Community:Stickmasterluke/Natural Disaster Survival

Natural Disaster Survival is a round-based survival game created by. The game was an empty place slot until around November 2011 when the name was updated to "Disaster testing". The full game was released on December 4, 2011.

In the game, players must survive through 12 various disasters on 21 pre-set maps spawned on a green elevated island that is used for every round.

On February 25, 2020, the game surpassed one billion visits.

Gameplay
When players enter the game, they will be greeted by a GUI and will spawn on a tower. On the spawn tower, they can observe the disaster striking the island safely from a distance while waiting for the next round.

When a round starts, a random map is chosen and players will be teleported to the island. Upon arrival, players have approximately 30 seconds to prepare for a random disaster that is not revealed to the player until it starts. If they survive the round, they will be sent back to the spawn tower and their usernames will be shown on the survivor list GUI which appears at the end of every round.

To increase the challenge, a fall damage script is present to damage players if they hit an object from a high distance. If the player stops accelerating, the script does not harm the player.

If the player died during the round, they will be sent back to the spawn tower until the next round.

Disasters
These are the available disasters in Natural Disaster Survival:

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Maps
These are the 21 available maps in Natural Disaster Survival.

(Click to magnify the image)

Start of Fire Disaster
The Start of Fire disaster on a map is an object, which in the event of a fire disaster, would be the first brick to catch on fire.

The neon brick(s) that are on fire are the Fire Starters in the images.

(Click to magnify the image)

Tools
There are 3 tools in the game that can be obtained from gamepasses. Each gamepass costs 80 Robux. The exception is the compass which could also be obtained from Mysterious Golden Gift in 2017.

Green Balloon
Green Balloon lowers players' gravity, allowing them to jump higher and receive less fall damage. But if they use it while on very high ground (e.g at the top of the twin tower in Modest Headquarters), the balloon will pop and become unusable temporarily. It is extremely useful or even necessary if flash flood or tsunami is the selected disaster.

Red Apple
Red Apple heals the player once they bite it, it has a 5.5 second cooldown so they have to wait for a short time to use it again. This is extremely useful on blizzard, acid rain and deadly virus which are the disasters that deplete players' health over time.

Yellow Compass
The compass, which can be either bought from a gamepass, or obtained from a Mysterious Golden Gift, is the third and final tool in the game. The function of the compass is simply for players to vote 1 of 3 maps presented by the system. The map with the most votes will be selected to be the next map. If there is a tie in the voting, the system will select one of the maps with tied votes randomly. One specific map can be duplicated, or even tripled. If said map is tripled, it gives no choice to the player on what the next map will be.

Product
In 2016, the Power-Up Machine was introduced. Players can use the Power-Up Machine to start a round of multiple disasters by buying the product for 100 Robux per use. Each time the Power-Up Machine is powered, there will be an extra disaster during multiple disaster round. The more it is powered up, the more disasters there will be.

There can only be maximum of seven disasters at once. If the machine is powered more than six times, the remaining power-up will not be consumed and will be left for the next multiple disaster round.

Multiple disasters can only occur during multiple disaster round which occurs once every three rounds.

