History VideoGame / DeadFrontier

* DropTheHammer: The Corpse crusher (a hammer made of corpse parts) is the strongest melee weapon. A sledgehammer is also on the list.

* GutturalGrowler: The protagonist’s voice is somewhere between Christian Bale’s batman and Tom Waits in the gravelly voice competition.

''Dead Frontier'' is an {{MMORPG}} set, as its name suggests, during a ZombieApocalypse. It was developed by Neil Yates [=("AdminPwn")=] and can be found [[http://www.deadfrontier.com/ here]]. The initial beta launch occurred in 2008 and used UsefulNotes/AdobeFlash; a 3D version using UsefulNotes/{{Unity}} was then released in August of 2010, and the full version continued to use the engine. In 2019, a 3D Unity-based {{sequel}}, ''Dead Frontier 2'', was released through UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}.

* PlayerVersusPlayer: Currently has three uses: access to the elite shop for the top PKer that week, settling Clan disputes, and bragging rights. There's even a consequence-free PVP arena in every town for those who don't want to do it in the inner city.

* DoNotRunWithAGun: Some players have had issues with not being able to attack while moving at a full sprint. [[ObviousBeta There may be a reason]].

* DoNotRunWithAGun: Some players have had issues with not being able to attack while moving at a full sprint. [[ObviousBeta There may be a reason]].

* BonusBoss: [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos The Slender Man]] appeared as a secret boss during the 2012 Halloween event.

* AnAxeToGrind: Several, with a battle axe being the second most powerful melee weapon in the "edged blunt" category.

* MadeOfPlasticine: It's not uncommon to cut off an arm or even ''the head'' of a zombie after a critical hit, but it will still hunt your ass until it's down. ''[[UpToEleven Even after you sliced it’s arms and head.]]''

* DifficultySpike: After getting past level 10, the rather effective starting items become ''much'' less effective, forcing you to enter a tougher zone where the mooks deal over twice the damage as those in the previous zone.

* RealityEnsues: Several times in the games, many of which lead to your death.

[[folder:Tropes present in all instalments]]

** The stuff you get in the Elite Shop is kind of insane though, like prototype indestructable armour built out of whatever scrap could be scavenged by survivor technicians and a [[HandCannon 20-round .50 caliber automatic revolver]].

** The Leaper, one of the upper level zombies, kills players in one hit regardless of their gear and level. The game justifies it by claiming that he's far stronger than he looks and that his demesured tongue (his main weapon, used like a whip) secretes an ungodly powerful toxin able to kill grown men in a few seconds.

** Playing players loot items from one tier above non playing players in the same area. In addition get $800,000+ in game cash worth of in game goods known as credits and get double exp.

In [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 2016]], the pharmaceutical company Secronom began testing the cancer-fighting "healing virus" [[TheVirus Nerotonin-3]] on 109 "volunteer" subjects in a French lab. On June 28, the [[CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys French]] [[AvertedTrope Gendarmerie]] raid the facility and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero release the subjects]]. [[MassOhCrap Hilarity]] [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt ensues]]. When the dust and body parts settle (i.e., when the intro finishes), you begin your (mis)adventures in Nastya's Outpost, one of the last known bastions of humanity in [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield Fairview]], before venturing into the mutant-infested Inner City to [[ScavengerWorld hunt and peck for anything of use]].

** When your chosen group of survivors in the first game want to get a jeep which has a pair of zombies inside it, instead of killing the zombies (even though your group is sometimes armed) you all decide to simply try and drag them out instead as if they weren’t trying to eat them. If you decide to join them (or help them) you will temporally catch the IdiotBall and attempt to drag them out as well (getting inevitably killed in the process).

** In the outbreak games no guns are given any names whatsoever (apart from basic descriptions such as “rifles” or “pistols”

* ThrowItIn: Jesse Hopkins (who also voiced the original intro cinematic for the dead frontier games) at one point in outbreak 2 clearly forgets his lines ([[ThinkingTic you can even hear him loudly snapping his fingers trying to remember them]]). Instead of doing a retake Admin Pwn just decided to put it in the final game anyway.

!! This game provides examples of:
* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Of ''325''. Have fun LevelGrinding! It's averted with the sequel, as the level cap is only 30.

