Games by JimD Newsletter – Game Updates, Future Plans

Welcome to my 95th newsletter! This has been a strange month. I’ve been working exclusively on Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 4, and trying to work out the bugs, fix grammar and spelling issues, and add content that I missed before. It’s not been my normal work months, since I typically write for the first twenty-five days and then spend the last few testing and editing. This has been mostly editing and troubleshooting.

Since I am a chronic planner, I’m already thinking of what to do next. After I send Part 4 to Hosted Games, I have several things to continue writing. Mainly, I’m thinking of going back to Zombie Exodus: Stronghold. It’s halfway finished, and I could get it out within a few months. I have concerns about completing this game, and I will ask your opinion. You can read about it below.

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

Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 4

Part 4 is 1,006,000 words, which is 18,000 words this month. I hit that million-word milestone but have kept on adding to the game. A few great testers have been pointing out many issues, and I have been bagging them off one by one. It’s definitely a situation where I fix one thing and notice others. I aim to finish by the beginning of October, which is still later than I had hoped. I can’t see handing in the game when there are errors.

There will be a few things that I get to before I hand in, namely some of the background-specific missions. I’m worried that people will think I overlooked them. I plan to put a note at the end of Part 4 to inform everyone reading that I plan to write a free update that will include all that content. Unfortunately, not everyone reads notes at the end of the game. I plan to make a lot of posts on social media to let everyone know about my plan.

Future Development

After I turn in Part 4, I have three major things I want to work on:

1. Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven free update, including background-specific missions, age customization, and more romantic content.

2. Finishing Zombie Exodus: Stronghold.

3. Starting Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 5.

All of these seem important to me. The free update will give people the content they’ve requested. But I really want to finish Zombie Exodus: Stronghold. Part 5 would be great to start, but I don’t see it as a priority.

My biggest concern right now is giving the fans what they want. I’m going to give you full disclosure and talk openly.

Zombie Exodus: Stronghold is nowhere near as popular as Safe Haven. I love Stronghold, and people do read it, but it’s small compared to Safe Haven's readership. A published series will always have a bigger fan base, but I always thought Stronghold should have more interest.

If I stop producing content for Safe Haven for the next six months, I fear people will become disinterested in my projects. That could mean less support on Patreon, less community involvement on social media and Discord, and falling off to follow other games. When I have spent over a decade cultivating a readership, it would not be very smart to make a decision that would weaken my community.

I could work on multiple things simultaneously, but it divides my time and makes everything slower.

So, I want to ask what you think I should do. I put up a poll to ask your opinion.

Zombie Exodus: Stronghold

Stronghold is up to 150,000 words so far. If you are interested in testing it, please check out the link below:

https://cogdemos.ink/play/jimd/zombie-exodus-stronghold-public-beta/mygame/ 

Deadbury Academy

Deadbury Academy was updated a few months ago, and I posted a new demo at the following location.

https://cogdemos.ink/play/jimd/deadbury-academy/mygame/

As you may remember, I put the development of this game on hold until I finish writing Safe Haven, Part 4.

That's all for this month.