jimdattilo

Games by JimD Newsletter – Game Updates, Stronghold

Added 2025-10-21 23:28:31 +0000 UTC

Welcome to my 96th newsletter!

Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 4, is officially in the hands of Hosted Games! I will let you know as soon as I get some indication of when they will finish editing the files. It will most likely be early next year. The good thing is that I use only one app, instead of most games that use separate apps. ZEXSH is much easier to update.

We also haven’t talked about pricing. Hosted Games usually sets the price, and I tell them to lower it. And then we argue, and they typically do what they want. They are the publisher, so it’s usually not my choice. However, I have gotten them to keep prices low. I aim to make it $5 for Part 4 during the release month as a special offer.

I will have to wait before working on the free update for ZEXSH. Hosted Games is still working out some technical details with me, and when that is finalized, I have to put through the update for past bugs. That should come in November and fix many errors you have been requesting. After that goes in, I will have a more finalized copy that I can use to start on the free update.

Otherwise, I’m going to be working on Stronghold.

In this newsletter, I will review my development plans, as always. Let's get started.

Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 4

Part 4 is 1,020,000 words, which is 14,000 words this month. There were parts that I made that no one has seen yet. These got in at the last moment before I had a chance to have anyone else playtest them. Most of the content involves events that occur at the junkyard between chapters. These are passive events that your group will have little control over. For example, your group has to deal with infestations of insects, attacks by zombies, wildlife, and disease. These can be mitigated by things you have built and also by defenses.

I have also reworked how the junkyard gets improved when the main character is not the MC. Jaime and Rachel will now be better about building things.

I also coded a way to create new characters, Part 4, for those rare players who don’t import a saved game or would rather jump right into the action. I didn’t want you to be at a severe handicap if you choose this option, so I provided a few extra items and some junkyard improvements beginning at Part 4.

Many of you also probably never experienced a new event in which you can ask Allison to dinner. This allows you to form a romantic relationship with her. Allison’s romance will be more slow-burning than others, but she has an interesting story.

I have also added a lot of checkpoints so that you can make use of saves between chapters.

Zombie Exodus: Stronghold

I will focus on developing this for the next month or so, while waiting for some of the technical issues to be solved by Hosted Games.

So far, the game is at 150,000 words and should reach nearly triple that when done. It will not be as branching as Safe Haven, and overall, it’s a more linear story. However, there are primary paths that you can take that will change the game dramatically. It’s hard to explain without giving away major spoilers in chapter 1. I can say that profession/background is even more important than Safe Haven, but there is no significant benefit to one profession over another.

Stronghold is also much more streamlined than Safe Haven. You can turn on stat updates to see when stats change. Of course, you can turn that off for a more immersive experience.

Since you are not in one location for long, you won’t need to improve your haven or create defenses. Some players love building up the junkyard in Safe Haven, while others don’t want that level of management.

Stronghold also has fewer characters overall. There are six primary supporting characters besides the main character, played by you. Characters will join and leave your group throughout the game, but the core six will stay with your character for most of the story (and yes, none of them have plot armor).

The six main characters are also romantic interests. Romance is handled much differently because the entire story happens over a very short time. There won’t be numerous love scenes. It’s more about the emotional and a buildup to what happens after the climax of the story. Many of you enjoy romance; I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

A public version of the game is available, but I recommend holding off a few more days before you test it. I plan to release a new version for beta testers on Patreon on Saturday.