* ActionBomb: The Bloats, Mothers, and Radioactive Rumblers will explode upon death often killing Melee oriented players (at least those with insufficient armor/health).

* AntiGrinding: As you level up, lower level foods become less and less effective, forcing you to move to deeper areas to find better food and subsequently face increasingly stronger enemies. This heavily discourages the player from grinding on weak zombies around the blue zone. The sequel averts this, as any item will act the same regardless of your character level.

* {{BFG}}:
** The second-best machine gun is a frickin' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAU-19 GAU-19 machine gun]]. It requires max level in strength and high (100 not 120) machine guns skill to use it. ''It got taken out of the game for being extremely gamebreaking.''
** And then even the GAU-19 gets one-upped by the Wraith Cannon, an ''even bigger'' gatling gun that is said to be able to tear a Wraith into shreds in seconds. Considering its way higher damage output than the GAU, that's not an exaggeration.

* BonusBoss: [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos The Slender Man]] appeared as a secret boss during the 2012 Halloween event.

* BrownNote: Two of the boss zombies in the sequel:
** Fingers is a boss zombie has glowing eyes. Those attempting to [[RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain shoot it in the head]] will be BlindedByTheLight and even take damage as soon as they look at its face.
** Choir is a boss zombie with many smaller faces on his face. This gives it a [[MakeMeWannaShout sonic scream attack]] that hurts survivors who are within a radius of it.
* {{Cap}}: Level 325. Hope you have a lot of time on your hands. After Level 150 or so it takes 2-3 million EXP to level each zombie gives your roughly 15-400

* ContinuingIsPainful: '''YOU BET IT IS.''' It takes away all cash you had, takes most of your experience gained since leaving an outpost, and dumps you in the outpost in critical health. Even if you're a Gold member and have smartly kept your held money in the bank, you will suffer, ''because you will be revived at critical health where [[InjuredVulnerability all your stats are sliced in half]]''. What's that? You didn't know about the penalty? Too bad! You just got crippled and lost the cash you needed to buy bandages!
** Don't forget a wait time based on your level, unless you're a Gold Member which reduces this to a nonexistent 5 seconds.
** The sequel is a [[DownplayedTrope little bit more merciful than the first]]; it ''only'' takes away 50% of the experience you gained since last visiting an outpost, and sends you back with the 'dying' status, where your movement, aim speed, and attack speed is reduced.
* CriticalExistenceFailure: Averted with fury in both games. Drop below 25% health and and you'll be in critical condition where ''all your stats are slashed in half''. For added "fun", [[ContinuingIsPainful you respawn with 10% of your health after death]]. In the sequel, you obtain the above mentioned dying status.

* CutAndPasteEnvironments: It gets pretty bad after a while.

* DangerousWindows: While nothing ever comes through them for now, larger ones still need to be boarded up if you want to make a Personal Outpost in a building.

* DifficultySpike: After getting past level 10, the rather effective starting items become ''much'' less effective, forcing you to enter a tougher zone where the mooks deal over twice the damage as those in the previous zone.
* DoNotRunWithAGun: Some players have had issues with not being able to attack while moving at a full sprint. [[ObviousBeta There may be a reason]].
* DropTheHammer: The Corpse crusher (a hammer made of corpse parts) is the strongest melee weapon. A sledgehammer is also on the list.
* EasyLogistics: Averted, as food is important. Keep your nutrition topped off, you get an experience gain boost. Let it drop, and WizardNeedsFoodBadly.
* EmptyRoomPsych: Most rooms have at least ''something'' from which to scavenge. The key word is "most".

* FragileSpeedster: Zombie Dogs have the lowest health in the game, but are faster than the other "starting" enemies.

* GatlingGood:
** The second-most powerful weapon in the game is a heavily modified GAU-19 minigun, which has had its rate of fire reduced to 'only' 700 rounds per minute so a human being can use it - and even then it requires a strength of 100, which is literally superhuman.
** The most powerful weapon in the game is the Wraith Cannon, dealing even ''more'' damage than the GAU, but firing at only 500 rounds/minute to ''prevent itself from exploding''. It requires a strength of 100, as well as a machine gun skill of 120.

** In a game with heavy grinding involved this might do more good than bad for a high level player.

* HumanResources: The Corpse Gear, a recent new set of weapons and armor that replaced the Dusk gear as the InfinityPlusOneSword of the game, is made of ''zombie parts''.

