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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