I Laugh in the Face of the Curse!

Notebook has been fixed with no data lost... motherboard, cpu & memory all replaced by the good people at HP. God bless them! :)

First thing I do when I get home tonight... BACK EVERYTHING UP!

Back in the game, baby!!! :)

"Curse of Exmortis" Strikes Again!! :(

The first time was unexpected. The second time was a case of "not again!". This time it's a case of "thank god for the extended warranty"

What the hell am I talking about? The Curse of Exmortis. It's back, and this time it means business!!!

If you are still wondering what I am talking about - I have to let you in on a little secret... The Exmortis development phase is cursed. It's like a higher power is working against me finishing these games.

Most good stories have supposed curses, mishaps and associated lore surrounding them - Macbeth and the movie Poltergeist are two that come immediately to mind. However the Curse of Exmortis translates in to a less immediately fatal hex upon my life (not counting potential heart attacks over possibly losing everything on my hard drive.)

My computer hardware is always in a state of stream lined precision and has maximum up time. Before the first Exmortis games I hadn't had a blue screen of death in almost half a decade, and my PC had only ever hung once or twice on me due to application error... everything of mine was a picture of ultimate computering health.

And then my mainboard fizzed out on me half way through the making of Exmortis. I was absolutely shit-scared that my work had fizzed out with it. Over the proceeding months, HP replaced my mainboard no more than 4 times before I got sick and tired of getting an unfixed unit back... so I wrote a strongly worded letter to them. As a result, they sent me out a new model notebook in return for me signing a document which prevented me from taking any legal action for loss of income over the dud notebook they kept sending back to me.

Exmortis was released shortly after and for the following 12 months, it was business as usual - not a single error, unusual reboot or hardware failure. All was good... until I started work on Exmortis 2.

Once again, the mainboard fizzed out on the replacement notebook - so I began the arduous task of going through the Indian call centre and getting my PC repaired. I went through this process another 2 times before my notebook was back to working order and Exmortis 2 was subsequently finally released...

Jump ahead to present day... all was once again good in my computer stablity world... until yesterday... SMACK BANG IN THE MIDDLE OF CREATING EXMORTIS 3!!! Mainboard fizzed again... I am now very familar with the sound of my skull cracking against the nearest hard blunt object...

Is this insane? Am I going crazy? Is this just a coincidence? of course it is... but I am very frustrated with the question 'why the hell does my PC keep crapping out on itself when I am working on an Exmortis game?!?'

On a side note - suffice to say, "thank god for my extended warranty" - Next Business Day On-site Repair... seriously worth every single dollar I spent on it!!!

People - I highly highly recommend that if you ever buy a notebook - not just a HP one, but any other brand - buy an onsite repair warranty upgrade for at least 3 years... It has saved my life on many occasions! And oh yeah - take it from me... BACK UP REGULARLY!!! I've got 4 years worth of work sitting on my notebook that I haven't backed up. (I just pray that I am right in that it is the mainboard that's dead again - not my hard drive...) It's like playing with matches... I know better than to run a gauntlet with my precious data... yet I never learn...

Hopefully I find out tomorrow if I have lost everything... including the work completed so far on Exmortis 3... keep your fingers crossed for me! :( Hopefully the Curse of Exmortis hasn't finally claimed me...

The Estimated December 2006 Release

Ok... I've received a couple of sniping remarks in some blog comments regarding the originally estimated December release of Exmortis 3. So I feel that I must address these remarks...

As user "Jim" mentioned in his most recent comment, December was the "estimated" release date that I posted on the teaser trailer I put up on Newgrounds Alphas back in June... At the time I felt that it was a fairly accurate target for this game as my professional and personal life had cleared up to a point where I felt I could spend a copious amount of time on creating a game that was worthy of the Exmortis series.

However shortly after that target date was set and publicized, I was caught in an overwhelming avalanche of web design work - of which I can only do after I get home from my day job at 8pm on a nightly basis... so let me make things a little clearer to those of you pissed at me for not meeting the December date...

- My web design work makes me money and provides a secondary income that I require to keep me paying rent, electricity and water bills as well as covering cost of living for my girlfriend, my cat and my dog... it is a neccessity that I make money to continue living...

- The Exmortis series is a labour of love for me. The only money I make off of it is from what ever adertising, sponsorship and subsequent awards I can scrape together for the game. That money - if any at all - is only paid to me well after I have released the game, and is anything but substantial in comparison to what I make from being a contracted web designer.

