3 ms·

I've made a couple of comments like this on HN before, but whenever you make a homepage for a project, whether it's a game, game engine, software library, comma

I've made a couple of comments like this on HN before, but whenever you make a homepage for a project, whether it's a game, game engine, software library, command line tool or anything--please start by describing what the thing is in one or two sentences. Here's what I thought when I clicked this link: > BZFlag? Does this have something to do with zipping files? Meh, I'll click and see what it is. > A picture of some 3D rendered stuff, and download links for a bunch of platforms... Is this a game engine? A physics simulator? Maybe if I scroll down I'll find out > Hmm, the project news doesn't tell me much... "A Flying tank", "Tanks with Superpowers"... I guess this is a game where you drive tanks? I'll take a look at the comments. > Ohhhhhh, I see. This could've been fixed by just having an h2 and a paragraph at the top saying "BZFlag" and "An open source tank-based warfare game with online multiplayer, going strong since 2008!" (or whenever the project started) You don't necessarily need to have a tagline like that on every release page or documentation page, but if I end up on your site and delete everything from the URL except "projectname.org", I should be 2 seconds away from a simple description of what your project is. With all that said, people seem to like this game, I may check it out later! Edit: Looks like they added a tagline to the page. It’s clear, it’s obvious, it makes sense. Thanks!

sb057 7y ago
"Free multi-player 3D tank battle game for Windows, Linux, and macOS" is front and center on the home page.
- zamadatix 7y ago
  This was added in response to this comment.
blast007 7y ago
Thanks for the feedback. I added a short tagline to the top of the homepage.
twic 7y ago
Web pages? Those'll never catch on if you ask me. The package info seems clear enough: $ dnf info bzflag | sed 's/^/ /' Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:29 ago on Thu 31 Oct 2019 22:24:31 GMT. Available Packages Name : bzflag Version : 2.4.18 Release : 3.fc30 Architecture : x86_64 Size : 11 M Source : bzflag-2.4.18-3.fc30.src.rpm Repository : fedora Summary : 3D multi-player tank battle game URL : http://bzflag.org License : LGPLv2 Description : BZFlag is a 3D multi-player tank battle game that allows users : to play against each other in a networked environment. There are : five teams: red, green, blue, purple and rogue (rogue tanks are : black). Destroying a player on another team scores a win, while : being destroyed or destroying a teammate scores a loss. Rogues : have no teammates (not even other rogues), so they cannot shoot : teammates and they do not have a team score. There are two main : styles of play: capture-the-flag and free-for-all.
- TomMckenny 7y ago
  Alternatively, a 90's style site in keeping with the aesthetics of the game would be cool in its way.
97b683f8 7y ago
It's a FPS with jumping tanks. Grab flags on the ground and get special abilities. The main gameplay element is that when a tank is in the air it keeps its rotational momentum and you have no way to correct the trajectory mid air. Sometimes you have to jump and aim on the right or even backwards and this all gets down to injecting the exact quantity of movement prior to the jump with the mouse (a nice addition beyond the classical pointing mechanics of FPS). Tanks can't tilt, but hopefully they can jump, so another saillent part of the gameplay are mid-air duels, when two tanks facing each other start firing, jump to avoid the slow-moving orbs, and carry the fight into the air. It looks like a caricature, but it has great mechanics that could make a good basis for an e-sport. If e-sports are introduced into the Olympic Games and they decide to look for an open-source game, BZFlag would be a good contender.
crb 7y ago
> going strong since 2008!" (or whenever the project started) It's not immediately clear from the site, but it might surprise people to learn BZFlag was first released in 1993. (And is based on an arcade game from 1980.)
nwallin 7y ago
> "An open source tank-based warfare game with online multiplayer, going strong since 2008!" (or whenever the project started) 1992, FYI. Same year as Wolfenstein 3D. Not sure what the original graphics looked like, but I know it was first person. It probably had line polygons like Battlezone, the arcade game that inspired it. Not correcting you just to seem smart, I genuinely think it's interesting that the game is that old and still active.

sb057 7y ago

"Free multi-player 3D tank battle game for Windows, Linux, and macOS" is front and center on the home page.

zamadatix 7y ago
This was added in response to this comment.

blast007 7y ago

Thanks for the feedback. I added a short tagline to the top of the homepage.

twic 7y ago

Web pages? Those'll never catch on if you ask me. The package info seems clear enough: $ dnf info bzflag | sed 's/^/ /' Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:29 ago on Thu 31 Oct 2019 22:24:31 GMT. Available Packages Name : bzflag Version : 2.4.18 Release : 3.fc30 Architecture : x86_64 Size : 11 M Source : bzflag-2.4.18-3.fc30.src.rpm Repository : fedora Summary : 3D multi-player tank battle game URL : http://bzflag.org License : LGPLv2 Description : BZFlag is a 3D multi-player tank battle game that allows users : to play against each other in a networked environment. There are : five teams: red, green, blue, purple and rogue (rogue tanks are : black). Destroying a player on another team scores a win, while : being destroyed or destroying a teammate scores a loss. Rogues : have no teammates (not even other rogues), so they cannot shoot : teammates and they do not have a team score. There are two main : styles of play: capture-the-flag and free-for-all.

TomMckenny 7y ago
Alternatively, a 90's style site in keeping with the aesthetics of the game would be cool in its way.

97b683f8 7y ago

It's a FPS with jumping tanks. Grab flags on the ground and get special abilities. The main gameplay element is that when a tank is in the air it keeps its rotational momentum and you have no way to correct the trajectory mid air. Sometimes you have to jump and aim on the right or even backwards and this all gets down to injecting the exact quantity of movement prior to the jump with the mouse (a nice addition beyond the classical pointing mechanics of FPS). Tanks can't tilt, but hopefully they can jump, so another saillent part of the gameplay are mid-air duels, when two tanks facing each other start firing, jump to avoid the slow-moving orbs, and carry the fight into the air. It looks like a caricature, but it has great mechanics that could make a good basis for an e-sport. If e-sports are introduced into the Olympic Games and they decide to look for an open-source game, BZFlag would be a good contender.

crb 7y ago

> going strong since 2008!" (or whenever the project started) It's not immediately clear from the site, but it might surprise people to learn BZFlag was first released in 1993. (And is based on an arcade game from 1980.)

nwallin 7y ago

> "An open source tank-based warfare game with online multiplayer, going strong since 2008!" (or whenever the project started) 1992, FYI. Same year as Wolfenstein 3D. Not sure what the original graphics looked like, but I know it was first person. It probably had line polygons like Battlezone, the arcade game that inspired it. Not correcting you just to seem smart, I genuinely think it's interesting that the game is that old and still active.