- Emoji
- Emojis approved emojis will be added this upcoming Wednesday, if not next Wednesday.during a craft stream.
- /o/ \o\ dance emoji approved but will be two separate emojis, not animated.
- Xiexie emoji asked to be more legible, request being considered but not guaranteed
- Good point emoji will be workshopped on crafts with Cleo stream
- More channels
- New word-games channel has been created
- Games that interest Joe will have channels pop up out of cycle and be archived out as needed.
- The discord channels feel unorganized to some, we’re taking suggestions on how to improve it.
- We will not have the discord become a community server as that opens us to potential threats such as bot accounts.
- Fashion channel is not feasible right now
- Financial concerns mean Joe does not feel like he can handle the additional stress currently as the fashion channel requires more moderation.
- YT Stream notifications
- The new calendar feature on joehills.net has helped Maahes0 as well as others
- Website usability and changes
- The changes to website have been well received
- Links at the top of the page will be added for the /soon page and the /live page.
- Moderation philosophy review
- Tommy’s suggested system would work well if we had more funds for staff but we don’t
- Problems that happened over time happened because Joe did not allow for time for staff to have meetings like he originally intended,
- Having not all staff attend the meeting and having minutes available would be beneficial for Joe
- Joe doesn’t want this server to be like others, he wants it to be genuine and unique.
- Utilizing Discord’s new timeout feature will help with edge cases
- Staff will be using a spreadsheet to help see patterns in bad behavior
- Feedback still welcomed in feedback-moderation-and-rules
- Joe has added Modmail to the Patreon invite message
- The Modmail tutorial will be updated
- Joe will be stepping in to tell folks to chill when needed
- Joe takes responsibility for issues falling through the cracks but we’re feeling optimistic about the future
- SMART goals
- Finishing the pinball machine is really important to Joe
- Immigration paperwork caused issues for Joe and took away his focus for the build
- Some projects may not get as much attention, such as Halloween builds, but the goal is not in any danger
- Losing the car is endangering Joe’s goal of meeting fans for signings and TCG games.
- If Joe can get sponsored to go to local conventions that would be helpful
- This is dependent on Joe reestablishing connections he has
- Getting sponsors would help relieve stress for Joe
- Joe will still prioritize going to events for meeting fans and hanging out
- In theory TCG games could start being played in December
- If Joe gets a day job that allows him to travel on the weekends it might be viable
- Ideally he wouldn’t have to get a day job
- If Joe can get sponsored to go to local conventions that would be helpful
- Relying on twitter and where to move functionality
- In the short term joehills.net will be the best place to find info on Joe
- The HermitCraft website is not run by Joe, and is made in databases and languages he does not work with.
- Realistically, if Joe had to spin up a discord alternative we could
- Joe has been and will continue to post links to his social media posts.
- In the short term joehills.net will be the best place to find info on Joe
- 2024 Launch of Vanilla SMP Season 10
- Long term build contest with teleporters to encourage spread of players instead of condensing around spawn or one area
- Feedback-vanilla-smp channel available for feedback
- Postpone having to start a new day job
- Joe was able to avoid cutting the discord thanks to folks on Tumblr supporting Joe on Patreon.
- Joe is avoiding expenses and pairing down where he can
- Joe needs to avoid losing money during the hiatus between season 9 and season 10.
- Alternative revenue ideas Joe had are off the table for now
- There is no scenario here where Corrinne starves but Joe may need to return to a day job if things get bad enough
- This is a continuous concern until Joe gets a day job or things take off for Joe in season 10 of HermitCraft
- The problem is one good month of money doesn’t stretch forever
- If Joe had to lay off staff and close most of the discord he would need to know to do so now and not later.
- The best time to get a new job is after the start of season 10
- The second best time is mid August.
- Joe trusts Tommy enough to run the discord full time, but does not have the funds to do so
- Until then, Joe intends to focus on improving his art.
- Feedback-revenue created for folks in the community to suggest revenue ideas.
- Considering something like kickstarter for something during the hiatus
- Joe was able to avoid cutting the discord thanks to folks on Tumblr supporting Joe on Patreon.
- Finishing the pinball machine is really important to Joe
Newsletter #57 for August 14th, 2023
Howdy folks!
It’s Tommy time! Community Liaison ThatTommyBoii reporting for newsletter duty!
If you’re ready to hear the news you’re in luck, here it is!
TCG cards update
Joe’s made a post over here on Mastadon about signing his TCG cards! He and the other Hermits have been signing cards like mad and sending them back to Creo, so we’re one step closer to folks being able to get their signed cards!
2023 Q3 Quarterly Meeting
The meeting is this Saturday, August 19th at 3pm US Central time! I will see folks there and as always stream it to my twitch channel for folks to watch it live. The VOD and meeting minutes will also be made available for folks at a later date and time.
Current 2023Q2 Agenda
- Emojis
- When will be adding the new emojis approved at past meetings? -Tommy
- /o/ \o\ Animated dance emoji -Maahes0
- Good point emoji – Nepeta
- Fair point image created by Quill
- More channels
- #fashion -Ad-Astra
- #word-games -Tommy via Dahlia’s suggestion
- No YT stream notifications – Maahes0
- Stream announcement channel -BadgerSpanner
- Website usability and changes -Joe
- Moderation philosophy review -Joe
- SMART goals – Joe
- Complete pinball machine by end of season
- Sustainably meet fans for signings and TCG games in 2024
- Identify where we are reliant on twitter and move that functionality in-house or elsewhere
- Website usability and changes
- Monthly newsletter cross-posted to Patreon
- Prepare for the 2024 launch of Vanilla SMP Season 10 by experimenting with game design concepts during the final months of 2023
- Without having to change Corrinne’s schools midyear, postpone having to start at a new day job until after season 10 launches so I can attend the first recording sessions.
Minecraft Servers
Reminder to folks that Joe will be announcing a new long term build contest this Saturday August 19th at the DS9 petitions! Feedback is still welcomed pre and post petitions over in Joe Hills Meta > #feedback-build-contests.
Following this is the National Independent Worker Day parade, starring our beloved musical guest Quinn Hills!
DS9 event schedule
- DS9 Petitions
- Saturday, August 19th, Noon US Central Time
- National Independent Worker Day, hosted by Team Deztiny
- Saturday, August 19th, 1pm US Central Time
- Carl Garner Federal Lands Cleanup Day, hosted by Team Warden Hunters
- Saturday, September 23rd, 1pm US Central Time
Everstorm July closes
The last obituary of the world:
- SuperStone explored the Terralith biomes and died running from skeletons in a forest, having never learned what to break to get armor.
The survivors of last month’s Everstorm share these final reports:
- Laxmi13 joined last minute to die but enjoyed random loot too much to give up.
- SalemOleander had a delightful and spreadsheet-filled time on their first Everstorm!
- Gritmonger showed up late, but survived, and went on to light up one of the new style villages Seanard discovered.
- Void got a headache trying to remember loot-drops and returned in time to get the final hit on the dragon.
- Magenta made a house of chaos and ventured to all four corners of the world.
- ruffboi showed up VERY late, and did little, but figured out how to get the elusive phantom membrane.
- MJ worked through the randomization to build a Zelda inspired house. He explored a desert city, floating sky island, and rescued a villager trapped at sea.
- Kindalas took advantage of the starter kits put to gather by Gritmonger and traveled to the End to help put an end to the Ender Dragon.
- Beyr33 tried to turn the world purple without success after helping killing the dragon.
Everstorm August opens
The next Everstorm is here again! The parameters for this iteration have been selected by Joe and his wonderful daughter Corrinne! It’s up to folks to hop on the server and find out what’s new! If you’re interested the info to join is under Realms and Servers > #everstorm-aug-2023.
Also as a reminder to folks, this Everstorm and all the future ones to come will be synced to the monthly newsletters! The Everstorms will conclude within the last week of the month and the obituaries and survivor’s posts will go up in the newsletter that is posted at the beginning of the month following.
August’s Everstorm is set to end on Thursday, August 31st.
Pinball FX Weekly Tournament
Week 6: Junk Yard
Toxxic gets another congratulations for his 6th win in a row!
Week 7: Black Rose
Avast! Come play some pinball with us! You can join in this week by using the code available under Activity-Sign-Ups > #weekly-pinball-challenges!
Tournament Standings
Here’s the standings for week 6!
You can also see how your best scores compare and where you place in the full tournament! Take a look at that over here!
HermitCraft 9 Videos
Streams
Upcoming Streams
You can see a calendar of all Joe’s upcoming streams over at the new page here!
Notable streams
Crafts with Cleo!
TCG Tuesday!
Upcoming conventions
Music City Multi Con tickets sales have still not opened. Fall dates for TGD have been confirmed, so you can mark that on your calendar! We still have a tentative date for Spring TGD.
- September 15th-17th in Nashville, TN: Tennessee Game Days
- October 27th-29th in Lebanon, TN: Music City Multi Con
- Tentative: February 29th-March 3rd in Nashville, TN: Tennessee Game Days
So long for now…
Next week is our last weekly edition of the newsletter. We’ve come so far thanks to folks like you who read these and stay updated. Thank you so much!
This has been TommyBoii reporting for newsletter duty.
See you around!
Newsletter #56 for August 7th, 2023
Howdy folks!
It’s Tommy time! Community Liaison ThatTommyBoii reporting for newsletter duty!
We’re getting this newsletter out despite Joe’s internet suffering this thunderstorm season! Woo!
2023 Q3 Quarterly Meeting
Current 2023Q2 Agenda
- No YT stream notifications – Maahes0
- Stream announcement channel -BadgerSpanner
- Website usability and changes -Joe
- Moderation philosophy review -Joe
- SMART goals – Joe
- Complete pinball machine by end of season
- Sustainably meet fans for signings and TCG games in 2024
- Identify where we are reliant on twitter and move that functionality in-house or elsewhere
- Website usability and changes
- Monthly newsletter cross-posted to Patreon
- Prepare for the 2024 launch of Vanilla SMP Season 10 by experimenting with game design concepts during the final months of 2023
- Without having to change Corrinne’s schools midyear, postpone having to start at a new day job until after season 10 launches so I can attend the first recording sessions.
