Unfortunately I don’t have anything super special to show this week. Instead, I can give you short updates on Zafehouse 2 and the 4e Power Toolkit.
Zafehouse 2: I’m slowly making progress on combat. It’s turned out to be a bigger task than I thought, mainly as I wasn’t happy with the first implementation. It worked much like it did in Zafehouse, except it was handled on a “shot-by-shot” basis so you could take actions between rounds, such as healing, moving and switching weapons. The major difference was the combat log had pretty pictures and a greater ability to break down information.
Anyway, while it worked, it didn’t give the player as much control as I would like. So, I’ve kept the core of the combat code, but now, the combat window comes up with a zoomed-in version of the room, and you can assign the occupants to defend a door, or, handle whatever is happening in the room. Currently, you can assign as many people as you want to fight what’s in the room, but only two people can defend a door (I had a hard time justifying how six people could stand next to a door and unload their weapons without killing each other – remember, these guys are stressed, terrified and exhausted survivors, not Delta Force commandos). I will be re-balancing the game to take this two-man limit into account.
I also plan to re-implement the way windows are handled. As per a suggestion by Coded One, they’ll be added to rooms much in the same way as doors. They’ll be coloured differently and require less supplies to barricade. Zombies will only be able to enter them one at a time (maybe), and the player will not be able to climb in/out of them if they are carrying two weapons. These are just some on-the-spot rules I’ve come up with, so if you have any suggestions as to how windows should be different to doors, let me know.
As an aside, a few weeks ago a game called Fort Zombie was announced. It smelt more than a bit like Zafehouse 3D (and I wasn’t the only one to pick up on the similarity), but a studio was bound to latch onto the idea eventually. :D
Thanks for sticking with me. I’d like to see Zafehouse 2 out in the wild as much as you guys, but these things take time. It’s getting there, just a little slower than I’d like. I promise it’ll be worth the wait.
4e Power Toolkit: I haven’t done anything on the 4ePT for a month now. I’ve been focussed on Zafehouse 2, and it looks like it will stay this way in the foreseeable future. When I do jump back to it, I plan to implement the Race Creator, and add support for uploading races and individual powers, as I’ve come to realise that creating an entire class is quite an undertaking. I’d also like to translate the app to French, as I’ve had a few requests. No promises on when I can get round to it though – I’m kept fairly busy at work doing the whole game designer thing.
Posted in General, Zafehouse 2
Tags: 4e power toolkit, fort zombie, Zafehouse, Zafehouse 2, Zombies
I’ve finally succumbed to the Twitter. I held out for as long as I could, but it was too hard to ignore its ubiquity. My argument was, if I have a blog, website and Facebook, I should probably have Twitter too.
Myself, and fellow designer Rob MacBride, are working together on a small project (well, blog) called Up Up Down Down – or Uudders.
Slaved away at combat all weekend. I was determined to get in by Sunday.
Not much to say really, except to 
For the plus-size image of the above, just 
I’m still doing a bit of tweaking, but I’m looking to post a screenshot of combat, and one from early-game with a few searched buildings with zombies and survivors this week.
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