This will indeed be great but it will probably take like three times more time to code then to write, am I right?
@Inepted does the military prohibit playing games or do servicepersons have no free time for this?
@WulfyK Of course people in the military can pay games and have free time, but if Inepted is enlisting then theyāll have to go through some kind of basic training or boot camp, during which they wonāt have any free time.
@JimD This military talk brings up a few nitpicky things for the soldier background that I wouldnāt even mention because I donāt think every element of a story needs to be factually accurate, but I noticed you already have a lot of small details already in. The email at the beginning that tells you about the recall has a disclaimer to not respond using a civilian email address. Every branch now has their own email so they wouldnāt contact you at any other email address than that one and if they were recalling you from leave they would contact you directly by phone.
Then at the scene with the car accident the MC identifies themself as a SFC, but the Corporals immediately start referring to them as sir. As Drill Sergeants are famous for saying āDonāt call me sir, I work for a livingā.
Are there going to be a lot more relationship opportunities?
Donāt know how to do the @ thing, do I just type @WulfyK ? Read through the FAQ and the rules (learned some stuff) and those didnāt help lol. Anyways, yeah, Iām a new recruit so in Basic Training theres none to hardly any free time, but I heard that as soon as Iām done with Basic and go to my job training there are breaks for personal use.
@jcury there will be depots in Safe Haven but they will work differently so readers of ZE1 donāt feel itās repetitious. Plus, other depots have other features not explored in ZE1.
@Inepted12 good luck with your training!
@friendzone if you have specific fixes/suggestions, please let me know. I like realism and if it breaks your immersion, Iād rather change the text. Iām have other military people read it and make suggestions, but experiences vary.
@Sinner56925 I believe 2-3 for each gender/orientation. I donāt gender flip, so if you meet an NPC, she or he is either straight or gay. Only one NPC so far is bisexual. So there are slightly more opportunities, but those relationships are also not
Nah, I donāt care about immersion. Whatever happened to suspension of disbelief? I really enjoy your work and it would be a shame to see you hung up on everything being realistic; an impossible task, especially for a game set during a zombie apocalypse.
Since you asked, I think the biggest mistake is where they call the SFC a sir instead of Sergeant. Also, how old is the MC supposed to be? The ranks you have are what most people donāt hit until 20+ years of service.
Thanks @JimD, and Iām glad youāre doing sexually attracted exclusive characters, was going to suggest that you should do a Mass Effect kind of thing with the romances. Oh and if you feel like pushing that 2017 release date or at least spend a little time with this upcoming suggestion, depending on how far you take it, was only going to suggest that you should let us play as a zombie for a couple of pages when our character dies, I got this idea from another game from CoG but the writer never really fleshed it out well.
@friendzone I will fix that issue with the sir instead of Sergeant. Now that you said it, the wording bugs me 
@Inepted12 you can play as a zombie (kind of) in ZE1. But yeah, I like the 2017 prediction. I really hope itās 2015 though, just so I can get the game out before the real apocalypse in 2016. 
@JimD I was sooooooo looking forward for SH to be ready by the end of this yearā¦
Well I guess the more time you spend on it the better it will be. And again love it love it love it
@JimD 2016 Apocolypse? This another āold and dead race of people that ran out of numbers on their calenderā thing? Or are you trying to top the sales of Xmen?
@jcury Iām working on another game, so once that one is complete, I can focus on Safe Haven. I really enjoy both games, but A Wise Use of Time is my priority for the summer.
@Inepted12 I figure weāre due for some major cataclysmic event.
@everyone The Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven demo has been updated. This includes the scientist background, which concludes chapter 1.
http://zombieexodus.com/ze2/web/mygame/index.html
Great update. Why did my claustrophobic character not mind the elevator at all, though?
The scientist background is great. It was nice to be on the ground floor of the outbreak.
Well done, love the update
I like the scientist background - I can see you did a lot of background for it. Although I have to wonder what you plan to do with the different backgrounds within that background. Although I can see a lot of possibilities for each path, it may be a little bit much to go into that much detail. All of the disciplines you listed (and the MD but with the possible exception of maybe the developmental biologist - actually the example you gave would have been performed by a microbiologist or evolutionary biologist) are very well equipped for developing a vaccine. The primary reason is that even though the disciplines are different, they often overlap significantly and to become an expert in one discipline often requires you to become an expert in another. The examples you listed for cell biology and biochemistry are great examples in this regard. My suggestion is to reduce the list to Virology, Cell Biology, and Immunology and perhaps add in Genetics.
I do have to mention that like @mara mentioned, some players may be turned off by all the technical terms and specifics involved in this path. Of course, those of us with a stronger biology background do appreciate the research youāre doing for writing this game. Itās your call.
@friendzone @jcury thank you.
@poison_mara thanks for reading it. I will come up with a way to make it more interesting.
@hahaha01357 with the disciplines, they are to (1) help people get in character and (2) for using in customized text later. When NPC asks what you did pre-outbreak, most people would not say, āA scientist,ā but a āCell Biologist.ā I do like the idea of narrowing the options though. I just went with common doctoral degrees.
Most of the feedback on the science background in ZE asked for more technical aspects, so I figured with so many professions, I can make this one more involved.
Wow, looking back at what I wrote, I really need to start reading things through before I hit the āpost comment buttonā. (Especially on this stupid phoneā¦ :)) ) Actually, to be honest, the reason I didnāt comment on this game for so long was because I was really taken aback by the number of stats when I first tried the demo. So question: how do you actually intend to use these stats and are there any plans on simplifying the stats screen? Even listing the stats in categories, I feel, would make it easier for players to understand and navigate through it. Oh, and of course, like for ZE, Iām here if you need any help with the technical stuff.