One word: Work. Real life has kind of gobbled my time, just as I was making headway on Z2. It could be argued that I should be able to make time for the game, and that’s true, to a point. But Z2 needs large blocks of time spent on it for system implementation; chipping away at this sort of thing will only result in a “bitsy” game. It needs elegance, and that can only come from a holistic approach.

I will say that I’m seriously considering redoing combat. Again. The current system, while neat, takes away from what Zafehouse is all about. The game right now is about combat, and Zafehouse was never a combat simulator. I won’t be working on combat though once I get back to Z2. I’m keen to get the relationship systems up and running, as well as the survivor and safehouse stuff.

Combat will once again take the form of an event log, like the first game, but it will have a little more depth and interaction to it. But I want to stress that strategy and preparation are key in Zafehouse, not tactics. The current combat system does nothing to support this.

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I write like
H. P. Lovecraft

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Check what famous writer you write like… [I Write Like...]

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I know, sad faces incoming.

I’m going to take this opportunity to relax and recharge so I can come back and redouble my efforts on the game and the 4e Power Toolkit. Speaking of the 4ePT, I’ve started work on a localisation manager that should make it a cinch for people to translate the app into other languages. I’ve done about 40% of the groundwork, and hope to have a new version out in January.

As for Zafehouse 2, I’m in the process of adding perks and rewriting the combat engine. The first one was always going to be a prototype, and now that I have a better idea of the direction the game is heading, I can solidify this aspect of the design. The new combat engine and screen will be more interactive, dynamic and pretty, and will introduce a new concept – firing arcs.

But details can wait until 2010. ;) Until then, happy holidays and enjoy the break!

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So, Rob and I went a little video crazy over at Up Up Down Down, our alternative gaming blog, and recorded the entire, hilarious, experience. Somehow, we make Morgan Freeman creepy, bring back the Reebok, and learn just how deadly a blunt machete can be.

Survival Horror 101: Psycho Killer Amiga CD32 [Uudders]

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Tim Stellmach of Vicarious Visions and Eat, Sleep, Play’s David Jaffe headline the conference, while the sidelines (depending on your priorities) contain Farbs of Captain Forever fame, Screenplay’s Jason Hill and fast-talking, British-tinged game critic, Yahtzee.

A PDF of the program is available at the GCAP website. So, if your interests are tickled pink or some other fleshy colour by these names, get a-clickin’.

Press release after the fold.

MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate distribution

GCAP Program Announced as Registrations Open

MELBOURNE – Thursday 15 October, 2009 – The Game Developers’ Association of Australia (GDAA) today unveiled the preliminary program for Game Connect: Asia Pacific (GCAP) the region’s premier game development conference.

GDAA President, Tom Crago has called the program the strongest yet, in the history of the conference. “The Australian industry has been running this event for ten years now and I have been fortunate to have attended every show. Looking at this year’s program, I can’t recall a better lineup of Australian and international speakers,” he commented.

“The whole point of GCAP is to provide an educational and professional development service to the industry in this region, and to build on the collegial atmosphere we share as an industry here. We also use it as an opportunity to host international publishers, and to introduce them to our many, talented development studios. I am very confident that the 2009 GCAP will be a great success on both these criteria.”

Key Note Speakers for this year’s GCAP are Vicarious Visions Design Director Tim Stellmach, and Eat, Sleep Play Founder David Jaffe.

David will appear by video link, in a session to be hosted by the presenters of ABC Television’s Good Game.

A final Key Note Speaker will be announced in the weeks leading up to the conference.

Other program highlights include international speakers from Sony, Microsoft, Autodesk and Havoc, as well as presentations from local studios including Team Bondi, Torus Games, 2K Australia and Big World.

Two presentations will cover recent release Heroes Over Europe from Transmission Games.

This year’s GCAP will also have a focus on Audio, with sessions run by Stephan Shutze and Alex Ringus, culminating in a presentation by Blue Tongue Senior Audio Designer John Guscott on the interactive soundscapes of deBlob.

