Rising Dead

Inspiration

Rising Dead is inspired by the Zombie apocalypse movies, series and mobile games majorly Resident Evil (Netflix 2022) and Into the Dead (Android Game). As zombie apocalypse is one of the most favorite and trending genres among the kids, teenagers and even adults and games like Into the Dead, Dead Target, Dead Trigger are one of the top grossing games I decided to make one using Snapchat AR. The UI and sound effects of Rising Dead are inspired from the famous mobile game PUBG mobile.

What it does

Rising Dead is a zombie apocalypse FPS AR game. Kill zombies & run for survival ! Rules are simple - Do what you have to in order to stay alive, keep moving as fast as you can, choose the right weapon for your survival, look around and kill zombies in your way. When the Dead are rising, run! You must glance around, tap the screen to shoot, and kill zombies and other monsters that appear randomly in random locations before they start eating your body. Monsters and zombies approach you normally; eliminate them before they get too near! The undead animal stands still and spits fireballs, each of which reduces the target's health by 10 units. You can find the ideal weapon for survival in a firearms store. The health meter is located at the top; once it is empty, the game is over and you are consumed by the dangerous zombies. Combo Kill - If you kill 2 or more zombies with one shot. Your gun’s magazine is equipped with 5 rounds. After exhausting it takes 2.5 seconds to reload, use your bullets wisely. Incredibly realistic graphics and sound effects, such as "kill," "walk," "shot," "tap," "blast," "burning,", "scream," and many more are also included in Rising Dead. These features were expertly included into the game to provide the greatest possible user experience with no lags and excellent quality.

How we built it

The zombies in the game are spawned on the ground using Snapchat's surface tracking technology. The most difficult and important component of the game, getting the zombies to follow the camera no matter where they are spawned or where the player is moving, required the usage of the Pythagorean Theorem along with a ton of programming and logic to make it work. Although the game had approximately ten separate scripts doing various activities, the RAM usage and lens size were much below the threshold, ensuring that the game works smoothly even on low-end devices. The kills are recognized by the zombies' new physics colliders, and when the weapon's aim causes a collision, the entire kill sequence is started. The "Game Manager" is the single main script (the brain) that controls all of the sound effects, graphics, animations, movements, health, and score in this entire game.

Challenges we ran into

The optimization of lens size and RAM consumption was the largest issue because Rising Dead includes 4 zombie 3D models, 4 firearms, a hand, stunning graphics, 10 scripts, and about 15 different sound effects. I refused to sacrifice the assets' quality, cut down on the quantity of characters, or remove any functionality. For the game to run flawlessly on low-end devices as well, the best quality and optimization must be used. After much effort spent on R&D hit and trial, I eventually wrapped up the lens in 7.5 mb, and RAM consumption did not exceed 65 mb with a frame rate of 20 FPS or above even on the low end devices, all without sacrificing the quality and graphics of the game.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Working solo and developing an AR FPS game in 20 days with stunning graphics, sound effects and great execution all done within a limit of 8mb and then finally taking it live and the users using and loving it is the greatest accomplishment for me. It made me very proud and was the finest 20 days I have ever spent on a project when I received so many positive comments about how much people liked playing this game and how well the execution and graphics are done.

What we learned

From making the game "Rising Dead," I’ve learned several important lessons:

The importance of optimization for low-end devices.
The challenges of implementing surface tracking and the Pythagorean Theorem.
The difficulty of balancing asset quality with lens size and RAM consumption
The satisfaction of creating an AR game with stunning graphics, sound effects, and great execution.
The importance of working hard to achieve your goals.
The joy of receiving positive feedback from users who appreciate your work.

What's next for Rising Dead

In the future updates I will be working on remote assets that will extend the size limit of 8mb. I will add new weapons like rifles, pistols, grenades and chainsaws and a new range of zombies to increase variety and challenge. Remote assets will free up a lot of space on the lens which can be utilized for more enhanced graphics and sound effects. In the coming days I will take users feedback and try to incorporate them to improve the overall experience.