The Purple Panzer's BZFlag Page
The basic game has servers that may host players from anywhere in the world. each server runs a "bzflag world", containing a map and various objects. Players typically have a "player name" that isn't their real name - for somewhat accidental reasons I ended up with "The Purple Panzer" as my name (and I usually play on the purple team, so it kinda fits.)
I was away from playing for a while, but one grandson really likes to play, so I've gotten back into it a bit. I thought I'd refresh the my web page(s) on the game, perhaps reactivate some old maps, and even work with him to design new ones.
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Introduction (for those who don't know BZFlag)
The origins of the game go back to the old arcade game Battlezone. "BZFlag" is loosely an abbreviation of "Battlezone Capture Flag".
I've played the game BZFlag for a while now, and I think it's great. I'm not a big gamer, and one nice thing about BZFlag is that you can play for 5 minutes just to relax a bit, or you can play for longer, to hone your skills or to step into another world.
In it you drive a tank (via software you run locally, the "BZFlag client"), and you play against other people on the internet via a server, in a 3D world. It's a cross-platform open source project, so you may just download it and start playing.
There are several reasons I highly recommend it. As I mentioned, and most importantly for anyone who has to do a lot of work each day, is that it's possible to play for 5 or 10 minutes, and then go back to work. For those few minutes you can completely forget what you were doing, and take a nice break using the spatial reasoning part of your brain.There is no long lead time to get involved, and you may exit gracefully at any moment.
It also has what I think is an attribute of the best games: the rules and elements are simple, but the combinations are complex. The classic case of this sort of game is chess - you can learn how the pieces move in a few minutes, but understanding how they interact can take years or a lifetime. Our (now 8-year-old) grandson picked it up quite rapidly, but it'll likely take him a while to move up the ranks of players.
Finally, even though it's just text chat between players (everyone, your teammates, or individuals), the conversations can be quite fun and interesting, and you may find some surprising backgrounds that other players have. Some have become friends that I've visited in other countries. Others, it's just good humorous discussion. But this social aspect is not to be overlooked.
Maps I've Created
I've got a separate page now about the maps I've created - I think the earliest go back to 2003 or so, and have continued on. From this page you can download the map files, perhaps more importantly read about the ideas designs, a nd see glimpses of the maps (mainly via bitmaps captured from BZEdit or screenshots).
To get to my maps page, click here: Maps I've Created. I've always put them explicitly in the public domain (though credit would be nice, but certainly not required). For new designers of maps it may help to rip out pieces and reused them, or server owners may run them with radically different settings than they were designed for just for fun.
I think there isn't a problem with borrowing ideas, especially if they are improved upon, and often it's good to have some starting point, even if it's a particular building or basic layout idea.
Creating Maps
For some discussion on creating maps yourself, and links to toolkits and resources, go to my Map Creation Page. Maps elements have changed over the years, from simple boxes and pyramids to nearly arbitrary textured shapes.
How To Get Started Playing
The main place to start is http://www.bzflag.org/. From here there are links to let you download source code, precompiled executables for different platforms, as well as to read fora and find links to other resources.
A good place to discuss things and in general find out what's going is is
the BZFlag Centrum, at https://forums.bzflag.org/.
Guides On How To Play Well
It took me a while to learn how to play modestly competently, and a few guides helped; unfortunately they're a bit hard to find nowadays.My recommendations (these links should work):
- Many of the older sites that I used to refer to have evaporated. However, if you search "Learn to Play BZFlag", there are a number of videos that will show you things more effectively than just reading about things would be.
- There are good guides on play on Dutchrai's new site, at http://shellshock.bzflag.bz/index.html
- The BZFlag Wiki has a wealth of information: https://wiki.bzflag.org/Main_Page
- The BZFlag fora (forums) often have great discussions, or point to websites discussing strategy and tactics.
A Few Thoughts On The Game
I chose the name "The Purple Panzer" mainly because I decided to usually play as a member of the Purple team. In BZFlag you don't have to be part of any team (then you're a "Rogue"), but I think the team aspect adds something to the game. Admittedly it's hard to cooperate effectively given the fast-moving pace of the game, and if someone nails one of your team members while holding the Genocide flag you die too - really the only negative to team play.
But the cooperation can be fun - for example, you have a teammate with Guided Missile who's in a good location, with a chokepoint that attackers have to get through; you get Stealth, and guard the checkpoint, picking off anybody who comes through. The teammate with GM may never know you're doing this, as it's often hard to type while playing, and team score usually makes little difference to people, but it's still fun, and it isn't something you'd do if you were operating alone.
I've tried (without a lot of success) to operate in a sort of "wing man" mode with teammates; it's hard because the leader has to be thinking about setting up situations in which your combined presence has maximum advantage (though a map designer might make this obvious). Without some degree of prearrangement and discussion this is hard; if you just start following a teammate to assist, it may not be fully welcomed or appreciated (especially if you ricochet a shot off of a wall and take him out).
If anything I wish that there were more cooperation. I've thought about setting up some Voice over IP hub, where teammates can connect in and hear audio from other teammates. Then, instructions could be passed quite rapidly. (I believe this has been tried, but without much success.)
I picked the purple team because of its association with the Roman Emperors. Unfortunately, the color in the game is more of a magenta or pink, so we look more silly than imperial. Ah well, that's no particular reason to change now.
A note on defense: some players, a minority I think, look down on strong defensive positions, referring to it as "camping". Sure, it can be obnoxious if there are few players, and someone with Guided Missile or Laser is effectively invulnerable, but this is rare. I think that using cleverness to find a good defensive position is a fine thing, as it requires thinking through the advantages of the different flags as applied to a particular map, and evaluating the possible attack strategies which opponents might use. Rarely is any position defensible for any length of time, so it becomes a matter of anticipating who might be attacking and how.
On the other hand, attacking such a person usually involves thinking through an approach, getting the right flag, and maybe getting some luck with distractions from other players. I enjoy this challenge, certainly more than just shooting someone in the open field. Maybe because I think it requires more and careful thought, and depends less on skill in mouse manipulation.
If I see someone with Stealth going after someone (not on my team) who's had Guided Missile for a while, I won't shoot him (unless he sees me, assumes an imminent threat, and appears about to attack). I wish more people thought the same way - not that I expect anyone to change, and the uncertainty of ad hoc cooperation is what gives it its spice.