Tips, Tactics, and Reminders

 * Players should never go to the highest place before the disaster occurs as they may not know what disaster will occur. Doing this would be near a fatal error if it is a fire, a tornado, or an earthquake. However, if lucky enough, doing so in the event of a flood or a tsunami will almost certainly let them survive.
 * A good plan is to stay on the ground floor and go to a safe place for the disaster after the disaster warning. Disasters that require going up do not strike immediately after the warning, giving players enough time to climb up.
 * Even if a tsunami is occurring, players do not need to go to high places such as the top of Sky Tower or the top of the tower in Fort Indestructible. They would take fall damage easily when the tsunami strikes the structure. The said structure would tumble down along with any players unfortunate enough to be positioned on them.
 * The sound of the wind comes immediately once the round starts if it is acid rain. This is both a useful tip and an advanced warning to get to a safe place.
 * Players should always reset after taking damage since health regeneration has been removed from the game. Players can also just jump off the lobby tower to reset, or by regenerating their health with the Red Apple gamepass.
 * Players should try to predict the multi-disasters in that round to boost their chances of survival. Disasters such as Blizzard, Sandstorm, and Volcano Eruption have obvious clues before they strike (the white lining to the clouds, the sepia lining to the clouds, the volcano in the ocean). Other disasters give players time to get away when the disaster is identified, such as a tsunami or acid rain.
 * Sometimes, a multi disaster with an impossible combination such as Flash Flood and Fire/Sandstorm/Earthquake can kill an entire server.
 * However, players can increase their chances of surviving these combinations by buying a Red Apple and/or a Green Balloon.
 * If a tornado is occurring on Coastal Quickstop, players can get to the dock, the lighthouse or the well. The tornado cannot strike these structures as they are outside of the island; the tornado can only move around the island.
 * Fire on Fort Indestructible, Party Palace, Raving Raceway, Furious Station and Heights School can be avoided. For Fort Indestructible, players can put the fire away by driving the tank off the island, though it is hard to maneuver. For Party Palace, players can push the popcorn machine off the island. For Raving Raceway, the Yellow Kart can be glitched off the map. For Furious Station, players can push the microwave inside the building into the ocean. For the first two methods listed, people may lose some health. For Heights School, players can push the green can down the left stairs and out of the back door.
 * However, for Fort Indestructible, driving a tank can be difficult. For Party Palace, pushing the popcorn machine takes a little bit of effort to do. For Furious Station, players have to have a short avatar in order to push the microwave effectively. For Heights School, players have to be fast and use the balloon to quickly reach the green can.
 * Raving Raceway is the only map of the five where the fire cannot be avoided on purpose but can still be avoided if players are very fortunate. Nevertheless, it is near to impossible as Roblox physics has been improved overtime regarding motors and hinges.
 * If the player is on the grass floor while they are holding a balloon and keep jumping, they can still survive the Flash Flood.
 * If the player has an apple, they can survive deadly virus easily by biting the apple non-stop even if they are the patient zero. However, it may not work if they do not have full health or have taken damage after they are infected.
 * If the player has taken a shot on the camera in Prison Panic, they could escape from their cell by simply walking through the cell bars or by viewing outside of the cell and clicking the cell doorknob in front of them. Once outside the cell, players can help each other escape by pressing the door handles on other doors.
 * If a tsunami is chosen as the disaster, players should go to high ground. When the tsunami passes where the player is standing, they can jump off the building to avoid dying and getting flung when the building falls. Note: Only do this when nearer to the ground. 
 * It is better to jump off the building where it is the closest to the tsunami.
 * If an earthquake starts, players should get out of buildings and jump on the grass to survive. Sometimes, when a player jumps on a brick, it kills them for no reason, even though they didn't jump from a high place (this is probably a glitch that needs to be fixed).
 * Try to stay under stairs or ramps if possible, as they offer more protection against falling blocks.
 * If the player has the balloon, they can survive the tsunami disaster by simply jumping over the tsunami. Note: If the player jumps too soon or too late, they will be hit by the tsunami and die.


 * When a fire occurs, try to get out of the main area or a building as fast as possible. (Similar to a realistic scenario.) If the player continues to stay in the building, (for example; Sky Tower, Glass Office, etc.) it will most likely collapse on them.
 * If the player has a balloon, they can fall down while moving towards a wall to slow down the momentum and reduce fall damage.
 * During a fire, go to the edge of the map, as the fire will not affect those areas.
 * During a flood, do not go on top of the lighthouse in Coastal Quickstop, as it will easily collapse. Instead, go to the second tallest structure (the 2 story house), and when the flood reaches that level, keep jumping to avoid suffering damage. The same applies to Fort Indestructible. Go on top of the wall instead of the tower, as the flood will stop a little higher above the wall.
 * The slow down effect caused by wet concrete in Safety Second does not wear off even after the round is over. Players have to reset manually if they wish to have their normal speed back.
 * In Prison Panic, passing through the snapshot room is not recommended if the disaster is fire, as they will be trapped in the cells. However, if the disaster is a sandstorm or a blizzard, the cells are considered safe spots.
 * To launch the rocket successfully in Launch Land, certain steps must be performed before others. Firstly, players must disconnect the bridge before launching, or else it will collide with the rocket and cause it to crash. Secondly, it is best to use the launch button before the two service tower buttons, in order to lift off from a 90° angle. Finally, to minimize risk, taking off before the disaster starts would be wise.

Badges
As of May 2021, there have been 27 badges in total in the game.

The following 23 badges are available to obtain in Natural Disaster Survival:

The following four badges are discontinued badges in the game:

Major Glitches and Bugs
There have been, and still are, multiple significant glitches presented in Natural Disaster Survival; some glitches are currently patched and no longer work.

