Update: Zafehouse now has its very own website, zafehouse.com.

Everyone remembers Zafehouse, don't they? The free zombie survival horror simulator I coded in seven days? Well, turns out it was by far the most popular of the three titles that came out of the Game A Week feature, and there were plenty of people who submitted fixes and tweaks. I found myself with some spare time on the weekend, and decided to put together a version 1.5, incorporating the feedback I'd had on the game.

Originally, I just wanted to streamline encounters by removing the "next round" button and having things tick over automatically. But then I got another idea, and then another, and soon I found myself with a big list of changes, improvements and bug fixes.

I've included a complete rundown after the jump, but here's a summary if you can't wait:

* Buildings produce more resources, while raiding brings in less.
* Encounters streamlined, instant resolution button
* Zombie numbers increased.
* More shortcut keys.
* New scoring formula.
* New perk, and original perks improved.
* New building, the Church, which produces survivors.
* GUI improvements
* Numerous bug fixes (no more whipping from inside buildings)

Download Zafehouse v1.5 binaries.
Download Zafehouse v1.5 VB .NET source code.

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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!

Update: Zafehouse now has its very own website, zafehouse.com.

Game A Week 2 is done. Done I say! Zafehouse is ready to be played by all.

As I said earlier in the week, this thing almost killed me. I had an idea that just exploded. I think the end result is quite awesome. Zafehouse has strategy, survival horror and, best of all, zombies. I love shufflers, I just love them to death, and I'm glad I got to put them into a completed game.

I have yet more plans for a version 2, which I'll release when it's done. For now, I have to get started on Game A Week 3. If you'd like to check out Game A Week 1, Wizkill, hit up this post.

Hit the jump for a development breakdown, hints and tips and unimplemented features, or download the game and give it a spin.

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This one's going to kill me, I think. May have been too ambitious. The mental image I had of Zafehouse, the next title for Kotaku AU's Game A Week feature, went fuzzy at about, oh, 3AM this morning. I almost freaked out believing I'd made some unplayable monstrosity. But, through the late nights debugging my arse off, I've managed to forge something I'd call "feature complete". Now I just have to playtest like mad.

Don't forget to check out Wizkill, the game from week 1, and make suggestions for other games I can make.

Here's the second title I'm working on for Game A Week. It's called Zafehouse, and demands the player keep a bunch of survivors alive for 120 hours (five days) from zombie attacks, while hunting for weapons, ammo, food and other people. It will be primarily event driven, requiring the player to deal with infections, supply shortages and freak accidents. Securing buildings will be an important part of play, as not everyone can fit in the starting house!

I'd say I'm about 15% done at this point, so a lot of work to do before Friday.

Start thinking of game ideas guys! I still have a few ones I'd like to try, but I'm keen to see what you can come up with. Remember - seven days of development time only!

Update: I didn't even notice the game's random name generator had spat out "John Romero" for this particular run-through. To put this in perspective, there's a 1 in 4418 chance of this happening.

Wizkill Source Code, By Popular Demand: There's been quite a few requests for the VB.NET 2005 source to Kotaku AU's quick and dirty roguelike Wizkill. If you'd like to take a look at how it was done, you can grab the V1.1 code from here. If you'd like to try out the game, check out the announcement post.

Yes, I'm writing a game every week! The first one, Wizkill, was released yesterday. It's a tiny download - about 40K - so don't be afraid to give it a go and post your scores! We've already had one winner, why not be the next one? Hey, why not take this opportunity to suggest ideas for new games? I've already started on something, but I'm definitely taking down stuff for other weeks.

Well, here it is - our first entry in "Game A Week", an exclusive Kotaku AU feature where you guys come up with ideas for simple games and I try and code them in seven days.

This little guy is called Wizkill. It's a roguelike, which means it's nothing but ASCII graphics, letter-shaped monsters, gold and dungeons. Roguelikes are traditionally quite hard and have a steep learning curve. I've tried to minimise the latter by limiting the number of keys, removing classes and providing a single goal (killing monsters), but who knows, it might still take a while to come to grips with.

There's a score component, calculated when you die or hit level 25. Feel free to post your highest score in the comments for this post. Oh, and if you notice any bugs or want to suggest some changes, add them here as well. If there are enough, I'll make the appropriate tweaks and release a "final" version on Monday.

If you'd like to start playing, you can download the game after the jump. I've also included a write-up on the design and development process, and what I'll be taking across to my next Game A Week project.

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Update: Week 1's game, Wizkill, is available for download.

Above is a screenshot of Wizkill, a roguelike I started writing in the early hours of Monday morning. I often get distracted writing small games like this, with the sad part being that I either never finish them, or they sit unplayed by anyone but me, rotting in cyber oblivion.

No longer! At least for the next few weeks. Starting from this Friday (when I'll upload Wizkill), I'm going to try and code a new game every week. Depending on how popular this feature turns out to be, I'll keep going until I run out of ideas, or it breaks me.

If you'd like to hear more, or feel you can contribute, hit the jump!

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