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.

Vote for Shadowcursed!

Hey guys,

Well this is pretty great news. Big Al's, one of the larger indie book review sites on the web, has just nominated my novella, Shadowcursed, for a Reader's Choice Award!

I'm actually pretty flattered just to have won the nomination, but with enough votes I might actually win too. I'd be forever grateful to anyone who went and gave their vote to Shadowcursed. By voting you also enter a giveaway where you can win some nice prizes, so it's win-win all the way around.

To vote, just go to this site and in the Fantasy category check off Shadowcursed:

http://booksandpals.blogspot.com/2014/03/readers-choice2.html

Thanks!

After the contest is done I plan on doing a new update post. I've been keeping busy, starting on my next novel and also putting together another Dark Mod level. Here's a teaser screenshot of the level in the meantime:

-Gelo

Interview about Shadowcursed and Requiem

Just a small post to let you know that Sabrina Ricci over at Digital Pubbing interviewed me about my novella Shadowcursed, and its free companion game Requiem. You can find the interview here:

http://www.digitalpubbing.com/an-interview-with-gelo-fleisher-author-of-shadowcursed/

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.