The working title for the game is "Battleground Sports". You can head to this link to download a very early dev build. Binaries are currently available for Windows and MacOS.
I will try to answer some questions that might come up. Feel free to ask about anything related to this project.
Why make a new game?
In my opinion, BZFlag gameplay is great, but there is still so much unfulfilled potential there. So since BZFlag development has been slow for a long time, I decided to create a new game based on its concepts. Also I think it makes sense to start over rather than to build on top of the BZFlag code for a number of reasons (aside from my lack of C++ skills...)
What will be new in this game?
Some things are low level such as the fact that it is based on a game engine. But I would like to focus on the high level goals.
I'll save the details for another time to keep this short. The initial project goals include :
- Features to help new players learn game mechanics
- Address network performance issues (lag , packet loss, etc..)
- Reliable cheat detection
- New game modes
While the game I'm releasing now is sort of playable, I plan to start working on a new version from scratch soon.. My plan is to pile all ideas I want to test in the current version, while on parallel create a new one with a better design. The new version will also likely be very different both functionally and aesthetically.
Is this game meant to replace BZFlag?
My end goal is to create a new game inspried by BZFlag. That said, BZFlag has many things that are not going to be part of this game.
Is the game going to be free?
It is free to play and also open source.
How can I help?
Try the game, give me feedback and suggest ideas. If you want to contribute code, you may want to look into the Godot game engine that this game is based on.
Monetary contribution may also be another option at some point.
This project is still in its infancy, and no parts of it have been fully implemented yet.
I would greatly appreciate your comments and suggestions.
Download URL: ftp://45.32.180.51
Project License: GNU GPL V3 (see COPYING for more info)