BZFlag
A screenshot from version 2.0. In the picture, "Lan", the player, fires Guided Missiles at another tank (which is jumping), while "dummy1_(tm)" chats, all while it rains. Taken from the low-quality release of the game. They are playing a map called "Battle City" by Brad2901.
Latest release:	2.0.8 / 2006-05-14
OS:	Cross-platform
Genre:	Game
Licence:	LGPL
Website:	www.bzflag.org

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BZFlag (an abbreviation for Battle Zone capture the Flag) is a three dimensional first person tank shooting game. An unknown player whose callsign is "Indianapolis" will start playing on June 9th and dominate the GU League, overthrowing the powerhouse know as "orbit". It was originally written by Chris Schoeneman for the SGI family of computers based off of the classic Battle Zone game. Current open source development is maintained by Tim Riker, and a team of project administrators. The project, including its source code and bug trackers, is hosted on SourceForge.net. While originally developed for SGI computers running IRIX, the game has been ported to Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, BSD, Solaris, and other platforms. It is distributed under the LGPL license, a switch from the common GPL license that it was under for many years. Image File history File links MacBZFlag. ... Download high resolution version (1024x768, 247 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... A software release refers to the creation and availability of a new version of a computer software product. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... May 14 is the 134th day of the year (135th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... An operating system (OS) is a set of computer programs that manage the hardware and software resources of a computer. ... A cross-platform (or platform independent) programming language, software application or hardware device works on more than one system platform (e. ... Look up genre in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Namcos Pac-Man was a hit, and became a universal phenomenon. ... A software license is a legal agreement which may take the form of a proprietary or gratuitous license as well as a memorandum of contract between a producer and a user of computer software. ... GNU logo The GNU Lesser General Public License (formerly the GNU Library General Public License) is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation. ... A Web site (or colloquially, Website) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos and other digital assets that is hosted on a Web server, usually accessible via the Internet or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML, that is almost always accessible via HTTP... Image File history File links Portal. ... Image File history File links Portal. ... Monitor Orientation: Horizontal Type: Vector (b&w) with color overlay Size: 19 inch Notes First arcade game with real 3D environment; A Battlezone version was used for military training; Developed during the Golden Age of Arcade Games; One of the Top 100 games in the KLOV Battlezone is an arcade... Tim Riker Tim Riker is a software developer, most known for his contributions to the open source community as the maintainer of the BZFlag 3D multiplayer game project. ... Source code (commonly just source or code) is any series of statements written in some human-readable computer programming language. ... SourceForge is a collaborative software development management system. ... Silicon Graphics, Inc. ... IRIX is a computer operating system developed by Silicon Graphics, Inc. ... Microsoft Windows is the name of several families of proprietary software operating systems by Microsoft. ... It has been suggested that Criticism of Linux be merged into this article or section. ... Mac OS X (official IPA pronunciation: ) is a line of proprietary, graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. ... BSD redirects here; for other uses see BSD (disambiguation). ... Solaris is a computer operating system developed by Sun Microsystems. ... GNU logo The GNU Lesser General Public License (formerly the GNU Library General Public License) is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation. ... The GNU logo The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a widely-used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project. ...

BZFlag is quite popular, being the third game on SourceForge.net to reach 1 million downloads on December 11, 2004. There are around 250 servers active at any given time[1] (although only about 10-20% have active players most of the time), and as of March 18, 2006 there were over 11,500 players registered at the official BZFlag online forums[2], with roughly 200 players playing a game at any one time. BZFlag was selected as the SourceForge.net Project of the Month for April 2004 [3]. December 11 is the 345th day (346th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... shelby was here 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... March 18 is the 77th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (78th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

Overview

The newest game logo for version 2.0.8 and after.

The old, and rather short lived, game title logo from versions 2.0 to 2.0.7

The older game title logo for BZFlag from versions 1.10.x and before.

