The dev log for Zombie City.https://zombiecitygame.com/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-stack/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-stack/What the game is made of: one language for the world, one for the screen, a contract generated between them, and a practice town that is the same world in your browser.Mon, 07 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/reading-a-room/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/reading-a-room/A room is now one thing you can read: one pile for everything left in it, one glyph that says searched, recharging and how full, and one list that names what a room like this tends to hold, best first, without ever giving you the odds.Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/furniture-and-what-it-breaks-into/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/furniture-and-what-it-breaks-into/The forty-five placeholder tiles got faces, and then furniture stopped being loot: you carry one piece in your hands, or you break it down into planks, nails, scrap and rags, and every one of those gets used up by something. Also, a chainsaw.Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/picked-over/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/picked-over/Searching had become a vending machine, every search paid out, nothing worthless existed and a room never ran dry; now a room holds junk, a search can come up empty, a picked-over kitchen says so before you spend the energy, and the furniture is finally in the rooms.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-practice-town/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-practice-town/A whole town that runs inside your phone, with no server and nobody else in it, where dying costs nothing, and with the one power the real city never gives you: the clock is yours.Sat, 01 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/learning-the-game/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/learning-the-game/How the game teaches itself: tips that sit next to the thing they talk about, a building that walks you through its rooms the first time, and a Survival Guide inside the game whose every number is read off the live rules.Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-screen-again/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-screen-again/A week on the screen itself: the map now runs edge to edge and everything else floats on top of it, gauges instead of digits, one row of controls where the thumb is, conditions as dials on the map, and a sight edge that lights only what you can see.Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/stand-in-the-opening/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/stand-in-the-opening/A door works both ways now, a zombie shut in chews its way out, a broken door can be put back on its frame, and to bar, board or unboard anything you stand in the opening to do it.Sun, 19 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-first-hit/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-first-hit/A hit on a zombie that hasn't noticed you lands twice as hard, and then it has noticed you; fists stop at shut windows, a zombie in your own doorway is a fight, and a survivor who died and got up looks like any other walker until you look closely.Fri, 17 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/carrying-too-much/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/carrying-too-much/The pack used to have a wall at full, and now you can go past it and pay for it: overloaded, every step costs double, takes twice as long, and you can't run.Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/real-interiors/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/real-interiors/A building used to be a menu you opened at the door; now you step inside and the roof comes off, with rooms, walls, doorways and a floor you walk tile by tile, on the same map as the street outside.Sat, 11 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/what-you-wear/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/what-you-wear/Armor was a flat number that made a t-shirt too good; now each piece takes a share of every hit, the shares add up to a ceiling, and the piece doing the most work is the one that gives out first.Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/what-the-dead-hear/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/what-the-dead-hear/The zombie got smarter this week: sound pulls it with a weight and then fades, a loud enough noise makes it force a boarded door and climb the stairs, it searches the spot where it heard you, and some buildings now have guards that never left.Sat, 27 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/things-wear-out/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/things-wear-out/Food goes off, weapons wear down and break, armor takes the hit and gives out, and a found gun keeps whatever was left in it.Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/locks-and-boards/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/locks-and-boards/A week on the door: keys went in and came straight back out, and what stayed is a bar you throw from inside, three grades of boards, and three ways through a boarded door.Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-first-hour/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-first-hour/Every entry so far is for people who already know the rules, and this one is for the person who has never heard of the game and has an hour to decide.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/other-survivors/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/other-survivors/Every entry so far is one person against the city, and this week the game got its second player: you can talk to them, from a short list, and you can attack them.Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/what-you-find/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/what-you-find/Every entry says search the shelves and none has said what is on them: now a gun shop holds guns, a house holds a shovel and a first aid kit, and downtown holds the best of it.Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/gone-for-good/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/gone-for-good/Death is permanent now, and what survives it is you: the map you walked, the notes you took, and a record of everything your survivor did and had done to them.Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/how-the-world-runs/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/how-the-world-runs/Every entry says the server decides, and this one says what the server is: one loop, one queue, a beat every half second, and a screen that works out everything it can.Mon, 15 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/making-your-survivor/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/making-your-survivor/Until this week you were a number in random clothes; now you pick a name, a face and what you wear before you walk in, and the name is for keeps.Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/auto-after-all/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/auto-after-all/A day on combat: weapons take their time now, guns get worse with distance, reloading costs you the gun, and there is an auto toggle after all.Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-murmur/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-murmur/A whole day on the thing the game is built around: what you hear and what they hear are different now, you don't hear what you can see, walls leak, and a crowd is a murmur.Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/what-you-cant-see/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/what-you-cant-see/The other half of the new look is the dark: what the lit circle around your survivor means, why the ground behind a house is cut out of it, and what a window gives you back.Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-look/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-look/For two months the city was coloured squares; this week it became a place you can read at a glance, flat and seen from straight above.Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-phone/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-phone/The plan promised the phone would be a real way to play, and this is the week that got paid, with one rule: the map is never covered.Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/doors-names-and-numbers/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/doors-names-and-numbers/The city entry left three things out that matter more to a survivor than any zone map: where the doors are, what the streets are called, and how many people used to live on each one.Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-city/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-city/The city used to be a rough first map, and this week I rebuilt the machine that makes it, so every number you give it makes a different city.Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/moving/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/moving/Every entry says your steps make noise and cost energy, and none has said you get to choose how you step: now you do, sneak, walk, or run.Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/barricades/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/barricades/A door is a countdown, and this week you can make it a longer one, with planks, energy, and a lot of hammering everyone gets to hear.Thu, 04 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/zombies/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/zombies/The plan said zombies are slow and they listen, and this week I decided what that means: a zombie here is slow, half blind, and never gives up on a door.Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/night/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/night/The city has a clock now, and at night you see less, so you listen more, and the street you knew in daylight is a different street.Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/fighting/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/fighting/Your character never swings back on its own: you tap the thing, you read what it costs and how loud it is, and then you decide.Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/energy/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/energy/Everything you do costs energy and time is what gives it back, which is what makes this a game you check on instead of a game you sit in.Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/buildings/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/buildings/You can go inside now, and a building turns out to be a place to hide, a place to loot, and a box you can't see or hear out of.Sat, 09 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/gear/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/gear/There are no levels, so what you're carrying is the only thing that makes you different from anyone else, and now there are things to carry.Sat, 02 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/dying/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/dying/Death is in: your survivor stands back up as a zombie where it fell, and the rule that it keeps your things is decided even if there are no things yet.Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/hearing/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/hearing/The first thing in is the sound idea: a survivor on a grid, a few zombies, and a log of noises.Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-plan/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-plan/Before the first zombie, here is the list of rules I'm going to build, written down so I can see later what changed.Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-game-i-wanted-to-play-again/https://zombiecitygame.com/devlog/the-game-i-wanted-to-play-again/Years ago I played a browser game called Zombie Days, and since it's gone and nothing took its place, I'm going to build the game I wish it had become.Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT