Remember Z, the original from 1996, not Steel Soldiers? The RTS where time was the only resource: no mining, no base building, just flags, territory and factories that build faster the more ground you hold. It turned 30 this year, so I rebuilt it in 3D in Unity with several of the classic levels. Version 1.1 just came out with a jungle level, a flying shuttle and Alan and Brad as a hero squad.

It's free and open source (code GPL-3.0, assets CC BY-NC-SA), nothing is sold, and it's not affiliated with Rebellion or The Bitmap Brothers.

https://github.com/playopenz/OpenZ

Would love to hear from anyone who played the original. What did you love or hate about it?

Thank you, let me try it up!

Oh man, I cannot for the life of me remember if I actually enjoyed that game. I just remember I got it because it was so hyped in the media since its concept was so different from all other games.

I never played the original but loved other Bitmap Brothers games like Xenon and Speedball so definitely will give this a whirl. Thanks!

Thanks for sharing. I played the open source version of Z a few months back and it was a real nostalgia hit :)

It was either you are on top of everything or on the back foot losing there was nothing in-between

Either you were crushing it in this game or you were losing and nothing you could do about it. Losing momentum was losing the game.

I think also the pre-rendered cut scenes were something that impressed me at 10 years old or whatever. Stuff like this aged really badly but believe it or not these were impressive.

Same with tomb raider seeing real 3d etc. and you would consider it unplayable today.

You know, your first paragraph brings back some of those memories, I definitely remember feeling like that when I played it and would explain why I didn't play it for long.

Awesome! Time for a nostalgia hit.

If I'm understanding the github page right, it currently only has 3 levels? If I'm wrong, just FYI that's the impression it gives to a newcomer.

Ha, fair enough. It was a very different kind of RTS, fast and a bit chaotic. Maybe a good excuse to find out if you still like it.

Hope you enjoy it! Let us know how it goes.

Speedball 2 is still one of the best. Z has the same cheeky Bitmap humour, hope you have fun with it.

Glad it brought back memories! That was probably the Zod Engine, which is great. OpenZ is a new 3D remake, so it should feel familiar but look quite different.

So true. Lose one flag and suddenly the whole map turns against you. That is what made it so tense.

Out of curiosity, did you use AI at all?

Edit: it's telling that OP has replied to every single top-level comment except this one.

Looks cool, never played the original Z, just Steel Soldiers. I remember it being not particularly memorable in terms of the gameplay experience (there was a lot to choose from in terms of RTS game options at that time).

It's also been 25 years or since I played Steel Soldiers, so my memory could be off.

Right now it has three of the classic levels, each rebuilt in a lot of detail, and more are coming in the next updates. Thanks for the heads up on how the page reads. There are about 2-3 hours of gameplay inside already!

The cutscenes were a big deal back then. Half the fun of finishing a level was seeing what Allan and Brad would get up to next. I made several small cutscenes i nthe same style in the game

Steel Soldiers was a very different game. The original is faster and a lot more chaotic, so it might surprise you. Worth a try on a free evening.

give it a try, it's the same vibe of Bitmap Brothers games