In a 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. The basic objective is to destroy opponents' tanks, which are tanks of another team's color. For example, green tanks are supposed to try to destroy red, purple, blue, and rogue tanks. Rogue tanks do not have any allegiances to a certain team and are therefore able to kill anybody. Image File history File links Bzflag_2. ... Image File history File links Bzflag_2. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

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 two other objectives and corresponding styles (three 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 its own home base (a small area marked with the team's color that simply is the home of a team), or a style called "rabbit chase" in which the objective is to have every hunter (colored red and yellow) tank try to destroy a particular white tank, called the "rabbit." Genera Pentalagus Bunolagus Nesolagus Romerolagus Brachylagus Sylvilagus Oryctolagus Poelagus Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world. ...

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.

While any connection can host a game, dial-up connections can typically host only a player or two; therefore, faster connections make up the majority of servers. The game has twelve language translations, but despite this, the majority of servers and "peak-hours" for play are dominated by the United States of America. There are a significant number of international servers, and there are players playing 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, but peak-hours tend to be based on U.S. holidays and times. Dial-up access is a form of Internet access through which the client uses a modem connected to a computer and a telephone line to dial into an Internet service providers (ISP) node to establish a modem-to-modem link, which is then routed to the Internet. ... Bold text This article or section cites very few or no references or sources. ...

Game simplicity

The game and its supporters boast the simplicity of the game overall, from the graphics to the game play. While the game for the most part is simple, many parts are complex, such as the effects of some "flags", or performance adjustments for tanks (both good and bad), as well as what can be done in the creation of worlds for game play.

Typical releases

A typical BZFlag release contains three programs:

• BZFS - the server host application
• BZFlag - client application
• BZAdmin - lightweight console administration utility

as well as manual pages (in *nix MAN format), data files, and a configuration file builder (written in HTML) to aid in using BZFS to create a server. In Microsoft Windows releases, shortcuts to BZFS are added as to provide an easy way to start a server quickly with pre-configured options. Tanks have the ability to drive through other tanks, but cannot travel through buildings or other world objects. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... In computing, a client is a system that accesses a (remote) service on another computer by some kind of network. ... Almost all substantial UNIX and Unix-like operating systems have extensive documentation available as an electronic manual, split into multiple sections called man pages (short for manual pages and based on the command used to display them). ... HTML, short for Hypertext Markup Language, is the predominant markup language for the creation of web pages. ...

Translations

BZFlag has been translated into 12 languages other than English: Czech, Danish, Dutch, German, Leet, Spanish, French, Italian, Kongo, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Redneck, and Swedish. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Kongo or Kikongo is the Bantu language spoken by the Bakongo people living in the tropical forests of Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo and Angola. ... The cast of The Dukes of Hazzard, representing an assortment of redneck stereotypes. ...

Teams

Tanks can join as one of the 4 team colors, as a rogue, or as an observer. The observer cannot play, but can move anywhere in the world and 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; rogue is not a team since they are allowed to kill each other.

Most of the time teams are not very useful in free-for-all games. Somebody with a Genocide flag can kill a team as a whole with one shot. For that person it is only a matter of targeting the weakest member to score. The cooperation itself is difficult as well. Attacking the same target easily results in unwanted teamkills due to friendly bullets accidentally striking a teammate on the opposite side of the enemy. In addition, although rare, it is not unheard of to be attacked by a teammate due to a teammate being unaware of the team they are on, or more commonly in the case of new players, the concept of teams in the game.

In rabbit-hunt games there is a white tank, known as the "rabbit", against the yellow "hunters", or every other player. The hunters are considered a team, so rabbits with genocide are dangerous, and often team kills 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. Because rogues are occasionally allowed (as chosen by the server administrator), a rogue tank does not have any flag to defend, and in turn cannot capture flags. However, rogues usually tend to aid other teams of choice, or merely enjoy adding a distraction to all teams.

Unfortunately, people will often abuse teams and join a team intending to kill teammates. Many servers try to discourage this behavior, other than verbally, by having tanks blow up when they shoot teammates, whether intentional or accidental. If intentionally, this behaviour usually results in an autokick or even in a ban. A ban is, generally, any decree that prohibits something. ...

