New Project: Retrospect

This isn't really relevant to the world of Exmortis - but all the same, you guys might find this interesting...

I've recently been contacted by the wonderful Jay Bibby of www.jayisgames.com who gave my Exmortis2 game a hell of a lot of support when it was first unleashed upon the world. (You may even pick a small plug for his website within that game somewhere...)

As most Americans are aware (and a smaller number of internationalists such as I) Halloween is on the horizon once again, and Jay has charged me with doing something special for his website and the mutiltude of people that visit daily.

Unfortunately Exmortis3 is no where near completion, so I am putting in to work a rather rushed game (in time for Halloween) which is currently under the working title of "Retrospect"

It's another cinematic horror point n' click game, but because I have been sired with this task and left with less than a month to complete the project, there is no way in hell that Retrospect will be as polished, multi-layered, complexly narrated nor as lengthy as any of the Exmortis games that I have done thus far.

It will be short, sweet, packed full of atmosphere right from the start, abundant in shocks and brutally adult (not XXX adult you perverts - general fucked up themes that only adults could ever talk about!)

I can't give away too much more information at this stage, as it will give away the plot which I intend to unfold as you work through the dozen or so scenes.

But fear not - Exmortis3 is still in the works, but I just haven't had enough time to devote to it lately. I have a few weeks of annual leave approaching, so maybe I'll take the opportunity to put some decent work in to it then. It's hard to get motivated with such a massive task ahead of me, but as it was with the first 2 games - once I'll get in to a rhythm, it's fucking hard to stop...

One more thing - cheers to everyone for their kind feedback. I'm glad to see that everyone is still keen on the Exmortis story which will conclude shortly...

Another Progress Report

Wouldn't you know it? I finally get some spare time to start putting in some quality hours in to this game beyond tweaking the intro occasionally and whaddya know? More web-design work falls in to my lap!

So essentially it means that every single spare moment I get over the next month will be dedicated to developing another magician/illusionist's website... this will make the 3rd magician that I've done a website for in the past 18 months... I'm starting think that there may be a market there within the entertainment industry for my web and graphic design skills...

Previously I have tried to target sports clubs, but not many have enough money to spend on a website... But it appears that there are plenty of entertainers/comedians that need something funky AND have the money to spend on it...

Now if I could only crack the erotic dancer industry for websites, I'd have finally found my dream job!!! Anyone? Anyone? :)

My Position on People Stealing my Work

I have received a lot of feedback regarding a comment I made in my last post about people illegally hosting my work.

I made it known that Exmortis 2 currently has 215 hosts world wide - of which only 9 have been given permission. That means that 95.8% of websites hosting my game are doing so in an illegal fashion...

I've had many people comment to me via email that I should do something about it and that I should take legal action etc. I do appreciate the sentiments... :) So I feel that I must address these concerns...

I realise that stealing web-content is a big issue at the moment - especially considering the somewhat humerous banter going around about sites like ebaumsworld allegedly stealing content from other sites and profiting from the practise.

The main problem with this being that these websites make money off the advertising revenue that is generated through the web traffic they receive as a result of the hosted stolen content. Essentially these websites are making big dollars on the artist's work - without the artist receiving any remunerative return or credit... This is considered stealing and such hosts can be brought to prosecution as a result.

So what is my stand on this?

I honestly don't like people stealing my work... who would? I think it is wrong to steal someone's work and benefit from it financially without the person who did all the hard work receiving anything in return... majority of these people haven't even credited me for the game!!

That said however, everyone - and I mean everyone - who has asked me for permission to host the Exmortis games, I have given it to them. It is common courtesy to ask permission. I ask for nothing in return except a written credit.

But on the other hand the way I look at it, I am making these games not to make money for myself... but to gain recognition for my name, my work and my design services. It is a hobby - pure and simple. The more people that host, the wider the worldwide distribution of my work. The more exposure it gets. And hence the more my needs and purposes are served.

So this puts me in a hard position. Do I request that those sites illegally using my game to take my game down from their site? Or do I turn a blind eye because it means more people are seeing my work as a result?

So far I have turned a blind eye. I haven't been able to identify any benefit that it would present to me to have my game effectively removed from 95.8% of it's internet circulation...

And so once again the content thieves win, because the little guy like me can not afford to cut off his nose to spite his face...

Opinions? Thoughts?

Exmortis2 Goes 7 Figures!

Leffler Web Design has hit another amazing milestone! As of yesterday's mochibot report, Exmortis2 has hit the magical 1-million "worldwide plays" mark!

It's taken 112 days and 215 hosts (incidentally - of which only 9 have my personal permission) to get the game to this point.

I must say that while the daily play stats are naturally dwindling as the game gets long in the tooth, Exmortis2 still seems to be attracting on average 5000 hits a day!

That's above and beyond my expectation when I originally released this game back in March - so thank you to all that have played the game from the bottom of my heart. I've said it before and I'll say it again - you guys are the reason I pour my heart in this work and spend copious amounts of sleepless hours making this stuff!

Exmortis3 Storyline Tidbits

More tidbits for you on the Exmortis3 storyline... My main reasons for being a tad cagey about plot specifics thus far is because nothing has been firmly set in stone until now...

Spoliers from here on... Invisotext initiated! (Highlight to read)

As I have previously alluded towards, you certainly do reprise your role as Mr. Hannay. Let's just say that revenge is not something he is consumed with at the beginning of the game... he is destitute and resigned to a fate of eternally roaming the spirit realm with no way back to the world he once knew.

Yes, that's right people. You're stuck in the spirit world again after being on the wrong end of an almighty smackdown at the hands of Vlaew (ie. the Exmortis2 twist conclusion)... During the game I probably won't be explaining the specifics as to why you ended up back in the spirit realm, so I'll just clear that plot point up now for you...