* KillItWithFire: Subverted. They ''tried'' doing this. It resulted in [[EliteMooks Purple]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Zombies]]

* KingMook: Many of the boss-level enemies are basically more mutated and much stronger versions of the mutant zombies. The Titan, Black Titan, Wraith, Giant Spider, and Devil Hound are basically boss versions of the Bone, Black Bone, Tendril, Spider, and Hell Hound respectively.

* LightningBruiser:
** Most of the flaming enemies are ungodly fast and have great amounts of health.
** Later variants of Zombie Dogs such as Blood Dogs, Flesh Hounds, and Hell Hounds have high health, move ''insanely'' quickly, and deal ''incredible'' damage at the levels you first encounter them.
* MadeOfPlasticine: Killing critical hits will morph your target into a spray of LudicrousGibs.
** Only if you have inflicted quite a lot more damage than your target's total health, that is.
** The new [=3D=] release uses this one too; it's not uncommon to cut off an arm or even ''the head'' of a zombie after a critical hit, but it will still hunt your ass until he's down. ''[[UpToEleven Even after you sliced his arms and head.]]''
* MightyGlacier: The Leaper isn't very fast compared to a good number of the other special zombies fought in the area it's in, but its attack is literally a OneHitKill even with the best amounts of armor.
* MinMaxing: All but required to remain competitive at the highest levels unfortunately. You rolled a roleplay class? See you back at the character creation screen.
* MookMaker: The Mother in the sequel replaces her ZombiePukeAttack with the ability to constantly spawn huge parasite worms.
* MoreDakka: The GAU-19, a helicopter turret modified for human use, puts any Warhammer gun to shame. It costs 300 US dollars worth of credits, but does 4 times more damage than the runner up, and fits this trope to well that it actually ''uses each bullet three times.''
** Machine guns in general are expensive as hell because of their heavy rate of fire and the fact that bullets cost an arm and a leg. It's cheaper if you stick to the SMG, though.
* MusicalSpoiler: The ambiance changes just a little when you cross the border into a more dangerous area of the city, then ramps that up a little more when you generate sufficient aggro.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous:
** The Spider, a many-armed, crawling mutation of a zombie. It has high health, good resistance to knockback, hurts a lot, and moves extremely quickly. Then there's the Giant and Flaming Giant Spiders, which are boss versions of these.
** The Mother, a large, monstrous woman of a zombie with two extra arms- these came about when she ''fused with her unborn child thanks to mutation''.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: '''The Behemoth'''. It's called such for a very good reason, given that it can [[OneHitKill reduce most survivors to a smear on the concrete with one punch]].
** In the 3D version it's called the "Titan."
** Also, The mother, once it dies, the wraith (Seriously, she will kill you from off screen), and, of course, the new [[MightyGlacier Brute]].
** Almost anything with the word "Devil" in its name sounds ominous, and the Devil Hound is no exception. It has more health and speed and nearly as much power as the ''Flaming Black Titan''.
* NotUsingTheZWord: Most of the in-game references call them "infected," but players usually avert this.
* NoFairCheating: Thinking of opening the menu in the middle of a zombie ZergRush so that you'll go AFK and they'll ignore you? The moment you close it the zombies will suddenly attack you en-masse for your cheating ways.
* NonIndicativeName: The Leaper doesn't leap at all, and in fact can only walk with an awkward gait. According to its bestiary entry, survivors even argue that its name should have been the Licker due to its OverlyLongTongue which it uses as a OneHitKill weapon.

* OneHitKill:
** The Leaper, one of the upper level zombies, kills players in one hit regardless of their gear and level. The game justifies it by claiming that he's far stronger than he looks and that his demesured tongue (his main weapon, used like a whip) secretes an ungodly powerful toxin able to kill grown men in a few seconds.
** There's also the Slender Man in the bonus event. Get hit by him and you take the same amount of damage that the Leaper does.

** Averted: Most charities will offer up advice rather then items to poorly created players.

* ScavengerWorld: Obviously.

* TookALevelInBadass: The Tendril is an EliteMook in the original game. In the sequel, she's now a BossBattle.
* TruthInTelevision: There is a Soldier class that can be played as. It gives a ''[[MoreDakka lot of bonuses]]'' in your various Gun skills. However, you get a permanent penalty to experience.

