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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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.