What Is a Hiding Zone in Games? Areas That Hide the Tank

What is a hiding zone in games? It is a patch of the map that hides anything standing inside it. You can see the patch, but not the tank in it. Areas that hide the tank inside change how you read a fight, because a hidden unit can be anywhere in the zone, and so can its shots.

Tank City Reboot is a free browser game with hiding zones you can try right away, and each one comes with a short glossary card that explains the real computing idea behind it.

What is a hiding zone in games?

A hiding zone is a terrain type whose only job is to block sight. It does not stop movement, and it does not stop damage. It changes what the screen shows.

That makes it different from most terrain. A wall says "you cannot go here." A hiding zone says "you can go here, but nobody can see you do it." The player decides whether that is a safe place or a trap.

Two things make a hiding zone work as a design tool:

• It is easy to spot from outside, so you know where the cover for your eyes is.
• It hides everyone equally, so the same patch that hides you can hide an enemy.

How a hiding zone hides the tank inside

The trick is usually drawing order, not game rules. The zone is a picture that is drawn on top of the units. Anything under it is still there. You just cannot see it.

Tank City Reboot works this way. The board and the encrypted zones are two separate layers. The encrypted zones sit above the tank bodies and above the shots, so a tank that drives into one is covered up. The zone looks like a green field of noise, made of light and dark blocks.

That picture matches the idea behind the name. The game's Encrypted zone card says encrypted data looks like random noise to anyone without the key. The ENCRYPTION stage opens with the line: "Encrypted data looks like random noise to anyone who does not hold the key." You are the one without the key, so the tank vanishes into the noise.

Because the zone is only a cover, the tank underneath keeps moving, steering and firing as normal. The game does not pause or slow it down.

Hiding zones vs cover and walls

It helps to sort terrain by what it stops. In Tank City Reboot:

• Firewall breaks under fire, a block at a time. It stops shots until it is shot away.
• Silicon stops every shot until your cannon is fully overclocked.
• Coolant stops tanks from crossing, but shots fly over it.
• Encrypted zone hides any tank inside it.

Only firewall, silicon, the CPU core and the edge of the map stop a shot. So a shot passes straight through an encrypted zone. A hiding zone is not cover from damage. It is cover from eyes.

This is the most useful thing to remember. A wall protects your tank. A hiding zone protects your plan.

Why game designers add hiding zones

A hiding zone adds doubt. Without one, a top-down map shows everything, and the player can plan from a full picture. With one, part of the picture goes missing, and the player has to guess.

That guess creates a few small choices:

• Do you drive through the zone and come out the other side, or stay in it?
• Do you shoot at a zone because something may be inside?
• Do you avoid it because you cannot see what waits in it?

It also costs the designer very little. One extra layer on the map adds a new kind of decision to a stage, with no new enemy and no new rule.

How enemies react when you are hidden

This depends on how the game points its enemies. Here is what Tank City Reboot says about it.

In the first game, malware heads mostly for the CPU core, sometimes for you, and sometimes anywhere. Most of the time the enemy is not looking for you at all. It wants the core. So when you hide, the main change is for your own view, since the enemies' targets do not depend on a picture drawn over the map.

In Tank City Zero Day the picture is different. Botnet drones hunt your tank rather than the core. Do not expect a hiding zone to shake a drone that is chasing you. For a longer look at that behavior, read what a chasing enemy is in games.

Shots matter too. Enemy shots fly through an encrypted zone just as yours do. If you want to understand why a shot that is aimed at you is dangerous even when you are out of sight, see what an aimed shot is in games.

Tips for using a hiding zone well

Treat the zone as a tool for information, not for safety. Some habits that follow from the rules above:

1. Do not rest in it. Shots pass through, so a hidden tank can still be hit.
2. Remember it hides enemies too. A tank inside a zone is covered up, and so are its shots. When you cross the edge of a zone, slow down.
3. Use it to change where you come out. You can enter on one side and leave on another, so the enemy has less time to see where you went.
4. Pair it with a shield. In the first game, Patch gives you a 10 second shield, and enemy shots that hit your tank are stopped while it lasts. In Zero Day, the Sandbox upgrade stops one hit and then recharges. The post on rechargeable shields explains how those timers work.
5. Keep your fire going. Hold Space, J or Z to keep shooting. Your shots cancel enemy shots, and that works the same inside a zone.

If you play on a phone, the touch pad does the steering, and a zone does not change how it feels. For how that pad reads your thumb, see how a virtual joystick steers.

Hiding zones in Tank City Reboot

Encrypted zones show up in both games. Here are two stages where you can watch them work.

Stage 1, FIREWALL

The map is mostly firewall, with a few silicon blocks and an encrypted cross in the middle. This is the gentlest place to see how a zone behaves. The stage is made of 18 worms and 2 trojans, which are slow or middling in speed, so you have time to drive into the cross and watch your tank vanish. Drive out and notice that the shots you fire from inside it still fly out normally.

Stage 4, ENCRYPTION

This stage is full of encrypted zones, and one sits right above the CPU core. The lineup is 5 worms, 6 trojans, 5 spyware and 4 rootkits, so there is more pressure here. Because enemies mostly head for the core, a zone beside it is a busy place. It is a good spot to learn that the zone hides your view, not your risk.

A worked routine for stage 4:

1. Start by watching where the enemies enter: top-left, top-middle and top-right.
2. Move to the zone above the core and keep Fire held.
3. Before you step into the noise, remember that any tank inside is hidden too. Shoot first, then move.
4. If a Patch power-up drops, pick it up before you go back in.

Zero Day lists the same terrain, with the card text "Hides any tank inside it." Its arenas are freshly generated each wave, so you read the map fresh each time. If you want a modern version of the same idea, try Tank City Zero Day.

Frequently asked questions

Does a hiding zone protect me from damage?

No. In Tank City Reboot, shots pass through an encrypted zone, because only firewall, silicon, the CPU core and the map edge stop a shot. The zone hides your tank from view, nothing more.

Can enemies hide in a hiding zone too?

Yes. The zone hides any tank inside it, yours or an enemy's. That is why you should slow down when you cross its edge.

Is a hiding zone the same as cover?

No. Cover, like a wall, blocks shots or movement. A hiding zone blocks only sight, so a tank and its shots can still cross it.

Which stage has the most hiding zones?

Stage 4, ENCRYPTION, in the first game. It is full of encrypted zones, with one right above the CPU core.

Get started

The fastest way to learn what a hiding zone does is to drive into one. Play Tank City Reboot: it is free, plays in your browser on a computer or a phone, and needs no account. Press Play and move with the arrow keys or WASD. Drive into the encrypted cross, then fire out of it and see what you can and cannot see.