Designing the rules for a zombie route puzzle: Undead Ends: Zombie Puzzle is out on iOS

Afonso Quinaz — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 18:22:15 +0000

I'm Afonso Quinaz, and I just shipped Undead Ends: Zombie Puzzle on the App Store for iPhone (9 November 2026). This post walks through the small rule set the whole game is built on. Disclosure: I'm the developer, and the game is free with ads and optional in-app purchases.

The core loop

Zombies are shuffling toward a house. You get a few barricades. Place them so every zombie's road leads into a dead end (a pit, a trap, a closed street) before it reaches the door. Plan, press GO, and watch the horde walk into your plan. There's no reflex element at all.

The rules

Movement is deterministic. Every move, each zombie steps to the neighbouring road tile that is closest to the house, going around barricades. The lines on the board show each route, and a solid line ends at the pit it will fall into.
You can't trap a zombie completely. Every zombie (except tanks) must always have a way to the house, so a barricade that would trap one is refused. You redirect zombies; you don't box them in.
Par. Each level has a par, the fewest barricades that can win. Win with par for three stars.

Variety on top

Tanks smash barricades, runners move two steps at a time, and there are gates and pressure plates, sewer tunnels, cracked roads, drawbridges, boomers and more, spread across 336 handmade levels in 28 places around the world. There's also a new daily puzzle every day, rated Challenges, and a Duel mode where you race another player on the same boards.

Feedback welcome

I'd love to hear whether the routing rule is readable in the first few levels, and whether chasing par feels rewarding.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/undead-ends-zombie-puzzle/id6820686920
Website: https://afonsoquinaz.github.io/puzzle-public/

I shipped my first iOS idle game: Clean The Map: City Cleanup

Afonso Quinaz — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 18:26:08 +0000

Hi DEV! I'm Afonso, a solo developer from Portugal, and I just released my iOS game Clean The Map: City Cleanup.

The idea: last night the city of Brightwater threw SUNFEST, its biggest festival ever, and this morning there are 10,000,000 pieces of trash on the streets. Your job is to clean all of it.

What's in it:

9 districts to clean, from the Festival Grounds to Sunny Beach
12 tools and trucks to upgrade, all the way up to the Mega Vac
54 recycling points and a cleaning crew that helps you out
Golden trash, combos and Golden Hours
27 lost treasures, 26 trophies and 20 outfits
A fireworks finale when you clean the last piece, then a new festival with a permanent coin bonus
Play in first or third person, in 6 languages
Free, with optional rewarded ads only

It's meant to be relaxing and great in short sessions.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/clean-the-map-city-cleanup/id6819344936
Website: https://afonsoquinaz.github.io/CleanTheMapPublic/