Minecraft Servers
Folks should know that at the next petitions, August 19th, Joe will be announcing a new long term build contest! All of the information and discussion will be happening live at petitions, so you should attend if you can! If not a VOD and minutes will be available like always. We also have a feedback channel, so please share your thoughts pre and post petitions over in Joe Hills Meta > #feedback-build-contests.
DS9 event schedule
- DS9 Petitions
- Saturday, August 19th, Noon US Central Time
- National Independent Worker Day, hosted by Team Deztiny
- Saturday, August 19th, 1pm US Central Time
- Carl Garner Federal Lands Cleanup Day, hosted by Team Warden Hunters
- Saturday, September 23rd, 1pm US Central Time
Pinball FX Weekly Tournament
Week 5: Whirlwind
Congratulations again for another win Toxxic!
Week 6: Junk Yard
Play some pinball with us! You can join in this week by using the code available under Activity-Sign-Ups > #weekly-pinball-challenges!
Tournament Standings
Here’s the standings for week 5!
You can also see how your best scores compare and where you place in the full tournament! Take a look at that over here!
HermitCraft 9 Videos
Streams
Upcoming Streams
You can see a calendar of all Joe’s upcoming streams over at the new page here!
Notable streams
Upcoming conventions
Music City Multi Con tickets sales have still not opened. Fall dates for TGD have been confirmed, so you can mark that on your calendar! We still have a tentative date for Spring TGD.
- September 15th-17th in Nashville, TN: Tennessee Game Days
- October 27th-29th in Lebanon, TN: Music City Multi Con
- Tentative: February 29th-March 3rd in Nashville, TN: Tennessee Game Days
So long for now…
Let’s continue to have a great August! Thanks for reading the newsletter!
This has been TommyBoii reporting for newsletter duty.
See you around!
Newsletter #55 for July 31st, 2023
Howdy folks!
It’s Tommy time! Community Liaison ThatTommyBoii reporting for newsletter duty!
We’ve got plenty to announce, let’s jump in cause there’s no time to waste!
Collector’s Edition Joe Hills TCG card!
Today is the last day to pre-order Joe’s collector edition TCG card! You can purchase a signed or unsigned copy over here!
Monthly Newsletter
Big changes coming up! For those of you who keep up to date by reading the newsletters, we will no longer have weekly editions!
Well, actually August 21st is the last weekly newsletter. After that they will be monthly! So you can expect the first edition of the monthly newsletter (and every month after that) to be posted on the second Monday of every month!
Worry not, everything in the newsletter will keep being in the newsletter! So you will always get the information, just less frequently. The one exception to this rule is the stream schedule and upcoming meetups! Joe has created a new page on his website that will update as changes occur so folks will always have the most reliable and up to date source of stream times!
You can find our first beta version of that over at https://joehills.net/soon/
Synchronizing Everstorm
One of the things that’ll also change is Joe will be synching the Everstorm iterations to the monthly newsletter! This way we’ll still get to include your obituaries and survivor’s posts! July’s Everstorm will end on Sunday, August 13th, with the August Everstorm to follow shortly after.
Patreon Subs
Some of y’all might have heard Joe talk about this on stream, but Joe wanted to share the stats of the new subs he got on Patreon! We want to extend our gratitude to the folks on tumblr who promoted and encouraged folks to join and tip Joe, thank you so much! It’s been so incredible seeing new folks join the discord!
Joe has seen 21 new $1 tier subs, 27 new $5 tier subs, and 34 new $10 tier subs.
That’s incredible! Thank you so so much for supporting Joe, it really means a lot to see folks support Joe’s weird art and other shenanigans. He made a whole post on his tumblr, you can view that over here.
2023 Q3 Quarterly Meeting
Current 2023Q2 Agenda
- No YT stream notifications – Maahes0
- Stream announcement channel -BadgerSpanner
- Website usability and changes -Joe
- Moderation philosophy review -Joe
- SMART goals – Joe
- Complete pinball machine by end of season
- Sustainably meet fans for signings and TCG games in 2024
- Without having to change Corrinne’s schools midyear, postpone having to start at a new day job until after season 10 launches so I can attend the first recording sessions.
Minecraft Servers
Joe has some more group build contests planned for the minecraft server between now and when season 10 launches! He’s started writing up the rules for the first one, which will be announced and open immediately at the next petitions on August 19th.
Joe is welcome to feedback and would like folks to provide their thoughts on what did and didn’t work with prior contests like the neighborhoods in season 8 and outposts and map art build contests in season 9.
You can submit that under Joe Hills Meta > #feedback-build-contests.
DS9 event schedule
- DS9 Petitions
- Saturday, August 19th, Noon US Central Time
- National Independent Worker Day, hosted by Team Deztiny
- Saturday, August 19th, 1pm US Central Time
- Carl Garner Federal Lands Cleanup Day, hosted by Team Warden Hunters
- Saturday, September 23rd, 1pm US Central Time
Pinball FX Weekly Tournament
Week 4: The Getaway: High Speed II
Toxxic takes the win again, congratulations!
Week 5: Whirlwind
Play some pinball with us! You can join in this week by using the code available under Activity-Sign-Ups > #weekly-pinball-challenges!
Tournament Standings
Here’s the standings for week 4!
You can also see how your best scores compare and where you place in the full tournament! Take a look at that over here!
