Leef

Hey, guys! I'm cleaning out some folders and found a few things that might interest you. I'm not 100% on what they're worth so I'd be open to offers on all. Everything comes with a .psd. The HAs: - masculine & feminine base - 6 hairstyles - 4 eyebrows - 2 eyes - 1 glasses - 3 lips - 1 nose - & a male AND female version for each of these clothes: labcoat, skirt, pants, dress shirt, shoes, stockings, tshirt, underwear - organization has nice foldering (screenshot below) Please leave offers below, PM, or reach out on Discord at IvyGarlands#9071 - Thanks!

@Mobotropolis Thank you for your questions & time - I do want to address these things if unclear. I apologize if I gave the impression that I'm picking up a game to learn how to run a business, because that could not be further from the truth (and would be irresponsible of me). A great deal of time has gone by; I have grown professionally and personally, and I am confident in my skills to lead a team and see this through. If becoming a better manager is a perk I gain, great - but I want to create a game to right what wrongs I can and to prove to myself that my dreams can be reality.

Hey, @Mobotropolis! Thank you for your questions; I'll do my best to answer them. : ) I want to first assure you of one thing: I am not the same person as I was five years ago. Yes, I do still have quite a bit to learn (especially as I've been gone for while), but I imagine so does everyone in the pet site sphere, in order to adapt to an ever-changing industry and an aging audience. But as for life experience, I am faaaar more equipped to handle a leadership position than I was then, and I think I bring a special kind of camaraderie to the table with my growing staff. After this whole debacle I actually changed my course of study from pre-med to business (so as to learn from my mistakes and make better choices moving forward), and I have been happily and rapidly growing in an advertising/business career ever since. I am a manager for a game production company for my day job, but I still have plenty of time & heart to commit to Figment, and a world of difference and growth since the days of Evocality. Now, as to your question of whether folks will want to play & support Figment, given my history, I cannot say. As much as this game is a business, it is also a passion project of mine. If people don't want to support it, I don't blame them at all. But my heart is already invested, ultimately, for a game that I want to play. It will exist whether it is supported or not... and I can only hope folks will eventually see its potential, and love it like I do - even if they don't particularly like its owner. A part of learning and growing for me is knowing that "sorry" can only go so far. Now is my time to make an actionable difference, and I hope even skeptics will allow me that chance. (And just to clear this up: Evocality is not in production right now. Sorry for not making that more clear. It is a future endeavor of mine to see it through, but this is not for years to come.) I am happy to share my needs for Figment and more details about the game in a week or so. Your inkling is right... it is better to do so in its own thread. : ) Thank you for the questions! Let me know if you have any more / if anything was unclear.

