jimdattilo

Cristian Lopez -- Where He Was Meant To Be

Cristian Lopez kept to side streets on his way across Nightfall. The sounds of the city had changed in the past twenty-four hours. The welcome noises of suburbia had been replaced by truck engines, helicopter rotors, automatic gunfire, growls, and screams. He just wanted to get out of town. He was no longer a member of the Colorado National Guard. Once his own unit broke down, he considered that the end of his tour of duty, and when they tried to kill him, well, that was another story.

...

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 — ...

Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 3 Naming Poll

As part of the research mission, I am creating one lone survivor deep inside the facility. You will help choose their motivation for remaining there and how they interact with the MC.

Amanda -- 35 yo scientist. Will attempt to lure in the MC to a research room to use for experiments. She will inject the Zeta virus in the MC.

Manny -- 45 yo programmer. He controls automatic doors and security cameras. He's so paranoid, he will track the MC's group'...

Safe Haven Scenario Poll - Airport #1

In a landslide vote, an airport won as the new location for a scenario. Though I wanted to make it a small airport, a few developments have led to me making it a much larger airport. One of my supporters has also chosen to use his reward to name the airport, The G. R. & R. International Airport.

As with most of the polls for scenarios, the first one is to select your top choices of survivors to join the MC on the mission. Please select your top three choices.

Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven scenario poll

As part of a mission I'm writing, the MC will face a small challenge while returning to the Junkyard. This challenge will be a moral test and reflect the changing attitudes and values of people in the apocalypse.

Roadside robbery - the MC witnesses a man and woman robbing a group of teenagers. As the MC moves closer, they spot a 3 year old toddler is with the thieving couple.

Pregnant couple - the MC crosses paths with a pregnant woman and her par...

November Short Story Poll

 This is a poll for you to choose the topic for November's original short story or article. 

If you have story ideas for December, please list it in the comments.

Schedule for November

I can't believe this year is almost over, and it's November already. This year went by too fast. I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween, and now we have the holidays to look forward to.

Note: for my Zombie Exodus novel, all of the chapters I have written so far have been posted to Patreon. I will leave them all available to my patrons, but there will be no new chapters while I continue to work on Safe Haven. ZE:SH is my priority for now.

I will continue to write an origi...

Games by JimD Newsletter – Game Progress, Dragons, & the Future

Hello friends, choice gamers, and horror readers. This month has been a big month for me. I had my surgery and all went well. I’ve been recovering for the past few weeks. For the first week of my recuperation, I didn’t work much. The pain and discomfort were large sources of distraction, though I got a bit of progress done on Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven. This past week I felt much better and finished a large section of writing for chapter 8. In this newsletter I’ll discuss more o...

News in the middle of the month

My surgery went well last week and I am finally starting to feel back to my old self. Yesterday, I wrote 2000 words for the next Safe Haven beta. My wife was a bit upset at how hard I pushed but I was on a roll. (No pun intended, seeing as though I use a wheelchair.) Despite having surgery, all of my deadlines will be met on time this month for my Patreon subscribers!

While I was in the hospital, I saw several new patrons sign up. Some of you also increased your support. Seei...

Character Naming/Trait Poll

In our third poll to help create a new scenario for chapter 11, we will name and provide traits for a solo survivor you will meet while scavenging the location chosen.

Claude -  drunken, moral paramedic who seems insane. He wants to hoard all items he finds.

Colette -  young, driven, awkward construction worker. Looking to make friends but makes everyone uncomfortable.

Harlan - infamous, corrupt politician who...

Safe Haven Scenario Poll - Companions

This is a follow-up to the scenario poll from 3 days ago in which we pick a new location to visit. For this poll, we can start of by choosing the top characters to join the mission.

Some characters are popular for these polls, but we should add opportunities for other characters. The most popular group members are Madison, Brody, Bailey, Gina, Lopez, Rachel, and Reilly. Whether it is due to their skills or their romantic relationship potential, these characters are over-represented. So ...

