"Undead Realm：Ego" has been officially released today.
To be honest, I'm having very mixed feelings right now, and mostly it's embarrassment. Because in this horror FMV of mine, I myself feel that there are many parts that are particularly awkward.
Some of you may ask, since you feel it's awkward yourself, why didn't you make changes?
It's not that I didn't want to change it. I wanted to change it more than anyone else. But it's not like fixing a bug in the program or adding a picture by an artist.
I have to mention the particularity of FMVs. Once the shooting is done, the crew, the actors and so on will disband. It's basically impossible to go back and do reshoots (except for extremely wealthy companies).
Then some of you may ask again, if you felt it was awkward when reading the script, then don't shoot it. Just change the script.
Here's another thing I have to say. As someone who originally made traditional games and crossed over to make FMVs, my grasp and anticipation of the script were indeed insufficient. Essentially, it's a matter of lacking ability, and this is also the main aspect where I need to improve myself in my future FMVs.
On the other hand, the same script, with different actors, different on-site arrangements, and different post-production treatments, will all affect the final performance. Truly, different trades are separated as by mountains. It's not necessarily entirely the problem of the script itself. Otherwise, why could James Wan become a great director of horror films in Hollywood? He's really amazing.
To be honest, at some moments in these past few days, I really thought about just releasing this work for free.
Mainly because I've received a lot of emails from you guys, and the emails are full of encouragement for me and expectations for the game.I really feel that I've let you all down. It would be embarrassing to ask you to pay while presenting you with something not so good. But if I release it for free, then there will be no funds at all to make better horror FMVs in the future. So I can only put on a brave face and release it. I hope you can see more attempts and ideas in this work than in the previous one, "Back".
I was particularly impressed by a letter from one of you, because it was very similar to what I thought. He especially liked that the actor Wen Jun, who starred in "Back", also participated in "Undead Realm：Ego". He felt that it was with his support that there was a second work and that it led to Wen Jun's second appearance. Actually, that's quite right. The feeling is that players, developers, and actors grow up together and become better little by little. To put it more realistically, you are the ones who support me, and I'll strive to make more and better FMVs for you.
While writing, I just realized that I've gone off topic. "Undead Realm：Ego" welcomes all your criticisms. For the aspects where the game is indeed not done well, I'll try my best to optimize them in the next product, "Back 2".
Finally, if there's any young actor in the game that you hope can participate in the next horror FMV, you can also leave a message. I'll collect them and strive to accumulate from small actors and small works to become big actors and big works with your help.Especially for our young actresses, they shivered with cold during the shooting of this work in the mountains where the temperature dropped suddenly. They really worked hard through several sleepless nights. I hope their efforts can be seen by everyone. (Actually, you can notice some continuity errors. The cameraman was wearing a down jacket, while classmate Wen Jun was wearing a skirt and short sleeves, so she often hugged her arms because of the cold. I was also on the scene all the time, sitting in a wheelchair, feeling extremely embarrassed because I broke my foot playing basketball a week before the shooting.)
Actually, it seems that there's something very important that I haven't said yet. But there are so many things to deal with these days, and there are just a few of us. I'll talk about it when I remember. Wish you all a pleasant (horrifying) gaming experience.