HermitCraft 9 Videos
Streams
Upcoming Streams
- Monday, July 31st
- 8:30pm: HermitCraft 9 Live
- Tuesday, August 1st
- 8:30am: V Rising with Badger Spanner
- Wednesday, August 2nd
- 8:30am: Crafts with Cleo
- Thursday, August 3rd
- 8:30am: HermitCraft with Quinn
- Friday, August 4th
- 8:30am: Morning Coffee on HermitCraft
- 8:30pm: HermitCraft 9 Live
- Saturday, August 5th
- 8:30pm: HermitCraft 9 Live
- Sunday, August 6th:
- 8:30pm: HermitCraft 9 Live
Notable streams
Upcoming conventions
Music City Multi Con tickets sales have still not opened. Fall dates for TGD have been confirmed, so you can mark that on your calendar! We still have a tentative date for Spring TGD.
- September 15th-17th in Nashville, TN: Tennessee Game Days
- October 27th-29th in Lebanon, TN: Music City Multi Con
- Tentative: February 29th-March 3rd in Nashville, TN: Tennessee Game Days
So long for now…
I hope you have a wonderful day, I look forward to seeing you next time!
This has been TommyBoii reporting for newsletter duty.
See you around!
Newsletter #54 for July 24th, 2023
Howdy folks!
It’s Tommy time! Community Liaison ThatTommyBoii reporting for newsletter duty!
What a month it’s been so far! Let’s get into the news!
Tennessee Game Days
From Friday September 15th to Sunday the 17th TGD will be running, and Joe will be there! A weekend of board and card gaming at a hotel just south of Nashville! You can find all the information you need to attend and have a great time at the convention website, the registration is open here, and you can view their game library!
There’s plenty more information available for folks in the discord, under Meet-Ups > #sep-15-17-tennessee-game-days.
Collector’s Edition Joe Hills TCG card!
Pre-order is still open for Joe’s collector edition TCG card! You can purchase a signed or unsigned copy over here!
If you’re interested in TCG games, good news! Joe has started streaming TCG games with Cub and other hermits on Tuesdays at 1pm US Central! Be sure to hop in or watch the VODs if you can’t get enough of the card game!
2023 Q3 Quarterly Meeting
Another quarterly time of year! Our next meeting will be held on Saturday, August 19th at 3pm US Central time.
Current 2023Q2 Agenda
- No YT stream notifications – Maahes0
- Stream announcement channel -BadgerSpanner
Minecraft Servers
Parade float building contests!
We have our last two parade float building contests scheduled!
In celebration of National Independent Worker Day, Team Deztiny will be hosting their parade on August 19th, at 1pm US Central time.
In celebration of Carl Garner Federal Lands Cleanup Day, Team Warden Hunters will be hosting their parade on September 23rd, at 1pm US Central time.
DS9 July Petitions
VOD and minutes are available here!
DS9 August Petitions
The next petitions is scheduled for Saturday, August 19th, at Noon US Central time.
June Everstorm
We have a few last minute survivor entries!
- Kindalas kept logging in to say hello to his friends and managed to survive every time.
- Void did archeology and chilled at home with their Sniffers
- Seanard survived and thrived. Dragon defeated and all.
July Everstorm
Folks have been having a killer time on the Everstorm server!
- ChloeTGaP was 50% sure she was safe around the piglins
- Chefnutmeg was death Bacon’d. Murdered by a piglin that followed her back through the portal.
Pinball FX Weekly Tournament
Week 3: Attack from Mars
Another victory goes to ToxxicGlitter, congrats!
Week 4: The Getaway: High Speed II
Race to be our next winner! If you’d like to join in this week you can do so by using the code available under Activity-Sign-Ups > #weekly-pinball-challenges!
Tournament Standings
With our new rankings system for the tournament you can see how your best scores compare and where you place! Take a look at that over here!
HermitCraft 9 Videos
Streams
Upcoming Streams
New reoccurring streams are on Tuesday! V Rising with BadgerSpanner in the mornings and TCG with Cub and pals in the afternoons! All times in US Central.
- Monday, July 24th
- No afternoon stream
- 8:30pm: HermitCraft 9 Live!
- Tuesday, July 25th
- 8:30am: V Rising with BadgerSpanner
- 1pm: TCG Tuesday with Cub and pals
- Wednesday, July 26th
- 8:30am: Crafts with Cleo, pinball playfield design finalization
- Thursday, July 27th
- 8:30am: HermitCraft with Quinn
- Friday, July 28th
- 8:30am: Coffee and Catch-up on HermitCraft 9
- 8:30pm: HermitCraft 9 Live!
- Saturday, July 29th
- Collab stream, time to be announced
- Sunday, July 30th
- Collab stream, time to be announced
Notable streams
Joe plans to have V Rising be a reoccurring stream, so check out this VOD if you want to keep up!
Upcoming conventions
Music City Multi Con tickets sales have still not opened. Fall dates for TGD have been confirmed, so you can mark that on your calendar! We still have a tentative date for Spring TGD.
- September 15th-17th in Nashville, TN: Tennessee Game Days
- October 27th-29th in Lebanon, TN: Music City Multi Con
- Tentative: February 29th-March 3rd in Nashville, TN: Tennessee Game Days
So long for now…
Thanks for reading the news! Your kindness, interest, and support mean a lot to me!