Forecast Trick/Glitch (Patched)
There used to be a way for the player to forecast the disaster that is about to occur without looking for clouds. Very few players have worked this method of forecasting out and it is quite complicated to attempt the trick.


 * 1) When the player's character is standing in the lobby, the player opens the stats menu.
 * 2) Then one observes the numbers below the word "Survived".
 * 3) The player tries to remember every number that comes up. They must remember every number in order to forecast correctly.
 * 4) When a round starts and the player is teleported to the island, the player opens their stats menu a second time. If they changed the sort by Played, they must click survived again. If it is on Survived, then the player is correctly forecasting.
 * 5) The player attempts to find the number that changed. Whatever number is different is the disaster that will occur. (The player can additionally use the clouds to determine what numbers the player should be looking for.)

However, possibly due to the creator discovering this method himself, the stats menu was removed entirely in October 2014.

Immunity Bug (Patched)
If the disaster was a blizzard, a sandstorm, a tsunami, or acid rain, there was a trick in which the player could survive while standing completely still at the spawn point on the map (also known as immunity by some members). To carry out the trick, the player had to simply join the server and stay at the spawn point when they teleport to the map. This trick worked anywhere where the player spawns on any map, but worked far better at the back of the crowd since players usually run away from the spawn point, as a group, towards other places on the map. The point of the glitch would be defeated if another player were to run into the player carrying the trick out, knocking them in any direction, even if only slightly, or if the player accidentally pressed a button and moved. Rather than moving about, the player should wait for any obvious sign of the disaster to begin (for acid rain, the early wind sound, the blizzard having the white lining to the cloud and the sandstorm having sepia lining on the cloud), and let the disaster happen around them. While the screen did become slightly foggy or dusty depending on the disaster, the snow or sand particles didn't appear on the screen, and the player didn't take damage from the disaster. If the player was not present at the time of the disaster (being 'away from keyboard'), the bug allowed them to survive most of the time. The chances of this working were slightly higher in a blizzard than a sandstorm, which in turn is more likely than in acid rain. However, this glitch was patched in November 2017.

Earthquake Brick Glitch
This glitch happens when a player jumps on a brick, and when they got off the brick, the player would die instantly, even though they didn't jump from a high place. The glitch gets worse when the player is equipped with a balloon. The best way to avoid this is to stay away from debris and jump on an area with no bricks around and avoid using balloon.

Rarely, loads of pieces combined together during an earthquake can cause a whole flying object due to Roblox physics, as the island movement shakes too many blocks at once.

Volcano Clogging Bug
Sometimes, the volcano disaster clogs up the volcanic crater due to lag, which could be dangerous if the clog explodes and cause catastrophic damage in a short amount of time. However, this glitch usually happens during a multi disaster involving Volcano.

Sitting Bug
When this bug happens, the player will not teleport back to the lobby. In this glitch, players must be sitting on any type of seat when the round ends (ex. sitting on the seat of a racecar, sitting on a beach chair, etc.). When the list of survivors appears on the screen, they will be back to their natural standing position while still being on the map. During this time, the next map will load and the player will still be on the island.

There is a way for a player to stay on the map and not get sent back to where everybody else teleports at the start of the round. To do this, they must be sitting down, waiting on the island while the next map loads. Before everybody else spawns on the map, the player should go to a place on the next map where there are seats and sit down there. If the player does not reach a chair before the map is loaded, they will be sent back to the spawn point of the map, along with all other players from the lobby. Keep in mind that there's about a 5-second window of time for one to find a chair on the next map while waiting for the map to load.

Mapping
Some of the maps are made by players instead of the creator himself, implying everyone is allowed to create their own map.

Starting
If players wished to build their own map, take the kit first.

Tips And Reminders

 * Try to make the bricks small so that the bricks are easy to destroy.
 * Make at least 1 tall structure that is taller than a tsunami wave, accessible to the top, and sturdy.
 * Do not make everything anchored.
 * Enable SurfaceOnly so that the studio does not create ManualWeld automatically.
 * Try to use fewer parts so that the map will not cause any physics lags.
 * If there are interactive objects (like vehicles), the map will have a higher chance of getting accepted.
 * Try to make the structure on the island. However, it is acceptable to build some structures outside of the map if it is still connected to the island.
 * Editing the island or any NPC is meaningless as the creator only want the structure on the island.

