Some big things happening in the world of Chimera Angel development. First off, what is Chimera Angel. Well, that's big thing #1. The name change.



Chimera Angel is the release title of the game I've been working on for some years now that I've been calling Jen's Quest. And the obvious follow-up question is "why am I changing the name, when Jen's Quest is a perfectly suitable title?". There are a few reasons. I like titles that are a little non-obvious and preferably even a little ambiguous, with overloaded meanings. "Jen's Quest" does not fit that bill. Also, I'm not totally comfortable giving my game a title in the "x Quest" form, because I've put a lot of work into it, and giving it an "x Quest" title makes it sound almost like fanfiction.



I'm not trashing fanfiction or anything like that, not even in AGI games. After all, Space Quest 0 looks like a ton of effort and time was put into making a good game (no final verdict, though, 'cause I haven't gotten very far into it), but my game is not fanfiction except in the most liberal definition of the word (where something like Moulin Rouge would qualify as Romeo & Juliet fanfiction, because they are both love stories that end tragically).



By the way, Chimera Angel is the title of the series, not the game. You can think of the upcoming game as Chimera Angel 1. I have not yet decided on a subtitle, but I'm throwing a few ideas around. But, does this mean I'm committed to making at least another chapter in the series? Well, maybe. It's too early to be talking about that, and it really depends on how well this one is received, but the fact of the matter is that I have created a story that is much too big to fit into this game. So, yeah, more games are definitely a possibility. I don't expect subsequent games would take as long as this one has, but I'll go into that some other time.



Big Thing #2 is that I have created a new website, chimeraangel.com (which should be where you're reading this ). In the coming months, I will be updating it with new information about my progress towards completion and release. I will be updating the site proper and also this development blog, just because.



Big Thing #3 is that I have made a decision that this game is going for 2007 or bust. That means this game is going to be released in 2007 or not at all. I don't mean that in some kind of idiotic bureaucratic sense. Obviously, if I have been working on the game steadily throughout 2007 and January 1, 2008 rolls around and I've still got work to do on it, I'm not going to say to myself, "Oh, well, you missed the deadline. Too bad. Cancel the project." I'm saying this more as a deterrent against what I have been doing that's been holding this game up: namely, working on it solid for a few days or a week, then putting it aside for six months, making it so that when I do get back to it, I spend a lot of time figuring out what I was in the process of doing so that I get a bit overwhelmed by it and give up easier. If January 1, 2008 rolls around and I haven't worked on the game since July 2007, then yes the game is going to be canceled. But so long as I'm actively working on it, I'm going to keep at it. And I fully expect the game can be completed in the summer of this year.



I don't want to give the wrong impression here. This game has come a long way since demo 2, which I released way back in 2002. When I play the game, I like it. There are reasons why the development has taken so long, and I think I'll go into them some time. Just not right now.



The important part is: Jen's Quest is now Chimera Angel officially (I really don't care if you continue calling it Jen's Quest though, as long as you don't confuse anyone), there is a new website for the game in development and a development blog, and the game is most likely going to be released in 2007.