Games by JimD Newsletter #38 – Beta Tests & Updates

Welcome to my 38th newsletter! Hello again and happy holidays! Sorry this newsletter is a day late but time has gotten away from me the last few days. I’m happy to report I will be done writing Vampire: the Masquerade - Out for Blood soon and I will talk a bit about that below in the update section. I’ll also update you on Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 3 and talk about beta testing. Most of you are aware of my timelines, but I like to give as much information as possible on release dates and my progress as possible in these newsletters. I tried to be as transparent as possible, because I know everyone has been waiting for such a long time for a finished and polished Part 3.

Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 3

Part 3 is currently at 377,590 words, but I believe I will be adding about 10,000 more words to the next beta release on November 25th. This will nearly conclude the all-important trip to Save Haven Lancelot. I was hoping to finish chapter 11 this month, but as normal, I added extra content and extra options for your characters. It’s always difficult to know how much to add since I have to balance the amount of content with how long it takes to write and edit. I would love to be able to offer every choice imaginable to the reader, but at some point, I have to actually publish this game. People are definitely growing restless since the last release was in the beginning of 2019 when I published the free update to Part 2.

Related to that topic, I feel Part 3 is quite long already, and I still have one more chapter to go. I could easily end this part at Chapter 11, but I feel two more things need to happen in the story to wrap up this section of the game and the growth of the main character and the main group.

• You have to be visit the other major group in the area — the River Dogs.
• You have to interact with the Silverthorne Militia.

Without those two elements to Part 3, I believe fans would be upset at the direction of the story. I could imagine reviews of this part saying, “what happened to the Silverthornes?!” My goal is to give a very satisfying conclusion to this part of the story and set up Part 4.

What about Part 4? If you are voting in the story polls or paying attention to it, patrons have selected an overview of Part 4 as the article/story of the month. I will try to keep it somewhat general to avoid spoilers, but I’m looking forward to sharing the next big direction the game will take. I have seen lots of people theorize how your main character will be developed and who is the main antagonist in the story. Is it the Silverthornes? What about the New Army? What’s going on with the Makarovs? Is there going to be another zombie exodus? I hope to share this in the Part 4 review without giving too much away that will remove the excitement you will experience from Part 3.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Out for Blood

As of the time of this newsletter, Vampire: the Masquerade - Out for Blood is up to 388,861 words. I finalizing the last chapter and preparing to send it to my editor. He will provide feedback and edits, and then I will update it to a new version and begin a beta test. Everyone who is interested in that beta test will need to apply. I am unfortunately not in charge of the beta as this goes through Choice of Games. I will at least let everyone know when to apply and will explain how to get in quickly if you wish to playtest.

While people are playtesting the game, I will continue adding content to a lesser degree than now. There are several things I would like to add to the game, such as ways to hunt vampires, additional uses of each skill, and new interactions with key characters. In future newsletters I will provide updates on where I am adding new content for those who are interested in this game’s development.

I should be done the first major version of this game by the end of January for a subsequent release in March or April as 2021. Since Choice of Games is more heavily involved in this game than Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, I have less control over the release of the game. It’s certainly a trade-off — it’s great to have CoG involved, because they take a lot of the pressure off of me. But I do have less control.

A Note on Beta Testing

If you follow me on social media you may have heard I will be doing a public beta in December. This public test will only consist of chapter 8 since that is the only chapter I feel is close to being ready for release. While I appreciate all of the hard work my patrons here do to find errors and offer feedback, I only receive reports from a handful of patrons based on testing. To ensure the game is close to bug free upon release, I need dozens of people testing it, which only happens during public tests. If you are supporting me mainly to receive beta testing as a reward, just realize you get to see things months before any public beta participant. You also will have more time to perform your review of each version of Part 3. I don’t want you to think I am giving away something for nothing when you have been the ones to support me each month. If anyone has any concerns about this, please feel free to message me.

Until next time, stay safe and thank you for all of your support!