Apocalypse Rising

Apocalypse Rising is an adventure survival game created by Gusmanak and released on July 1, 2012. Based upon the multiplayer open-world survival horror game modification for the 2009 military simulation ArmA 2 called DayZ, the game takes place on a large open map during a zombie apocalypse. The map is one of the largest maps of any game on Roblox. Apocalypse Rising currently has over 177,000 favorites. Apocalypse Rising is known as the most popular zombie game of 2012, and arguably one of the most popular zombie games in 2013 (along with Deadzone). As a result of the game's popularity, Gusmanak won "The Coolest Gift" hat. Due to the large amount of popularity the game received, it was the 14th most visited game during 2012, accumulating a total of 4,844,229 place visits.  Apocalypse Rising is currently the 23th most played game on Roblox of all time, and has recently hit the second page of most played games.
In the ROBLOX Game Trailer Contest, a contest in which Roblox users competed to create the best video trailers, Apocalypse Rising was chosen for the top 5 best Roblox game video trailers, although in the result of the contest, Apocalypse Rising was chosen as a runner up in second place, behind Catalog Heaven . Despite being second place to Catalog Heaven, Apocalypse Rising, Catalog Heaven and 3 other places whose game trailers has reached the top 5 best video trailers were awarded the Game Trailer Video Contest Winner hat, along with 20,000 Robux.
Sometime in 2012, the game was on shutdown until further notice due to it frequently glitching, and the reasons for the shutdown were posted on the ROBLOX Forum, but luckily Shedletsky, the creative director of ROBLOX, has made his own copy of the game and included his own Lag-meter GUI to compare the player's ping towards that of the server the player is in. The game was re-opened soon afterwards.
==Gameplay==
===Overview===
In Apocalypse Rising, players need to survive in the large wasteland by consuming foods and drinks that are scattered in the area in order to prevent starvation and/or dehydration that can occur over time. Players may also attempt to fend off zombies that are present in scattered areas of settlement, such as small residences, towns, and even military areas, using weapons that they can use, such as the Crowbar, Hatchet (previously fire axe), Kitchen Knife (now removed), Colt M1911 Pistol, Makarov Pistol, Beretta M9, Smith & Wesson Model 625 Revolver, CZ-75, Glock-18 (renamed as G-18 in-game), TEC-9, Mosin-Nagant, double-barreled shotgun, Mossberg Maverick 88 shotgun, Remington Model 870 military shotgun, Heckler & Koch MP5, AK-47, M1 Garand, M4A1, and most powerful weapon in the game, the MK-48 (the only light machine gun (LMG) in the game). However, it is possible for the player to be wounded by zombie(s) and/or other player(s). The health cannot be regained by itself, so it requires the player to rely on consumption of any edible food or a blood bag in order to regain lost health. Besides zombies, players are also another possible enemy, if they own any weapon that can be used. Players can pose a risk that is similar to if not more than zombies, since it is possible for players to use ranged firearms that can damage zombies and players from a distance, which makes them more dangerous than zombies, who can only attack players by trying to run close to them and damage the player that the zombie is near to at melee range. However, as of April 4, 2013, a team GUI (Generated User Interface) has already been implemented into the game to give the ability of non-killable team mates and the ability to invite players into the team.
Although the game is owned and designed by Gusmanak, a team of players contribute to the overall design and function of the game. The most notable of these players are ZolarKeth, the scripter of the game; SkateBored, who creates the gun and attachment models; PKThunder, the creator of the comic advertisements for the game; and Pobeda, who designs the outfits used in the game. The Apocalypse Rising Advisory Board also critiques design choices and tests game updates before they go public.
