Official forums for BZFlag.org

i was wondering if at all possible i could bring the idea of a race server to the bzflag developers . There are a new chain of race servers out made by tedius and instead of FFA or CTF or rabbit hunt it is a race server , this is fun to go one but often the crowds are hard to control so maby it might be possible for a new race version for server types that could control the players ? Please leave your thoughts and suggestions .

Do you mean, you want "Racing" to be an option along with the CTF, FFA, RH etc? Or just 1 racing server?

I think either 1 is good, but if you make a new server be sure to include things like obstacles. The current racing map is abit boring since the track is an oval.

As for controlling the crowds, its not going to happen The only way would be to lower the amount of people that can join.
For ex. If you were wanted to include ALL colors incl. observer but keep the players to a minimum, you'd write this in the file for that server.


Or whatever you want.

Yes i mean like CTF ,FFA and RH . There is a new more developed version on the racing track it is called grandprix and this is more like a race corse .

what exactly makes a "race" server? isn't it very much map dependent? All of our base game modes will work on a random map.

ps: moved to the correct fourm, please try to keep that in mind in the future.

I see no point in creating a modification to the official release of the server for a race server in a shooter game. You just spin round and round.

LouMan's race map is atleast shootable and fun.

-Tanner

I would like to see a hybrid of tedius's and Olympics.

With plugins that spawn all users at the start/finish line, and have a checkpoint.

IMO good features should be hardcoded. Like zones that if you leave they drop your flag. But I can totally see gameplay modes being plugin's.

Plus the fact if bzflag has downloadable menu's you could provide a startup page for the server explaining how to play and such.

I don't think a game mode designed for racing would be a good idea. Putting in a single continuous track is kind of pointless. In real life, not only does the driver need to be skilled in order to win, but their vehicle needs to excel above the others. Since all tanks on a server are given the same characteristics, a map maker who is making a racing map would need to focus on utilizing driver skill to win. And to demonstrate driver skill, you need obstacles. Many obstacles. Once you have made an obstacle course you will have a map that can only be played in one game mode. And sometimes, that's alright, but these maps would never become widely popular.

Not to mention that BZFlag's handlig characteristics aren't even remotely like a car, and racing tanks isn't really fun at all. At least, not in that manner. The BZFlag olympics server is cool, but that's more of an obstacle course, and the map itself is very sophisticated (unless it's changed, all those obstacles are scripted in python and they change every time the server restarts).

Racing on flat open ground in BZFlag is stupid. It's too simple. I could theoretically program a very simple bot that would drive perfectly, in the fastest possible route (i.e. inside corners) and no one would ever be able to beat it short of using a speed flag or cheating.

Racing doesn't warrant a new game mode anyway. What's wrong with using FFA mode and changing the settings? you'd still have to do that anyway, if there were a "race" mode.

in answer to distraction when races happen there are clear winners and losers .

in answer to L4m3r on the race tracks the set functions are changed so it handels like a car .
In answer to jeff a race server would have sertain characteristics like there could be a start and stop timer , there could be a world weapon that makes shure people dont get a running start .


Remember big new things do happen in bzflag , when bzflag first started there were no flags and the powers came from hakers so the developers made it so every one could use the powers , my point is this could be somthing realy good .

"Could Be", and we wont truely be sure it "won't" till we've tried. I'd like to try it.
There are many many things you could do with this, I've thought up many ideas just now.
Also there are some other ideas from other racing games I (and most likely you guys too ) have played, like Mario Cart for one

PETER wrote:Remember big new things do happen in bzflag , when bzflag first started there were no flags and the powers came from hakers so the developers made it so every one could use the powers , my point is this could be somthing realy good .

Yerwha?

PETER: All of these 'race' things could be done with a server-side plugin. IMHO, it's not going to be popular enough to warrant a whole new game mode, plus, as has been said, it seems far too map dependant: i.e. can't be run on a random map.

If you really want it, get a plugin written that can regulate starting the race, etc.

New "Game Modes" have been written as plugins before: look at HTF, King of the hill, Progressive Flags etc. All of these have had thier fair share of play - but none needed to be made into a whole 'official' game mode. It's the beauty of server-side plugins.

PETER
your history described bzflag before it went open source, when it was just an experiment (probably around the time when you were born). We don't do large scale game altering changes anymore, big changes like that would not make the game be bzflag anymore.

The concept is vague, and seems very much tied to specific maps. It is better served as a plug-in/map combo as Spazzy Mcgee indicates. You could not take the race concept and apply it to a random map like you can for CTF. Your system can not apply to all maps/situations.

The plug-in you describe would not be hard at all, just get someone to make it, or learn C++ and make it yourself. Then you can host a server with it.

I should mention that if you disable shots and give everyone teamflags on spawn, HTF becomes a race more or less to the blue base.

But yes, someone could easily code a plugin specifically for racing that could keep track of laps, places, etc.

Personally, with the exception of obstacle courses, I don't think racing would hold lasting popularity in BZFlag. This is probably why no one has coded anything yet too.