- Only 1 person (ie. me) works on putting together any releases in this series of games (apart from this recent voice over competition - see last post) I have no one else to pick up any slack on my behalf if I am in a position to have no time to spend on it.

- All work I do on this game is within my spare time - of which I have had very little of late. I have explained this over and over and over again within the pages of this development blog - that is this blogs purpose... to give the fans of this series updates as to how the game is coming along...

- I will not - repeat: WILL NOT - rush the creative process of this game. I am most definitely my harshest critic and I will not release a half baked game that I am not 110% percent happy with. That is not fair to me, to the standard the previous 2 games have set, nor to those of you in casual gaming land who expect nothing but a high standard conclusion to this series.

- The flash game design and creation process can sometimes be a very monotonous and mentally draining process. I put every single ounce of my creativity in to these titles, but sometimes I hit a road block and things don't translate to Flash as they do in my mind. Times like these require me to step back and take a break for a week or two to get my mind away from the game - it's the only way I can top up my creativity bar for when I return to the console to continue the process... probably only those of you who have put time in to a flash game would understand this plight, but it is a necessary evil in this labour of love...

- December was only ever the "estimated" release date for the game. It was a date I had to provide to Newgrounds Alphas in order for me to submit the trailer. December was merely a target that I set myself when I thought I would have enough time to labour over this project. Estimates can wrong... that's why they are called estimates...

Ok, I do realise why some people are becoming critical as a result of me missing the December date. I understand that those of you are only disappointed because you are fans of the series and that you are keen on getting stuck in to the 3rd and final game. I understand the frustrations, and I don't hold it against you at all - if anything, it is heartening that know that you guys care enough that I would miss a date only ever mentioned on a single page somewhere in internetland... Honestly though, I'd be more dejected if nothing was mentioned at all...

That said, I hope I have explained the process a little bit better and that you have a better understanding about what I have to go through to get this game done. I know I am asking a lot from some of you in requesting that you have patience in the process... but as stated before, I will most definitely not rush the process for fear of releasing a sub-standard and inadequate product that is not fit to be labelled with the Exmortis name.

Cheers,
Ben.

Exmortis 3 Voice Actor Competition

Leffler Web Design in conjunction with www.casualgameplay.com has just launched a competition to find the lucky camper who will be the voice of the main character within the upcoming Exmortis 3 title!

For more information on how to enter, shoot across to http://jayisgames.com/archives/2007/01/exmortis_3_voice_actor.php

Entries close February 15th with the winner to be announced at the Casual Gameplay site.

Exmortis 3 December Update

I've been very busy busy busy these last couple of days in churning out some major hours on Exmortis 3. Thankfully I've got the next month off from my 9-to-5 job and I intend to spend a lot of this time working on this game (well - what ever spare time I have in between nursing hangovers, christmas turkey, New Years partying, celebrating the Aussie Ashes victory and other general frivolity)

Above I have posted the latest scene that I have knocked off just today. This screeny is set in the first chapter which see's your character navagating the spirit realm labyrinth looking for a way out of dodge...

I'm only a third of the way through putting together this spirit realm level at the moment, but I am pushing forward pretty hard by knocking off about 2-4 scenes per day. Hopefully I will be able to get cracking at the juicy 2nd chapter in between Christmas and New Years.

So more screenshots to come as I finalise more content :) And in case you are wondering, yes - everything in the above screenshot is animated and moves smoothly with minimal slow down at full screen! Which is surprising considering the number of layers and rasterised graphics I'm using :)

Exmortis2 Achieves 1.5 Million Plays

This is just a quick note to those of you who are following this blog that the Exmortis series has hit yet another milestone with the 2nd game ticking over the 1.5 million worldwide plays mark in just 9 months.

I honestly am absolutely flabbergasted with how this game has juggernauted onwards to be one of the better performing flash games this year.

It really just goes to prove how far the casual gaming industry has come in the past decade! With the recent achievements of realism and immersion in the so-called "next-gen" platforms, it really is heartening to know that there are so many people out there still dedicated to enjoying the world of online flash gaming...

And the best thing about it is that the industry is only in it's infancy... so the quality of casual gaming productions will only get better from here on in!