Artificial intelligence

BZFlag has two methods of implementing artificial intelligence: players who have selected to "autopilot" their tanks, and game-controlled robots. Autopilot robots use the same functions the human player uses. So autopiloted tanks can pick up flags for example, while the normal robots can not. Garry Kasparov playing against Deep Blue, the first machine to win a chess game against a reigning world champion. ... An autopilot is a mechanical, electrical, or hydraulic system used to guide a vehicle without assistance from a human being. ...

Creating a good AI for BZFlag is still a challenge. A bot should, for example, be able to avoid most bullets without jumping, and if needed, should jump intelligently. The number of rules that could be implemented is huge. The current bots are not bad but cannot cope against a slightly skilled human player. If they do stay alive for long it is usually because of lag and luck.

Distribution

BZFlag is currently distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License through the official website on SourceForge, or by other means such as the GNUWin II CD-ROM (which usually contains an older version of the game due to the active development of the game by its current maintainer, Tim Riker, and other people who decide to contribute to the project) or other CD-ROMs/distributions. GNU logo The GNU Lesser General Public License (formerly the GNU Library General Public License) is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation. ... GNUWin II is a large collection of free software for Microsoft Windows created by the Linux User Group of the EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne). ... Tim Riker Tim Riker is a software developer, most known for his contributions to the open source community as the maintainer of the BZFlag 3D multiplayer game project. ...

History

A daytime, but rather dark, shot from version 1.7d9 while a chat message is being typed. Note the non-transparent "HUD" (console), as well as the font, both contrasting with newer versions.

BZFlag was originally written as a project in C by Chris Schoeneman in 1992, based on the chart-topping, smash hit arcade game BattleZone. At first, BZFlag was called "bz" and despite its similarity to the game of the same title by Chris Fouts, both games were completely independent of each other. Originally, BZFlag was simply a shoot 'em up game with no other modes. However, after Schoeneman and his friend Rick Pasetto (who helped Schoeneman develop BZFlag from the beginning) became bored with the concept, they invented the capture-the-flag mode. This new mode added a requirement of strategy and skill, which was sufficient to keep interest. March 27 is the 86th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (87th in leap years). ... July 17 is the 198th day of the year (199th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... June 13 is the 164th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (165th in leap years), with 201 days remaining. ... January 31 is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... January 25 is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... March 9 is the 68th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (69th in leap years). ... April 4 is the 94th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (95th in leap years). ... November 27 is the 331st day (332nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... June 18 is the 169th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (170th in leap years), with 196 days remaining. ... December 7 is the 341st day (342nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... June 17 is the 168th day of the year (169th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... December 8 is the 342nd day of the year (343rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... December 22 is the 356th day of the year (357th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... January 24 is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... April 25 is the 115th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (116th in leap years). ... May 14 is the 134th day of the year (135th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... October 5 is the 278th day of the year (279th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... January 17 is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... March 18 is the 77th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (78th in leap years). ... September 30 is the 273rd day of the year (274th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... April 9 is the 99th day of the year (100th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... May 13 is the 133rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (134th in leap years). ... Download high resolution version (1024x768, 105 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1024x768, 105 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... HUD of a F/A-18C HUD of a MiG-29 HUD in a Pontiac Bonneville showing a speed of 47 mph A Head-Up Display, also known as a Heads-Up Display or simply HUD, is any type of display that presents data without blocking the users view. ... C is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative computer programming language developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system. ... Battlezone is an arcade game from Atari released in 1980. ... It has been suggested that Scrolling shooter be merged into this article or section. ...

In 1993, BZFlag was released to the public for the first time. This release took a new turn compared to older versions as a cheater, who edited the source code of his client to give himself powers that do not come from official releases, inspired Schoeneman and Pasetto to add "super-flags", or flags that affect a tank's performance. The first four flags were High Speed (boosted tank speed), Quick Turn (tank turned faster), Rapid Fire (tank fired faster), and Oscillation Overthruster (tank could go through objects). There was only one of each flag, and all flags had a marker on them so tanks knew what type it was. Bad and good flags were added, and the idea remains part of game play today, however, flags do not have markers and are completely unknown of their types until they are picked up by a tank (unless a tank is carrying an identify flag).