* WalkItOff: Averted. You're wounded? Better get some medicine and a competent doctor, unless you think you can endure it until you level up.
** HealThyself suffered a somewhat similar fate - Doctors couldn't patch themselves up with expensive medicine in the field anymore, and everyone else has to use low-level medicine.
* WithThisHerring: Aside from some exceptions (the soldiers get a SMG, the cops a shotgun, the farmers a rifle, the cooks a kitchen knife and the firemen a damaged fire axe), every character begins with a sissy pistol, a handful of ammo and a pocket knife. It sucks as badly as it sounds.

* AKA47 - Most weapons were changed from their real-world names to this halfway through the beta.
* ActionBomb - The Bloats, Mothers, and Radioactive Rumblers will explode upon death often killing Melee oriented players (at least those with insufficient armor/health).

* HumanResources: The Corpse Gear, a recent new set of weapons and armor that replaced the Dusk gear as the InfinityPlusOneSwords of the game, is made of ''zombie parts''.

* NintendoHard

* ObviousBeta: The 3D version is still fairly simplistic, with most of the features gone such as missions.
** Missions have been recently added, but they give paying players double bonuses.

* SuicidalOverconfidence: Zombies.

A ZombieApocalypse, Flash-based (and now in 3D) MMORPG, available [[http://www.deadfrontier.com/ here]]. Still currently (as of October 2010) in beta stage, with a tentative "full" release date "sometime 2011". The developer, Neil Yates [=("AdminPwn")=] is not known for his estimation skills, however.
A UsefulNotes/{{Unity}}3D version was released in August of 2010; the final game will use this same format.

There are also 2 online flash games of this series called the Dead Frontier: Outbreak games. They play out like choose own adventures books that follow an unnamed and unseen male character as the protagonist. Dead Frontier: Outbreak involves our hero trying to get back to his house to save his lovely wife and escape to the countryside with her. The sequel starts off at a farm owned by the protagonist's father-in-law. Cholera has infected the farm's drinking water and infected many of inhabitants there, including the protagonist's wife. The protagonist is sent back into the zombie-filled city to bring some antibiotics to treat this infection.

In 2018, "AdminPwn" announced a 3D sequel to the game called Dead Frontier 2. It was set to be released on August 31st, but was pushed to September 5th in order to patch up some bugs. It can now be downloaded for free on Steam.
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* RickRoll: Used as a joking threat in one of the various ads peddling Gold Memberships:
--> '''BUY A GOLD MEMBERSHIP'''
--> [-- OR ADMIN WILL RICKROLL YOU AGAIN --]

* MoreDakka: The GAU-19, a helicopter turret modified for human use, puts any Warhammer gun to shame. It costs [[CrackIsCheaper 300 US dollars worth of credits]], but does 4 times more damage than the runner up, and fits this trope to well that it actually ''uses each bullet three times.''

* CriticalExistenceFailure: Averted with fury in both games. Drop below 25% health and and you'll be in critical condition where ''all your stats are slashed in half''. For added "fun", [[ContinuingIsPainful you respawn with 10% of your health after death]]. In the sequel, you obtain

* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Of ''325''. Have fun LevelGrinding!

* AntiGrinding: As you level up, lower level foods become less and less effective, forcing you to move to deeper areas to find better food and subsequently face increasingly stronger enemies. This heavily discourages the player from grinding on weak zombies around the blue zone.

* BoringButPractical: Melee weapons are very slow and weak, but they have infinite ammo and don't create any aggro. They also have a ''very'' high critical rate.

* CriticalExistenceFailure: Averted with fury. Drop below 25% health and and you'll be in critical condition where ''all your stats are slashed in half''. For added "fun", [[ContinuingIsPainful you respawn with 10% of your health after death]].

* FunWithAcronyms:Many clans have names such as C.A.S.H. or some mega-threads titled as G.A.S.

** in a game with heavy grinding involved this might do more good than bad for a high level player.

** Averted there is a link to the wiki on every page in the game but in the Inner City, In addition there is an automatic message sent giving helpful hints on how to play.

* InfernalRetaliation: Flaming variants of normal zombies have around 125x the health and over twice the damage of their normal variants.

* [[https://echoes-of-war.com/boss-map/ Dead Frontier Boss Map]] is a good and easy way to find the current location on bosses in the inner city.