Stickmasterluke used to set the part limit to no more than 1,500 parts for mappers in 2014. Now there is no limit. (Even though the island template description is still writing that the limit is not more than 1,500 parts.)

Publishing
After finishing the map, it needs to be uploaded as a free model. Make sure the model name contains "NDS map for Stickmasterluke".

Even though the map is published as a free model, it does not mean the map must be taken by Stickmasterluke. And it also does not mean Stickmasterluke must use the map if he has taken it. There are many maps made by the community and published by players, so the map has to be nice in order to have a higher chance of getting the map accepted.

Primary Changelogs

 * On December 4, 2011, the game was released with six disasters and eight maps to wide success.
 * Shortly after the release, two new maps Arch Park and Raving Raceway were added. However, no new updates came out for a few years.
 * On January 14, 2014, the game was largely updated, featuring five new disasters (earthquake, volcano eruption, sandstorm, blizzard and acid rain), a server-wide leaderboard and Double Disasters round, which spawns two disasters on one map and a new map called Coastal Quickstop.
 * On October 31, 2014, Red Apple Gamepass was released. The update has also removed the stats GUI and the health regeneration.
 * On February 2016, the game was updated with two new maps called Lucky Mart and Party Palace.
 * On July 13, 2016, the game was updated with new features, such as Power-Up Machine and Disaster Warnings. However, some people do not like the Disaster Warning update because it removes the element of surprise and the fun of guessing what disaster it could be. The update also removed random Double Disasters unless players start up the Power-Up Machine.


 * On September 14, 2016, the game was updated to include a new map called Heights School for the back-to-school season.
 * On December 2, 2016, the game was updated with a feature, where players can enable R15 if they have selected R15 on their avatar page. This update also reset the players' number of survivals and has been confirmed as a glitch by Stickmasterluke.
 * On December 19, 2016, the game was updated with a new map called Furious Station.
 * A few days after the Furious Station map was added to the game, Furious Station was updated. This update changed a few things on the map. It included making all the vehicles on the map drivable, adding goods on the shelves inside the convenience store, adding a fence to the planting area, and adding more streetlights.
 * On January 31, 2017, Yellow Compass Gamepass was released.
 * On January 9, 2018, the game was updated with a new map called Launch Land. This update also removed the NPC at the spawning point.
 * On May 21, 2018, the game was updated with a new map called Prison Panic.
 * On June 12, 2018, the game was updated with a new map called Safety Second.
 * On April 10, 2021, the game was updated with three new maps, Modest Headquarters, Rainbow Ride, and Manic Mansion, plus a new disaster called Deadly Virus.

June 2014 Cross-Session Intrusion
The game has been particularly controversial for its exploits by other members; most notably in June 2014, when an exploiter managed to put inappropriate images of a woman in the middle of every active server. Also, at the same time, a majority of the servers were flooded with water and the entire lobby structure was destroyed. The exploiter was never identified by name via normal members, but it was later reported that they were found and terminated by other administrators.