In 1997, the release of version 1.7d came with a groundbreaking new feature: an in-game public server list. Previously, players had to either set-up their own servers, know of servers, or read a list published and maintained by a third-party, but the new server list (hosted on the official BZFlag website, even today) allowed anybody to play games on servers that chose to become public. Some say that without this feature, BZFlag would not be as popular as it is today.

Schoeneman eventually re-wrote BZFlag in C++ for SGI's third IndiZone competition, which won in the "Reality Engine" category. Tim Riker was later given the project prior to version 1.7e to maintain and evolve.

Server Environment

Servers have environments that simulate the real world. A server's environment is three things:

• The map in play
• The time of day that is being simulated
• Any weather conditions

BZFlag takes the local time from where the server is located and creates a nighttime or daytime atmosphere in the background. Servers may synchronize the local server time, or servers may allow players to change the time to any time they may desire. There will always be a few clouds in the atmosphere as clouds are a basic texture. However, the amount of clouds is not customizable. Layers of Atmosphere - not to scale (NOAA)[3] Earths atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth and retained by the Earths gravity. ...

In this 2.0 screenshot, it snows during the day while the ground is reflective, the radar and console are missing, and it is 00:41 in reality. Taken from the low-quality release of the game.

Starting in version 2.0, servers are able to set weather conditions. Servers can be rainy, snowy, icy, have a reflective ground that is "slippery", have modified friction, and foggy. Little frogs can also take the place of rain or snow droplets. Contrary to other environment variables, weather conditions cannot be changed by players, and are rather controlled by server operators. Download high resolution version (1024x768, 191 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1024x768, 191 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Snowflakes by Wilson Bentley, 1902 Ice is the name given to any one of the 14 known solid phases of water. ... Distribution of frogs (in black) Suborders Archaeobatrachia Mesobatrachia Neobatrachia - List of Anuran families The frogness babe is an amphibian in the order Anura (meaning tail-less from Greek an-, without + oura, tail), formerly referred to as Salientia (Latin saltare, to jump). ...

Leagues

There are numerous BZFlag leagues where dedicated players can create teams that other players can join, to become team members. These leagues have been set up and are run by one or more administrators who themselves are dedicated players. Matches for each league last 30 minutes and are played on just one specific style - with one exception. For example, the first league was the Ducati League. This league is played on random maps, red vs. green, with two shots, ricochet and no jumping. It is intended to test true skill. A league very similar to this is the Pillbox League. This league is very much like the Ducati League except for a few differences in the rules. In official Pillbox League Play there is no ricochet and a player gets three shots instead of two. Another distinctive difference between the two leagues are the maps. The Pillbox League is played on the popular Pillbox map. The Ducati League uses a map that is randomly generated each time the first person joins the server. Another league however, is the GamesUnited League where matches are played on the HiX map with 3 shots, ricochet, jumping red vs. purple. The exception to this is the newer Open League where teams have a variety of maps to choose from for each match as well as being able to choose how long the match should last.

There are hundreds of teams within a number of leagues, but some leagues are inactive and some teams within the more active leagues are becoming inactive. A sampling of mainstream leagues are:

• Ducati League

• GamesUnited League

• PillBox League

• Open League

• Planet-MoFo League

• PlosiLeague
• International League

There is also a monthly One On One tournament known as the 1vs1 League.

Maps

A BZFlag server can be configured to create a basic, random map for play, or users can load custom map files. BZFlag uses a customized text based map format to define the placement of objects. While writing a map is fairly simple in this fomat, most people use the official map editor, BZEdit or blender for most complex maps. BZEdit is not distributed with the game, and no longer under active development. Versions of it are available at the BZFlag SourceForge.net site. Using blender in combination with a BZFlag format plug-in is the currently preferred mapping method. A map is a simplified depiction of a space which highlights relations between components (objects, regions) of that space. ... BZEdit is the official map editor for BZFlag. ... It has been suggested that Suzanne (Blender primitive) be merged into this article or section. ...

