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Here is an interview with one of the best Flash coders on the planet, oh and he's made some of the downright scariest Flash games on the planet as well. Ben Leffler is the author of the excellent game series 'Exmortis' (roughly translated "of the dead") and here I grill him on what inspired him, how he did it and what he has planned next. Read on...

Shane - First up Ben, what most people on this site will be interested in are the Exmortis games, can you give us a brief back story of how they came about, was the first game merely a vessel for you to write a high production Flash game or are you a genuine fan of the horror genre in gaming?

Ben - The first game was actually born of my requirement to learn flash - at the time I was a reasonably experienced web designer but I knew that I had to evolve my skills to include Flash. I was also a massive fan of the Silent Hill/Alone In The Dark/Myst series of games so what better way to learn Flash than by creating a game in a genre that I held such a huge respect for. Thus the original Exmortis game was born. Surprisingly I received an overwhelming and positive response from the community to that game and it was the catalyst to starting me on the path of becoming a full time flash & game developer.

Shane - I'll get this one out of the way early, when is Exmortis 3 out?

Ben - As of today, it will be officially hitting Fizzy.com in its entirety in August 2009.

Shane - What can we expect in the 3rd game? Is anything drastically changed or can we look forward to more of what we like?

Ben - I'd like to think that I've taken the best elements of the preceding Exmortis games and wrapped it up in this 3rd chapter. I've also added elements from other genres such as puzzle and shooter games to give many different casual gamers something to enjoy. On top of all that, add a little spit-n-polish and you'll have what I hope will be the trendsetting casual game for this genre for a long time  to come.

Shane - Can you clear up reports I've read that Exmortis 3 will be available in free and paid for versions, what can we expect from each?

Ben - This chapter in the series will indeed be available in a free and commercial version. At this stage we are still yet to publically finalize the exact details of what will be in only the commercial version when compared to the free version, but the general plan is to have approximately 2-3 times the content, multiple endings and additional subplots in the paid version. 

Shane - You've nailed Flash gaming, do you plan to continue making games for the format or maybe you're thinking about getting into making retail games for console/pc? Have you pursued this idea at all, or indeed plan to?

Ben - Traditional "off-the-shelf" retail games are not something we have dabbled in yet, but who knows where the future takes us here at 3RD Sense. We're firmly committed to the casual gaming community, but with the introduction of simplistic media delivery platforms and networks for low-level burgeoning developers in Wii, PlayStation, XBOX and iPhone - I would never say that we will always solely be about flash gaming development.

Shane - Can you tell us a little about how you create your games, they are of such a higher quality than the average Flash game. What tools/software did you use?

Ben - Well, first and foremost it goes without saying the Adobe suite of CS3/CS4 applications (more specifically Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator & Audition) is a terrific base of applications to begin with. Then depending on how in-depth you want to go with your content creation, other applications like ImageLine Fruity Studio and Swift 3D make creating a polished and rich multimedia experience an absolute cinch. It also helps to have a comprehensive library of reusable sound effects, code classes and animations at your disposal.

Before you start your gaming project, go in with a plan. It's important that your game be unique and different. and if you can't make it different, make it better. And remember that even if your game has the most amazing physics engine, gaming engine or whatever - no one likes playing with badly drawn characters or stick figures. Production values play a very important part in making a mediocre game something special.

Shane - To generate such an atmosphere through a Flash game is quite unusual, can you let us know the influences for how you came up with the general atmosphere and scary parts of the games.

Ben - I've had the pleasure of experiencing a huge variety of horror games, movies and television shows and the one thing that stands out in every single one that I've enjoyed is a sense of timing. There is no use just throwing up a whole heap of scary images with loud noises on a regular basis, because after a short while the audience will expect it and it will result in a diminished emotional response. There is a definite art form to sucker punching a player with a scare - and it is accomplished through timing, lead-up and immersion. "Build 'em up just to tear them down" is a good motto to remember.

Shane - I hear you're a fan of Sam Raimi and the Evil Dead movies, I'm not just saying it for the purpose of this interview but The Evil Dead is my favourite movie ever, are there any references to the films within the Exmortis games?

