June 2008:

Culfire: There have been a number of developments at Culfire over the last couple of months. Cheryl Johnson has left the team due to other commitments but not before briefing us extremely well on how to build up the project. We wish her all the best for the future. Local musician, Aaron Jones has joined the team to work alongside programmer and web designer Mark Eyre. Both of them have created the brand new trailer, which is now up and running elsewhere on the site, and actually finishes with a "game-screen" graphic, supplied by probably the busiest member of Culfire, Sam Galentree. Click on the link for a shortcut. Also new for June, additions to the Gallery Page, which will introduce you to some of the adversaries for level two. As you can appreciate, games of this magnitude are a huge project and do take time to progress, but we are happy to report that the artwork for level one is flooding in and it is our hope that we may have something to show you for Christmas.

Ray Clark: The author himself has been extremely busy of late. Jimi Ogden, director of the independent film company, Yonder Films, is now reading The Lord of Misrule & Other Stories in the hopes of producing a documentary about Ray Clark and his work: there are also discussions with the producer of the Chris Evans Drive Time show and the possibility of a slot to talk about the project. Ray has also been invited to join the brand new Harper Collins venture authonomy, a project set up by the publishers to search out new talent in the writing world. The first six chapters of the author's crime novel, Merry Christmas ... Daddy can be read on-line at the Authonomy site once you have registered: it's the publisher's intention to cherry pick the best of the new talent from the comments received and offer publishing contracts for the most outstanding material. Ray has also finished his new horror novel Calix, which is now with an independent editor and is planned for a Christmas release. Misrule artist, Sam Galentree will once again be responsible for the book's cover.


March 2008:

The team at Culfire have worked extremely hard in the last month in order to bring you something we promised in the February news slot. We're very pleased to announce that we have in fact achieved our aim and if you click here you can now read an exclusive summary of the game's storyline. Please note that the graphics and the illustrations used in the summary have been specifically designed for that purpose and do not appear in the game itself.

February 2008:

Culfire
Since Christmas the Culfire team have had a number of meetings with one thing in mind, the decision on which platform to base the game.
The Lord of Misrule will be a traditional adventure played out on the PC. The emphasis will not be on high powered state-of-the-art, to-die-for graphics but in fact a storyline so full of twists and turns that even the most hardened adventurer will have hours of fun trying to unravel the ultimate achievement: click here for a view of the working interface. Further features of the site planned for later in the year will include a bigger gallery page and a more in depth author profile as well as a news update special next month when the team finally provide gamers with their first look at the game's synopsis with added graphics (not necessarily actual screen shots). It is still the hope of the team to eventually offer a free download of level one on the site, though no date for that has been set.

TLOM
News currently involving the author: work is well under way for a new horror novel with a working title of Calix, a terrifying story of possession originating at the Salem witch trials of the 1690's, and spanning three centuries when an American couple living in present day England finally face up to the power of fate and destiny. And The Lord of Misrule & Other Stories looks set to be nominated by the Writer's Digest for the the best book of 2007: the magazine that nominated the author's story Purple Rain for best short story of 2007 in the 76th annual writing competition where he was awarded a Certificate of Achievement and an Honourable Mention despite not winning.

January 2008:

Prorities at Culfire have changed slightly over the Christmas period as we have now realised that putting a game together is a much bigger job than we first thought. Thankfully, we have Cheryl Johnson on board cracking the whip and keeping us all in line. It was our original intention to try and have level 1 ready as a download before the end of 2007 but that has not been possible. What we are now trying to achieve is the completion of the design document upon which the game will be made and, if possible, also try to produce level 1 as a free download as soon as we can. There's a possibilty now that we may need one or two more artists and for those of you out there reading this who feel you may want to apply and ask for details, please feel free to do so. Please keep checking the site for a regular updates.

September:

September has heralded changes for the Culfire team and the site, not the least of which is the merger with the original Lord of Misrule website. There are major plans ahead for both sites, in particular, Culfire Entertainment will feature a gallery page. Players can have a first hand look at some of the fearsome creatures within the game which will offer a real insight to what makes them tick. A brief bio followed by a handy hint as to how you may overcome such an obstacle. Artwork is arriving daily and programmer Mark Eyre is now hoping to have level one finished and ready for free download by the end of October. With the best will in the world, things do not always go to plan and the date is only an estimation. Also for Culfire, the game trailer is finished and we've added a story trailer as well: the first section of the short story, a little taster of what you're up against. The Misrule side of the site contains a link to buy the book and also the option to post a review - should you like it. Talking of links you will notice that the whole of the Culfire team have been listed with a contact email; please feel free to do so if you would like any questions answering. A brief bio of each member of the team is also planned for a future date.

August:

Hi Guys, And welcome to the August update. Everything is going well. After the initial game trailer (mainly to show you guys), Mark has now settled down to creating an awesome website (which is not yet up and running): it includes a front page (which is basically the book cover) and then you click to enter. There is a new Culfire logo (courtesy of Sam) and a variety of buttons to click (i.e. links, bio, news, game trailer etc). Each of you have now settled into your various artwork jobs and we're going to list that on the site, either under contact or bio: Sam Galentree : character development Elisa Chong : backgrounds Jon Fobbs : finishing artist Lisa Sweet : miscellaneous artwork including interface, wraps and cover Mark Eyre : game programmer and website development Ray Clark : game development and publication If any of you wish to see anything different on the above list, please let me know and we will change it before it goes to the site. Also, if there is anything you want to see added to the site, please let Mark know directly. One new page we are going to feature is The Gallery, where you will meet a few of the creatures from levels yet to come. News of level one's imminent release as soon as I get it, and of course, that's the level which will be available as a download on the site. So much done in so little time, pity we couldn't say that about the other crew...