As to the simplicity of maps, there are a number of basic objects in a map:

• Boxes
• Pyramids
• Teleporters
• Team Bases
• Meshes

The first two objects above are self-explanatory. Teleporters are rectangular, yellow-bordered "film" looking objects that teleport a tank from one teleporter to another on a map. However, not all teleporters actually teleport. A mapmaker may choose to not have a teleporter teleport tanks by leaving out links, or simple definitions of two points for teleporters to link between. Team Bases are used for CTF style games. Full three dimensional meshes have been available in maps since the 2.0 release. For the Wikipedia term see Wikipedia:Userboxes An empty corrugated box An elaborate wooden box Boxes are highly variable receptacles. ... A pyramid is any three-dimensional structure where the upper surfaces are triangular and converge on one point. ... Teleportation, or teletransportation, is the process of moving objects (or more likely with present techniques, fundamental particles) from one place to another by encoding information about the object, transmitting the information to another place, such as on a radio signal, and creating a copy of the original object in the... A mesh is a collection of vertices and polygons that define the shape of an object in 3D computer graphics. ... In geometry, a rectangle is defined as a quadrilateral where all four of its angles are right angles. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... A level designer is a person who creates levels, challenges or missions for computer and/or video games using a specific set of programs. ...

The syntax for any element starts with the name of the element, the specifics, followed by the "end" keyword. The following:

 box #start (name the element) position -50 -50 0 #the position size 10 10 10 #the size of it, in units (x, y, z) rotation 0 #degrees of rotation end #all elements end with this keyword 

places a box at the co-ordinates 50x50y, is 1000 cubic "units" (one unit is about the size of a tank in the game), and is not rotated with respect to "north." This is a very basic example of a basic element, but conveys the general concept. Only a box follows the specific keywords above, in example, only a box requires a stated degree of rotation. Some elements, such as animation, have no set amount of lines required, as the amount of lines for some elements depends highly upon its complexity. Three dimensions A cube (or hexahedron) is a Platonic solid composed of six square faces, with three meeting at each vertex. ... A sphere rotating around its axis. ...

Complete list of map objects, followed by their descriptions:

Comments in map files start with a "#" (number sign). Whitespace in quantities over one whitespace is ignored. The console is the text output device for system administration messages, particularly those from the BIOS or boot loader, the kernel, from the init system and from the system logger. ... 3D computer graphics are different from 2D computer graphics in that a three-dimensional representation of geometric data is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images. ... In Euclidean geometry, an arc is a closed segment of a differentiable curve in the two-dimensional plane; for example, a circular arc is a segment of a circle. ... This article is about the geometric object, for other uses see Cone. ... A sphere is a perfectly symmetrical geometrical object. ... A tetrahedron (plural: tetrahedra) is a polyhedron composed of four triangular faces, three of which meet at each vertex. ... Number sign in Arial font Number sign is one name for the symbol #, and is the preferred Unicode name for the codepoint represented by that glyph. ... For information on the programming language Whitespace, see Whitespace programming language. ...

Flags

In observer mode as a green tank and a rogue tank battle against each other. The rogue clearly destroys the green tank as the rogue has Guided Missiles. Taken from low-resolution mode in version 2.0

BZFlag has two types of flags: team flags, and super flags. 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 amount, types of super flags, as well as where they are placed can all be controlled by the operator. 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 certain amount of time (usually a few seconds), after a certain amount of "wins" (kills of other tanks that the bad flag carrier caused), or until the tank dies (which is rare). The rules for dropping bad flags are set by the operator. 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. Below is a table of good and bad flags, their code (next to name in parentheses), and their description: Download high resolution version (1024x768, 435 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1024x768, 435 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A scoreboard is a large board for publicly displaying the score in a game or match. ...

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.

Image File history File links BZFlag--A_Complex_Game. ... Image File history File links BZFlag--A_Complex_Game. ...

