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Greenlight > Games > Screwfly Studios's Workshop

Zafehouse: Diaries

Description Discussions5 Announcements7 Comments433

Genre: Strategy, RPG, Simulation, Horror

Platforms: PC

Languages: English

Players: Single-player

Posted:

Updated:

Sep 18, 2012 @ 4:12am

Mar 24, 2013 @ 9:02pm

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Recent Announcements View All (7)

Patch v1.1.9: Map marking, bookmarks and performance tweaks

May 17th, 2013 - Screwfly Studios

Zafehouse: Diaries has been updated to v1.1.9. For this patch, we've focused on user interface and performance enhancements that should make playing the game a much smoother experience.

The biggest change is the addition of map annotations. This means you can now mark and add notes to any location on the map, just by right-clicking on it. Can't remember which locations you left supply caches? Now you can leave yourself little reminders.

Tired of moving survivor tokens individually? We've added in a mass-selection feature, which you can use by holding down the left-mouse button over the map and dragging. Include the tokens you wish to select inside the rectangle, release the mouse button and then just left-click on the location you want to move those tokens to. It works pretty much like it would in a real-time strategy game.

For the diary, it's now possible to bookmark pages. Above the left-hand page of the diary you'll notice four small paper tabs. Hover near these and they'll drop down, after which you can click on one to bookmark the current open pages. By default, the bookmark name is the page numbers, but you can type in your own title if you want. To delete a bookmark, just right-click it.

The Movement screen has also seen several improvements. You can sort items based on type, and they'll be ranked from best to worst. Order selection has also been revamped with new graphics.

Finally, game performance and memory utilisation has been improved across the board. Saving and loading is now much faster, text rendering is incredibly quick and late-game turn resolution should be a lot snappier. Those are just the big-ticket tweaks; we've nipped and tucked a great many parts of the codebase.

The full patch notes can be found on the Screwfly Studios forum.

Zafehouse: Diaries can be purchased today, directly from us, for $US9.99. Otherwise, please give us a thumbs-up on Greenlight!

Walking Dead lead designer on Zafehouse: Diaries: "[It] would do incredibly well on Steam"

March 13th, 2013 - Screwfly Studios

Zafehouse: Diaries has received glowing praise on Idle Thumbs, the podcast hosted by Double Fine writer Chris Remo, The Walking Dead lead designer Sean Vanaman and The Walking Dead co-project lead Jake Rodkin.

In the latest podcast, Remo and Vanaman have nothing but good things to say about their experiences with the game. (If you'd like to hear the guys chat about Zafehouse: Diaries, be sure skip to the 56-minute mark.)

Here's a tidbit from Remo:

The fact that it's turn based and the fact that all the relationships between all the people is so complex -- well, so theoretically complex -- it feels, even though it's turn based, you can take it however slow you want, it feels like such an active experience.

You know, a lot of games, a lot of fast paced games, real time games, you can be mentally checked out while you're playing them ... This game was so in contrast.

And a couple of snippets from Vanaman:

You send one guy to do something, you feel like you've covered all your bases [and then you realise] "Oh my god, I didn't send him with a gun." [Then] it's starting to tell you the outcome -- you hit basically "Go" and then it writes in a journal ... you're reading it and waiting for the paragraph that reads like "Mark was eaten." When it doesn't happen you feel like you dodged a massive bullet. It's awesome.

I like the fact the car one [Road Kill] has a very specific goal. As you're exploring locations in [Road Kill] you'll find little clues ... so you're getting information and then you have to go to the map and find the street and find the building ... and then you can move [the notes] around on a table.

There's like a notes section, where you collect the clues -- and you can push them around ("These are the ones I've done, these are the ones I haven't done") and it doesn't do any of the hand-holding stuff where it says "Good job! That note's done now." They're just artefacts like you'd have in your pocket, which I love.

The game treats you like a smart person, it expects you to be really, really critical all the way through it and it's just really wonderful ... I think this game would do incredibly well on Steam ... I think it's one of those games when people see it, if it were to get on the front page of Steam, yeah...

Zafehouse: Diaries can be purchased today, directly from developer Screwfly Studios, for $US9.99. Oh, and a thumbs-up on Greenlight would be fantastic!

