A House of Locked Secrets is Released!

The sequel to Requiem is finally ready for everyone to play.

In A House of Locked Secrets you step back into the shoes of Bolen, a former thief living in a sprawling medieval city. As the game starts, you've been rethinking your path in life and your new road takes you high into the mountains, to the gates of a mysterious monastery. 

A House of Locked Secrets is a companion piece to Shadowcursed (but has a totally new story) and is free for anyone to download and play. All you will need to have installed is a copy of The Dark Mod (also free).

Here are the automated installation instructions:

Step 1: Download The Dark Mod. You can find it here: http://www.thedarkmod.com/download-the-mod/

Step 2: Once you install the Dark Mod, you can press the 'New Mission' button, then click on 'Download Missions' and select A House of Locked Secrets to download. It should then automatically install and you can play.

If you are new to Dark Mod levels (or first person games in general), I would recommend first playing the Training Mission which comes along with the game first.

Here are the manual installation instructions:

Step 1: Download The Dark Mod. You can find it here: http://www.thedarkmod.com/download-the-mod/.

Step 2: Download A House of Locked Secrets. You can find it at the following site:

Mediafire: http://www.mediafire.com/download/4awe6e756m12p71/ahouseoflockedsecrets.pk4
Southquarter: http://www.southquarter.com/tdm/fms/ahouseoflockedsecrets.pk4
Taaki: http://darkmod.taaaki.za.net/fms/ahouseoflockedsecrets.pk4
Fidcal.com: http://www.fidcal.com/darkuser/missions/ahouseoflockedsecrets.pk4

Step 3: Create a folder in your Dark Mod install with the path "darkmod/fms/house" and place the downloaded .pk4 file inside. When you load up The Dark Mod, the mission will appear on the "New Mission" page.

Step 4: Enjoy!

Feel free to shoot me any questions if something doesn't work or if you are stuck. You can also see the thread I set up for A House of Locked Secrets in the Dark Mod forums here.

Announcing: A House of Locked Secrets

Hey All,

I apologize for the long radio silence, but I've been keeping busy over the last few months and can now announce that my next Dark Mod project is now just about ready to be released. Here is a teaser trailer put together by my friend Goldwell:

You'll be stepping back into the shoes of Bolen and exploring a mysterious manor, uncovering the deep secrets its walls hold. Right now we're in beta testing, and if all goes well it will be released in the next few weeks.

List of reviews for Shadowcursed

Hey all,

Recently I've been blessed with quite a few reviews of Shadowcursed coming online at various book blog sites. Thanks to all the reviewers for taking the time to read the book and provide such good/thoughtful comments! Going forward, I'll try to make this list comprehensive update it as more reviews go live:

Big Al's Books and Pals: http://booksandpals.blogspot.com/2013/10/shadowcursed-gelo-fleisher.html
Cathi Shaw: http://cathishaw.com/book-review/shadowcursed/
Good, Bad, Bizzare:  http://goodbadbizarre.com/2014/06/10/shadowcursed-gelo-fleisher/
Hungry Monster (Review): http://hungrymonsterreview.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/review-shadowcursed-by-gelo-r-fleisher/
Hungry Monster (Author Interview): http://hungrymonsterreview.wordpress.com/2014/06/30/interview-gelo-r-fleisher/
Indie Book Reviewer: http://indiebookreviewer.blogspot.com/2014/06/review-shadowcursed-by-gelo-r-fleisher.html
John H. Swenson: http://johnhswenson.wordpress.com/2014/08/15/shadowcursed-gelo-r-fleisher/
Movies & Manuscripts: http://moviesandmanuscripts.blogspot.com/2014/04/sometimes-you-just-have-to-root-for.html
Laura of Lurking: http://lauraoflurkng.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/shadowcursed-by-gelo-r-fleisher.html

New Podler Review: http://thenewpodlerreviews.blogspot.com/2014/05/shadowcursed-by-gelo-fleisher.html

