It's time to introduce Serafel

[Onyx]

Note: Currently, the animated preview images in this thread may not be working since they rely on javascript to animate.


It's been some time since we posted anything about Serafel.

Unfortunately, we lost our programmer very unexpectedly a few months ago, and have been forced to start from scratch with all programming aspects of the site.

This setback has been very disappointing to us, but delays and challenges must be expected in the development process, so, we forge ahead!

We have hired a new full-time programmer to work exclusively on Khimeros/Aluriya and Serafel, and are looking forward to making some good progress in the upcoming months!

In the meantime we've been assembling more art assets for the site, primarily equippable items for our human avatars. We've also revamped the human avatar base. Hopefully this delay will only mean that we will have an extensive
wardrobe when the site opens!

Sneak peek of our new human avatar base and some clothing, expression and hair items!



Human avatar bases and items are being created by Lanmana - be sure to check out her DA account!



About Serafel

What is serafel? Well obviously, it is a virtual pet site ^^. We will strive to make a truly engaging and interactive environment to enjoy. Serafel will have many of the basic features that you would usually find in a pet site, like forums, live chat, trades, auctions, human avatars and, of course, pets! Below are some of the main features you will find on the site:

Factions

Thorn & Flora



Each month you will be able to join either Thorn or Flora's Faction, and your site activities for the month including participation in real-time events, will earn you points within your chosen faction. The best part is spending your points on spiffy monthly items in the Faction shop!

Real-time World Events/Personal Events

Serafel is not just a static world. Just as in the real world, there are different activities occurring around the world of serafel every day, and users have the opportunity to participate in/interact with these events!

Users learn about site events via a live feed that lets them know what is currently going on. For example, you may learn of an NPC who need help with gathering items or crafting and are willing to pay you for your help, or a battle taking place that you can participate in. Most of these events have a limiter of some kind, for example they may only be available for a set time period, only a set number of users may be able to participate, or if it involves harvesting, then any particular tree/bush may only be able to be harvested a certain number of times.

World events may have more than one outcome or more than one "path". For example, if you respond to a call to repair the stone wall around Flora's castle that is being battered down by enemy forces, you may encounter Thorn or one of her minions, who offer to let you switch sides (leave Flora's faction and enter Thorn's) with a certain number of faction points as a reward. In this case you'd need to choose to give up your Flora Faction points, and gain a potentially higher number of points in Thorn's faction, or refuse and have the small chance to be rewarded by Flora with points or a "loyalty" avatar.

Personal events work similarly, except that they apply to a particular user alone, and can only be completed/interacted with by that particular user.

Just as in the real world, events on Serafel take place at random times thoughout the day,

User-created Exploration

Instead of having set explore areas created by the site, YOU create and decorate your own area that other users can then explore. There are both decorative items available, and items that affect game play. For example, placing a "catnip" item in your explore area may make it more likely for users to find an enchanted kittu pet while exploring in your area.

When an explorer finds an item or pet, there may be benefits for either the user who owns the area, the user exploring the area, or both. Having some specific items equipped to your explore area may also play into world events, for example if you have coffee plants equipped, and a "call for coffee berry pickers" event spawns, users may harvest from your coffee plants, gaining benefits for both you as the plant owner, and themselves, as the worker.

Explore areas are divided up by location - for example forest or mountain. Users will be able to use backdrops, as well as decorative items that can be resized and moved around in your area to create a unique scene! Human avatars and pets will also be able to be placed inside the scenes you create for other users to explore!

Communities - Your Personal, Customizeable Hang-out

Pet "Blossoming"



Serafel will offer many different breeds of "fauna" that you can "blossom" in order to achieve a specific look for your pet! Pets are primarily obtained via exploring, and you will need to "awaken" sleeping pets to activate them. Through tending your rose garden, you can attract butterflies and moths that will help move your pet along the path to a new look, with a variety of different body mutations and colorations, many of them including animation!

There will be many more features to come! In the upcoming months we will provide more sneak peeks of site functionality as new features come online, as well as more art previews!