Description

Release date: Available now (http://www.zafehouse.com/buy)

Stuck in a remote, abandoned town, you must lead five survivors with conflicting motivations, fragile relationships and fiery prejudices to safety from the roving undead. A sophisticated procedural engine generates new survivors, towns and content so every adventure is a different experience, and you can use built-in editors to add real people and locations to the game.

Get Zafehouse: Diaries the moment it's Greenlit
No waiting months, years or never, Zafehouse: Diaries is available right now, so once it's approved on Greenlight, we'll be ready to publish on Steam. If you'd like to purchase the game today directly from Screwfly Studios (see the link above) we'll be happy to provide you with a key so you can activate the game on Steam. Desura and GamersGate will also distribute Steam keys to anyone who buys it on their services.

Features

Deal with the volatile relationships of your survivors by strategically assigning them to tasks, siding with them on difficult decisions or seeding rumours about their past
The undead aren't the only threat - negotiate, bargain, trade with or fight merciless lynch mobs, zombie hunters and bitten survivors
Experience a fresh story each time you play as the procedural engine crafts new survivors, towns and content
Built-in editors make it easy to add yourself and your friends to the game. Create your own survival horror story in your hometown
Unique diary interface records each action, choice and disaster. Save your heroic story and share it with others

Zafehouse: Diaries is a fresh take on the zombie / survival horror genre. If you're sick of mindless shooters or generic-looking top down affairs that just don't get what the zombie genre is about, this is the game for you.

Press

"...plus an enormous world of experimental indie titles from blockbusters like Minecraft & FTL to smaller titles like Zafehouse: Diaries." - Kotaku
"It's a somewhat different beast from the usual 'shoot everything you see' kind of zombie games." - IndieGames
"Zafehouse is just as unforgiving as FTL: Faster Than Light ... If you seek a challenging zombie survival game, Zafehouse: Diaries will provide." - AlterGamer
"Last year it was Telltale Games’ atmospheric and tense Walking Dead series, and in 2013 we have Zafehouse: Diaries, an original and addictive take on horror survival..." - Game-Debate
"There are a lot of zombie games out there, but Zafehouse: Diaries might be the first one to really focus on and provide an accurate portrayal of people under pressure." - Jay Is Games
"Any fan of the zombie genre who has waited for a thoughtful, challenging gaming experience that amounts to more than ‘grab guns, aim for heads’ would do well to pick this game up." - Independent Gaming
"Zafehouse: Diaries gives you all the tools you'll need to create your own, epic zombie story." - Dad's Gaming Addiction
"Go buy it; it's the perfect practice for when the real thing happens!" - Cheapskate Gamer
"Zafehouse: Diaries is a challenging, interesting zombie game." - Rock, Paper, Shotgun
"Should you buy Zafehouse: Diaries? We'd say that if you want to use your wits and take a thinking approach into a game, then absolutely yes." - Bit Maiden

About Screwfly Studios
We're a two-man developer based in Melbourne, Australia, dedicated to creating deep, innovative strategy games for PC. Zafehouse: Diaries is Screwfly's debut title and the spiritual successor to the highly-regarded Zafehouse.

Popular Discussions View All (5)

6 hours ago

PINNED: Talk to the developers here!

Screwfly Studios

May 20, 2013 @ 1:37pm

PINNED: Curious? Try the demo

Screwfly Studios

Apr 8, 2013 @ 10:10am

The Man In The School

fluffyguy

433 Comments

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Angrysquirrel 6 hours ago

The game is great but it does have some things that need to be worked out before greenlight. Ways to get rid of boss encounters. When people flee from the boss they don't run into buildings infested with zombies. No way to control them when they flee. Ability to find a new survivor if one dies. A way to continue the game past normal end game. At least a way to remove the time limit for the truck getaway mission. A way to limit all the friggin zombies. Mid game it's impossible to survive.

aries-rising May 22, 2013 @ 6:55pm

release (emosewa = meats)

chaodck May 22, 2013 @ 9:09am

After trying the demo, I can say this is definetely a genre-breaking game. The idea behind focusing a survival game in human relationships is brilliant and it's well executed. Besides, full modability is always welcomed in a game of this sorts. Can't wait for The Walking Dead, Left 4 Dead and Dawn of the Dead mods, amongst others.