===Startup===
When starting up a new game (if it is the first time that the player plays the game, has died sometime, or has the data reset in an update), the player can choose what his/her character would look like (such as the skin color of the player, hairstyle in a few different colors, outfit, the appearance of the player's body armor, and the color of the player's body armor) and finally the perk. 4 perks are available at the time, which are, in the order that they appear from left to right, Cardio, Survivalist, Adrenaline, and Ninja. Cardio allows the player's hunger and thirst bars decrease slightly slower than a normal player's would when sprinting, Survivalist allows the hunger and thirst bars to deplete five minutes slower, Adrenaline increases regeneration and speed when the player's health is below 30%, and Ninja can allow the player to make no walking and jumping noise and can require the zombie to be closer to the player in order to attack. After the player creates his/her own character, the player starts off near the shore on the beach and wearing a backpack with a Makarov pistol that has 4 magazines that has the complete 8 bullets in each magazine, along with a can of beans and a can of Pepsi in the inventory.
===Features===
In many of the settlements that can be found in the area, foods [many of which are present in the form of canned foods, or in some occasions, Cheez-Its brand snacks and Meals, Ready to Eat (MRE) and many others], drinks (many of which are present in the form of common brand sodas, such as Coca-Cola, Mountain Dew, Orange Crush and, rarest of all, Dr. Pepper), and possibly weapons (many of which are in the form of melee weapons, such as fire axes, primary firearms, such as the double-barreled shotgun, and secondary handguns, such as the Smith & Wesson Model 625 revolver) and their corresponding ammunitions can be found and scavenged by using the collect tool. Other possible loots also includes painkillers, which can reduce incoming damage from many sources of damage for 45 seconds, and blood bags, which can completely fill up the health bar, although blood bags may only be exclusively found in small hospitals and clinics, which are indicated by a red cross. In addition, players can also scavenge various supplemental gears such as wristwatches, which shows the current time of the place in hours and minutes, maps, which provides the physical geographies of the area, compasses, which shows the direction the player is facing, GPS's, which shows the player's character's location on the map, and matchboxes, which can light up firewood for cooking meat.
The carrying capacity of the player is rather limited, so this can encourage players to attempt to search for packs that can allow the player to carry more items. The packs are, in order of the added carrying capacity from least to greatest, fanny packs, which increases the inventory capacity by two inventory slots, hiking packs, which adds 4 additional inventory slots, survival packs, which increases the capacity by 6, and military packs, which adds a whopping 8 inventory slots to the inventory, although military packs are very exclusive and are only available in certain areas that are rather risky in terms of the possible amount of zombies.
Since version 3.3, the player also has the ability to sprint at the cost of his/her hunger and thirst going down much quicker than usual, so the player should know when to limit the use of the sprint feature, as the action can risk both the hunger and thirst bars to the point that the player would starve and/or dehydrate should the player recklessly sprint at the wrong times, such as when the hunger and/or thirst bar is low. Between Versions 3.3 and 4, sprinting was done by double tapping the w button, which was at first broken due to how some of the keyboards had problems with the action, but was later fixed in a minor update. As of now, sprinting can be done by pressing either the left shift button or double tapping the w button, which can be changed to fit the player's preference.
Players can move building materials (which can take up multiple space in the player's inventory) by using the grab (entrencher) tool, which can be looted in certain areas, and move any available building blocks. The building materials can help the player traverse to areas that are normally difficult to move to without the materials.
Since version 3.5.0, a Group feature is added, in which players can form a small alliance in the game. Every group will have a leader that can invite and/or kick group members and can transfer the role of leader towards other group members. Also, members of the group can see other members' names floating on top of their head to indicate a group member and cannot be hurt via friendly fire, which means that any damage that is dealt upon another group member by a group member will be nullified
Various journals and loose papers can be found scattered throughout the area, which the player can read to gain knowledge regarding the background of the zombie outbreak. The following slideshow shown below displays some of the papers and journals in the area.
==Major Updates==
===Update 2.0.0===
Version 2.0.0 was a significant update for Apocalypse Rising, brought in a relatively short time period after the game's initial release. The update added data persistence to the game, and overhauled the way that player's items were saved in order to allow for changes to be made without affecting game data.
