Games by JimD Newsletter – Game Updates, Watch Party
Games by JimD Newsletter – Game Updates, DLC InfoWelcome to my 106th newsletter! I have been feeling better recently, and I haven't had any trips to the hospital. That seems like a very low bar to set for myself, but I'm all about small victories.
This month was fairly productive. I focused on Stronghold but have been working on chapter 17 of Safe Haven for the last few days. I still get lots of questions about my publishing schedule. When I finish Stronghold, I will turn to writing Deadbury Academy. With Safe Haven, I will finish with the free update, which will include an official beta test by Hosted Games. After that, I will start writing Part 5 immediately. I don't have any plans for other games after Stronghold and Deadbury Academy. I have lots of other game ideas, but it's more difficult to write multiple games. My goal is to focus on one game at a time, but I'm already too far along with those other games to stop now.
In this newsletter, I will review my development plans, as I do every month. Let's get started.
Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 4
The free update is now at 63,000 words, and I have extended it by 5,000 words so far this month. I still have six more days, so I should be able to write another 6-10 thousand words. I'm currently working on chapter 17 and the Teenager Storyline. It's definitely more involved than I originally planned (a statement which has become my motto). Even though this is only for teenage characters, I hope that many people will try it. It involves an interesting group of survivors and will be more difficult than most missions in the story. It also occurs after the time skip, so civilization has broken down further. Survivors are more wary of one another, and resources are dwindling. Your character is there to find out more about their parents' whereabouts, but that information won't be easy to find. I'm curious how people respond to this storyline.
For those of you who would like to try the new prologues from the free update, you can check out the public beta: https://cogdemos.ink/play/jimd/zombie-exodus-safe-haven-free-update-public/mygame
Zombie Exodus: Stronghold
Stronghold is up to 382,000 words, 26,000 more than last month. I am almost finished with chapter 13, where your group is trying to make it through the Grand Shoppes, a sprawling mall near the northern end of Zone 2. The group is trying to reach Zone 3 and find a potential cure for the Zeta virus infection. In chapter 13, the group encounters a father and son who are fellow workers at Stronghold. You're all being chased by the undead horde and a squad of commandos looking to bring the main character back with them to the Directors. I should be done with chapter 13 early next month and will go right into chapter 14.
World War Z – Watch Party
On Saturday, August 29th at 1:00 p.m. EST, we will host a watch party for World War Z. This is a free event where we will stream the movie, and anyone can join the text channel to discuss the film. Our last watch party was hugely successful when we watched season one of The Walking Dead. We're hoping for a huge turnout this time and look forward to watching World War Z with everyone. If there's a good turnout, we will try to hold these watch parties at least once a month.
That's all for this month. Thank you again for all your support and patience!