Games by JimD Newsletter – Project Updates

It’s already September, so there’s only a few more months of 2020. As most people agree this has been an incredibly difficult year, from dealing with the pandemic to hurricanes to tragic deaths of important people.  If we subscribe to that level of superstition, we’ll all be happy to see 2021 usher in good events.

I, for one, will be releasing two games, at least, in 2021. I’m also committed to focusing on Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven until completion. I doubt it’s possible to finish Part 4 in 2021, but I’m going to push myself to write at least 35,000 words per month.

Working on two or three games at one time has proven to be much more of a challenge than I ever expected. One of my character flaws is never saying no to work. Unfortunately I wind up upsetting some readers who want more frequent updates. Luckily I don’t have many periods of burnout or writer’s block, but I also lose some of my focus on storylines when I’m juggling so many.

In this newsletter I will provide brief updates on my current, active projects and then discuss something I have been working on for Safe Haven — a trade system. It’s a feature that many players have wanted, and I am almost finished coding one of the major parts of this system that will release in Part 3.

Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 3

As of this moment, Part 3 is up to 345,172. I still have a bit more to write before this month’s alpha release on Patreon. Currently, I am working on the military depot mission, which also involves the soldier storyline. In fact it also involves the science and the hacker storylines. As with most missions, it will be long and complex. I’ve taken the best parts of popular missions from the original game to make this military depot mission one of the most impactful of Part 3, if not the entire story. Not only will it drive the plot along, it will update the reader on some of the major groups in the area, including the New Army and OMNUS. It’s a timed mission like the fuel run in Zombie Exodus and will affect the story going forward in important ways. It will have you choosing sides and changing potential allies. New weapons, items, and vehicles will also be available. So far, the mission is up to 20,000 words, which is about 1/3 of the way finished. My plan is to continue working on it straight through to the end.

Also this month, I worked on a bit of back story for Eli and Kevin. You will find this content in chapter 8.

Finally, a small note on testing feedback and errors. Editing and making updates related to testing is an extremely time-consuming process. Obviously, this is also one of the most important parts of developing a game. Some of you may see the same errors continuing throughout the alpha versions even though you have reported errors months ago. I’m not ignoring feedback. My plan is to finish the entire game before going back and fixing bugs and making changes due to feedback. This is not the traditional way of handling bug reports and feedback, but this is the best strategy for finishing the game early next year. When you’re writing a novel or game the size of a novel, many authors write the entire story before editing. This keeps the momentum going. This is the strategy I am taking with Part 3.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Out for Blood

I’m nearing the end of writing this game and have a deadline to turn in a completed first draft by Halloween, 2020 (which was pushed back a month from the original deadline). As of right now, I have written over 311,000 words. This game has taken a year and a half to write and has undergone a number of changes in a short period of time. The story has multiple editors, including those from Choice of Games and Paradox Interactive. It’s under a ton of scrutiny and requires my adherence to a number of requirements. I’m actually not allowed to share it publicly or even to patrons. There will be a public beta test, though everyone will need to apply to it if interested. As soon I learned the details for this beta-test, I will let you all know.

My article this month will discuss the major characters of this game and also discuss the romantic options. Look for that towards the end of the month.

Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Trade System

One of the major features I am coding is a trade system which is one of those player requested features I receive the most. In this system you will be able to trade with allies for virtually any item in the game. For Part 3, I am coding trades with the River Dogs, Museum Survivors, and Red Mamba Biker Club. This will only be available if you have a high relationship with a group or have forged an alliance. It’s possible other groups will also be included in Part 3, but for the sake of avoiding spoilers, I cannot say which groups.

How will this work? You will visit the group’s base and enter into a barter system that will look somewhat similar to the interface for Thelma’s grocery store. Each group has their own form of credits, so when you offer to trade a pack of cigarettes, and AK-47, or cooking pots, they will have a value provided as credit. You can then spend those credits to buy things your group needs.

Each group also has items in which they are interested and less interested. For example, the River Dogs may not be as interested in guns and ammo but highly interested in food. This will affect the amount of credits they offer for items. It will also affect the price of goods when you purchase them from a specific group. Some items will have a limit to how many you can buy based on availability. This will also give you another use for ammunition, since groups like the Red Mamba Biker Club are always looking for bullets.

I’m hoping that everyone enjoys this unique feature of Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven. For those participating in alpha testing, I am hoping to reveal this system in December at the latest.

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