Reading BiFrost: http://readingbifrost.com/2014/06/15/62/

S.A. Molenti: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/960593473?book_show_action=true&page=1
Sadie S. Forsyth: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/919510550?book_show_action=false
The Book Landers: http://www.thebooklanders.com/2014/06/book-review-shadowcursed.html
Under The Mountain: http://under-mountain.blogspot.com/2014/07/review-of-shadowcursed-by-gelo-r.html
Undiscovered Tomes (Shadowcursed): http://undiscoveredtomes.blogspot.com/2014/06/shadowcursed-uncontrollable-empathy-for.html
Undiscovered Tomes (Requiem): http://undiscoveredtomes.blogspot.com/2014/06/a-thiefs-world-in-first-person-requiem.html

Writocracy: http://writocracy.blogspot.com/2014/07/shadowcursed-by-gelo-r-fleisher.html

An Interview with Athalle

Just a quick post to let you know that an interview that Athalle of the Thief fan-site Through The Looking Glass has just gone live. In it we talk about the process of making fan modifications:

Reviews, Awards, and Plans

Hey All,

It's been another busy couple months with lots going on in both the writing and game development fronts. With writing, I'm making good progress on the next novel and I'll try to put the first chapter up on this blog soon just so everyone can get a sense of what it will be about.

There's also been a few more reviews of Shadowcursed that have popped up on the web.

Here's one by the Movies & Manuscript blog:
http://www.moviesandmanuscripts.blogspot.com/2014/04/sometimes-you-just-have-to-root-for.html

Here's another by The New Podler Review
http://thenewpodlerreviews.blogspot.com/2014/05/shadowcursed-by-gelo-fleisher.html

On the game development front, the big news is that I just won the grand prize in Square-Enix's recent Thief level design contest. Here's the video I submitted of Requiem which turned into the winning entry (huge spoiler warning):

I'm really flabbergasted to have won, and want to thank everyone who voted during the contest. It's really appreciated :-). One of the prizes I got was a trip to the E3 gaming expo as well as a trip to visit the development team behind the recent Thief game at Eidos Montreal. I'll try to put up photos of both as they happen.

I've also been hard at work making a two-part sequel to Requiem. The first part is fully done, and the second part is well underway. Here's some screenshots from player AluminumHaste:

Finally, my brother and I are putting the finishing touches on an indie edutainment game which I'll hopefully be able to reveal here shortly. So, lots going on and hopefully lots more to come.

Some Screenshots of Requiem

It's been a few days since Requiem has been released, and so far the reviews from players have been really positive. Player AluminumHaste took a few screenshots of the game, and they looked so good that I thought I would cross-post them here. Note that the shots do have minor spoilers if you haven't played the game though.

Don't forget that Requiem is free for anyone to download and play. Instructions are here. And you can get 'Shadowcursed', the companion novella, here.

Requiem is Released!

It took a lot longer than I had initially planned, but my fan mission, 'Requiem' is now done and ready for people to play.

In Requiem you step into the shoes of Bolen, a thief living in a sprawling medieval city. As the game starts, your most reliable fence has just sent you an urgent note telling you to come over to his house. You have no idea what he has in store, but with the sun setting it sounds like you might be in for an interesting night.

Requiem is a companion piece to Shadowcursed (but has a totally new story) and is free for anyone to download and play. All you will need to have installed is a copy of The Dark Mod (also free).

Here are the automated installation instructions:

Step 1: Download The Dark Mod. You can find it here: http://www.thedarkmod.com/download-the-mod/

Step 2: Once you install the Dark Mod, you can press the 'New Mission' button, then click on 'Download Missions' and select Requiem to download. It should then automatically install and you can play.

If you are new to Dark Mod levels (or first person games in general), I would recommend first playing the Training Mission which comes along with the game first.


Here are the manual installation instructions:

Step 1: Download The Dark Mod. You can find it here: http://www.thedarkmod.com/download-the-mod/.

