Games by JimD Newsletter – Safe Haven updates, Lowering Goals

Happy New Year! I can’t believe it’s the end of January. Time just keeps flying by and I’m happy to say I’m meeting my writing goals every day. Most days I write two thousand words at least even on days when I work. If you noticed the title of this newsletter above, you may be confused right now. How are you lowering your goals? Well, I’m not lowering my writing goals but my Patreon goal to continue Safe Haven to Part 4. When I first set up my Patreon, I set a goal at $1500 to be able to continue writing this series. I have since lowered my goal to $1250. Recently, I’ve done the math and can add Part 4 at that contribution amount. As of the time of this newsletter I’m just over 91% of the goal. As long as that monthly goal is met, I can continue writing this series.

With that said, in this newsletter I’ll update you on my progress and tell you some exciting news about a beta test coming soon for an all new game. 

Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven

Part 3 is now at 180,000 words. That means I will post a new alpha build with 25,000 additional words for eligible patrons. That’s a big increase from earlier months but since I’m no longer writing Vampire Fiction, I have more time to invest in this game.

This month I spent most of my time working on hobbies and RO content. You know how you can assign each member of your group to a different task to aid the team? Well what happens when you’re not the leader? Rachel or Jamie will give you an assignment, so I wrote out each one. That includes such tasks as hunting, fishing, crafting, and even cooking. Some of you might be impressed by all that, but I want to take it one step further. What if your RO tempted you away from your daily tasks? Would you spend time with them or be a team player and handle your chores? This was a lot to write, but I think it will add a lot of value to the game.

New Choice of Games Project

I’m still not allowed to talk about my new project for Choice of Games, but I can say that I’ve started coding and writing the first few chapters. This game is very different than past games I’ve worked on for CoG. I’ll go into a bit of a behind the scenes for those who may be interested. When you are developing a game for CoG, you are assigned an editor who must approve each chapter and provides notes on a line by line basis. It’s a rather tedious effort for the editor, but it vastly improves the development of the games they produce. For this new project, I actually have additional editors who want to see my progress at various points of a timeline. I’m actually at my first checkpoint and submitted the first 25% of my game.

Yes, you may be surprised but after writing 20,000 words a month for Safe Haven, I’m still finding time to work on this side project.

Now here’s the exciting part. Once I’m allowed to share the game, I’m going to post it for alpha testing. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to make it Patreon-only or if I have to do an open beta on the Choice of Games forum, but either way you will be able to see the game during development and give me your feedback. It’s an exciting opportunity for you to get early access to another of my games.

Zombie Exodus: Dead Zone

I’m excited to reveal that Dead Zone will return to development later this year or early next year. While that may seem far away, it’s 99% certain that it has to be finished by May, 2021. As you may know, Ethan Underhill will be the primary author of this spinoff. He has committed to an aggressive timeline and plans to be done at the end of spring of next year. This game will most likely also be offered as an early alpha version for testing either on Patreon or to the public. We’re still working out the details, but I will tell my patrons any information as things develop. I’m really excited that the Zombie Exodus universe will be extended once more.

In Conclusion

That’s all for now. I want to thank all of you for supporting me in Patreon. Your support keeps me writing. Without this funding, I doubt I would still be in the position to write the games I love. I wish you all happy holidays and a wonderful new year.