| Zafehouse: Diaries | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Screwfly Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Screwfly Studios |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Release | September 28, 2012 [1] |
| Genre(s) | Strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Zafehouse: Diaries is a turn-based strategy video game in which the player must guide the survivors of a zombie apocalypse to safety. It was released in September 2012 by the Australian independent developer Screwfly Studios, a start-up company formed by two former magazine editors.
Zafehouse: Diaries is a turn-based strategy video game. The player's primary emphasis is on guiding survivors of a zombie apocalypse to safety. This is achieved by guiding the survivors to a helicopter at a certain point during play or by repairing a car and driving away. The takes place in a town which is randomly generated at the beginning of play. The size of the town and the buildings located within change with each new game. [2] [3]
The game's main screen consists of a map of the town. When the player clicks on a building which contains survivors a clipboard appears on-screen so that the player can issue commands to the survivors. [4]
The game was created by Logan Booker and David Kidd, a pair of Australian video game magazine editors who formed Screwfly Studios to produce Zafehouse: Diaries. [5] The initial version of the game, simply titled Zafehouse, was created by Booker, who was an editor of the video game magazine Atomic . Zafehouse took a week to create and was used as the basis of an article on game development published in Atomic. [6] The game features no graphics or animations. Buildings in the game world are represented by buttons and the game is navigated through a series of lists and menus. [7] This game is played over a period of 72 in-game hours, the player progresses one hour at a time. [6] Zafehouse was the product of Booker's interest in the interpersonal relationships of characters in zombie films, such as 28 Days Later , as opposed to the more visceral action games with post-apocalyptic settings. [7]
Despite the simplistic nature of the game's interface, gamers displayed an interest in the project, surprising Booker. This resulted in him enlisting Kidd, a former PC & Tech Authority magazine editor, to help him build a more complicated version of the game.
A sequel, Zafehouse Diaries 2, was announced by Screwfly Studios in November 2016. [8] The game was released on Steam in June 2017. [9]