Head on over to the Zap! Community at www.zapthegame.com

Experience the excitement that brought down the house at IndieGamesCon 2004. Zap! - a 2D vector graphics multiplayer team action strategy game that plays like a cross between Robotron and Tribes with the graphical blend of Asteroids and Pac-Man. As a 2D game Zap can be played with keyboard+mouse or (recommended) a dual-analog gamepad. Zap has several game types, including CTF, Zone Control, Retrieve, Soccer, Hunters and Rabbit, and it supports familiar features like hierarchal V-menu chat and recorded voice.

Zap is a game of action and strategy. In Zap, the goal of the game varies from level to level, from the following game types:

Capture the Flag - Team game where the objective is to take the enemy's flag and return it to your flag. Each capture earns your team one point. Take care to defend your flag from the enemy -- you can only score if it is at home!


Soccer - Team game where the objective is to move the white circle (the ball) into the goal of the opponent's color.



Zone Control - Team game with a single flag and multiple "capture zone" areas. The goal of the game is to escort a team member carrying the flag to each of the capture zones in the map. When a capture zone is entered by the flag carrier, the zone turns to that team's color and the team scores a point. If the capture zone was already owned by a different team, the team that lost the zone loses a point. If all the zones on the level are captured by a single team, that scores a "touchdown", and the zones and flag reset.

Retrieve - In Retrieve, one or more flags are scattered throughout the level. Teams compete to bring these flags back to team-colored goal zones. Each retrieved flag is worth one point to the capturing team. If a team retrieves all the flags on the level, the team keeps the points for the flags and the flags reset to their original locations.

Hunters - Solo game where the objective is to collect flags from other players and return them to the Nexus for points. Each player starts with one flag, and drops it if he or she is zapped. Scoring in Hunters is based on how many flags the player is carrying when touching the open Nexus. The first flag is worth one point, the second is worth two, the third 3, and so on. So the total value of capturing 5 flags would be 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 15 points. If the Nexus is dark, it is closed -- the upper timer in the lower right corner counts down to when it will next be open.

Rabbit - Solo game wherein there is one flag that all players are fighting to control. Players accumulate points by holding the flag, zapping the flag carrier or zapping other players while holding the flag.



Zapmatch - Solo game, often of short duration between levels. Just zap as many other players as you can!



REVIEWS
"The game is excellent. It reminds me of some good ship style arcade games, only multiplayer, on caffiene pills and crack (Stay in school). Seriously, though, the gameplay is unique to a ship game and completely great. Both mouse and joystick mode are a bit funny to get used to, but both of them are excellent in feel. I like the ease of shooting down another fighter with your choice of weapons and powerups. And yet I like the skill it takes as well to choose a strategy. For some people, its flying around shooting constantly. Other people conserve their energy and create strategy with boosters and shields, repair or cloak or what-have-you. Yet the game is very fast paced too."
--- Nate Flathers

"The depth is right up there with Tribes. I could see competition out of this game.. 3v3 or 4v4 could be very strategic."
--- Killer One

"Another thing is that the netcode is too good in this game. You seem to be able to get far too many people into a single map than you should be able to resulting in it feeling crowded. "
--- FalseMyrmidon

" The game is still in beta and it's already better than Tribes Vengeance.. (and probably has more players too)."

"I was playing from New Zealand w/ a 250 ping with no problems (aside from the usual aim-prediction), the OpenTNL netcode rocks. While it's not something I'd see myself playing on a daily basis, it's a fun game that has a cool "arcade" feel to it."

"Congratulations on proving again that gameplay is more important than graphics, which is something 95% (or more) of the worlds developers now-days don't quite seem to comprehend."
--- Random

Zap! Discussions:
Head over to the Zap! Forum to discuss the game.

Ship Configuration

Each ship can be configured with 2 modules and 3 weapons. Pressing the loadout select screen allows the player to choose the next loadout for his or her ship. This loadout will not become available until the player either flies over a resupply area (team-color-coded patch), or respawns (only if there are no resupply areas on the level).

Modules are special powers that can be activated by pressing the appropriate module activation key. The modules in Zap, and their function are:
1. Boost - Gives the ship a boost of speed
2. Shield - Creates a defensive barrier around the ship that reflects shots
3. Repair - Repairs self and nearby teammates that are damaged
4. Sensor - Boosts the screen visible distance of the player
5. Cloak - Turns the ship invisible

The weapons in Zap, and their function are:
1. Phaser - The default rapid-fire weapon.
2. Bouncer - Fires projectiles that bounce off walls.
3. Triple - Fires three diverging shots.
4. Burst - Fires an explosive projectile.
5. Mine - Plants a mine that explodes when opponent flies over it.

Other features in the full version of Zap!:
1. Voice Chat
2. Team Chat
3. Map Editor/Creator
4. Server and Admin abilities
5. Stat tracking and High Score tables
6. Customized Unique Player Names

Windows NT/ME/2000/XP
Pentium II 400, 64 MB RAM
OpenGL or DirectX8 Compatible Video Card
DirectX compatible Soundcard
Gamepad Recommended

Macintosh OS X
G4 Processor Recommended
64 MB RAM
OpenGL Compatible Video Card
Gamepad Recommended

Linux Distributions
Including: Linspire, Redhat 7.1+, SuSE 7.1+, Mandrake 8.x+, Debian 3.0+.
Pentium 400, 128 MB RAM,
OpenGL Compatible Video Card
Linux-supported sound card.
Kernel 2.4 and glibc 2.2, XFree86 4.0 or newer with OpenGL drivers.