This page is a readable archive of an interview with Martin “Mortis Ghost” Georis, the creator of OFF, which was conducted by Tumblr user “dukand” around February 15, 2017.¹⁾²⁾ It was thought to be lost once the user deleted their blog and the archive seemed broken, but it turns out that it was just obfuscated by bad coding. Some formatting alterations have been made, but all typos are presented as is.

I’m a big fan of Mortis Ghost and his work since I found out about OFF, his most known and sucessful project in mid 2015. The game had a huge impact in my creative view and set out to be one of my top 10 games of all time despite it’s simplicity and rather bizarre atmosphere.

When I completed OFF, I was so blown away by it’s storyline that I went to play some of the most known OFF fan-games such as HOME, CONTINUE STOP RISE and 365, but it wasn’t enough.

That’s when I had my first contact with Mortis Ghost’s passion, Comics, Dr. Cataclysm, his current project.

“Dr. Cataclysm mainly tells the adventures of Janos Cola, spatial delivery man, and his friends Agrippa and Melon, who are traveling in cosmos in their spaceship: the Plescops. They’re landing on planets, and there’s all kind of funny and mysterious plots, they meet characters and people who want to kill them, then they eat ice creams, then I don’t really know yet, but there is this evil organization which chase them, and it ends badly, for sure.”

Believe me, there’s more to this artist than it seems, that’s why I brought to you, an exclusive interview with the creator of one of the most popular bizarresque games in the french-speaking community and an ascending comic series, the one and only MORTIS GHOST…

First of all, thank you Mortis for accepting to take this interview with me. As many of us are wondering, we would like to know how everything started, when was your first contact with art in general?
This is a tough one to begin with. My family is full of artists so I don’t really remember my first contact with “art”. By the way, I think there’s art everywhere, like in TV shows, wallpapers, food… So, it’s hard to escape from it.

What would you say have been your biggest influences on what you do?
Comics artists are the one I prefer I think. When I was a kid I loved the stories of “Peyo” the original creator of the smurfs. But a lot of people and things influenced who I am now. I can namedrop Taiyo Matsumoto, who is the artist I like the most, and who’s drawing mangas such as “Number 5”, “Gogo Monster” and “Sunny”

How does art / story-telling impact your life? Are you a full-time artist?
Artist is a strange concept. I’m just doing what I like and that’s it. Art & Story-telling have a huge impact on my life, but everyone is in the same case, I think. It depends of your definition of art, I suppose. This is a strange answer, but this is also a strange question.

In your own perspective, what do you think was your first big project?
I think OFF was. Before it I made some little comics, but nothing as big as this game. It was a big step, but at the time it didn’t felt like it. It was just this thing I enjoyed taking time for.

How long have you been drawing comics? What was your first comic and what was the story?
I draw comics since I’m a child, so it’s hard to remember. The older I can remember was a story about pirates. But I don’t really remember more …

Giving the great success of Dr. Cataclysm, now with over 50 patreon supporters, do you feel the choice of translating it to english was a crucial part in gathering fans?
At the time I began Dr Cataclysm, I made the choice to translate it in english cause most of my followers and fans were already English-speakers (because of Off). I did not really had a choice.

What does Dr. Cataclysm mean to you? Will this be the project “of your life” or you don’t expect much of it?
It’s weird to think something as “the project of you life” I think, because what do you do when it’s over ? Dr Cataclysm is my big project now, and I’m really into it, but I hope I’ll do other good things when it’ll be done.I do my best to create the best story I can, but I try also to not make this “all my life” cause I need a little recoil on my own work, or else it’ll drive me crazy. Or disappointed.

Do you think the majority of your followers came from the translated versions of your projects or there were always many french-speaking followers?
The big part of my fans obviously follows me cause of Off. There’s no comparaison between the success the game had, and my other stuff.

I know you’re a little bit tired of being recognized by the amazing game OFF, but how do you stand being the creator on one of the most influential “Bizarresque Modern 8Bit” games with a fanbase as huge as OFF’s?
I’m happy.

What was the most archieving sensation after the English translation of OFF? the fanart? the fan-games? the messages you recieved?
All of this was very sudden and surprising for me (and Alias Conrad Coldwood). I did not expected at all all these things. I think the best for me was to see the lot of people who cosplayed my characters. I was literally stunned by this. But everything the fandom made was crazy !

I played some of your other games such as “There is a Picture” in collaboration with Alias Conrad Coldwood and Exaheva. What is the best thing of creating games with a team of friends?
I don’t really know what to answer … What’s the best thing about doing activities with friends ? Being with my friends I suppose ? Exchange ideas and making jokes. Eating stuff.

Do you disagree a lot when making these types of games?
When we made “There is a picture”, like every time I made games with other people, we choose the tasks everyone had to do at the very beginning. So there wasn’t a lot of disagreements between us. Also, the people I make games (or projects) with, are generally my friends, which are quite on the same wavelength as me. Most of the time.

Wich games do you prefeer the most? I know Mother 3 is among one of your favourites.
Mother 3 is by far my favorite game. But I love a bunch of other ones. Hard to do a complete list, but let’s mention Ocarina of Time, Killer 7, Red Dead Redemption, Final Fantasy 8, Super Metroid, Dark Souls, the Metal Gear franchise, Street Fighter III, Journey, Silent Hill 2…

Have you played Undertale? Some say Undertale’s success is the success that OFF never had but should have.
Yes I played it, and it was awesome. I loved this game a lot ! I think it’s far better than Off, and it fairly deserves its success. The game is really more positive and less cynical than Off, and that’s what I liked in it. Off already had a big success and was played by a lot of people, so I don’t really understand why compare the fame of these two games. I’m really happy with the success Off had and still have today.

What was your reaction when you knew “Papyrus” (a character in Undertale) was partially inspired by “Dedan” of OFF?
Iwas really surprised and happy. The two characters are very different, so I don’t really know what I can think more about this.

And for the final question that every living thing on the universe is begging to know……. what is your real name?
My real name is not a secret at all.

English Blog: http://mortisghost.tumblr.com/
French Blog: http://mortisanticosmo.tumblr.com/
Facebook Page: http://facebook.com/Mortis-Ghost
Twitter Page: http://twitter.com/MortisGhost

Read Dr. Catacysm: http://patreon.com/mortisghost
Download OFF (english): https://goo.gl/R9dKFf
Download There Is A Picture: https://goo.gl/cLhqua
Read other comics: http://grandpapier.org/mortis-ghost
Watch Livestreams (with Exaheva): http://twitch.tv/exa_et_mortis

Get in touch with Mortis: mortisnova[at]gmail.com