Games by JimD Newsletter – Project Updates, Emergency Medicine

Welcome to my 45th newsletter! This has been a strange month for me. I’ve had some health issues that I’ve been dealing with, and they became much more serious this past week. I will describe more about it below for those of you who want more information, or you can skip it and get to the normal project update news.

My health concerns also forced me to focus on the whole concept of medical emergencies in a post-apocalypse setting. We obviously all think about medical attention in a game like Zombie Exodus, and those characters with any medical knowledge become more important to the group. I will talk about this below for those of you are interested in the impact to ZE:SH. I’m not sure how much I can change in Part 3, but we can all discuss what changes we should make going forward.

Let’s get started.

Health Stuff

A brief disclaimer before I jump into this topic—I have no problem speaking personally about my life which could be jarring to some of you. In this section I will speak candidly about my health issues, so feel free to skip it if this does not interest you.

I’ve been having some pain in my stomach for several months, but I’ve been able to deal with it and keep working. Sometimes the pain was more aggressive and required sleeping during the day or taking simple pain meds which helped me get through it all. I spoke to my normal doctors who really had very little to offer. These are good doctors but belly pain is often a symptom of so many illnesses, it’s hard to pinpoint a diagnosis.

On Thursday, June 17, 2021, I was in such pain, I could not move and required an ambulance to bring me to the emergency room. I live close to the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, which is an amazing hospital with a full staff and all of the diagnostic tools that you can imagine. It is where you want to be if you need emergency medical care. Unfortunately the only major issue with this hospital is that it is overcrowded. The ER was so full I was placed on a gurney in the hallway until a room was available. I believe I waited for one hour, had a CT scan, and spoke with several doctors and nurses. I’m bringing up all these details for a reason which I will describe later, so bear with me.

It turns out I had acute pancreatitis, though it was actually caused by my gallbladder. I won’t bore you with the medical reasoning behind this, but apparently certain problems with your gallbladder can cause inflammation in your pancreas. A surgical team was called for consultation, and they told me it was imperative to take out the gallbladder. Before they could perform surgery, they had to wait for the pancreas to “calm down.” This required IV fluids and very little food, as starvation actually helps reduce pancreatic inflammation. By Monday, the surgical team performed the surgery in a minimally invasive way. They used a technique called laparoscopic surgery, in which small incisions are made to provide access for tools and cameras. Surgery is performed without needing to open up the body cavity which would make the complication risk even more serious and extend the recovery time. I also had trouble with anesthesia which made things even more complicated. The technique they used to provide anesthesia was more advanced than most hospitals perform. I am now back home and recovering with pain and a few other small symptoms. These are all fairly well managed, and I’m getting stronger each day.

So where am I going with all of this? Needing emergency medical care for myself this past week made me think about the reality of dealing with trauma or a significant health problem during an apocalyptic event. If I had not received medical care in this past week, it’s very likely it could have been a fatal event. If we take the main character out of the equation who may be a doctor, nurse, or combat medic, or simply have raised their Medicine skill, there are no other medical professionals in the current group. Rachel has some field training but would not be able to handle more than first-aid. I have introduced other characters who have some medical knowledge, but they are not eligible to join the group (at least not yet and I don’t want to give away spoilers). This leaves a big hole in one aspect of the group’s plan for survival.

Where do I go from here? Do I add more individuals with medical attention to the team? Should the main character be the only true doctor, nurse, or combat medic? Should I introduce more characters with medical skills? It would seem unrealistic to add a trauma surgeon to the group. Then again, a gunshot wound to a major organ would lead to death in most situations without adequate medical care. I could reduce the amount of injuries which have been fairly low in the series so far. Again, that’s pretty unrealistic considering the risk of injury and infection in any post-apocalyptic event. In addition to medical skill, you need to have diagnostic equipment, tools of medical care, and medicines all of which are hard to acquire a post apocalypse. Hospitals will be difficult to scavenge. Most medicines will be extremely valuable and hoarded. Without proper medical staff and all of the equipment and resources available at a hospital, the chances of surviving an emergency medical issue shoot way down.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, so I can start considering where changes need to be made in Part 4 and beyond.

Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 3

Part 3 is currently at 522,186 words! That’s over 20,000 words written since my last newsletter. Before my emergency surgery I actually was well ahead in my monthly schedule of writing. It provided me a cushion to take off a week and still provide a fairly sized update to the alpha tests.

Even with the progress I made, I did not get as far as I wished. Losing that week of time prevented me from getting to the climax of chapter 12. I will discuss my schedule below, but I’m going to try not to lose too much more time. I’m still weak from surgery and cannot work full days for at least a few more weeks. I always try to push myself, but my doctors actually warned against pushing too hard. I’m going to listen to them.

I also don’t want to rush or push out less content than I planned. When the game is released, I want people to be amazed at all the complexities of choices available to them. As always, I want you to be able to act in a way based on your character. I don’t want to skip a certain path because I have run out of time. Since many people feel the development time of Part 3 is already taken so long, I am figuring they will endure waiting a bit further.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Out for Blood

We are getting closer to publishing this game! While not working on ZE:SH, I have been adding content and editing the game based on beta tester feedback. A copyeditor continues to work on fixing grammar and typos on chapters I release for review. It’s been a lot of work, but the results are paying off.

I have also seen color versions of graphics from the game. These portraits will provide visuals for each of the main characters. Six of them have been completed so far, and I’m waiting for at least three more. As you may recall this is the same artist, Amy Wilkins, who draws artwork for many Vampire: the Masquerade products including Night Road, the other released game from Choice of Games based on the same setting.

As of right now, the release date remains at July 29.

Schedule Shift

Due to my medical concerns, I still don’t see exceptional delays in either of my games in active development. Out for Blood remains on schedule for the end of next month. ZE:SH, Part 3 will be pushed back about a month due to the time I lost due to my medical illness and my need to slow down a bit for recovery. Still, considering all that I have had to deal with, I feel that is reasonable. Based on my projections, Part 3 would be released in September of this year. That’s still farther than I had hoped, but I want to be solely open and transparent.

That’s all for this month. Until next time, stay safe and thank you for all of your support!