Step 2: Download Requiem. You can find it at the following sites:
Mediafire: http://www.mediafire.com/download/l6o3vvj9y78hu89/requiem.pk4
Southquarter: http://www.southquarter.com/tdm/fms/TDM2testmissions/requiem.pk4
Fidcal.com: http://www.fidcal.com/darkuser/missions/TDM2testmissions/requiem.pk4

Step 3: Create a folder in your Dark Mod install with the path "darkmod/fms/requiem" and place the downloaded .pk4 file inside. When you load up The Dark Mod, the mission will appear on the "New Mission" page.

Step 4: Enjoy!

Feel free to shoot me any questions if something doesn't work or if you are stuck. You can also see the thread I set up for Requiem in the Dark Mod forums here.

A Book Review and Status Update

So I was flipping through my emails this morning, and had to do a double-take. Big Al's Book Reviews, one of the larger indie book websites, has posted a review of Shadowcursed. Looks like they liked it too. Here's an excerpt:

This fantasy novella was a nice surprise. Mr. Fleisher has written an enthralling story full of descriptive prose that will pull you into the story so thoroughly you can practically smell the stench...The story that unfolds is an original and captivating rollercoaster ride that will leave the reader fully satisfied. I think this is an Indie author to watch for in the future.

You can check out the full review here. Definitely made my day.

Just a quick status update on my other projects. My computer game level "Requiem" is now done and will be released in the next day or so. So far the reviews from my beta testers have been very positive. You can read a little post I made on the Dark Mod forums about it here.

Requiem has been taking up most of my time for the last few months, and with that wrapping up, I'm starting to turn my attention to my next book, and another computer game project. I'll be writing up the treatment for the book (it will be a sci-fi mystery) this week. I'll also be sitting down with my brother to hammer out the details of what else needs to be done to finish up an edutainment game he and I have been working on. I'll be posting more info about both projects on this blog in the coming months.

Exciting times ahead!

Plugging away

Well, it's been about three months since my fantasy novella Shadowcursed has been released and so far the majority of feedback I've received has been really positive. I've also just had my first author interview, by Jill Marie at Little Hyuts, you can read it here.

Most of my recent time though has been been on getting my 3D level for the Dark Mod (tentatively titled 'Requiem') completed. It's turned into a very labor-intensive project, especially since I've never done anything like it before, but it's been really rewarding. One of the nice things about level design is that, unlike writing, it's a visual medium so you can take screenshots and share them before the whole thing is done. When you write a novel or short story you usually need to wait until you've got a completed draft before anyone gets a peek at it, and usually that'll be beta readers who will tear it apart. I think I still prefer writing overall, but it's definitely nice to get immediate feedback :-).

As I've completed sections of the level, I've been uploading screenshots to the Dark Mod forums and so far everyone seems to like what I've made. Here are a few of those shots. Apologies if they're dark, I haven't been able to find a way to adjust for that in the shots. In game it's much brighter:

A mentor whose helping me on the Requiem got inspired and wrote up a really flattering post here. Let's just hope the finished project lives up to the praise :-). I'm hoping to get the level done and into beta-testing within a month, or two at the latest so we should see shortly.

I've also started thinking more seriously about my next writing project. I've gotten the main plot down, and will start outlining as soon as Requiem is finished up. 

So, still plugging away, stay tuned for more. 

Babies, novellas, and video games

Wow, has it really been a year since my last post? Crazy how time flies. The lack of posting definitely hasn't been because of a lack of working, in fact this last year has been one of my more productive ones. I'll be getting back to posting more frequently (at least bi-monthly), but here's a recap of what I've been up to:

First off...I'm now a dad :-).

It's been a couple of months, and so far fatherhood is great. It definitely makes you think differently about writing too. I've always found myself drawn to grittier topics, but having my daughter around has made me warm a bit to more mellower plots and story ideas. Go figure.

I've also finished and e-published a novella. As of this blog it's available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble (still working on getting it up on Smashwords). My friend Jon really came through with an amazing cover too:

I'll be writing in a bit more detail about the novella in a future post.

I also have two computer game projects that are pretty far along now. One is an edutainment game that I'm making with my brother, and the other is a game level for the Doom 3 modification "The Dark Mod". Details on these will probably be for a future post too, but here are some pictures:

So, that's a summary of what I've been up to during this long silence. More details to come in future posts.