[Onyx]

Thorn: "There's nothing more annoying than trying to get about on this world and having to kick a lot of annoying, pesky critters out of your way at every other step. Always making noise and getting in my way! Whenever I come across a faun, I use the power of my staff to lay an enchantment on them to make them fall into a deep sleep. Much more peaceful around here that way!

If you join my faction, you can help me out by using Enchanting Dust on every hopping, crawling, scampering, or fluttering pest you come across. Being a mere mortal, you of course don't have MY power so you will FAIL more often than you will succeed, but if you manage to enchant a faun, you can take it home with you if that makes you happy. You can even take it to your garden and awaken it later - I don't care as long as you keep the annoying things away from ME!"



Flora: "Serafel is a beautiful land filled with lovely plants, flowers and creatures of all kinds. Sadly, my twin sister Thorn endangers the balance of nature by selfishly laying enchantments over the fauna, sending them into a deep sleep. Whenever I encounter an enchanted pet, I use the power of my staff to revive them.

If you join my faction, you can help me in my task by finding enchanted pets and using Awakening Dust to reverse my sister's dark ensorcellment! I am not so jealous of my power as Thorn is, so you will succeed in awakening the pets you find more often than not, but if you sadly fail to awaken a faun, you may take it home with you to awaken later in your garden."

[hazyvoyage]

That art is GORGEOUS. I look forward to seeing it open.

[xtmx]

Nice art

[Joy]

Quick question...

Since I'm a fan of both Aluriya and Khimeros (mostly Khimeros), I was wondering if Alpha members need to pay or perform a certain request before being considered/accepted? I would absolutely love the chance, let alone know what's ahead in this matter.

[Onyx]

We will likely be selling/auctioning off some of the lowest account numbers/alpha accounts, but this is more for those who are really into getting a low account number than a big impediment to those who want to join the site fairly early, since we're not planning to have a terribly long alpha/beta period. Regular accounts will be free after alpha.

[Toxic Rainbow Kisses]

Oh my god! You must open now. Haha, Those pets are so cute! *huggles them*
How much would you be charging for an alpha account? *starts to save up*.
I have never ever ever paid for an alpha/beta account, but... those are so cute, and I like Khimeros already xD

[Joy]

In that case, I'm going to have to keep an eye out for this project; and save a bit of money just in case as well.

Now in Khimeros, I noticed that you brought in artwork from Aluriya... will you be doing the same with this site? Or will all art meant for Serafel be strictly placed on Serafel, and not obtain art from any of the other sites or have its art moved onto the other sites?

[Onyx]

Well, for Alu and Khimeros we sold alpha accounts for $10 each. Generally we include some special items or we have things during alpha that are only available to alpha users, in order to make the purchase price worthwhile. With Alu, we also held an auction for 10 low account numbers, and they sold for quite a large sum. We'll probably do this again, as this kind of thing does help defray the costs of getting a new site set up with art and coding and hosting fees before there is any income coming in. However, there's absolutely no need to bid a high price in an account auction unless you are really desperate for an uber low account number xD $10 accounts will follow soon enough, and free accounts thereafter.

[Onyx]

@Joy

Now in Khimeros, I noticed that you brought in artwork from Aluriya... will you be doing the same with this site? Or will all art meant for Serafel be strictly placed on Serafel, and not obtain art from any of the other sites or have its art moved onto the other sites?

We did not actually uh... move art from khimeros to aluriya exactly... we do find it fun to occasionally have a crossover event where a pet or mini pet from one site will make a guest appearance on the other site, just for fun. However, Serafel's art style is vastly different from Khimeros or Aluriya, so I'm not sure that we'd be able to have much of a crossover unless we maybe, had a chibi asadia-likos or something made from scratch for serafel, again, just because it's kind of fun to do something like that occasionally

We do actually have some items from khimeros and aluriya on serafel right now, STRICTLY as place-holder items for testing. They won't be there when the site opens Those who've had a sneak peek at the human avatar demo in the past, may have seen something like that in the demo, though.