Games by JimD Newsletter – Details on Safe Haven Mission, Development Schedule

Happy Holiday season! I have a short series of updates today, mostly posted on Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven. I’m sure those of you who are fans of that game will be happy in the direction I’m going with my most-popular title. In this newsletter, I’ll tell you what I’ve been working on this past month, a few teasers on the upcoming Pharmacy Mission for Part 2-2, and a small update on my vampire story for FableLabs.

Past Month

Throughout November, I put a considerable amount of effort and time into my Heart’s Choice title. This project has been a huge endeavor, and I coded 280,000 words in one year of development to be the first writer to complete a game for all three of Choice of Games’ labels. My goal was to finish by the end of November, and I am happy to say I handed in draft 1 to my editor yesterday.

What does that mean to fans of Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven? While I never stopped working on ZE:SH, it has not been my priority for the past few months. While that may piss of fans who want more of my zombie game, I committed to working on the Heart’s Choice title and wanted to produce a quality game. Putting in 60-70 hours of work a week can be a drag when you’re disappointing your fans, but with other projects like my vampire game, I hope to bring in new readers. This is a different era of publishing—you need to go out and find new readers. Relying solely on your publisher to draw in readers only achieves so much. My goal is to grow my readership, so I can leverage that interest in making bigger and better games.

With my Heart’s Choice title out of the way, I can once again focus on Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven.

Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven Updates

Like I said, I have still have made some progress on Part 2-2. Most of that has gone into the largest mission for ZE:SH to date, the Pharmacy Run. This mission takes place in chapter 7. Jaime presents an option to scout and scavenge a strip mall near camp. This is the first mission to do with Jaime, and if Jillian or Parker are available (you know, alive and in the group), you have the option of letting them join. Ethan Underhill wrote this mission, and it is highly detailed and full of tense moments. My goal is to be finish coding this by December 10th to share with my beta testers. If you would like to beta test, consider supporting me as a $10 patron on Patreon.

Another big feature for Part 2-2 is adding additional options to purchase Skill Points and Attribute Points. I receive requests for these two options more than most other features. I have long felt leery about adding in new in-app purchases. I don’t want to make new readers feel this game is a money grab or pay-to-win. After holding polls on social media, it became apparent, my followers believe more ways to increase customization is a positive addition. Many players prefer to play with super-strong, well-rounded main characters or prefer to play with all options available to them. Some see it as opportunities to support me with small, one-time donations. No matter the reason, fans want it, and I am happy to provide it.

For those not interested in adding extra Attribute or Skill points, don’t worry—the game remains balanced for vanilla characters. When I write or code the game, I make all skill checks achievable by basic characters. In the beginning of ZE:SH development, I developed an algorithm based on 0 additional points. That algorithm continues to be used. What I have added are very high skill checks with additional content. It looks like this:

· High success: snipe at long range with single shot (Ranged > 75), group listens to order in high-tension event (Leadership > 70), locate a hidden stash of gear buried under a house (Scavenging > 65).

· Normal success: kill a zombie at medium range with several rounds of ammo (Ranged > 45), group rallies to kill zombies (Leadership > 45), find extra items in abandoned house (Scavenging > 45)

· Failure: miss a zombie at medium range with several rounds of ammo (Ranged < 45), group scatters in chaos at sight of zombies (Leadership < 45), find basic items in abandoned house (Scavenging < 45)

One huge hurdle still exists—my publisher has to approve it. These purchase options require more programming from Hosted Games than me. I will be discussing these changes with Hosted Games and hope to have an answer in my next newsletter.

Untitled Vampire Game

Things have been slow-moving with this game. This month, I received a new build of the development software and tested the first draft of Episodes 1 and 2. The game runs well. While originally, my publisher planned to publish these two episodes this year, they have pushed it back to early 2019. They also suggested a name change. In the lead so far is Vampire: In the Sun’s Shadow.

Once I have updates on release date, I will let everyone know.