This has been TommyBoii reporting for newsletter duty.
See you around
Petitions July 2023
- 1st ruling: Kindalas requests a B’hala reset, approved with date TBD
- 2nd ruling: DottyMatrix requests Warden Hunters VC to be set to voice activated, approved and changed.
Newsletter #53 for July 17th, 2023
Howdy folks!
It’s Tommy time! Community Liaison ThatTommyBoii reporting for newsletter duty!
I’m back from my trip so I’m ready to give you the news. Let’s begin!
CosmoQuestX charity stream
Joe did some streams to support CosmoQuest in funding science education programs, here are the VODs!
You can check out their fundraising campaign and make a donation over here.
Collector’s Edition Joe Hills TCG card!
Pre-order is still open for Joe’s collector edition TCG card! You can purchase a signed or unsigned copy over here!
Nashville meetup
Don’t forget there’s a meetup today! Come hangout with Joe and Quinn in Nashville! More information on this can be found in the discord under Meet-Ups > #July-17-nashville.
Minecraft Servers
DS9 map art build contest
What can I say besides WOW?! The time for judging has come and gone and I must say I am FLOORED with the entries folks submitted to the contest! There was so many fantastic pieces it was hard for Joe, guest judge Sfé R. Monster, and myself to pick who won each category!
After much deliberating we managed to select the winners, so I would like to congratulate the first place winners of each category as well as provide a screenshot of their submission here in the newsletter!
Refined Team, First Place
Congratulations to our only team submission, Kindalas and StellarSpider for “Blackest Black”!
Retro, First Place
Congratulations to DottyMatrix for “Tag – You’re It”!
Refined, First Place
Congratulations to MagentaAvocado for “Hang em High”!
Really Big, First Place
Congratulations to Mallora for “Deviations”!
There are other placements and submissions as well available for viewing at the gallery, you can come visit at The Defiant or you can watch as we viewed the pieces from this VOD:
June Everstorm closes
No obituaries to report, phew!
The survivors of last month’s Everstorm share these final reports:
- Laxmi13 survived despite running away from several rainbow captain mobs.
- Magenta enjoyed the wonders of 1.20 for the first time and made a lil home
- MJ played it safe and ran away when a mob captain spawned. And then sailed away on a paraglider never to be seen again!
July Everstorm opens
Our first direct democracy Everstorm is here! Sorry for the delay in getting it open, the map art judging took longer than expected! Folks voted for what the server would have, and we obliged!
You can expect this month’s Everstorm to have server side mods that add new biomes and structures, as well as a datapack that changes the loot tables to be random! Which means when you break a block you’ll get something different from what you expect.
You can check out the details and play yourself, how have people fared so far?
- Centuritron got blown up by creeper while exploring the random drops
Pinball FX Weekly Tournament
Week 2: Medieval Madness
Congratulations again to ToxxicGlitter for taking first!
Week 3: Attack from Mars
If you’d like to join in this week you can do so by using the code available under Activity-Sign-Ups > #weekly-pinball-challenges!
Tournament Standings
With our new rankings system for the tournament you can see how your best scores compare and where you place! Take a look at that over here!
Streams
Upcoming Streams
- Monday, July 17th
- 1:30pm: Bonus HermitCraft Stream
- 8:30pm: HermitCraft 9 Live!
- Tuesday, July 18th:
- 8:30am: V Rising with Betrothed BadgerSpanner
- 1pm: TCG Tuesday with Cub and pals
- Wednesday, July 19th:
- 8:30am: Crafts with Cleo stream
- Thursday, July 20th:
- 8:30am: Morning birthday stream on HermitCraft with Quinn in-studio
- Lunch break followed by an afternoon HermitCraft birthday stream
- Friday, July 21st:
- 8:30am: HermitCraft 9 coffee stream
- Friday night off for a birthday weekend
- Saturday, July 22nd:
- Off for a birthday weekend
- Sunday, July 23rd:
- 8:30pm: HermitCraft 9 Live!
- Monday, July 24th:
- 8:30am: HermitCraft 9 Live! Coffee and Correspondence
- 1:30pm: Bonus HermitCraft 9 stream
- 8:30pm: HermitCraft 9 Live!
Notable streams
Upcoming conventions
Music City Multi Con tickets sales have still not opened. In the meantime, keep your calendar clear, we have tentative dates for Fall and Spring TGD! Again, the dates are NOT final, as the hotel contract has not yet been signed!
- Tentative: September 14th-17th in Nashville, TN: Tennessee Game Days
- October 27th-29th in Lebanon, TN: Music City Multi Con
- Tentative: February 29th-March 3rd in Nashville, TN: Tennessee Game Days
So long for now…
It was good to see you again! I look forward to sharing the news next week as well!
This has been TommyBoii reporting for newsletter duty.
See you around!
Newsletter #52 for July 10th, 2023
Howdy folks!
It’s Tommy time! Community Liaison ThatTommyBoii reporting for newsletter duty!
I’m writing this newsletter a day in advance as I am traveling to meet a friend of mine, so let me hurry up and give you the news!
Collector’s Edition Joe Hills TCG card!
