Games by JimD Newsletter – Game Updates & Checkpoints!

Welcome to my 74th newsletter!

It's one of my favorite times of the year, not just because it's almost Thanksgiving and leads into the Christmas season (I grew up Catholic, so that's what I celebrate). I also enjoy the time off from my regular 9-to-5 job. This allows me to catch up on projects I have wanted to do and get a few breaks in. When I say that most of my evenings involve writing, I mean it. My days usually involve clinical data management in the daytime and writing for 2-3 hours every night. Between the end of November and December, I have an additional ten days off from my job in data management, which is incredible for me. I hope you are also getting some time off from school and work so you can enjoy your holidays.

In the meantime, I have been very productive for all my games. As you will see below, my word count is ahead of schedule, and I hope to put out a new beta for Deadbury Academy. I know some of you have been waiting for that.

I'm also thinking ahead to my next game for StoryLoom and will discuss that.

And, of course, there was some big development news out of Choice of Games last week, and I will explain its impact on you.

Let's get started.

Checkpoints

Dan Fabulich, creator of Choicescript, recently posted an update to the software that allows the addition of checkpoints. Below is the post he made on the forms.

https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/new-in-choicescript-html-exports-checkpoints-and-achievements/144880

Developers of Choicscript games can now place checkpoints to allow players to return to a previous location. For example, if you die in Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, you would have to restart from the very beginning of either Part 1, Part 2, or Part 3. There was no way to give checkpoints within chapters (also called scenes). This is the number one most requested feature from players for years.

With the addition of checkpoints, you can restore your game at any time and be taken back to the last save point.

I have already updated Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven with this feature. It is slowly rolling out to all of the additions to the game. So far, it's active on Steam, but Apple and Google take longer to roll out updates to their apps.

When your game updates with the new feature, you'll notice you can save your game at the beginning of each chapter and at specific milestones in the game. For example, when there are large chapters like chapter 9 of ZE:SH, you will now be able to save the game three times:

• At the start of the chapter
• After returning from the train station
• Before going with Madison and Reilly to the Research Station

Throughout the game, you can set three checkpoints and name them so you can remember where they are.

You'll also notice a new option in the Stat menu: Restore from a checkpoint. When you select this option, you can restore the game from any of the three checkpoints you set.

I will be using this checkpoint feature in the future in all of my games. Over time, I will update older games with this feature. Please let me know if you like how I have implemented this in Safe Haven because I can still make changes.

Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 4

Part 4 currently stands at 434,000 words, with an additional 19,000+ words this month. I plan to add at least another 3,000-4,000 words this month.

I am currently working on missions that will appear in chapter 14. I hoped to finish the college campus mission this month, but I'm still adding new content. However, I want to take my time developing that critical chapter, so I will set it aside temporarily and work on chapter 15. If you are subscribed to the $5 tier of my Patreon, you will be able to see this chapter and the next beta release on Saturday.

Chapter 15 is pivotal because it will be the first significant time jump in the game. I have decided to jump ahead to the end of September, roughly 20 weeks or 4 ½ months from the outbreak's start. You will be able to see how things have changed, and you will also see how all of your upgrades to the junkyard have progressed.

All of the missions I have written for chapter 14 will eventually be converted to a new system where you can select missions at the end of each chapter. It will be similar to how I did Part 5 of the original Zombie Exodus, where you can go to various places around the Cathedral independent of the timing. However, because I always do things challenging, I will have subtle differences in the missions in Safe Haven, depending on when you visit them. For example, some people may not be there anymore, or there may be fewer resources later in the story. This will be done to add more realism.

I'm often asked when this game will be released. It is tough to predict that. When I finish the content, I send it to Hosted Games for editing and production. They place your game in a queue, and it does not matter if you are a top-selling or brand-new game — you are all treated the same. Last I checked, that queue is seven months. So even if I hand them off the game at the end of 2024, they will not release it until mid-2025.

I also have no interest in rushing the game to get it out. I have done that earlier in my career, and it only leads to bad results. I would rather make the game that I want to make, and I will take those readers with me on the journey who are willing to wait around. I also give everyone opportunities to read the beta releases, which helps show you where the game is headed.

Deadbury Academy

I have worked on Deadbury Academy this past month but have focused mainly on Safe Haven and Stronghold. This is how it's going to be going forward. I have only written about 7,000 words this month. However, the next release will include your character heading to various places around Steadbury Academy, and I would like to code all of them before releasing the next section. It's a significant endeavor, and I want to take my time and not put out a minor release.

If you haven't tried the public demo yet, it's worth trying. It's a more streamlined version of the Safe Haven mechanics. Here's the link:

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

Zombie Exodus: Stronghold

I've been consistent with updates for Stronghold. Chapter 17 has just been released, and I release a new chapter every Friday. The story will wrap up within the next few months, so I am already looking ahead. The game is doing very well and has become the number-one game on the platform! StoryLoom has greenlit a new project I would like to work on immediately following Stronghold.

I recently put up a poll to ask what game concepts you would most like to see. This poll is open to everyone, and you can find it here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-storyloom-93086885

I still plan to use AI generated images for the next story. This gives me the most flexibility in presenting the story how I see it. Some of you have been concerned about the use of AI generated images and how they reuse art from artists as part of their training modules. If it helps you to know this, I only use stable diffusion, which is trained on licensed art. All artists have been paid for using their images while training the models.

It's been an amazing process to build Stronghold, and I have learned a lot over the past six months. I plan to use these lessons learned in my next game.

You can download the official StoryLoom app for iOS or Android (https://bio.site/GetStoryLoom) or play the game directly through your browser on PC or mobile at:

https://storyloom.com/stories/jimd-zombie-exodus-stronghold?id=dec44624-b3a3-0f8b-d7b9-b278fa380b91

That's all for this month.