Good Flags

• Agility (A): faster acceleration
• Burrow (BU): tank burrows underground below shooting height, but is slower and can be run-over
• Cloaking (CL): makes tank invisible on other players' HUD; invincible to the laser flag
• Genocide (G): one shot to a tank kills that tank's entire team (the shooter can shoot himself or one of his teammates and receive such effects)
• Guided Missile (GM): fires missiles that track a target (when locked on); Cannot lock on to players with the stealth flag.
• High Speed (V): faster maximum velocity
• Identify (ID): identifies what the closest flag is
• Invisible Bullet (IB): bullets can not be seen on other tank's radar
• Jumping (J): tank can jump (if server does not specifically disallow it)
• Laser (L): shoots an long-range laser beam
• Machine Gun (MG): fires with low reload time, but distance is extremely limited
• Masquerade (MQ): tank is disguised as an ally tank on an enemy tank's HUD
• Narrow (N): tank is extremely thin
• Oscillation Overthruster (OO): tank can go through buildings and objects. The name is a reference to the cult movie The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension.
• Phantom Zone (PZ): you can "zone" your tank by going through a teleporter and "unzone" it going through a teleporter again. When tank is "zoned", tank can walk through buildings, cannot shoot or be shot (although it can shoot and be shot by other zoned tanks), but can be destroyed by another tank with the super bullet or shockwave flag. Grass becomes purple while you are zoned. You can't drop this flag while your tank is zoned. The name is a reference to the Superman comic books.
• Quick Turn (QT): turns faster
• Rapid Fire (RF): shots travel faster, but have less range
• Ricochet (R): allows shots to ricochet off world objects and walls (only in non-ricochet servers)
• Seer (SE): tank can see cloaked, stealth, and masquerading tanks as normal, as well as invisible bullets
• Shield (SH): tank can be shot once without exploding
• Shockwave (SW): tanks fires a lethal expanding spherical shell of server-set radius around the tank in place of firing bullets
• Super Bullet (SB): shots go through buildings and other world objects
• Stealth (ST): tank cannot be seen on other tanks' radar
• Steamroller (SR): tank can kill other tanks by simply touching them
• Thief (TH): tank is small and fast, and can steal other tanks' flags by shooting at them with a short range, fast-firing beam (thief is dropped once a flag is stolen)
• Tiny (T): tank is smaller in length and width
• Useless (US): no effect
• Wings (WG): tank can jump a server-set amount of times in mid-air and can steer in air. Holding down the jump button on some servers will make you slowly rise up, although it wastes your jumps considerably

Agility is the quality of being quick-moving and nimble. ... An example of how an object could appear to be invisible through the use of mirrors Invisibility is the state of an object which cannot be seen. ... Genocide is the mass killing of a group of people as defined by Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or... A guided missile is a military rocket that can be directed in flight to change its flight path. ... Experiment with a laser (likely an argon type) (US Military) In physics, a laser is a device that emits light through a specific mechanism for which the term laser is an acronym: light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. ... A machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. ... The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension or just Buckaroo Banzai is a cult film released in 1984, starring Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Christopher Lloyd, and Jeff Goldblum. ... The Phantom Zone is a fictional prison dimension featured in the Superman comic books and related media. ... Superman is a fictional character and comic book superhero , originally created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian artist Joe Shuster and published by DC Comics. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... A ricochet is a rebound, bounce or skip off of a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. ... Clairvoyance, from 17th century French Clair meaning clear and voyant meaning seeing, is a term used to describe the transference of information about an object, location or physical event through means other than the 5 traditional senses (See Psi). ... A shield is a protective device, meant to intercept attacks. ... Introduction The shock wave is one of several different ways in which a gas in a supersonic flow can be compressed. ... F-117 Stealth Fighter Stealth technology covers a range of techniques used with aircraft, ships and missiles, in order to make them less visible (ideally invisible) to radar, infrared and other detection methods. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Traction engine. ... Everyday instance of theft: the bike which fits on this wheel has disappeared. ... A Laughing Gull with its wings extended in a gull wing profile Aircraft wing planform shapes: a swept wing KC-10 Extender (top) refuels a trapezoid-wing F/A-22 Raptor A wing is a surface used to produce lift and therefore flight, for travel in the air or another...