Pre-order is still open for Joe’s collector edition TCG card! You can purchase a signed or unsigned copy over here!
Double Feature in the discord!
Reminder to folks that Joe will be joined live in-studio by Quinn Hills on Sunday, July 16th, for a double film discussion! The films are The Dish and The Shawshank Redemption
It seems like some folks already familiar with the films are interested in the discussions that will take place after, so be sure to join us!
As previously mentioned, nobody will be streaming the films, folks are responsible for obtaining their own copies and playing them at the same time. You can find a schedule under Activity-Sign-Ups > #July-16-double-feature or in last week’s newsletter.
Nashville meetup
Speaking of Joe and Quinn, come hangout with them at a meetup in Nashville! More information on this can be found in the discord under Meet-Ups > #July-17-nashville.
Minecraft Servers
DS9 map art build contest
We’re almost there! This Saturday I will be joined by Joe and guest judge Sfé R. Monster! for the judging of the map art build contest! Folks should be finishing up their entries and submitting them to our designated gallery, The Defiant, by midnight US central time July 14th.
Any questions should be directed to under Activity-Sign-Ups > #July-15th-ds9-map-art-build-contest.
DS9 event schedule
- DS9 Petitions
- Saturday, July 15th, 1pm US Central Time
- DS9 Map Art Build Contest
- Building is ongoing until July 14th, midnight US Central Time
- Judging on Saturday, July 15th, 2pm US Central Time
Everstorm obituaries
No obituaries to report, phew!
July Everstorm
The voting window has now closed! Thank you to everyone who participated, the results have been collected and after it is ensured everything works the parameters will be submitted to Joe. He will then spin up the server for folks to enjoy what should be an interesting experience for an Everstorm. You can expect that to go live on Saturday, July 15th.
Pinball FX Weekly Tournament
Week 1: Fish Tales
Congratulations to our first winner of the FX tournaments, ToxxicGlitter!
Week 2: Medieval Madness
Folks can join the madness this week by using the code available under Activity-Sign-Ups > #weekly-pinball-challenges!
Don’t forget that scoring will be similar to that of a Mario Kart cup. You’ll get points that scale based on your place in the individual tournament, and your 15 best weeks combine to make your final tournament score!
Streams
Upcoming Streams
- Monday, July 10th
- 1:30pm: Bonus HermitCraft 9 Live!
- 8:30pm: HermitCraft 9 Live!
- Tuesday, July 11th:
- 8:30am: HermitCraft 9 coffee stream
- Wednesday, July 12th:
- 8:30am: Cleo Craft Stream
- 10am: Mario Kart Wave 5 launch with pals
- Thursday, July 13th:
- 8:30am: HermitCraft 9 coffee stream
- Friday, July 14th:
- 8:30am: HermitCraft 9 coffee stream
- No evening stream
- Saturday, July 15th:
- 1pm: DS9 petitions
- 2pm: DS9 map art build contest judging
- 8:30pm: HermitCraft 9 Live!
- Sunday, July 16th:
- 8:30pm: HermitCraft 9 Live!
Notable streams
Upcoming conventions
Music City Multi Con tickets sales have still not opened. In the meantime, keep your calendar clear, we have tentative dates for Fall and Spring TGD! Again, the dates are NOT final, as the hotel contract has not yet been signed!
- Tentative: September 14th-17th in Nashville, TN: Tennessee Game Days
- October 27th-29th in Lebanon, TN: Music City Multi Con
- Tentative: February 29th-March 3rd in Nashville, TN: Tennessee Game Days
So long for now…
I hope you enjoyed this week’s newsletter. I’ll be back live on stream next week as per usual, and if you didn’t know, I write the newsletters with Joe every monday morning and call in to his coffee and correspondence streams, how exciting! You should tune in so I can say hi to you, I’ll see some of you then!
This has been TommyBoii reporting for newsletter duty.
See you around!
Newsletter #51 for July 3rd, 2023
Howdy folks!
It’s Tommy time! Community Liaison ThatTommyBoii reporting for newsletter duty!
If you’re ready for some news, then here it is! If you’re somehow not ready, why did you open a newsletter?! Either way, let’s begin!
Collector’s Edition Joe Hills TCG card!
Pre-order is now open for Joe’s collector edition TCG card! You can purchase a signed or unsigned copy over here!
Joe to host events during PlayOnCon 2023!
If you’re on the fence about attending PlayOnCon 2023 or are already going then you’ll want to hear this! Joe will be hosting two events, I hope you can attend!
- Minecraft Build Competition (bring your own device)
Friday, July 7th at 4pm, in the Video Gaming Room - Table Flipping
Friday, July 7th at 6pm, Outdoors above pool
Folks who will be there are encouraged to use the meet-ups > #jul-6-9-playoncon discord channel for coordinating and communication during the con
Album change!
Fans of the songs Joe plays during his streams will be happy to know that there has been an album title and cover art change! These changes are to better reflect the identity of Quinn Hills, who is the outstanding musician responsible for creating the wonderful pieces featured on both albums.
It is my pleasure to give you these links to Redacted Hills Sings Joe Hills Album 1, and Album 2.
Double Feature in the discord!
Do you like movies? And watching them alongside folks? And having discussions after? If not, skip to the next header!