===Update 3.0.0===
Version 3.0.0 completely changed game-play as it added in a brand new map to the game. Although the original map of the "Kin" region had been used before, this update added an entirely new map that was over 150% larger than the original. The new map, dubbed the "Amend" region after its largest city, introduced persistence of a player's character appearance as well as their location to the game.
===Update 4.0.0===
Version 4.0.0 was released the day before Christmas on December 24, 2012. The update included vehicles, a dynamic inventory system that allowed items to take up multiple slots, the return of thirty percent of the map, and more detailed buildings. Five vehicles were originally introduced, all of which are based on vehicles that can be found in the game DayZ. The vehicles include the civilian car, a military UAZ, a pickup truck, a military Ural truck, and a tractor. The vehicles requires multiple car parts that can take up multiple spaces in the player's inventory, including the wheels, fuel tank, and the engine. After the vehicle is repaired, it still requires fuel to run, which can be acquired by using a jerry can. With vehicles, players can travel faster without having to sprint and risk their hunger and thirst bars, and they can also be used as weapons to ram players and/or zombies, effectively crushing and killing the targets. However, the car can be damaged and may require the hull to be repaired using scrap metal, along with any other car parts that are damaged using their respective parts.
The vehicle system introduced in update 4.0.0 was later completely redone in update 4.5.0, which added the ability to break vehicle windscreen glass, improved turning and collision reliability, increased maximum vehicle speed, and also added bicycles as a unique single-rider vehicle.
===Update 5.0.0===
Although not yet released, update 5.0.0 was announced by Gusmanak and ZolarKeth in a question and answer session held through Teamspeak. Confirmed features of the update include a brand new map that returns players to a re-imagined version of the original Kin map, the removal of military airfields, the inclusion of many new unique structures and locations throughout the map, and a city (Kin) sprawling nearly five times the area of the largest city in the current version (Amend). The hills for the map will also be redone using triangle terrain instead of the current ball-shaped hills.
==Trivia==
*Many players, on start up, will choose to be a bandit, and they will run around with automatic weapons, slaying and terrorizing all in their path. Some will even team up with other players and then when they would simply least expect it, attempt to murder them on the spot. (This is less possible as of the team GUI update, although the leader can still abuse the group system by betraying a group member by kicking them out and attempt to kill said victim afterwards.). On version 4.2.0, a change was added for the ability to become a hero, which awards the player a headband, by killing at least 3 bandits, though it can be lost by slaying an innocent player and prevents the ability to earn it again.
*As of April 4, 2013, leading up to version 4.5.1, a total of 83 updates have been released, many of which are minor adjustments and fixes in the game. Version 4.0.0 was the 50th update and also a major one since it introduced the vehicle system into the game, modified the map to include some areas from before the overhaul of the map, increased the maximum player count up from 12 to 16, and made modifications to other features of the game, such as the sprinting key and the merging of various tools to the "interact" tool.
*2 advertisements are currently running, both of which are 4-framed vertical comics. The first one is about two survivors named Tom and Smiff making an agreement on items that they would receive and fighting zombies afterwards. After Tom finds a can of beans, Smiff betrays Tom by killing him, though how Tom was killed is unknown. The comic ends with Smiff eating the can of beans that Tom found. The second one is taking place in V4.0.0 about a survivor wearing an orange body armor waiting for another survivor wearing a purple body armor to come inside the small purple house in order to steal his red car. The survivor wearing the orange body armor was able to steal the other survivor's car and drives away only to encounter a cow in the middle of the road and crashes into a tree, with the comic ending with the unconscious (possibly dead) survivor near the crashed car being surrounded by 4 zombies.
*The gear Tom's Beans was inspired by the beans in the game and the advertisement where Tom and Smiff fight zombies together and Tom finds beans and the viewer can see him eating the beans alone in the darkness on the last frame.
*The game added hills in update 4.3.2, which allowed for more vertical gameplay and the inability to see across vast distances through the fog. The hills will be redone in version 5.0.0 of the game
*Credits goto Roblox Wikia