Games by JimD Newsletter #41 – Project Updates, Finishing Part 3 (Patreon)

Games by JimD Newsletter – Project Updates

Welcome to my 41st newsletter!

This has been a very difficult month for me. Unfortunately my father passed away on February 1st. He had been sick for a while and was receiving hospice care at home. I’m glad he was at home and not in some care facility away from family. He’s a big reason that I am a writer today and was an amazing role model. He worked for the same company for over fifty years, rarely took sick days, and supported my mother, my sisters, and me. He has inspired me to push forward on all of those things I’ve wanted to accomplish. I know he’s proud of me, and that’s something I can cherish for the rest of my life.

Even though I’ve been dealing with his passing, I did not let that stop me too much on my writing. I started the final chapter (12) of Safe Haven, Part 3. I have laid out this chapter and plan to finish in March or early April. In this newsletter I will discuss my plan for the rest of Part 3 and talk a bit about publishing. I’ll also give you updates on Vampire: The Masquerade - Out for Blood and Zombie Exodus: Dead Zone.

Let’s get started.

Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 3

Part 3 is currently at 437,427 words! At this pace I have no doubt Part 3 will be over 500,000 words on release. Unlike Part 2, I will not add much more content to Part 3 after its initial release. If you recall, about a year after Part 2 released, I came out with Part 2-2 which added over 100,000 words of content. It added a large mission written by Ethan Underhill and coded by me as well as other content. Part 2 is quite lengthy at 310,000 words but reads as a very nonlinear story. With over 500,000 words, Part 3 feels so much longer than Part 2.

My goal is to release Part 3 in June of this year. To do so, I have to send my editor the game by the end of April. That’s a lofty goal. Here is a list of all the things I still need to add:

• Finish chapter 12.
• Fix crafting, group tasks, and NPC management.
• Complete all RO encounters, such as those at the end of the night in chapter 8.
• Ensure the game is balanced, especially as relates to improving and reinforcing the Junkyard.
• Add tasks and skill leveling between chapters.
• Lots and lots of bug fixes.

Based on the above, my goal is to finish chapter 12 by the end of March with a possibility that it will continue to April. In April I will finish all of the additional content as well as edit all of Part 3’s chapters. Once I send off the files to my editor at Hosted Games, I will immediately start Part 4, of which the beta will be released to my patrons at the $10+ levels in May. It’s an ambitious schedule, but I am going to try hard to make it.

Since Hosted Games wants to publish this part in June and due to some content changes I will discuss, I have had to rearrange some of the content in chapter 12. You may recall I planned to write a trip to the River Dogs safe haven at the start of this chapter. To make this scene as complete as possible would take 30,000-40,000 words alone. It would push the timeline back another month or two. Since I’ve already had multiple contacts with the River Dogs in earlier chapters of Part 3, I am pushing this scene to Part 4. I don’t think including this scene will add much to the story at this stage. I would much rather focus on two other scenes:

• An “attack” by a group of strangers on the Junkyard.
• The first trip to the Silverthornes camp.

These two scenes will take up the majority of chapter 12 and add a good deal of climax to the end of this part. I also have some amazing reveals and artwork coming, most likely in March. I think you’ll all be pleased with the final product.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Out for Blood

Out for Blood has a current word count just over 425,000. I’ve added about 10,000 words this month based on requests from my editor. I’m still working on chapters 8-12 based on his most recent feedback. I’m hoping to have the next draft to him by the middle of next week. The entire draft will then go to an editor at Paradox Interactive who will read through the whole story and provide another set of feedback. That process could take up to two months. From there, I will do more updates and a final round of edits before a thorough round of testing. We will have a closed beta, as though it will be open for the public to apply to participate. I will let you know when that application goes online, so you can apply if you are interested.

I’m also excited to say I am working with an artist to produce 12 original character portraits for this game. It’s the most artwork we’ve ever included in one of my games, and I believe you will all enjoy seeing these characters in vivid graphics directly in the app.

Zombie Exodus: Dead Zone

Dead Zone is officially no longer in development. When Ethan and I discussed this game over two years ago, we had a plan for how the development would progress. Ethan was still in school at the time, and he worked out a schedule to write Dead Zone during his final year of college. When COVID-19 caused the shutdown here in the US and most of the rest of the world, Ethan had to put Dead Zoneto the side. Since that time he has focused on finishing college and starting his own career in writing. After talking it over with him, he does not have the time to invest in this project for the foreseeable future.

Writing a game of the size and scope of ZE or ZE:SH is no easy feat. It takes a long and consistent effort along with the time to do so, during which you are largely not compensated. I’ve been able to provide Ethan with some payment along the way, but there’s not enough to sustain him while he works on Dead Zone. I have the fortune of a full-time job along with royalties and money from support of my patrons. Believe it or not, that only is enough to cover me, taxes, pay for editing and artwork, and other expenses related to game development.

Ethan has already written a few chapters of Dead Zone, so it’s possible we will see it one day in the future. Either Ethan will write it with me, or I will write the rest of it by myself. Or we will both move on to other projects. For now, there are no plans to publish Dead Zone. My focus will be to continue writing Safe Haven as long as it holds the interest of my readers. After we decide to end Safe Haven, I will talk with my community of readers and decide the next game I will write, whether it is Dead Zone, another game in the Zombie Exodus universe, or an entirely different genre.

Until next time, stay safe and thank you for all of your support!