Games by JimD Newsletter – Safe Haven updates, No More Vampire Fiction?

Happy Holidays! I can’t believe it’s the end of December. Even though the holidays are upon us, I’m still working hard and writing daily, though I will be taking off a few days this week to celebrate Christmas with my family. This year is quite different from others for me since I am moving into my new home on December 27th. Not the best planning on our part, but we will be happy to be in our new home for the new year.

I have some big announcements to make, so on with the newsletter…

Holiday Bonus Content

You voted, and here it is — an original illustration of the nephew and a wolfhound from Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven. This comes at a good time, since this month’s short story features this duo.

Special thank you to Adrienne Valdes for the artwork!

Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven

Part 3 is now at 152,000 words, and I should have more time over the next few weeks to add even more. I’m currently finishing up the Research Station mission, which is much longer than I expected.

I am hoping to finish chapter 8 next month. Chapter 9 will be somewhat of a linear chapter which will greatly advance the plot. I’ve planned out chapters 10 through 12 but may not stick to a defined timeline of events. I generally don’t plan rigid outlines and try to keep the story more fluid. I’ll keep letting you know the progress of each chapter in these newsletters.

Vampire Fiction

I have decided not to continue writing Vampire Fiction for FableLabs. This decision comes with mixed feelings. I truly enjoyed writing this story, especially with all the graphics and visual effects possible in the Tales app. I also enjoyed the storyline and the characters which were much different than my normal zombie stories.

FableLabs is a fairly new company, and when they approached me to write a story for their app, I was drawn in to write for them in an early stage. Getting in at the ground floor meant considerable exposure to new readers and a chance to grow with the company. Unfortunately, they sold me on a lot of plans which never came to fruition. 

1. Their readership never truly took off. I looked at this app as a way to reach new readers that don’t know about Choice of Games. My hope was to attract new people to read my Zombie Exodus series and A Wise Use of Time and maybe even support me in Patreon. Even though Vampire Fiction was one of the most read stories on their platform, I did not see any new readers coming from it. I did most of the marketing among my existing readers and actually got them interested in the Tales app.

2. Readers of Vampire Fiction had no way to reach me. I asked FableLabs to include links to my website or Patreon or even provide my email inside the app, but they never implemented any of this.

3. I had no access to my stats. How could I know how many people are reading Vampire Fiction without access to my stats? Choice of Games provides us writers a full accounting of every app that is read or purchased.

4. Too many changes. There have been so many changes to our coding tools, to how we are paid, to the structure of the stories, and even to when our episodes are published that it was hard to keep track.

5. No Android app. Though this has been promised for a year, there are no concrete plans for an Android app.

This may sound like I am bashing FableLabs, but I'm simply stating facts.  Those people I worked with were all excellent editors and artists. The company itself truly wants to be successful but are experiencing the growing pains of a new company. As I said, they are a fairly new company and are trying to navigate in a world full of interactive fiction apps. For me, the amount of work and the lack of clear rewards pushed me to make this decision. 

I have never quit on a game before, so this decision was not made lightly. Due to the nature of the contract I had with FableLabs, it is possible they will continue the season with another writer. I wish them the best of luck. 

New Choice of Games Project

in past newsletters, I hinted at a new project I proposed to Choice of Games. Since this project has some unique features to it, I am not allowed to discuss much about it. However, I have been informed that Choice of Games will be making a major announcement early next year that will allow me to discuss the concept for my new project. This is kind of a game changer for me as the project has a chance of being on a bigger stage than my normal indie projects.

Don’t worry — this will not affect my writing Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven. The timeline for the new project will not affect development of Part 3.

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.