Custom Vehicles

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Fried Chicken
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Custom Vehicles

Post by Fried Chicken »

Well, right now all tanks look the same, but my idea will change that.
Basically in BZ you have this special section devoted to what your tank looks like, so you can add like custom decals, different kinds of tanks, from WW2 tanks to M1 Abrams tank. That would be really cool, and you could also identify people.

I think this would be a really cool idea. And you can take it further... Who says that BZ needs to be played with tanks, how about downloadable star wars vehicles, or Unicorns that shoot through their horn. This would be a really cool feature, and I think it should be used, as long as the vehicle target size is the same, and that it looks logical, you don't want a Unicorn shooting out of it's butt.

I do however want to make clear that this would be just for looks, no speed boost or anything, and there should be a feature to turn "custom vehicles" as it might be called to be turned off, keeping those people who want a universal look happy.

However, I believe that it will have to be restricted to a few people. If everyone were able to do this, then you might have people running around with no tank at all, just empty code, so there are shots coming out of nothing.

Either way, this has potential to be very cool, so give me some feedback.

-Sam
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JeffM
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Post by JeffM »

it's been discussed many times before.
it's a decently sized coding change, and some setup on the server to make sure all the models fit the game mode and theme of the server ( can't make a nekkid chick running around on a G rated server, and can't have somone make a tank that is to small to hit)

the game is meant to be very simple, adding additional models could make it more complex.

mostly noone has cared enough to code it.
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Post by Fried Chicken »

Hhhmm, I realize the problem of people making invincible tanks. That's why I suggested all tanks having a footprint, and maybe there is a minimum "pixel" (or whatever is used in 3D art) limit.

Or, this could be something that just isn't open source, and only a few people can make different vehicles, so other people can download them.
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JeffM
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Post by JeffM »

3d models are vector based, there is no pixel.

bzflag will ALLWAYS be open source.
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Saturos
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Post by Saturos »

I thought of giving the different teams slightly different tank-models... so that a red vehicle has a different shape than the blue one. Size and hit-zones would stay the same that way. Just a few layout changes here and there.

But that would be considered useless eye-candy. No need for it but imo a cool idea.
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RPG
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Post by RPG »

Maybe with the addable texture feature, that would let you to add a custom image to the side of your tank, there could be a central repository run by some devs, and only "approved" images would see membership in there.

Then servers could decide weather to use only the images in the repository for the tanks, or for all images, anywhere.
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JeffM
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Post by JeffM »

those have been talked about as well..
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L4m3r
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Post by L4m3r »

I think it'd be cool to just have your BZBB avatar on the tank somewhere. :p That way they could be regulated easily.
Optimism is just a milder alternative to denial.
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TD-Linux
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Post by TD-Linux »

The next-best thing to this would be to choose your own tank model in the client. All the tanks would appear the same, but you could choose what you wanted them to appear as. This is already partly done, in the new 2.0.4 versions you can choose between tanks with bare or partially covered treads.
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Spazzy McGee
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Post by Spazzy McGee »

the bzbb avatar would be the best option i think -- but i'm not a dev, so i don't know. but some ppl have animated avatars, and i don't know if that would be possible
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." - John Lennon
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Post by Hannibal »

the avatar idea appeals to me. dunno why, but it does.
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Post by Fried Chicken »

Well, lots of people seem to think this is a good idea. The avatar idea would work, and it would be also cool if BZFlag came with a bunch of pre-programmed tanks that people choose from.

Maybe then people can even create them, send them in to be scrutinized by the developers, and then they can decide if they want to put them into the game.

Downloadable tanks would be great, but if someone were to join a server, everyone else would need to download that tank too, so it depends on the file size of the "vehicles". Either way, this has the potential to be very funny... imagine, a unicorn... shooting a guided missile :D

Or Oscar Meyer Weener mobiles :D
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TD-Linux
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Post by TD-Linux »

That's exactly why the devs didn't decide to put that feature in BZFlag.
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