News

I thought it would be nice to hold a fun raffle, and we've chosen 5 winners at random from all users who have been online in the past week :3

First prize: Hybrid Chrysalis won by #2142 stormweaved

Scond prize: Random purebred chrysalis won by #4912 Arries

Third prize: Khistopher Jumbo Plush won by #1264 thpandragon

Fourth Prize: 5 Beads won by #5705 sanadaookami

Fifth Prize: December 2010 Monthly Treasure Pack won by #18 §e§k@

All prizes have been given out!

I would also like to ask everyone to make sure they are reading the news every day from now, into the first week of January. Let's just say I am giving you fair warning of something time sensitive that will be coming up ;)

13 Comments

Merry Christmas Khimeros, to all who celebrate it :)

From now until January 2nd, you have 5x the chance to get a shimmering crystal when playing dice :)

We will be holding some fun raffles later in the day (all accounts active in the past week automatically entered) so stay tuned!

10 Comments

Thery're in Arabasti's lair, stealin' his chocolates. So he's looking for your help again!

Just like last time...

The first person to locate all 10 chocolates will also receive a gold trophy and a random purebred chrysalis! The second and third person will receive a silver trophy and a double monthly treasures pack! The fourth, fifth, and sixth people will receive a bronze trophy!

The chocolates are 20 x 20 px and can be located on any page in khimeros, *excluding* user pages such as profiles and shops, forum threads/posts and search results pages. They may be located anywhere in the page.

When you find a chocolate, click it and it will take you to your chocolates checklist page. You can also access the checklist under "World" in the main navigation menu.

When you have located all 10 chocolates, you must visit Arabasti's page in the mountains and turn them in!

You are NOT allowed to collaborate on finding chocolates, or post anywhere on or off the site about where you found them (every person has a different list of places to find them, anyways).

You have two days to find all the chocolates!

34 Comments

So today we have several things to announce, and I know this is going to be long but please read it all unless you want to be completely befuddled in coming days and weeks.

A lot of change is coming to Khimeros. Many of you will remember the Town Hall Meeting a few months ago where we asked for input and suggestions. A lot of the smaller suggestions have already been implemented on the site. And you already know about the changes to the khimera scripts that is in the works. However, we've also been mulling over what other kinds of changes and additions need to be made.

I want to remind everyone that we are in beta, and the second part of "beta" that usually gets left off is "testing". The purpose of "beta testing" is not just to find glitches and bugs in the code, but also to test out how the game play is working and then to make changes based on which things are successful and which things did not go as planned or are not being used as much as we thought they would be.

Big changes are going to be made to how foraging and crafting works. I am not going to elaborate more on that right now, but I want everyone to get used to the idea that things are going to change. The object will be to make things more fun and interactive and less exhausting xD

Now to changes that ARE coming up right away. Some that I think will make you happy, some that probably will not.

First off. We are going to be adding advertising to the site. Yes, I know, we said we would hopefully never have to do that. However, economic reality is economic reality. I don't need to tell all of you that the economy is the pits right now, because you are living it just like I am. That means people have less disposable income and virtual pet sites are far down on the list of priorities when people do have some extra cash.

However, that does not mean that the programmer, artists, and hosting company don't still need to be paid, regardless. No programmer, no artists, no hosting company = no site. And no, it is not feasible to just hire cheaper staff. Unless you want a site that has buggy features, lags 10 seconds every time you try to open a page, and does not have the kind of art that is expected of Khimeros.

Before everyone freaks out over ads, I'd like to point out that having ads is not necessarily a negative thing. Until now, there have thousands of free accounts (to the tune of 9 million page views per month, even in a not particularly active month), with only a relatively small number of people buying cash shop items to support it all. That meant that by necessity, while we tried to offer as much free content as we could, we also had to offer more of the premium stuff for cash, in order to keep afloat.

With ads on the site it means that every single person who plays the site is also helping to support the site. That means we can offer more free, in-game stuff as well as the cash shop stuff. More events like we've had going on this month, more interactive game play, more giveaways, raffles, and contests for free stuff. No it does not mean you can get free customs, but we've already dropped the price on those by 5 beads very recently!

We will be monitoring ads very carefully to keep the more annoying kind off the site. There will be no pop-ups or pop-unders or those kind of sneaky ads. We will do our best to keep off the "lose 10 pounds of belly fat", "click here to win a free iPod" etc. type of ads and only carry ads that are for legitimate businesses, hopefully advertising things you may actually be interested in! We currently plan to have one short ad at the top of the page, and one slightly taller ad at the bottom of the page.

Upgraded users will NOT have to view ads. They are doing their bit to support the site by upgrading, and it's only fair that they do not have to view ads at that point.

At this point I would like to make it clear that you are NOT allowed to discuss the removal of ads from browsers anywhere on Khimeros, and that there will be repercussions for those who violate this rule.

Now, time for some happier news!

Firstly, I'd like to say that we will be continuing to have mini events like we've been having this month, on a regular basis :3

Secondly, I'd like to announce that two awesome new features are coming this month or early next month, that you have all been waiting for!

1. Khimbit breeding! You will be able to breed matched pairs AND breed different breeds together to make hybrids! There will be one breedable available each month (we may add more later if there's enough interest), and it will vary each month as to whether two different breeds are required, or if you need a male/female pair of the same breed and color. These breedables will be entirely new art, not recolors of old bases. Only gen 1 khimbits will be able to breed at this time. We may or may not extend breeding to gen 2's at a later date. More about this feature will be posted when it is released! Keep in mind that as was announced all the way from the beginning, khimbit breeding is an EXTRA feature and you must be upgraded to use this feature.

2. Baattttlle! Yes, I know many of you have been waiting a long time for training and battle. We've really been wrestling with how this feature would be introduced.

Instead of being able to train your khimeras into infinity, we'll be holding Tournaments. Tournaments will last for a set amount of time, and you have to choose to enter your khimeras. There will be prizes and trophies to be won, and at the end of the Tournament, all khimeras will be reset to "0" for training but will retain their battle honors, trophies, and participation ribbons on their profile page. We are *hoping* to launch the fist Tournament January 1st. More details about battle, training, and tournaments will be released in the news when the feature is finished :3 All users, regular and upgraded, can participate in tournaments.

34 Comments

Uh oh... it seems that some very mischievous woolabits (with a death wish) have gotten into Arabasti's private chocolate stash and hidden it all around Khimeros!

Knowing that the citizens of Khimeros will do anything for a shiny, Arabasti is offering a reward for anyone who can locate 10 of his chocolates and bring them back un-nommed! Since he is an impatient beast, he is setting a time limit of 2 days to bring back the chocolate!

The first person to locate all 10 chocolates will also receive a gold trophy and a random purebred chrysalis! The second and third person will receive a silver trophy and a double monthly treasures pack! The fourth, fifth, and sixth people will receive a bronze trophy!

The chocolates are 20 x 20 px and can be located on any page in khimeros, *excluding* user pages such as profiles and shops, forum threads/posts and search results pages. They may be located anywhere in the page.

When you find a chocolate, click it and it will take you to your chocolates checklist page. You can also access the checklist under "World" in the main navigation menu.

When you have located all 10 chocolates, you must visit Arabasti's page in the mountains and turn them in!

You are NOT allowed to collaborate on finding chocolates, or post anywhere on or off the site about where you found them (every person has a different list of places to find them, anyways).

If you are not online for this event... don't worry. I am pretty sure that from the look on the woolabits faces, this isn't the end...

72 Comments