BZFlag (an abbreviation for Battle Zone capture the Flag) is an online multiplayer free and open-source tank game. In the game of BZFlag, players drive around tanks, viewed from a first-person view, in a server-defined world (also known as a "map"), which can be modified.

Development

thumb|A daytime, but rather dark, shot from version 1.7d9 while a chat message is being typed. Note the opaque [[Head-Up Display|HUD contrasting with newer versions.]]

Inspired by Battlezone, BZFlag was first written in C by Chris Schoeneman in 1992 as a part of his studies at Cornell University. BZFlag was initially called "BZ" and despite its similarity to the SGI game of the same title by Chris Fouts, the games are completely independent of each other.

Gameplay

thumb|The official logo for BZFlag from version 2.4.8

Tanks have the ability to drive through other tanks, but cannot travel through buildings or other world objects. The basic objective is to destroy opponents' tanks, which are tanks of another team's color. Since all players can see the position of all the tanks on their radar, it is a game of outmaneuvering rather than sneaking.

There are styles of game play that modify the objective. Styles are server-based, as the server operator chooses what style to host. If there is no special style indicated by the server owner, the only objective is the above (to simply kill opponent tanks); it is called a "free for all", or "FFA" for short.

There are three other objectives and corresponding styles (four in total): a style called "capture-the-flag" (or "CTF" for short) in which tanks try to pick up an opponent's flag and bring to their own home base; a style called "rabbit chase" in which the objective is to have every hunter (orange) tank try to destroy a particular white tank, called the "rabbit," and a different way of playing free-for-all called open free-for-all (OFFA), in which tanks shoot any other tanks regardless of the color. <!--NOTE: most maps accomplish this by only using rogues, so OFFA isn't used at all in the server list.--> <!-- and a style called "King of the Hill," in which a team attempts to stay in a certain area for 30–60 seconds without being killed. If they succeed, that team becomes "The King of the Hill." {This section was disabled because it cannot be used without (officially-maintained) plugins.} -->

Servers can change the game mode and have custom maps made to fit the properties of the game. Certain thresholds are used to catch malicious players and kick them off the server, as well as message filters and an entire collection of other anti-cheating features. There are around 250 servers active at any given time (although only about 1-3% have active players).

Teams

Tanks can join as one of the four team colors, as a rogue, or as an observer. Observers cannot play, but can move anywhere in the world or watch what the tank they are linked to is doing. Observers do not have a tank and are therefore not visible to players, but are shown in the scoreboard. The colored teams are Red, Green, Blue and Purple. Rogue players are teamless players: they are allowed to kill colored team players and other rogues. Rogue tanks are colored dark grey out the window, and yellow on the radar.

In rabbit-hunt games there is a white tank, known as the "rabbit", against the orange-brown "hunters", or every other player. The hunters are considered a team, so hunters with genocide, shockwave, Guided Missile, or Laser flags are dangerous, and often teamkills occur due to a group assault on the "rabbit."

Teams are necessary in capture-the-flag games, in which they have to protect their team flag from capture. Rogues are occasionally <!-- almost always nowadays (2024)-->allowed on servers; a rogue tank does not have any flag to defend, nor can it capture flags. Rogues tend to aid other teams of choice, or add a distraction to all teams. There is a plugin to prevent this which is used on servers with two large teams and one or two rogue players. Team flags are only placed in a world during a capture-the-flag game, and represent the team it is colored to. Super flags are flags that can be in both free-for-all games and capture-the-flag games, but are strongly controlled by a server operator. The number, types of super flags, as well as where they are placed can all be controlled by the operator when starting the server. The number cannot be modified while the server is running. Super flags come in both bad and good form, and affect a tank accordingly. A bad flag may take away a certain sense of the tank: its sight, speed, or related things, while a good flag does the opposite and actually helps a tank. Good super flags are usually held until the tank is killed and explodes, or until the player driving the tank chooses to drop the flag. Bad flags are dropped after a short amount of time, after a certain number of "wins" (kills), or until the tank dies. The rules for dropping bad flags are set by the operator at the start of the server. All super flags have a one or two letter code that is displayed next to a player's name on the scoreboard when that player has that flag. Once in a while, a new flag is suggested, though not always added.thumb|The player fires a Guided Missile at a ground target while the opposing green team's flag is taken from their base, all while a tank has exploded slightly below.

Server environment

Servers can have environments that simulate the real world. A server's environment consists of three things: The map in play, the time of day that is being simulated, and weather conditions, introducing elements of which players have no control, like rain, snow, icy and/or slippery ground, modified friction and gravity, and fog. BZFlag takes the local time from the geographical location of the server and creates a night or day-time atmosphere in the background. Servers may synchronize the local server time or allow players to change the time to any time they may desire.

Critical reception

BZFlag was selected in Summer 2015 as "HotPick" by Linux Format. BZFlag was selected as the SourceForge.net Project of the Month for April 2004. Both Free Software Magazine and Linux Magazine noted that BZFlag was fun to play and suitable for younger gamers.

References

  • Official website
  • BZFlag on GitHub