jimdattilo

Games by JimD Newsletter – Game Updates, Getting Closer

Added 2025-07-21 17:35:57 +0000 UTC

Welcome to my 93rd newsletter! This was another tough month. I had surgery on July 16 for the bleeding in my stomach. Everything turned out okay, but I’m still recuperating. I put in a lot of work before my surgery and am slowly getting back to writing.

With ZE:SH Part 4, it’s coming together nicely, but there’s still so much I want to add. Even though I will be doing a free update next year, it’s essential that Part 4 has everything that one would expect. It’s not just about getting bad reviews, but I want my readers to enjoy the entire experience. It’s almost 1 million words already, but some storylines have not yet been addressed.

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

Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 4

Part 4 is 953,000 words, with over 47,000 words added this month. As I said above, I put in a lot of work before going into the hospital. Most of my effort has centered on adding content for challenges, if your character is hurt, if other characters in the group are hurt, and additional confrontations when you have multiple romantic interests. I am also working on bug fixes and the trading system, which I will discuss below.

I’ve been in talks with my editor at Hosted Games, and we are not aiming for September. I know the goal line keeps moving, but I need to get the game working well before a release. It will be over 1 million words, and it will be worth it. My roadmap for the next few years continues to be as follows:

Submit Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 4
Finish and submit Zombie Exodus: Stronghold
Work on Part 4-2 as a free update next year
Finish and submit Deadbury Academy, Part 1
Work on Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 5

Now, let’s talk about trading.

I’m working on a system where you can trade with other groups if you have a certain level of relationship with them. In the first iteration, you can trade with Southern Ute, RMBC/Thelma’s group, the Museum, the River Dogs, and the Silverthorne Militia. Depending on the needs of each of these groups, they will value each item differently. For example, the River Dogs need food and medicine, but they also have many chemicals, gasoline, and industrial products. The RMBC/Thelma’s group is looking for vice items (for example: cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, etc.). In this way, you might be able to buy low from one group and sell high to another. Of course, the system must work flawlessly so people don’t game the system. I’m almost finished the first version and should be able to post it next month for testing.

Also, next month, I will continue bug fixes and troubleshooting. I’m still adding new content, but I need to be careful about how many additions I make to the game. For example, I wrote a scene where Gina confronts the MC’s other romantic partner. Since there are so many potential partners, the scene exploded to 8000 words. That’s 4-5 days of writing.

Zombie Exodus: Stronghold

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

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

When I start developing Stronghold again, I will work on chapter 6. About two months ago, I reworked the outline and believe it should be about fifteen chapters. That number may change, but I think it’s a reasonable estimate. I’m aiming for the entire game to be roughly 300,000 words. I believe I can accomplish a lot in six months.