Hey, guys-- Leef here. For the most part, I've been working on a pet game silently. But it's come to the point where I need help, and I don't think posting vague job descriptions on TGL under a pseudonym would be very forthright of me. So, with much happiness and also extreme trepidation, I announce that I am returning to the pet site industry. I'm working on a game called Figment, and it's very close to being a real, tangible thing. I thought you all ought to know first, as many of you gave money to a Kickstarter campaign (& etc.) for Evocality, and most of you saw nothing in return. And, to be blunt, that's pretty crappy. I'm still, years later, trying to make it right. You deserve answers, so I have put together this FAQ. I hope it gives you some resolution. FAQ: 1. What happened with Evocality? About five years ago, during the production of Evocality, I fell into a huge depression that I couldn't shake. I wasn't online very often, and didn't do too terribly much when I was -- despite my staff working around the clock and investing their personal time and money into the project. It was a time in my life when I was not emotionally stable; I could see the downfall of my game - which was my passion project and my child - was coming, and I couldn't properly handle the pressure and responsibility. There are many intricacies to this story -- too many to go into, and that are redundant now. But it was never my intent to hurt or scam people. My vision was very important to me, as it was to the members of my staff and many members of the virtual pet community who became invested in the dream. Tensions understandably rose when game production declined, but I don't fault anyone for their anger. I was 22, I made bad decisions, I had no business experience and had no reasonable right to think I could run a business off the ground cold - and ultimately the failure of Evocality was my fault. Anger is justified. I offer you all a sincere apology for my actions, and for the downfall of our conjoined dream. 2. Why were you unable to make the game with all that money? 1. At the time we had a lot of art, but had no coding - so it was my idea to launch a Kickstarter campaign to fund it. The campaign was set up horribly. Much of the money made from it went into fulfilling the backer rewards, which, as you know, were never delivered anyways. 2. What coding I did order was never delivered. My naivety was taken advantage of by programmers who asked for huge upfront payments, only to disappear. Young, dumb, trusting me continued down this path with programmers, despite being scammed. By the end of it, we had a login page and not much else. 3. I did things I definitely shouldn't have, like selling account numbers and pets for USD, and then not recording what I'd sold. It wasn't a malicious thing; I was just stupid. 4. Again, young and dumb - and saw beautiful art, graphics, and other shiny, distracting things, and made purchases that were entirely unnecessary. So I completely mismanaged the money. 5. Evocality was an incredibly ambitious project that - I know now - couldn't have been made right for less than $100k. 3. Can you address the rumors between you and the game's proposed "buyer"? * Did you try to keep the pet art for personal use? Yes. The "personal use" project I wanted to continue using the art for was for a guild on GaiaOnline, where Evocality had already existed several years before it was ever a pet site in development, and where there was already a community of people who owned Evocality characters. Whether or not that was a sound decision (I understand both flips of the coin), the staff member/"buyer" who wanted to take Evocality rejected my proposal to retain some rights of the lines for Gaia - and though it saddened me, I ultimately let it go. * Did you "sell" the game? As for the "sale" of Evocality-- there was no such thing. The words "sale" and "buyer" were included in the proposed contract, as legal terms only. Given that taking on the project would incur the new owner a debt of several thousand dollars, I actually offered that individual money and support in the transition. I never, ever, asked to be compensated. Later I even created a thread on VPL asking for a new owner who could take on the financial responsibility to step forward and take the business "for free." I would have been giving away the game at a loss. * Did you ask for 50-50 profits with the new potential owner? I admit that, as it's been years and I was not in the best mental state back then, I could be misremembering this particular part. But I recall asking for a small percentage of net profit (like 1-2%) for the first few years of game launch to try to recoup my personal financial losses and to pay back my investors. Again, I never, ever "demanded" 50% of profits. That's absurd. I did ask for 50-50 legal ownership in order to protect myself against backlash, should the new owner fail to fulfill the backer rewards and leave me in a legal situation that I couldn't resolve. But after all the rewards were given out, the new owner would be transferred 100% ownership of the game. This proposal was wholly taken out of context and blown up to be something that it wasn't. * Did you pay your artists? 100% yes. Everyone on my staff was paid in full. And if by chance I am not recollecting correctly, I implore my former staff to please reach out to me and we can discuss this privately. I have PayPal receipts of all payments - if there is a mistake, let me know so that it can be rectified. 4. Then why did you dodge questions & disappear? I never *really* disappeared from this community; I've silently watched from afar for a few years. I was sad when VPL went down, but I was still in contact with some kind folks from the old days. I hid from the community for about three years because of the backlash against me; folks were understandably upset, but some of the feedback was hostile and a few individuals even went to my personal social media pages and stalked and harassed me there. Any questions I didn't answer when the fallout happened were not addressed because of legalities. At the time I was being advised by a lawyer and many of the inquiries I had to find graceful ways of dodging. It wasn't at all because I wasn't listening or concerned about those same queries; I was just scared. 