If you do then you’re in luck! Joe is joined live in-studio by Quinn on Sunday, July 16th, for a double film discussion! The films are The Dish and The Shawshank Redemption
Please note, nobody will be streaming the films, folks are responsible for obtaining their own copies and playing them at the same time. Here’s the schedule for this event! All times in US Central.
- Noon: Meet in Voice and chat
- 12:15pm: start The Dish and switch to text chat here
- 1:55 pm: Dish ends, bathroom break
- 2pm: discuss the Dish in voice chat
- 2:15pm: Start Shawshank and switch to text chat here
- 4:35 bathroom break
- 4:40 Shawshank Discussion in voice chat
New social media accounts
Joe has some new social media accounts for folks who are interested in following him. Here’s his Bluesky and his Mastodon.
Minecraft Servers
DS9 map art build contest
The time for judgement draws near! There is less than 2 weeks until judging, so folks better start displaying their map art at The Defiant on Deep Slate Nine! All of the information is still under Activity-Sign-Ups > #July-15th-ds9-map-art-build-contest. There’s still time to make maps, just don’t be afraid to ask other folks in the community for help!
Don’t forget the judges are Joe, myself, and guest judge Sfé R. Monster!
DS9 event schedule
- DS9 Petitions
- Saturday, July 15th, 1pm US Central Time
- DS9 Map Art Build Contest
- Building is ongoing until July 14th, midnight US Central Time
- Judging on Saturday, July 15th, 2pm US Central Time
Everstorm obituaries
No obituaries to report, phew!
July Everstorm
The time to vote has begun for the July Everstorm! Head on over to Realms and Servers > #everstorm-july-2023 to cast your vote in the emoji polls to change how July’s Everstorm plays out!
Folks are welcome to persuade folks to vote in their favor but keep in mind the discord’s rules and be respectful to each other. The voting window closes on July 8th, and the iteration will be opened on July 15th.
Pinball FX Weekly Tournament
Week 1: Fish Tales
Our first tournament is here! Folks interested can find all the information under Activity-Sign-Ups > #weekly-pinball-challenges to join the tournament!
Pinball FX and the Fish Tales table are free, so this is a great opportunity for folks to try the game out! This is a 26 week series, and scoring will be similar to that of a Mario Kart cup. You’ll get points that scale based on your place in the individual tournament, and your 15 best weeks combine to make your final tournament score!
Will you be our first winner? Come play and find out!
Streams
Upcoming Streams
- Monday, July 3rd:
- 1:30pm: HHH with Cleo and Gem
- 8:30pm: HermitCraft 9 Live!
- Tuesday, July 4th:
- Off due to the federal holiday
- Wednesday, July 5th:
- 8:30am: Cleo Craft Stream, decorating PlayOnCon table
- Thursday, July 6th:
- No streams due to PlayOnCon
- Friday, July 7th:
- No streams due to PlayOnCon
- Saturday, July 8th:
- No streams due to PlayOnCon
- Sunday, July 9th:
- 8:30pm: HermitCraft 9 Live!
- Monday, July 10th:
- 8:30am: HermitCraft 9 Live! Coffee and Correspondence
- 1:30pm: Bonus HermitCraft 9 stream
- 8:30pm: HermitCraft 9 Live!
Notable streams
Upcoming conventions
Music City Multi Con tickets sales have still not opened. In the meantime, keep your calendar clear, we have tentative dates for Fall and Spring TGD! Again, the dates are NOT final, as the hotel contract has not yet been signed!
- July 6th–9th in Columbiana, AL: PlayOnCon
- Tentative: September 14th-17th in Nashville, TN: Tennessee Game Days
- October 27th-29th in Lebanon, TN: Music City Multi Con
- Tentative: February 29th-March 3rd in Nashville, TN: Tennessee Game Days
So long for now…
If you’re gonna celebrate the 4th of July this week have fun, be respectful and also responsible! Otherwise have a fantastic week!
This has been TommyBoii reporting for newsletter duty.
See you around!
Newsletter #50 for June 26th, 2023
Howdy folks!
It’s Tommy time! Community Liaison ThatTommyBoii reporting for newsletter duty!
I’m so excited to write to you all again! I hope you’ve enjoyed the past two weeks, because it’s time to get into some news!
Congratulations to Quinn and Cat Hills!
I wanted to start this newsletter off with a big congratulations to Joe’s sisters Quinn and Cat!
Quinn was featured in The Washington Post (yes, THE Washington Post!) in an article about queer beauty in the South US. It’s a wonderful piece and I highly recommend and implore folks to check it out! Way to go Quinn!
Cat was amongst the top 3 biggest movers in the International Flipper Pinball Association’s rankings for May 2023! Her rank jumped 13,908 spots! Joe hopes this encourages folks to get out and play more, because this is incredible!
Wisconsin trip
Speaking of Joe, he competed in IFPA’s main event over the weekend and placed 45th! This means his rank has jumped about 700 spots from a ranking of just over 3000 to just over 2300.
Not quite as spectacular as Cat’s 13,908, better luck next time Joe!
If you’re interested in hearing more about the event, Joe’s assured me that he will have a HermitCraft episode talking about his Wisconsin trip so keep an eye out on his streams for the live telling!