A double-session panel discussion on serious games will be another highlight, as will Firemint CEO Rob Murray’s presentation on his company’s success with iPhone titles Flight Control and Real Racing.

Local Indie developer Farbs will share his experiences on life as an independent, and the conference will culminate in a panel discussion featuring games media luminaries including Yahtzee and Jason Hill.

The panel will be chaired by Tantalus Creative Director David Hewitt, and will be entitled. ‘What I hate about Video Games: A Critic’s Perspective’.

To view the program in full, visit www.gameconnectap.com

Registrations for GCAP are now open, and delegates are encouraged to register early to take advantage of reduced rates.

For further information about the conference or to register interest as a conference speaker visit www.gameconnectap.com

-ends-

About Game Connect Asia Pacific 2009 (GCAP):
Game Connect: Asia Pacific (GCAP) 2009 is the premier conference, exhibition and networking event for the Asia Pacific Games Industry. GCAP 09 will be held at the Crown Promenade Hotel, Melbourne Australia from Sunday 6 December to Tuesday 8 December, 2009.
Game Developer Awards 2009:
The GDAA Industry Awards will be presented at the Game Connect Asia Pacific annual awards dinner in Melbourne on Tuesday 8 December, 2009

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So, after trying to find a nifty, edgy username like “cthulhu” or “macgyver”, I finally settled on logan_booker. If you happen to Twitter, feel free to follow me!

Logan Booker [Twitter]

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No, no cows are involved… not yet, anyway, but humorous videos of us playing games and generally shit-talking are. It might tickle your fancy, it might not, but I urge you to take a peek. Rob recently posted our latest work, a clip of us playing the finalists of the last Independent Games Festival. There’s intelligent conversation mixed with me spouting slanderous comments about everyone’s relatives, including my own and overall, it has the laughs.

So check it out, sign up to the feed if you like what you see, continue to partake in our digital gaming delights.

Up Up Down Down [Official site]

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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.

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A fantastic feat to be sure (especially the ASCII rotation… that just blows my mind), and one I’ll check out properly at my earliest convenience.

Video: ten more minutes of Joe Larson’s ASCII pOrtal [Offworld]

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He was always looking for ways to chide me, so I assaulted him with my cane from underneath my sheepskin jacket, to which he welped in delight. He wasn’t fucking right in the head. Thus, we walked into the shit-smelling changing room, and, gathering around what passed for men in the Stanley team, I made a speech, in my usual pleasant and fragrant tones:

“Put them in ovens men, yes we’ll shit on their faces, beat them to crisps and chop them up and bake them.”

They walked out disturbed, but were in the hypnotised frame of mind not to aggravate my temper – they knew me too well, but little did they know I was planning a special holiday at the end of the season, involving knives and Catholic priests in the Amazon rainforest.

Read more Dickensian-inspired footballing. It’s not exactly Great Expectations, but then, what is?

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Just dealing with some personal issues right now and I need to focus on what’s important.

See you on the other side. Or the flip side. Or whatever the better, happier side is. :)

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No, this is true survival horror.

Don’t Shit Your Pants [Kongregate]

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What? An apps page? Yes, I thought it was about time to get a basic page up where one can easily download my programs. Now I need to find somewhere for it on the main site…

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A little off-topic, but far too classic to pass without a mention.

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Which I probably should have done sooner.

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RIP playwrite.wordpress.com.

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Got fed up with the free hosting I had, but I couldn’t really complain considering, well, I wasn’t paying anything. So, I purchased hosting with DreamHost. MySQL, PHP and unlimited bandwidth and space for life, thanks to the special birthday deal.

Sweet.

I’ll get it up and running in the next week or so, once my damn domain name host allows me to update the name servers. Don’t worry, I made a backup of the Zafehouse score database, so that will return unharmed as well.

And a quick bit on Deadshed: I’m thinking I might release a beta late December to get some feedback on its progress. Not 100% sure yet, but I’m warming to the idea.

Update: It’s alive!

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Any recommendations for Oz-based services are very welcome – particularly ones with MySQL and PHP support!

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Update: Zafehouse.com is now live. I’ve changed the page graphics as well.

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