5. I was a Kickstarter backer. Can I get a refund? The simple (and unfortunate) answer is, I cannot refund everyone for their pledges (at least at this point; we'll see what the future holds), BUT I do plan on giving the backers things of equivalent value to their former backer status, so that they are not walking away empty-handed for their generosity. These things cannot, at this point, be exactly what the backers were promised - and they will be related to Figment and not Evocality - but I have always intended on making things right, and I will. 6. I bought an ID and/or mutant from the auctions. Can I get a refund? Unfortunately, no. But I will open a thread here on TGL where you can request an account number for Figment. If you purchased a mutant during the auctions, you may request a custom pet be made for you, in addition to the custom pet you get for having contributed to the Kickstarter. More on this soon. 7. My friend got their custom pet. Why did I never get MY custom pet? In May of 2015, I was hospitalized. During that time, a member of my staff chose to kindly take up the payments of my colorists/artists. That person also saw that all of the customs ordered through Kickstarter were completed during my absence. When I returned, they approached me about taking on the Evocality project fully. At the time we had just received art for a new human avatar -- it had been an expensive endeavor, but the lines were gorgeous and had the name of a distinguished artist behind them. We agreed that, in exchange for the debt I owed this staff member (payments to artists and the completion of the customs), I would give them the rights to this artwork for use in their own pet site projects. In return, the staff member would absolve me of the debt and release the Kickstarter customs into a Google drive that I could access for distribution. The latter never happened. Still today, only about 30-50% of the 90+ custom backers received their pet art; the rest are within a Google drive I cannot (and may not ever) access. That being said, I would like to make this right. Many of you asked for custom pet designs that meant a lot to you, for one reason or another. For those of you who never received anything - not even the artwork - I am offering customs for Figment. (If you did receive Evocality artwork, but, obviously, cannot use/play the pet, reach out to me and we can discuss options.) If you additionally won a mutant auction, you may also get a second custom. Please bear in mind, fulfilling all 90+ custom requests will be at HUGE personal cost to me. I won't be able to commission them all very quickly; but, that said, they will be fully delivered within the next few years. 8. Custom pets: Where can I submit my request? Can I ask for a different custom design than I requested years ago? I will open a Google form to Kickstarter backers in a few weeks. It doesn't make sense to start collecting custom requests before you've seen all of the artwork (+ know what the game's about), so that you can make an informed decision about which lines you want. We will be unveiling the art here in TGL in a trickle over the next few weeks, and I hope you will love it. : ) Please feel free to request whatever custom design you'd like, so long as they are not deemed inappropriate. 9. Why not bring Evocality back into production instead? Evocality was meant to be a beast of a game. What was initially thought to take around $6,000 USD to make would realistically have taken something like $100-200k to do right. I made a lot of promises back then - expensive promises - without having the proper business know-how to execute them. I know now what is feasible for my budget, and what is not. I would much rather make a different - perhaps more simple - game that is LIVE now than continue chipping away at a project that cannot launch for years to come. Rather than downgrading the game I promised you all, I will continue to work on the beast that is Evocality (silently) in the future years, and I hope to eventually bring you something that we can all be proud of. 10. Will you ever run a Kickstarter campaign for a pet game again? No. But, I will sometime soon launch a Patreon for the purpose of tracking and filling "rewards" to my former Kickstarter backers. Bear in mind, the rewards you get from this Patreon are given in addition to what is owed to you from the Kickstarter. They will include special updates, behind-the-scenes & first looks, polls/decision-making opportunities for features, and - of course - free monthly item packs, skins, and forum vistas for Figment. This is just my way of saying thanks, and sorry. Anyone who backed the Kickstarter (or helped Evocality monetarily in any way) of ANY amount will have access to this reward tier. Also please bear in mind that Patreon does not allow for free tiers, so I must set the price of the tier to its minimum of $1 USD (sorry). We will use an honor system for those who claim these rewards; if it is taken advantage of, I will require proof (screenshots) of your KS contributions - so that it is fair to all involved. There may be additional reward tiers that you may choose to select, but note that - although these contributions do help in the development of our game - they are not necessary and the game will be made regardless. 11. What sets your new pet game apart from Evocality? The first and most important fact is, Figment already exists. The code is 95% done and we are in closed alpha. At this point, open beta is expected by about August 2019. While Evocality was set in a harsh and post-apocalyptic world, Figment is light, imaginative, and themed around nostalgia and whimsy. Think "early days of Neopets." Our pets are dogs and cats designed by the fabulous artist Kiboku. The world of Figment is a place where pets are hard to come by, and every pet has value. There are currently 17 art bases representing different breeds (or coat types) of pets. Each pet's coloring/design is one-of-a-kind & hand-designed by a site artist; no pet looks alike. This makes breeding your pets especially fun, since the site artists get to design the offspring to "look" like a mixture of their parents' colorings. Figment, much like Evocality, involves quite a bit of heavy lore & frequent roleplay events in which you can earn pets. And like Evocality, our plan is to include a weather and readable books feature (where players submit stories in exchange for premium site currency). But beyond that, there is so much new; crafting, recipes, professions/areas of study, adventure, skins & customs, collections, and more. I'm excited to share more with you over the coming weeks, and I hope to meet you there in-game. --- Thank you everyone for your time. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me here or via PM. My love to you all. ❤️ - Leef

