Lookit, we came through!

We really DID finish Resi 5, and recorded most of it, and heres the PROOF!

Part three of our Beginners Guide to Resident Evil #5 series of videos; essentially we endeavored to experience and critique the game live at a frontier review capacity; these videos are the result.

Enjoy the antics & poor footage quality of this newest installment, which consists mainly of the two of us shouting at each other and shrieking wildly as we fumble our way through Mission #3 on Veteran difficulty, much the same way a questionably experienced young lad would fumble his way through bra clasps and condom wrappers during those early life encounters of intimacy.

Parts 4 & 5 are also complete and will appear on this site very shortly. Over the course of the play-through we recorded across two separate digital televisions, with different cameras & capture techniques, taking this into consideration I can assure you that the video footage quality will improve beyond this installment, and perhaps it might also get worse in some areas also.

Not an oldskool uudder? Perhaps you might like to watch the earlier parts in the series first:

Episode #1

Episode #2

It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve finally done enough work on Zafehouse 2’s second combat prototype to post a couple of screenshots.

As I mentioned in a previous update, the original combat implementation was ground into a fine, code-tasting dust and packed away, replaced by an infinitely deeper (and juicier) solution that uses firing arcs.

Entering into combat hasn’t changed – you still click on the event in the event window – and the representation of the room is similar too. The difference is that zombies are no longer shown as one large group, they’re now broken up into individual flesh-eating nasties. Weapons have also evolved, the far/close/melee profiles exchanged for variable firing arcs and shot modes. For example, the shotgun has a wide firing arc and shoots pellets in a spread, but it can only fire once per turn and has a short range. A submachine gun on the other hand has a medium firing arc and range, but you can shoot up to six bullets at one or multiple targets. Keep in mind that each bullet fired in the same turn reduces the accuracy of the shot that follows it.

Hit the jump for an additional screenshot which show projectiles in flight. Yes, I said projectiles.

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Well here we all are again, the Sci-Fi decade commenceth!

As promised some time back, we will be kicking off the new year firstly with an Indianna Pones extravaganza; presenting our exclusive three part documentary focus on the releases of Blendo Games, including a blow-by-blow interview with Blendo’s founding playa Brendon Chung.

For any of you out there who’re unhealthily obsessed with Mr. Chung, we’ve included the interview transcript for your reading pleasure (below).

In addition to this Blendo games expose, we’ve got even more recently relevant news that’s so hot out of the oven you’ll blister your tongue trying to digest it, ruining the rest of your day and any other consequent meals you might attempt to enjoy… material or er metaphysical… what was I getting at again?

…Oh right, Flotilla (review pending).

Flotilla is the newest of the new from the mind of Brendon Chung, soon to be released through Impulse, GamersGate, XBLA and also direct from Blendo Games. We’ve got our copy of the game, where’s yours?

We’ve also recently been writing lots of promise-checks by way of our stunted efforts to play through the entirety of Resident Evil 5; all three of our die hard Beginners-Guide fans will be happy to know that recently Loge’s and myself finally witnessed the conclusion to Resi 5 in all of its jaundice tinged glory! So now all that’s left for us to do (aside from the mammoth video editing line I’ve got to wade through) is make more promises about soon to be finished and updated entries into our Beginners Guide to Resident Evil #5 series; parts three & four should be up in the next couple of weeks so ya’ll do come back now!

And now our interview with Brendon Chung of Blendo Games…

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This is the first of three parts, an exclusive inside look at the fantastic indie releases of Blendo Games, and an interview with their creator Brendon Chung.

This first part looks at Blendo titles: Barista & Barista 2

If you enjoyed this, be sure to check out Part #2 and Part #3!

Zafehouse has its second user-made modification, thanks to flap on the game’s official forums.

Based on the v1.82 source code released recently, Zafehouse Infection amps up a number of features of the game, while adding a few new things for you (and I suppose, the undead) to sink your teeth into.

Version 1.0 is already up and available for play, and includes the following changes:

- Infection is now contagious, but there is a small chance to heal it.

- Weapons can be loaded automatically, and when giving a range weapon to someone, is it automatically loaded with one box.

- Barricades higher than heavy block survivors movement

- It is possible to weaken barricades to recover some supplies

- Survivors fighting alongside family members [survivors with the same surname] get an attack and defense bonus

- A survivor can only be cured once per hour.

If you’d like to help flap out, or just give his version a whirl, head over to the progress log on the forums, or check out the list of planned changes and ideas.

Zafehouse Infection V1.00 – Fan edition – Progress Log [Zafehouse forums]

If you take a gander at Zafehouse 2’s media section at the official Zafehouse website, you’ll notice a bunch of fresh screens from the latest build of the game. Combined, the shots demonstrate combat, the day/night cycle, trade window, furniture destruction and a heap of UI updates over the first gameplay video.

All the thumbnails can be clicked for larger versions, if squinting isn’t your thing, and I can assure you they want to be clicked. By you. Right now.

Zafehouse 2 – Media [Zafehouse]

Because they’re funny, mostly!

Something Awful’s devout followers have mused on the prospect of a world where classic gaming concepts are awarded their own learning-orientated literature, and crafted a series of Photoshops to illustrate their findings. I found the Health Recovery one (shown here) to be among the best, though a few other gems await you in SA’s Comedy Goldmine.

Video Game High School [Something Awful]

I don’t have anything super huge to divulge this update, but I can say that, after many requests, I’ve added outside movement to Zafehouse 2. This means instead of taking a turn to move from one edge of the map to the other, it’s looking closer to five or six turns, as you dodge between buildings and the inevitable (and darn hungry) undead.

Currently, you can only move to entrances and zombie “hotspots”, as I didn’t really see the need to position survivors outside in the middle of nowhere. If someone can give me a really (really) good reason why it should be any different, I’ll think about it.

Implementing outside movement required me to confront my fear of A* pathfinding and, while it was a tortuous and many times frustrating endeavour, my work paid off.

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This isn’t a video. But there will be something video-like in this spot (or close to it) this Friday.

I’ve been working on a pet project, Zafehouse 2. It’s the sequel to Zafehouse, a free zombie survival simulator I coded in seven days during my stint at Kotaku AU. It was moderately successfully, and then indie games site Rock, Paper, Shotgun got a hold of it and an even larger audience got a taste of Zafehouse’s flavour of lo-fi, undead fun.

The popularity was great enough to prompt development of a sequel. After a false start, Zafehouse 2 became properly tangible, and even playable. There are screenshots, even, and like, news!

The goal this week is to post a video of combat on Playwrite, my other blog, and here. Hopefully I can introduce a couple new people to the awesomeness that is Zafehouse.