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*Spawn rooms feature an equipment locker to restock ammo and items while standing in front of it (no bags as in previous versions)<ref name="ign 2007-04-13" />
*Spawn rooms feature an equipment locker to restock ammo and items while standing in front of it (no bags as in previous versions)<ref name="ign 2007-04-13" />
*Each class has different health amounts which determine their survivability (it is not simply a percentage)<ref name="ign 2007-04-13"/>
*Each class has different health amounts which determine their survivability (it is not simply a percentage)<ref name="ign 2007-04-13"/>
*You can pick up enemy weapons that replenish the engineer's "metal" count, which is the engineers building materials (may be like bags in older versions)<ref name="ign 2007-04-13" />
*You can pick up enemy weapons that replenish the engineer's "metal" count, which is the engineers building materials. Other classes can also pick up dropped weapons to replenish their ammunition supply.<ref name="ign 2007-04-13" />
*In [[Capture the Flag]] mode, flags dropped by the enemy team take 30 seconds to return to base. A friendly can't return the flag by touching it, but the enemy can still take it from its new location.<ref name="euro 2007-05-22">{{cite web|url=http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=76691|work=eurogamer.net|title=Team Fortress 2 First Impressions|author=Bramwell, Tom|date=[[2007-05-22]]|accessdate=2007-05-23}}</ref>
*In [[Capture the Flag]] mode, flags dropped by the enemy team take 30 seconds to return to base. A friendly can't return the flag by touching it, but the enemy can still take it from its new location.<ref name="euro 2007-05-22">{{cite web|url=http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=76691|work=eurogamer.net|title=Team Fortress 2 First Impressions|author=Bramwell, Tom|date=[[2007-05-22]]|accessdate=2007-05-23}}</ref>
*In [[Control Point Match]] mode, if you partially capture a point and die, it takes time to reset, giving your team time to get someone else there to finish the capture.<ref name="euro 2007-05-22" />
*In [[Control Point Match]] mode, if you partially capture a point and die, it takes time to reset, giving your team time to get someone else there to finish the capture.<ref name="euro 2007-05-22" />

Revision as of 03:08, 21 September 2007

Template:Future game

Team Fortress 2
File:OrangeBoxPC.jpg
Developer(s)Valve Corporation
Publisher(s)Worldwide Valve Corporation (Steam)
Designer(s)Robin Walker, John Cook
Composer(s)
EngineSource engine
Platform(s)PC, Xbox 360, PS3
ReleaseOctober 10 2007 (Steam)
October 12 2007 (retail, in The Orange Box SKU)[1]
Genre(s)First-person shooter
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Team Fortress 2 (TF2) is a multiplayer team-based first-person shooter with strategy elements, being developed by Valve Corporation.

The game started as a sequel to the original Team Fortress mod for Quake, but has since been through various concepts and designs. In 1999 the game appeared to be deviating from the original Team Fortress (and Valve's own Team Fortress Classic) by heading toward a more realistic and militaristic style of gameplay, but the design metamorphosed further over the game's seven-year development. The final rendition of Team Fortress 2 appears to bear more resemblance to the original Team Fortress and Team Fortress Classic games, and sports a cartoon-like visual style, following a popular trend in recent CGI films (in particular, films recently made by Pixar/Disney, such as The Incredibles).

The lack of information or apparent progress for six years of the game's development caused it to be labeled as vaporware, and it was regularly featured in Wired News' annual vaporware list among other ignominies.[3]

The Beta release of Team Fortress 2 for patrons with the Orange Box in their account is now available on Steam.

Release

During the July 2006 Electronic Arts press conference, Valve revealed that Team Fortress 2 would ship as the multiplayer component of Half-Life 2: Episode Two. A conference trailer demonstrated the game's new graphical style featuring all of the original Team Fortress classes, points towards a more light-hearted and whimsical visual style as opposed to the dark, somewhat more traditional military simulation that had originally been shown. Gabe Newell, the managing director of Valve, has said their goal is to create "the best looking and best-playing class-based multiplayer game." The game will be sold retail as part of The Orange Box. He also stated on a video interview with IGN, that the game will be available on Steam on October 10, 2007.

A beta for Team Fortress 2 was released on Steam just before midnight PDT on September 17, 2007, for customers who pre-purchased the Orange Box and those who activated their Black Box coupon which was included with the ATI HD 2900XT Graphics cards. As well as Orange Box customers, LAN gaming centers using the Steam for Cafe system have the game installed and ready to play.