Purgatorium and Exmortis 3 News

For those of you who weren't aware, I recently released a small point-n-click game titled Purgatorium for Jay Bibby's most excellent flash gaming portal - Jay Is Games (aka Casual Gamplay) recent halloween celebrations... Check the game out at the following URL and don't forget to leave a comment: http://jayisgames.com/archives/2006/10/purgatorium.php

And while you are at it, make sure you swing by the main site at http://www.casualgameplay.com for all your Flash Gaming goodness...

And now for a long overdue Exmortis 3 update... Production is just about ready to step up in to second gear. I still haven't managed to get past the opening chapter just yet, but with every day that goes past, a new idea pops in to my head of how I can slant this game in a manner different to the previous incarnations of the genre. Suffice to say, (highlight to read mini-spoiler) your character Mr.Hannay is going to be the ultimate badass when he eventually finds his way back to Earth - just you wait and see! (End spoiler)

Another MASSIVE positive that I wanted to mention that will definitely help with the end quality of this game - Newgrounds are now allowing a file limit of 10mb for my submissions - up from the previous 5mb limit. What that means to me is that I can stop worrying about cutting storylines and scenes out from the game and I can also forget about lowering the quality of graphics and sound in order to squeeze the file size...

There's not much worse than putting in endless hours of work in to the quality of something only to have to make concessions as you are submitting... weak dude... weak... As a result, I'm almost tempted to perform an Exmortis & Exmortis2 redux edition as a result of the larger size limit... sooooo tempting - but unlikely as I shift focus back on to the project at hand.

Oh - and as far as the rumours of an Exmortis prequel after Exmortis3 is completed and released - all I can say is "hmmm... interesting concept... ask me again in 6 months time for a less ambiguous response..."

My original plan about a year or so ago was to eventually do a prequel telling Xavier Rehayem's story... but I think I've pretty well covered most angles of his story through sub-plots within Exmortis and Exmortis2... I don't expect this character to be involved much more in any continuation of the Exmortis story, I'm afraid...

But that doesn't mean a prequel won't eventually be made... who knows what I end up doing down the track... a decision will more than likely be based upon the response I get with Exmortis 3... anyway - it's all "pie in the sky" at the moment... mmmm... pie.

Anyway y'all! Once again, thanks for reading... more screenshots coming soon... I've got plenty of time off over December and January - more than enough to really get a lot of Exmortis 3 work completed...

Salut!
Benny.

Exmortis3 Call For Sponsors

Hello again all... it's probably waaaay too early in the creative process to even be bringing this up - but what the hell...

The first two Exmortis games took an amazing amount of my time to create and I have made it known that my original intent was to create the Exmortis game as a way of getting my web and flash design skills promoted and try and ramp up the Leffler Web Design business.

However in analysing the amount of work I have put in to the games and comparing it to what little business I have received in return from showcasing my skills in this manner, I am left with no choice but to open Exmortis3 up to offers of sponsorship and/or product placement within the content of the game.

There is a lot of potential to advertise and promote on a large scale within this medium - and to prove that, let me give you a brief overview of the statistics of the existing Exmortis games:

EXMORTIS 2 (Stats as of Sept-27)
- The game has been live and on the internet since March 26, 2006
- A total of 1.3 million unique people have played the game since release. That is an average of over 7000 unique plays of the game per day.
- Of the 1.3 million reported above, it is estimated that approximately 700,000 people have replayed the game.
- A total of 306 websites around the world have hosted the game since release. Of which at least 85 still currently host and receive daily traffic through the game source file.
- The main host of the game – ie. Newgrounds.com reports 470,427 plays of the game through their website alone (which will no doubt increase greatly as Halloween approaches).

EXMORTIS (Stats as of Sept-27)
- The game has been live and on the internet since August 27, 2004.
- This game did not have any Mochibot tracking scripts integrated, so most stats are not available as they are for Exmortis2.
- The main host of the game Newgrounds.com (as per the above link) reports 1.15 million plays of the game through their website alone.
- It is estimated that over 5 million people have played Exmortis since released in mid 2004.

So as you can see, the potential to hit 1.3 million people within an initial 6 month period with product placement and sponsorship has got to be worth something to someone out there!

So, if you are the owner of a company/website that seeks to potentially sponsor flash games, feel free to email me at ben_leffler@hotmail.com to discuss.

Alternatively, if you know of a Flash Game Sponsorship program that pays well (obviously I want to maximise my return on the game as best as possible) then feel free to leave a comment to this post.

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? :)