Wow! Your style is beautiful. Good luck!

Same to you, friend!

@SingSong There should be no outstanding debt. As per our agreement, I surrendered rights to the human avatar art through email correspondence with the other party. But really it is unclear; I never received a response from them confirming the trade, which maybe was why I never received the rest of the customs via Google drive (and therefore many backers still do not have their customs). I haven't seen this human art used anywhere in the pet site community, and it was never published on any Evocality channels. So it's entirely possible the staff member meant to rescind the trade offer, and still considers me in debt to them -- but if that's true, it was never conveyed. I have been thinking this whole time that everything was buttoned up. Regardless, I do not consider myself the owner of those lines anymore. And yes, you are correct. That staff member paid the artists of their own volition while I was away. It's a shame their great kindness has suffered through all the drama.

@CyburaAh! Then I am indeed your Leef.

@Cybura& @goatsey: Thanks! EDIT: Cybura, are you Lyro?

Hey @SingSong, Thanks for reaching out. I can offer some exposition. In May of 2015, I was hospitalized. During that time, a member of my staff chose to kindly take up the payments of my colorists/artists. That person also saw that all of the customs ordered through Kickstarter were completed during my absence. When I returned, they approached me about taking on the Evocality project fully. At the time we had just received art for a new human avatar -- it had been an expensive endeavor, but the lines were gorgeous and had the name of a distinguished artist behind them. We agreed that, in exchange for the debt I owed this staff member (payments to artists and the completion of the customs), I would give them the rights to this artwork for use in their own pet site projects. In return, the staff member would absolve me of the debt and release the Kickstarter customs into a Google drive that I could access for distribution. The latter never happened. As for the "sale" of Evocality-- there was no such thing. The words "sale" and "buyer" were included in the proposed contract, as legal terms only. Given that taking on the project would incur the new owner a debt of several thousand dollars, I actually offered that individual money and support in the transition. I never, ever, asked to be compensated. Later I even created a thread on VPL asking for a new owner who could take on the financial responsibility to step forward and take the business "for free." I admit that, as it's been three years and I was not in the best mental state back then, I could be misremembering this particular part. But I recall asking for a small percentage of net profit (like 1-2%) for the first few years of game launch to try to recoup my personal financial loses and to pay back my investors. Again, I never, ever demanded 50% of profits. That's absurd. The "personal use" project I wanted to continue using the art for was for a guild on GaiaOnline, where Evocality had already existed several years before it was ever a pet site in development, and where there was already a community of people who owned Evocality characters. Whether or not that was a sound decision (I understand both flips of the coin), the staff member in question rejected my proposal to retain some rights of the lines for Gaia - and though it saddened me, I ultimately let it go. I admittedly dragged my feet when it came to the contract for the owner transition; I had a hard time letting Evocality go. Additionally, because of the financial and legal liability, I had to have the contract reviewed by a lawyer. It took quite a bit of time - and on top of it all, I was never present. I can't speak for the person who wanted to take on the game, but I can say that the time it took to review the contract was excessive, and I understand why they chose to back out of the deal. My sluggishness was jeopardizing the future of the game, and ultimately it would not have been a wise investment for them to take on. I don't mean to point fingers. If anyone is to blame, it is me. I made a lot of poor business choices that destroyed the game. But it was never, ever my intention to hurt, offend, scam, or mislead. I understand why rumors spread among my staff and broke out in the larger virtual pet community, and I also understand why many of you will still continue to believe them. You have no reason to trust me. But as I've learned and grown in these past few years, I decided that it's time to explain my side of the story, and I thank you for allowing me the chance to share it with you. Finally, as to your question regarding the future of the game.... I really don't know. Every year or so I've gotten sparks of inspiration and the desire to work on the project again, but fear and doubt have held me back. That said, I can't say it's impossible that Evocality will ever be made.

Hey, ya'll. I debated joining this discussion, but decided to pop in and lend my two cents. Hopefully you don't mind my bumping up an old thread. I never *really* disappeared from this community; I've silently watched from afar for a few years. I was sad when VPL went down, but I'm still in contact with some kind folks from the old days. I hid from the community for about three years because of the outlash against me; folks were understandably upset, but some of the feedback was hostile and a few individuals even went to my personal social media pages and stalked and harassed me there. It was during a time in my life when I was not emotionally stable; I could see the downfall of my game - which was my passion project and my child - was coming, and I couldn't properly handle the pressure and responsibility. There are many intricacies to this story -- too many to go into, and that are redundant now. But it was never my intent to hurt or scam people. My vision was very important to me, as it was to the members of my staff and many members of the virtual pet community who became invested in the dream. Tensions understandably rose when game production declined, but I don't fault anyone for their anger. I was 22, I made bad decisions, I had no business experience and had no reasonable right to think I could run a business off the ground cold - and ultimately the failure of Evocality was my fault. Anger is justified. I offer you all a sincere apology for my actions, and for the downfall of our conjoined dream. It does bother me to hear false rumors, however; I would like to clear this one up in particular. Everyone on my staff was paid in full. And if by chance I am not recollecting correctly, I implore my former staff to please reach out to me and we can discuss this privately. I have PayPal receipts of all payments - if there is a mistake, let me know so that it can be rectified. Anyways, I hope this answered some of your questions. My best to you all.

Hi, I am Leef and I joined on 09/30/17! View Member