Design Home Page

In this repository, Team Chillax is designing its current project: an open-source internet multiplayer tank game. We are using this repository to lay out the initial requirements and goals for this project which will be used to guide development efforts. These plans are a work in progress, and modifications may occur as designs are created and then refined.

History

We are a group of developers, players, and server owners from the open-source game BZFlag. Sadly, that project has run its course and it is time to make something newer and better. Our goal is to create a new game that has the fun elements from BZFlag, but is also forward-thinking and meets the expectations of modern users.

Overall Game Concept

This game will present a 3D simulated world. The player will be represented in this world by a vehicle (specifically a tank, with the possibility of support for other vehicles later). The game will have several modes with different objectives, while a significant aspect of game activity will involve shooting other players. There will be powerups that players can pick up which alter some aspect of game behavior, especially adding a capability or weapon. The game should be playable on multiple PC platforms (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux) as well as a limited set of common mobile/embedded platforms. Players on all PC platforms should be able to play together, and ideally players on all platforms (PC and mobile) should be able to play together if this is determined to be viable.

Sections

The following is a list of design documents for the project. Some of these pages may not have content yet. A green bubble indicates the section is complete (but subject to further revision), a yellow bubble indicates the section is in progress, and a red bubble indicates the section does not exist yet.

• General

  • License and Copyright
  • Target Platforms

• Core Game Experience

  • Gameplay Mechanics and Game World
  • Powerups and Specialized Weapons
  • Match Life Cycle
  • Input
  • User Interface and Menus
  • Rendering
  • Audio
  • Tutorials and Documentation

• Backend and Services

  • Server Architecture
  • Networking and State Synchronization
  • Cheat Prevention
  • Global Services

Contributions

If this project interests you, please be aware that we will need help in many forms from people with many different skills. Specifically, we want help from experienced programmers, artists, level designers, and people with knowledge about build systems/IDEs, network abuse prevention, legal issues for open-source projects, etc. Even without those specific skills, people who are willing to build and test unstable development code on their systems can be a great benefit to the project once source code is generated and the usable product begins to take shape.

This project is currently in the design stage. If you wish to contribute to these design documents, the design guidelines document covers a basic overview of the design process. All potential designers and developers should read it to understand our overall development goals.

Contact and Discussion

During this initial phase, we will be using this repository for content and will leverage GitHub's various social tools (such as comments) for discussion and collaboration. Additionally, discussion will take place on the ##teamchillax channel on the Freenode IRC network.