New Safe Haven Scenario Poll

Since I am providing two scenario polls for my $5 patrons, I thought it would be fun to bring in more votes each month for a single poll and am opening this to all patrons.

There are several areas I want the group to explore in Part 3, places I've always thought would present challenging obstacles or hidden dangers to a group along with rewards and opportunities to experience the effects of societal breakdown. Because I want to finish Part 3 by August to publish by Halloween (CoG needs ...

October Short Story Poll

This is a poll for you to choose the topic for October's original short story or article. 

If you have story ideas for November, please list it in the comments.

Zombie Exodus Novel, Chapter 16 - Tom

Tom looked up from his clipboard, gazing down the path outside the Cathedral. Towards him walked Carl, his friend for years, co-owner of this strange endeavor. The man climbing the path looked different than most days: his hair tussled, beard too long with hair creeping over his lips, and eyes half-open.

“Worried?” Tom asked. “She’ll be fine.”

“I know. She’s with Mindy.” Carl turned and stood by his side, and the two men peered out to Old Pine Woods and the river a...

Schedule for October

My surgery should be this month, and I will update this schedule once I know the date. I will be out of commission for a week but this will not affect the content I promise to my patrons.

Here is a schedule of things you can expect to see this month.

10/2 -- Chapter 16 of Zombie Exodus novel. ($3+ tiers)

10/4 -- Poll for article of the month. ($3+ tiers)

10/7 --  Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven scenario poll.

...

Sifer's Survival School 101

The last hour of Sifer’s life flashed before her eyes like a slideshow flipping too fast. She removed her face mask with a gasp and took measured breaths to calm herself. Thirty feet away lie the corpses of three infected, while she sat toward the end of an alley between a paint store and a FastMart. She cleaned brown blood from the edge of the naginata’s blade and hummed to herself Glory to the Sutra of the Lotus of the Supreme Law, a Tibetan mantra she once learned.

First...

Introducing Sifer

Written by Brittany Martin and edited by Jim Dattilo.

As her father pulled the BMW into the gas station named Marty's, Sifer finally spoke up. "Are you going to admit that you’re lost?"

"What?" Yang turned to Sifer, who is slouching in the front seat. "Me lost? The built-in GPS insists we are in the middle of Boulder and not wherever we are."

"You're acting like an Alfred E. Newman, Mr. Aseph." Melissa, Sifer's dusky, brown-eyed girlfriend, dead...

Two stories tomorrow

A quick note about the short story this month. I am posting the brand new story on Sifer at 9am. I'm also posting a free extra story as back story on Sifer. Some of you may remember this story from early in my Patreon, but I took it down temporarily to edit it. Most of you may not have read it, so I thought it would be of interest.

Enjoy!

Games by JimD Newsletter – Game Development & Museums

Hello friends, readers, and (mainly) zombie lovers! It’s the end of summer, and I’ve been busy. Between doctors’ visits, my normal work schedule, and writing, I wish I had the power to stop time. Anyway, in this newsletter I’ll share the progress of my games and delve into the topic of linear vs. dynamic, once more.

Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven

This past month, I worked on several parts requested by patrons, namely Madison’s romantic encounter in chapter 8 and adding opti...

Naming poll for a character - ZE: Safe Haven

As one of the last events of chapter 8, you will meet a family living in a nearby house who are nonthreatening but cautious of your group. They want nothing to do with you but have resources. Help me to name them and give them a trait that brings them to life.

Chapter 9 Hotel Scenario, Poll 5

In our last poll, we chose downtime for floor 3. As we draw closer to the end of this mission, we need a final dramatic event.

Remember, your mission has been to help save the guests trapped in the hotel. Reaching the upper floors, what happens?

Zombies Attack, Again - like the first floor, zombies are all over the upper floors. The MC's team must kill or avoid them all.

R...