Trivia

 * Before gamepass was a feature on Roblox, players have to buy Natural Disaster VIP T-shirt to obtain the Green Balloon. It is still available to purchase and the T-shirt is still functional.
 * In 2012 to 2014, the Roblox Corporation released an app on iOS that directly leads people to Natural Disaster Survival, however, Roblox has removed it a few years back. The app has no footage but is playable without updating iOS.
 * In early 2014, Stickmasterluke has attempted to create a new version of the game called The Disaster Games. It is almost identical to Natural Disaster Survival with some new features. However, it did not do well and was discontinued eventually. The following lists are the features that are used in the game:
 * Players have limited lives. A life will be consumed if they die and decide to respawn. They can get more lives by purchasing with Robux or claiming one for every five minutes.
 * Players could trip and push each other. It no longer works as the script is outdated.
 * Players can buy tools like Green Balloon but only in limited quantities. However, players cannot equip any tools as the script is broken.
 * A new tool called Handy Hammer can also be used in this game. It allows players to destroy bricks from any structures.
 * Players cannot use their own avatar but in-game customization instead.
 * In the map Furious Station, there used to be graffiti on the billboard saying "AVERYWITHAFACE MADE THIS"; implying the creator of Furious Station is the one mentioned.
 * However, it was removed in 2021 for an unknown reason.
 * The lower area of the island used to have collided until January 2014. It is changed probably because the tornado cannot reach the lower area of the island and players could just hide there without being affected by the tornado at all. Now, If players try landing on there, they will phase through the rock and fall into the ocean.
 * Trusses were not able to be destroyed by fire and flood water until December 2016 which made many spots unsafe for flash flood (e.g the water tower in Trailer Park)
 * Tornado used to kill players instantly until January 2014.
 * Sometimes, during a sandstorm, players would lose half of their health. It is not confirmed if this is a glitch or not.
 * The tornado used to be the original until February 2016. Now, it uses ParticleEmitter.
 * The lightning material used to be plastic until February 2016. Now, it uses neon.
 * The meteors used to be black, brown and rose red. Then they were changed into light red and bright orange. Now, they are only in brown. The meteor material used to be plastic until February 2017, when it was changed into slate. The fire trail the meteor left used to be fire effect, and now it uses ParticleEmitter.
 * The burning bricks used to be black with no material change until January 2018. Now it uses orange neon materials.
 * The burning lava parts material used to be sand until January 2018. Now it uses neon materials.
 * There was no underwater effect until April 2021.
 * Some maps' name was changed due to misspellings. For examples, Fort Indestructible used to be named Fort Indestructable and Coastal Quickstop used to be named Costal Quickstop.
 * Lucky Mart is made by, who created Vampire Hunters 2.
 * Lucky Mart's original design of the walls was flint-grey instead of green.
 * Party Palace is the only map with music.
 * The music is named 'Welcome to Bloxy Land' and is composed by Kmansong2(Kyle Allen).
 * Coastal Quickstop is the only map with structures that are built beyond the island.
 * There was an anchored NPC that looked like the old noob, who has been removed on January 9, 2018. During the earthquake, players could stand on it since they would not be affected by the earthquake when they were on the NPC.
 * In February, 2017, Players would only witness the earthquake disaster, while also using the Multi-Disaster machine would just double the earthquake. After a short amount of time, the bug was patched. It was caused because Stickmasterluke accidentally publish the change that was made to test the earthquake disaster.
 * Sometime in 2020, In almost all instances after the end of an earthquake, the whole server would suddenly crash. It was probably a fault on Roblox's end and the bug had stopped occurring in late July 2020.
 * During a fire in Sunny Ranch, the fire will start from the lantern and spread to the whole barn. It is a reference to the 1871 Great Chicago Fire which was also started from a lantern in a barn and spread to the whole city. It had caused around 300 deaths.
 * The Space Shuttle in Launch Land has a huge engine under what supposed to be the external tank, while the Space Shuttle in real life didn't; only on the Shuttle's orbiter and the side boosters, better known as Solid Rocket Boosters, or SRB for short.
 * On the night of November 1–2 2019, Stickmasterluke changed the maximum amount of players in a server to 110 players.
 * The game was private for a few hours due to exploiting on December 20, 2018.
 * In Safety Second, there is an Easter Egg at the constructing building on the left of the island. If players look closely at the left side of it, they can see hidden text that credits the creator of the map. The hidden text reads "Map by Survivalist0".
 * In early 2021, the prisoner pants do not appear on players' character after they have taken a mugshot in Prison Panic; possibly due to the pants template being deleted. It was patched on 10 April 2021.
 * In the 2021 Update, some people on Twitter criticized the "Deadly Virus" disaster as bad taste or insensitive due to the recent events of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 * The Deadly Virus is considered "unfair" for users without the Apple gamepass since it will kill them and they are unable to heal.
 * As of April 2021, The twin towers in Modest Headquarters are the tallest structure in the whole game followed by the truss tower in Fort Indestructible.
 * Blizzard and Sandstorm are the only two disasters that can cover the screen with special effects (snow and sand, respectively), actively preventing players from seeing clearly during the round.
 * Before April 2019, if the rocket was launched to the sky in Launch Land, everyone in the rocket would be killed. Now, it occurs much less often.
 * Rainbow Ride and Party Palace are the only two maps with theme park rides.
 * On August 6, 2021, the effect of balloon is significantly decreased. It is unknown if the changed will be lasted.
 * On blizzard and sandstorm, the sand and snow effect doesn't appear on the screen when players are in the lobby during the round. The snow effect on blizzard also doesn't play when players are not exposed to freezing or are in shelter.

Reference
pt-br:Natural Disaster Survival