Ben - I certainly am a big fan of the Evil Dead series. The second game actually paid homage to the writer/director by naming a town "San Raimi" after him in the world of Exmortis. In fact, I might just take that homage a little further in the upcoming Exmortis 3. (Extra points goes to the first person who can pick the reference once the game is released)

Shane - Any personal favourite video games you'd like to let us know about, any games you aspire to being able to create in a similar way one day maybe?

Ben - The one game that comes to mind that I personally would aspire towards in terms of mythology, genre and style is the masterful Diablo series. I salivate at the thought of one day working on a project with a scope that draws upon the influence of that game. I continually try and push the boundaries of what Flash is capable of doing in a successful and non-gimmicky kind of manner. Who knows - there might even be a possible Exmortis spin-off in this style one day.

Shane - I've read about 'The Curse of Exmortis', the fact that during production of the games you have encountered incredibly bad luck, nothing too serious I hope?

Ben - Thankfully the curse hasn't reared its ugly head of late. But yes - over the course of development of each game I have endured computer system crashes/rebuilds, mysteriously deleted files and even a laptop that was stolen from me that held the initial 6 months worth of Exmortis 3 development on it. It sometimes felt like there was some mystical force at work trying to stop me from releasing Exmortis upon the world. Thus the "Curse of Exmortis" term was born. In each case, it was difficult to recover from. But what can I say - Exmortis is my labor of love.

Shane - I hear you are now in full time employment with '3RD Sense', so now you get paid for creating games, cool, what's that like?

Ben - Living the dream, my friend. I work here at 3RD Sense with a team of very talented individuals constantly feeding off each other creatively and technically. I'm loving it. The scope of projects that 3RD sense works on inspires me to continually push myself and become a better games developer. I have a lot of respect for the people and I'm enjoying every minute of my time here.

Shane - Any Flash games, horror themed or otherwise, that have impressed you either technically or otherwise?

Ben - An old game that motivated me to create the original Exmortis comes to mind - Lost Found. Whilst it is considered to be quite outdated by today's standards, at the time it had some elements that really impressed me and motivated me to "go one-up on it". Most recently I think there are two games that have set the trend for casual games in horror ("Hotel 626" at http://hotel626.com/ ) and first person point-n-click ("Morningstar" at http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/495972) respectively. Hotel 626, whilst being primarily a product marketing piece, impressed me because it really raised the bar as far as production values are concerned in flash games. Morningstar however caught my fancy because of the complexity and depth of the puzzles and story. They both are quite remarkable pieces in their own respect.

But one cannot go past the most recent addition to the "instant classic" tag when referring to the amazing "Little Wheel" (http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/498994) - Words cannot describe how much this game deserves accolades. You just have to play it to see what I mean.

Shane - Ok Ben I could grill you all day but I'll wrap it up there, can you let us know what you have planned for the future and how long can we expect the Exmortis games to continue? As a final note, can you please tell us something about Exmortis that nobody else knows?

Ben - To term an old sporting analogy, I'm taking it one game at a time. My main priority is to get Exmortis 3 finished and unleashed upon the world. Then I go for a bit of a holiday to Europe for about a month before deciding on what my next big project will be. As far as Exmortis is concerned - the plan was for this to be the definitive end to the Exmortis point-n-click series of games. However depending on the success of the 3rd chapter, I am sure I will be looking to expand upon the story and/or mythology in other genres of game. But for now, my main focus is on delivering Exmortis 3 to the public.

And for a little interesting tidbit of information on Exmortis 3 that no-one else has heard about. In the prologue chapter to the game you'll meet Azrael - the brother of the "big-bad", Vlaew. His purpose in this game is to imbue you with "the power of the Ancients." So you can expect to wield powers throughout the game such as telekinesis, teleportation, regeneration, perception and another little power called "destruction" which will allow you to literally explode enemies apart violently with a mere thought. Oh - and here's a screenshot of the game that I haven't released yet.

Cheers,

Ben.

Exclusive Exmortis 3 screen grab not seen anywhere else before!

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I would personally like to thank Ben for his valuable time for this fantastic insight into an excellent game series, we at GameScares.com wish him all the best for the future and can't wait for Exmortis 3.

*UPDATED* - You can now play all of the current Exmortis games right here on GameScares.com, click:

Exmortis -- Exmortis 2 -- Exmortis 3 (Demo)

Also definitely worth a try are two more of Ben's horror titles:

Purgatorium & Goliath the Soothsayer