been updated with a shiny new reference image!

A new item has found its way into Flux's Restyle Salon! The Permanent Marker item is the marking equivalent of the existing Color Dye item, allowing for extreme changes to a JBD's markings, but leaving their color palette largely untouched.

The price of Color Dye has been raised slightly to 350 to match its new counterpart, and make it so the two together have the same cost as a Magic Mirror (which has the same effect as just using both of these items at once.)

Whew, that's all for today, folks! Thanks for sticking with me and reading everything. We imagine there may be some questions about this month's updates, so please don't be afraid to ask here or in the questions channel of our Discord server. Have a happy March! ^_^