User:Amazing/The Case for Hell Rising

Introduction

A while back, someone asked me to 'sell' them on Hell Rising. I realized I haven't actually done this very much over the years, preferring to just ask people to try it out and see what they think.

So essentially, this will be a 'sandbox' type page where I post "The Case for Hell Rising". Some observations will be huge, others will be quite minor. The small ones will hopefully paint a picture of the greater "flavor" of the game.

And a one, and a two...

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The Scream Button

A few years ago, I added a "Scream" button. I didn't tell anyone about it.

This button only appears when a human player is low on health and has exactly ONE action point left. This essentially means that players can choose to use their last dying breath to let out a pained howl of fear, pain, and/or rage.

This scream is heard on surrounding blocks, enabling other humans to come help... or predators to come play with your severed head...

What's great, to me, about the scream button is that players who found it initially had no idea why it appeared, and quickly wanted to see if they could repeat the scenerio. Others actually didn't believe the button existed when told about it. Some probably still think it's a player hoax, though this will probably put the idea to rest.

That's a big part of what I have done and hope to do with Hell Rising... create a 'world' where not every little thing is spoiled for you, where you CAN discover something nobody else has found. Even if it's just a scream button or a hidden message.

More Happens

Hell Rising just has more. On most Browser-Based Games, you'll pick up a pistol, load it, then shoot someone. On Hell Rising, you'll pick up a pistol, load it, happen to shoot someone in the chest and receive your skill-based bonus damage when taking chest shots.

That's just one example of the level of complexity involved in every-day activities, without passing that complexity on to the user. You don't actually have to go through a series of settings to specifically target another player's groin (yes this is a real target area), but rather it will be selected based on various odds every time you attack!

It's not just combat. Even when you drop an item from your inventory, a routine, boring action we've all taken part in... well... if there's a fire in the room, you get to enjoy the automatic pleasure of burning it instead. I swear, try to read "You burn a stuffed parrot" without at least a smirk. (You managed to? Then you have no soul and that's not my problem!)

It's just a simple fact! More can happen on Hell Rising.

Groups Are Managable

Sure, it's nice to have a group system where you type anything you want into a box on your profile... but... hear me out... what if you could type anything you wanted into a box on a group creation page? Then you could type a group description. Then you could set it to public or private membership. Then you could name a wide variety of ranks you can assign to members. Then... well, you get the idea.

Hell Rising has what is probably one of the best group systems in Browser-Based Gaming. While some others may be very simple and others may be very involved, Hell Rising offers the useful group features without being complex and annoying!

You can actually set group friends and group enemies, whose members will appear as a different color ingame. That's right, "Contacts" for groups, completely discernable from your own personal contacts. Your personal friends and enemies are green and red. Your group's friends and enemies are blue and orange. Simple!

What's more, you can share power within your group. You can assign seperate powers to a rank (like saying a "General" can invite other players, but also kick them) and then assign that rank to as many members of your group as you choose. You can even assign a rank that lets players assign ranks!

Basically what I'm saying is Hell Rising's group system is awesome, and nobody can pretend to be a member of your group when they're not.

Humor

There's a lot of humor in Hell Rising, scattered here and there. While most would probably enjoy a few chuckles, however, it's also completely avoidable. If you don't like the jokes, you're not forced to suffer them all the time.

As an example of Hell Rising's brand of dark humor, you'll recieve a randomized message every time you commit suicide by jumping from a tall building. Sometimes you'll land normally on the pavement below... others you'll find yourself in a dumpster or impaled on a traffic sign. There are just so many ways to die, and who doesn't love a good hari-kari now and then?

You'll also notice that hiding as a human gives you similar messages. You might climb into a pile of discarded underpants... or if the attempt fails you may decide not to hide in an oven because it sends the wrong message to the undead. Note that these messages are actually based on where you are, meaning there are tons of humorous messages peppered throughout tons of locations!

I'd tell you more, but... well, they wouldn't be funny anymore by the time you found them!

It Doesn't Afraid of Anything

You want Ninja skills? X-Ray vision? Trenchcoater bullshit? Zombie buffs out the undead wazoo? No sweat.

With Hell Rising, a lot of things are on the table that most games wouldn't consider out of some bygone, faded notion of "wrongness". Instead of immediately ignoring what many players have historically asked for, we try it out.

If it stinks, we remove it again. Kind of obvious, no? You have a neat idea that others like? Well, let's at least try it. It's overpowered? Let's see what we can do to change it.

Hell Rising doesn't adhere to some strict rule of what is or isn't a valid idea - because that's how fun and innovation die. We have a hiding skill for each race - all of which work differently based on each race's specific traits. For example, zombies can "drop dead" and become a corpse... until someone tries to interact with them. You know what? As often as someone will say they're tired of searching for a hiding player, they'll just as often survive the night and come back happy because they slipped into hiding.

You can't please everyone, and trying to do so results in stagnation and frustration - so you'd might as well be bold and take chances.