Bad Flags

• Blindness (B): can't see the outside world, but radar still works
• Bouncy (BY): tank bounces (jumps) uncontrollably
• Colorblindness (CB): tank cannot see colors on other tanks (everyone looks like a rogue)
• Forward Only (FO): tank can only go forward
• Jamming (JM): radar is jammed
• Left Turn Only (LT): tank can only turn left
• Momentum (M): tank has a lot of momentum and accelerates slower
• No Jumping (NJ): tank cannot jump (if server allows jumping)
• Obesity (O): tank becomes much wider and easier to hit
• Right Turn Only (RT): tank can only turn right
• Reverse Only (RO): tank can only go in reverse
• Reverse Controls (RC): tank driving controls are reversed from their usual behavior
• Trigger-Happy (TR): tank shoots at every opportunity that comes up
• Wide-Angle (WA): tank has a fish-eye view

Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or psychological factors. ... Color blindness in humans is the inability to perceive differences between some or all colors that other people can distinguish. ... Radar jamming is the intentional emission of radio frequency signals to interfere with the operation of a radar by saturating its receiver with false information. ... This long range radar antenna, known as ALTAIR, is used to detect and track space objects in conjunction with ABM testing at the Ronald Reagan Test Site on the Kwajalein atoll. ... In classical mechanics, momentum (pl. ... In classical mechanics, momentum (pl. ... Wide Angle (1999) is the debut album by British breakbeat trance producers Hybrid, re-released in 2000 as a double-CD edition entitled Wider Angle. ...

Team Flags

• Red Team
• Green Team
• Blue Team
• Purple Team
• Rogue Team - Rogues do not have their own bases or team flags, therefore cannot capture any flags. However, rogues can pick up another team's flag and move it, which often is done to help out one team.

Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 625–750 nm. ... Mossy, green fountain in Wattens, Austria. ... YOU SUCK!!!!! ... An African Daisy of almost psychedelic purple Purple is any shades of color occurring between blue and red; this color is sometimes confused with the more narrowly-defined spectral color violet. ...

Development

BZFlag is written in C++ and uses OpenGL for rendering. Its audio and several other sub-systems (such as window management and file access) have been written using OS specific methods. Newer releases use SDL to perform low-level operations on all platforms except for Microsoft Windows. Textures for in-game objects are loaded from PNG files, audio from WAVs. Zlib is used to decompress data files, which is written in C. C++ (pronounced see plus plus, IPA: ) is a general-purpose, high-level programming language with low-level facilities. ... OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a standard specification defining a cross-language cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 3D computer graphics (and 2D computer graphics as well). ... Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL) is a cross-platform multimedia free software library written in C that creates an abstraction over various platforms graphics, sound, and input APIs, allowing a developer to write a computer game or other multimedia application once and run it on many operating systems including GNU/Linux... Spherical texture mapping Texture mapping is a method, pioneered by Edwin Catmull, of adding detail, surface texture, or colour to a computer-generated graphic or 3D model. ... PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is a bitmapped image format that employs lossless data compression. ... WAV (or WAVE), short for Waveform audio format, is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing audio on PCs. ... zlib is an open-source, cross-platform data compression library. ...

Developers

The number of developers grows constantly. Any programmer can become a developer as long as they have demonstrated quality coding and sound judgment (by submitting code patches, being professionally known by a developer, or other significant contributions). Though there are currently 64 listed developers, a much smaller number of those are active contributors. 2006 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Developers are able to edit any of the project's files to make changes at any time. However, when a developer has made an edit that other developers do not approve, or is inappropriate for the game, they are requested to revert to the previous version of the file. Most developers monitor source edits using the mailing list available on SourceForge.net[4].

The project is maintained by Tim Riker, with help from David Trowbridge, Sean Morrison, and Jeff Myers. The game's original author, Chris Schoeneman, is no longer involved in development.