After going through the ritual in Exmortis2 (the one that transported you to the spirit realm), your soul was forever anchored to that world. As a result, you are effectively immortal. All Vlaew did by 'killing' you in Exmortis2 was expel your soul back to the spirit world. And considering that you completed your Exmortis2 objective in destroying the portal between the ethereal and corporeal worlds, you now find yourself stranded with no way back to Earth.

But an opportunity to exact a swift revenge upon Lord Vlaew will literally fall in to your lap. Will Mr.Hannay ever make it back home? And if so, how much time has passed since your "quick death" at the hands of the Ancient? How has the world changed? And how has mankind changed? Will there even be a mankind left to return to?

Wooooooooo..... epic! :)

Progress Report

Still no new updates on the progress of Exmortis 3. At the moment I am prioritizing between being sorted with my recent move and getting a new website up and running for a baseball tournament called "The Beaver Cup" that I am organising here in Sydney for the October long weekend.

I'm almost finished with that tournament website, and on top of that I am being bombarded with web development opportunities due to word-of-mouth referrals as a result of recent web sites that I have had a hand in...

As a result, I may be forced to place a lower importance on the Exmortis3 game as these web development opportunities have the potential to pay some outstanding bills, whilst the Exmortis series has no financial benefit to me and can be considered more of a hobby than a career furthering opportunity.

But the more I put off doing any work on Exmortis3, the clearer the vision becomes of where I want to take this story. Plus I can assure you that I am very excited about implementing a certain element of game play in to this title - as I am sure it will make 99.9% of you react with "Holy shit! That's fucking sick!!" And the best part is, it's a relatively easy thing to implement...

I won't spoil you with details on the gameplay element I am referring to, but once it's implemented - to those of you who felt that the 2nd game wasn't as blood thirsty as the 1st one - I say Exmortis3 will make them seem like Sesame Street!

Exmortis Hits 1 MILLION at Newgrounds!

WOO HOO!

Yeah Yeah Yeah - I've been slack

I know - I've been slack these last couple of weeks. Unfortunately I haven't got any new updates for anyone. I've been way too busy moving house, setting up my cable TV service and getting my funky new broadband connection up and running.

However between the related headaches and stress, I managed to record a voice-over opening dialogue. Not sure if I will stick with it for the final version though - I hate the sound of my own voice and it clouds my "is that cheesy, or does it work" spidey-senses which has served me will in the first two games.

I guess I'll leave it in for now and come back to it further down the track...

I've also come up with some very wicked ideas that if I can translate correctly to the game, I'm sure it will be the talking point in subsequent reviews of the piece.

Also, I just picked up a nice little Flash add-on package which some Flash developers will be familiar with - Electric Rain's Swift 3D... It's like a cut down user-friendly version of Maya/3DSM and it seems to be the preferred package when creating motion 3D vector graphics for flash.

I don't know if I will learn how to harness it's awesomeness (is that even a word?) before the release of Exmortis3 - but the fact that I spend about 3 hours a day on a train between home and work, and that the nature of Exmortis3 tends to be a little too graphic for my fellow commuters to handle - I might just use that time to learn the application...

Exmortis Freaky Fact #3: Character Names

Throughout the Exmortis series, the names of certain characters might seem relatively unimportant to everyone - however each name has relevance to me personally.

Xavier Rehayem (Exmortis & Exmortis2) - The surname Rehayem is actually the name of a customer of mine from my day job as an IT sales consultant. I've never really known how to correctly pronounce the name, but I've heard different interpretations over the years. I haven't devulged to the customer that I have used his surname in this project... maybe he'll work it out if he ever plays Exmortis!

Gwen Rehayem - Gwen was actually based on a shortly lived crush that I had on a famous Ms. Paltrow. I got over that quickly!

Mr. Hannay (Exmortis2) - The surname is based upon a Rugby League player who is part of the North Queensland Cowboys, Josh Hannay. Interestingly enough, the name was originally used in another project of mine... After finishing work on Exmortis I began crafting a sci-fi horror project called "Anomaly" (which was eventually abandoned for a loss of any real creative interest in the story). An item you could obtain in the game was a key-card with a personal ID picture on it. That keycard picture was of a player profile of Josh Hannay.

Vlaew (Exmortis & Exmortis2) - Throughout the series, a common font was used as the Ancient's text/language... that font is Fusaka. To create the final puzzle in the original game, I had to select the most bizzare looking characters from the Fusaka collection that weren't too clear to everybody that it was actual english text. The letters that I chose were V, L, A, E and W. Hence, the name of the character.

Exmortis Freaky Fact #2: Use of EVP

The use of EVP (electronic voice phenomenom) with in the Exmortis2 game was inspired by another point n click flash game by the name of Lost Found. I found that the most compelling feature of that game is how the storyline revolves around the mythos of a painting that supposedly depicts a ghostly figure in the background and the subsequent supernatural rumours about it bringing misfortune to it's owner's.

What made Lost Found an inspiring piece of work for me was that it had that element of "this story is based around a real life haunted object" - something that the original Blair Witch movie also utilised effectively.

In Exmortis2, I wanted to emulate that creepy feeling that I got whilst reading the backstory of that painting, and playing the Lost Found game.

I came up with the idea to use actual real life EVP recordings within Exmortis2 to achieve this objective. I won't divulge everything to you about which sounds are EVP and which are not - with the exception of one particular scene...

In the cellar scene, when you switch the CB radio to Channel 10 you will hear a gun fight confrontation in which the dialogue is spoken "Get the hell out of here!"... That line is one of the EVP recordings I've used within the Exmortis2 game...