Games by JimD Newsletter – Game News, Progress, Part 3 Structure

Hello patrons and zombie lovers. It’s almost Thanksgiving here in the US which officially kicks off the holiday season. As a fan of all things horror, I reject the idea that Halloween is the start of the holiday season. I like to keep my spooky decorations up even a few weeks after All Hallows Eve. My family doesn’t put up a Christmas tree until mid-December. Maybe were in the minority, but I believe in keeping the seasons as separate as I can.

Which leads me to this newsletter — over the next month, I’ll be putting a lot of effort into my games, whether they are zombies or vampires. Below you can check out my progress and plans for the future. I’ll also talk a little bit more about the structure of Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 3

Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven

In November, I have been spending most of my time working on the Research Station mission for Part 3. It is a pivotal scene and a long one, because it impacts the larger plot stretching across all chapters. It has a little bit of everything: fighting zombies, crafting, using SurvNet to talk to Deter and Julianne (for those of you on the hacker storyline), scavenging, fighting human bandits, meeting new survivors, and more. As of the time of this newsletter, the mission sits at 37,000 words alone. I can easily see adding another 15,000 words before it’s finished.

I am also continuing to add romantic encounters with more ROs. In this month, I am releasing an encounter with Tommy to my beta testers. After that I will work on Lopez and Brody. Each of these encounters takes considerable time. Most people who write choice games give very little interaction with ROs, but I treat them as very important characters in the game and their encounters must have purpose and impact on the game. Writing the scenes takes considerable time and effort, but I feel that’s what’s necessary to make them more realistic and immersive.

In December my hope is to finish the Research Station mission and move on to another unfinished, where your team heads to a new development near the Junkyard to scavenge for resources.

Heart’s Choice

Choice of Games has been working on a new label focused on romance, and I am happy to report that they are releasing their first four titles on December 2nd. I actually worked on one of the games, All World Pro Wrestling. My friend and fellow writer David Monster wrote the story, and I coded it. The story follows a young wrestler who trains at the premier all-male wrestling league. In the game you play as a gay man only, and the story contains explicit sexual content. For those interested, you can play the first two chapters for free now by following the link below:

https://www.choiceofgames.com/hearts-choice/all-world-pro-wrestling/

Three other games are currently available for preview over at the newly created website, https://www.heartschoice.com/shop/

The structure of Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 3

For those of you who’ve been reading my newsletters, you may have noticed all of my work so far for Part 3 has gone into chapter 8. Those of you who are beta testing the game have only been able to play chapter 8. You may be asking yourself how Jim expects to finish by the end of next year if he has only worked on one chapter. This brings me to the topic of the structure of Part 3.

As I write I break up the game into three different sections: overall storyline, missions, and character development. The overall storyline follows the MC who is trying to survive the zombie apocalypse with a group of mostly strangers in the outskirts of Nightfall, Colorado. This story will play out across all chapters of Part 3. 

The missions are really modular events that can occur at any time in any chapter. For testing purposes, so far they are living in chapter 8. I have already completed two out of seven missions, though one is nearly complete, one is just started, and one has been written by Ethan Underhill. Once all of the missions are completed (written, coded, and tested), I will decide which chapters they will best fit into.

For example, the Research Station mission will be quite a long and intricate excursion. Right now, I am thinking that it will be best to go into chapter 9 because of the impact it will have on future chapters. This mission is dynamic in that you may visit the station later in Part 3, though by that time of the story, the facility will change to the point where new events will occur and new enemies will be encountered.

The same goes for character development, though to a lesser extent. Character development is not just for your MC but for all members of the group, such as Rachel, Jamie, the twins, and all those who may join your group along the way. Each of these characters and their relationships to the MC will change throughout the story. Those changes may occur in any chapter, and you may need to play the game several times to see how any one character is affected by the choices you make.

Part 3 is truly a huge endeavor. I am hoping it is not the last part. Although I have a goal on Patreon to fund Part 4, I am considering dropping the goal to a lower amount so that I can continue to write the game for as long as my readers show interest in the story. 

Until Next Time

Thanks for reading this rather long newsletter. I’ll see you in this same space next month. Happy Holidays to all!