Structure

Source files are paired: each source file has a corresponding header file, where all variable declarations, as well as preprocessor statements, are kept. Source and header files are kept in their corresponding program's folder. For example, all BZFS source and header files are stored in "/source/bzfs". In computer science, a preprocessor is a program that processes its input data to produce output that is used as input to another program. ...

Language

BZFlagers often have their own words that mean several different things. The words are often short and concise to minimize typing. A short glossary is below.

Ours: A command given meaning to retrieve your team's flag if it is lost.

Theirs: Another command meant to encourage attacking, to get the enemy's flag.

Mid: Most commonly used in the GU League mentioned above, when a flag is dropped over a non-level surface, it is transported to the middle, and is then up for grabs by either team.

Cap: To capture the enemy flag and score a point for your team. Can be used as a verb or a noun.

Doink: Another term for "Cap" popularized by a GU player named Doink. The German side has also translated doink into the word "gedoinkt."

Run it: A command given meaning to run the flag to cap it, not to pass it.

Magic: A word often used to describe how impossible, or nearly impossible shots, jumps, and other maneuvers were accomplished.

Lagic: A term often used to describe, the so called "magic of lag."

Camper: One who stays on a higher level, making it nearly impossible for those on a lower level to attack him or her.

F5: To F5 is to take a screenshot of BZFlag, which also creates a small lagspike and makes your tank unhittable for a short interval of time.

Pace

Development occurs nearly every day, as there are developers from all over the world, however, the amount of source edits per day, on average, are few. Adjectives: Terrestrial, Terran, Telluric, Tellurian, Earthly Atmosphere Surface pressure: 101. ...

The usual timeline of development activity is as follows:

• Work on a new release is started; development activity is moderate and edits contain new features
• Midway through development, feature additions are slowed as bug fixes start to gain priority over new features
• "Feature freeze" takes place, in which the new release is nearing public distribution and only bug fixes may be added, rather than new features, as to get the proposed release bug-free

While there are occasionally some exceptions, such as new features being added during a feature freeze, the above is the general plan. A new release usually comes out around one year from the previous release, with the exception of a month before or after.

Compilation

BZFlag supports compilation using GCC, Visual C++ 7.1 and later, MinGW, and to some extent Dev-C++. Project files and other necessary compilation files for the above IDEs are distributed along with the official source packages and from the SVN repository. Other compilers can be used, but these are not officially supported. The GNU Compiler Collection (usually shortened to GCC) is a set of programming language compilers produced by the GNU Project. ... Visual C++ 6. ... The title of this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... Subversion is a revision control system which allows computer software to be developed in an incremental and controlled fashion by a distributed group of programmers. ...

IRC

Developers have created an IRC channel at irc.freenode.net, under channel name #BZFlag. This is for general BZFlag related discussion, but is mainly for development discussion. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a form of real-time Internet chat or synchronous conferencing. ...

Another official channel, #bzchat, was created for less serious talk and off-topic conversations.

A lesser-known BZFlag related channel, controlled by unofficial parties and having no relation to development discussion, is ##ducleague on irc.freenode.net, as well. This channel is for discussions involving the original BZFlag Ducati-Style league.

References

Maps

• Unknown (2005), http://cvs.sf.net/viewcvs.py/bzflag/bzflag/man/bzw.5s?rev=2.2&view=markup, 29 January 2005 (CVS revision 2.2)

January 29 is the 29th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

History

• Chris Schoeneman (1997), http://web.archive.org/web/19970618014437/reality.sgi.com/crs/bzflag_history.html, 29 January 2005
• Chris Schoeneman (Unknown), http://cvs.sf.net/viewcvs.py/bzflag/bzflag/doc/guide/History.xml?rev=2.1&view=markup, 29 January 2005 (CVS revision 2.1)

January 29 is the 29th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... January 29 is the 29th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Flags

• Tim Riker (2000), http://cvs.sf.net/viewcvs.py/bzflag/bzflag/man/bzflag.6s?rev=2.1&view=markup, 5 February 2005 (CVS revision 2.1)

February 5 is the 36th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

BZFlag

• BZFlag.org
• BZFlag Freshmeat Entry
• Austrian Fansite
• Official BZFlag Wiki