Blockshooter is the third game to come out of Kotaku Australia's Game A Week feature. If Game A Week is new to you, I suggest you give Zafehouse and Wizkill a go. Both of these (and Blockshooter) were coded in seven days by your resident Kotaku AU editor (in other words, me).

Blockshooter is a combination of Breakout and Space Invaders. It's your job to pilot a little ship, shooting at coloured blocks that come your way. Shooting multiple blocks of the same colour will award you a point multiplier. Destroying entire segments will drop a "piece", which can be collected and added to your ship. You lose points by getting hit or allowing blocks to slip past you.

That's the nuts and bolts of it. If you'd like to give it a go, hit the jump for a download link and developer's diary.

PS. Yes, this has come out on Monday instead of Friday. I've decided to shift the Game A Week schedule by two days, so I can have the weekend to playtest and debug. Don't worry, I'm sticking with the whole "seven days to code" requirement.

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Blockshooter will be the next instalment in Kotaku's AU's Game A Week feature, where I do my best to code a new game in seven days.

Departing from the simulation and turn-based genres I've explored in the last two weeks, I've decided to code a shoot em' up. It's pretty conceptual at the moment, but the basic idea is that you fire lasers at blocks and collect the goodies from inside. You can then "build" those goodies onto your ship to make it better. It's like a combination of Breakout, Space Invaders and MacGyver. Or Spore.

You'll be free to create ugly ships that have ten super guns, or sleek, sexy creations with less firepower but more grace.

Friday again is my deadline. Wish me luck!

If you missed the previous Game A Week releases, Zafehouse and Wizkill, be sure to give them a play!