Games by JimD Newsletter – New Project Announcement

Hello, everyone! Before we get into the newsletter, I will start by hoping everyone is safe and healthy during the shutdown affecting most of the world. I have been working from home and self-isolating since the beginning of March. While I am getting a bit of cabin fever, I have been working hard on both of my current games in production. Which leads me to my major announcement for this newsletter…

Vampire: The Masquerade - Out for Blood by JimDattilo - Spring 2021

If you’ve been reading my newsletters for the past few months, you have read that I have been in development with Choice of Games on a new project. That game is one of three titles set in the World of Darkness, specifically based on Vampire: the Masquerade. I have been a fan of VtM for the past twenty years, and this is a dream come true.

About two year ago, I pitched a concept to Choice of Games in which the MC moves to a small town and soon learns vampires are living there. In this game the MC would choose to either kill the vampires or somehow work with them to survive or maybe even become a vampire. After several rounds of drafts, this proposal turned into a contract to produce the game.

A year ago, I was contacted by my editor (Jason Hill) of Choice of Games about the possibility of writing my vampire hunter story within White Wolf’s World of Darkness. I jumped at the opportunity. Negotiations between CoG and Paradox interactive, who is licensing on behalf of White Wolf, lasted about six months. I was able to begin development of an outline in September of last year. It took quite a lot of work and readjustment to get a story both CoG and Paradox would accept, but this eventually became Vampire: The Masquerade - Out for Blood.

What does this mean for you and for Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven?

I will be blunt — I don’t see any downside here. I’m consistently developing Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven and have not slowed down over the past six months while I have been developing Out for Blood. In fact my word count per month has increased on both projects due to being at home since the start of the pandemic.

The other major factor to consider is that this deal with Paradox will increase visibility for Choice of Games and myself. Vampire: the Masquerade is on a different level of interest than my game and the whole library of games from CoG. Paradox and White Wolf are spreading their work across all media, with major video games, books, and board games announced. This should bring in more readers of my work which in turn provides me with more support. That means I can do bigger and better things in the future.

My timeline for Part 3 has not changed. My goal is to finish by the end of the year. I will also say we have been given some guidance from Choice of Games that they are a bit behind due to staffing issues. However I am proceeding ahead with handing in this part of the game in October or November.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Out for Blood Beta Test?

I am still talking with Choice of Games about this possibility for my Patreon, but it is looking like they would prefer an open beta through their forums. We have a very tight deadline to produce the entire game, and we will need as much play testing as possible before the game goes for final production. Because of this, all of you will have access to the beta when the time comes, and you will not have to pay for it or support me in any way for its development.

That being said, I would still like to provide opportunities for my patrons to get involved in the games development. If you would like to see polls when naming opportunities for characters, please let me know. I will be happy to get you all involved as much as you would like.