If you’d like to see some of the live posting of Joe’s weekend you can find it in this twitter thread!
TCG Collector’s Edition rare Joe Hills!
Joe has a custom rare card for TCG! The art was done by our community’s own AvivaKitty, so please be sure to check it out!
Sales for the card go live on July 1st at 9am US Central time, so be sure to get yours!
Minecraft Servers
DS9 summer solstice parade
Yet another parade has come and gone on Deep Slate Nine! In celebration of the summer solstice, take a look at this VOD! Joe started this stream off exploring 1.20 features on HermitCraft, so you can check that out too! The parade half of the VOD should be timestamped, but if it’s not you can go to 2:17:27 to see the awesome floats folks built!
Thank you to team SCP for hosting!
DS9 map art build contest
At this time there is less than 3 weeks until the map art build contest! We now have our third and final judge! Sfé R. Monster, a comic creator known for writing the official Minecraft comic! I’m very excited to have someone so familiar with minecraft and art join the judges panel with myself and Joe, I hope you are too!
The host of the map art gallery for Judging is Mantuamaker in our discord server, and she has requested folks begin putting their maps into the gallery for the contest, or at least claim a spot in advanced so she knows how much room is needed if any more is. As a reminder, part of the contest requirements is to have your piece submitted before July 15th. You can find information on this under Activity-Sign-Ups > #july-15th-ds9-map-art-build-contest.
DS9 petitions
Petitions will be held just before the map art contest judging! Folks interested in attending should log into the server on July 15th at 1pm US Central Time and make way to the same location as the map art contest gallery, The Defiant, as built by Mantuamaker! Teleportation may be available upon request.
DS9 event schedule
- DS9 Petitions
- Saturday, July 15th, 1pm US Central Time
- DS9 Map Art Build Contest
- Building is ongoing until July 14th, midnight US Central Time
- Judging on Saturday, July 15th, 2pm US Central Time
Everstorm obituaries
- fancytoy was shot by a Skeleton while attempting to start a cave home
- Centuritron was crept up on by a Creeper while trying to transport villagers to safety
- TommyBoii succumbed to the madness of SCIENCE!
- ChefNutmeg Fell to the undead while bringing light to the hills behind spawn
July Everstorm
Do you enjoy everstorm? Do you want to have a say in what the next iteration looks like? Well good news for you! I’ll be acting as creative lead for July’s Everstorm and for it we will be holding a vote!
Folks can check everstorm-july-2023 for all the details, but in simplest terms, whatever the majority of people vote for here will be what happens the July Everstorm. How exciting!
Suggestions for server-side-only mods as well as datapacks are now open! Visit the channel mentioned above to submit!
Create Mod SMP
The short term Create server has opened! Server operator ToxxicGlitter has everything all set for folks, so if you haven’t hopped on the server yet get to it! The server is set to last for about 3 months, so now’s the time to explore the Create mod and all the other things added to his server! All the details to join the server can be found under SMP: Create Mod 1.19.2 by ToxxicGlitter > #create-setup-guide.
Vanillish SMP
The voice chat mod has officially been added to server operator Yirggzmb’s Vanillish server! She’s linked a very handy guide to install it under SMP: Vanillish by Yirggzmb > #vanillish-general.
Also, the next petitions for the server will be on Thursday, July 20th! These are asynchronous, so be sure to submit them in the #vanillish-petitions channel before then!
Pinball FX Weekly Tournament
It’s been delayed! Why, you may ask?
Well, the intention of switching over to Pinball FX was to have tournaments be available with a game that could be run on mac computers, There doesn’t seem to be a mac release yet, which is really disappointing for us.
Joe is gonna try to see what he can do for this, so please stay tuned as he finds a solution.
Streams
Upcoming Streams
Joe is traveling right now, so some of this schedule is tentative due to hotel internet, thanks for understanding! All times in US Central.
- Monday, June 26th
- Tentative 8:30pm: HermitCraft 9 Live!
- Tuesday, June 27th
- Tentative 8:30am: HermitCraft 9 coffee stream
- Wednesday, June 28th
- 8:30am: Cleo Craft Stream
- Thursday, June 29th
- 8:30am: HermitCraft with Quinn Hills
- Friday, June 30th
- 8:30am: HermitCraft 9 coffee stream
- 8:30pm: HermitCraft 9 Live!
- Saturday, July 1st
- No streams planned
- Sunday, July 2nd
- No streams planned
- Monday, July 3rd
- 8:30am: HermitCraft 9 Live! Coffee and correspondence with TommyBoii
Notable streams
Upcoming conventions
Music City Multi Con tickets sales have still not opened. In the meantime, keep your calendar clear, we have tentative dates for Fall and Spring TGD! Again, the dates are NOT final, as the hotel contract has not yet been signed!
- July 6th–9th in Columbiana, AL: PlayOnCon
- Tentative: September 14th-17th in Nashville, TN: Tennessee Game Days
- October 27th-29th in Lebanon, TN: Music City Multi Con
- Tentative: February 29th-March 3rd in Nashville, TN: Tennessee Game Days
So long for now…
Thanks for reading until the end! I appreciate you! I’ll see you live in chat during next week’s draft otherwise enjoy the week!
This has been TommyBoii reporting for newsletter duty.
See you around!