Gameplay

Just like its predecessor, Team Fortress Classic, Team Fortress 2 players can choose to play as one of nine archetypal classes,[4][5] each with its own unique strengths and weaknesses. Some class abilities have changed from the original Team Fortress, however, the basic elements of each class has remained; the heavy class has a slow walking speed but is heavily armored, the scout class moves quickly but is lightly armored, and so on. Only the capture the flag and control point matches game modes will be available at launch.[6] There are also several features to enhance gameplay:

  • A freeze-cam shows the player that killed you,[6][5]
  • Persistent stats tell you how you are improving[6]
  • Ability to spectate a game[6]
  • Critical hit shots are chosen based on a player's momentum on the scoreboard, causing rockets and grenades to show as a visible white sparkle. It is important to note the sparkle means that a shot is critical, not the hit, so a player could miss a critical hit if he misses the shot. When you hit someone with a critical hit, a text icon appears over their head.[7]
  • You will get more points for "revenge kills" (Killing the person who killed you).[citation needed]
  • Spawn rooms feature an equipment locker to restock ammo and items while standing in front of it (no bags as in previous versions)[7]
  • Each class has different health amounts which determine their survivability (it is not simply a percentage)[7]
  • You can pick up enemy weapons that replenish the engineer's "metal" count, which is the engineers building materials. Other classes can also pick up dropped weapons to replenish their ammunition supply.[7]
  • In Capture the Flag mode, flags dropped by the enemy team take 30 seconds to return to base. A friendly can't return the flag by touching it, but the enemy can still take it from its new location.[8]
  • In Control Point Match mode, if you partially capture a point and die, it takes time to reset, giving your team time to get someone else there to finish the capture.[8]

Graphics

Team Fortress 2 does not opt for the realistic graphical approaches taken by the official Valve games Day of Defeat and Counter-Strike. Rather, it uses a more stylized, cartoon-like approach "heavily influenced by early 20th century commercial illustrations".[9] The effect is achieved using a special Valve in-house rendering and lighting technique making extensive use of Phong shading.[10][5] The game debuts with the Source engine's new dynamic lighting, shadowing and soft particle technologies, among many other unannounced features, alongside Half-Life 2: Episode Two.

Classes

The nine playable classes have all returened from the original Team Fortress, with the possibility of new classes being introduced after the initial release.[11] Classes are grouped into three categories to help new players but can be played in any role; they are offense, defense, and support.[6] One difference between Team Fortress 2 and the original is that each class is more unique and abilities have been added, changed and removed from each class to make each class a completely different playing experience.[6] One of the most prominent of these changes is the removal of grenades from every class except for the Demoman.[6]

  • Scout - The fastest and weakest character. He has a shotgun, pistol and baseball bat and is unique in that he can double jump, changing his direction mid-air. This, combine with his speed makes him a hard target to hit. He is ideal for running into enemy bases and capturing objectives as long as his way has been cleared.
  • Soldier - This character has a 4-shot rocket launcher, a shotgun and a spade for melee. He is slow but has above average health and can rocket-jump. He is generally better at shorter ranges because his rockets travel slowly.
  • Pyro - Equipped with a short range flame-thrower, a shotgun and a fire axe. He can toast enemies with ease at short range, ambushing people in corridors and generally causing chaos. Because his flame thrower is only effective at a range of about 2 meters he is very vurnerable in the open.
  • Demoman - A faster than average class who uses a powerful 4-shot grenade launcher as his main weapon. It can be used in close to medium ranges and has the unique ability to fire grenades over buildings, obstacles and round corners. The Demoman's secondary weapon is an 8-shot sticky bomb gun: the bombs can be triggered remotely by right clicking at any time, even while holding the primary grenade launcher. This can be devastating if used in a defensive role, protecting entrances and capture points.
  • Heavy - This large character carries a large and very powerful minigun. His secondary weapons are a shotgun and his fists. He is the slowest class and his minigun makes him even slower when it's being spun up or fired. He is a sitting duck when in his "ready" pose but he makes up for it with the devastating power of his minigun. It has low accuracy but is deadly at short and medium range. When paired with a Medic he can become many times more powerful as his health is buffed to 450, he can chew up enemies as long as he has ammo.
  • Engineer - The Engineer is the work-horse of a good defence - and offence. He is responsible for building turrets, teleporters and ammo and health dispensers. The turrets can be upgraded twice; from basic to dual miniguns to dual miniguns with rocket launchers. This is achieved with the spanner/wrench, using "metal" points collected from spawning ammo boxes or dispensers. The turrets are powerful and accurate, and can be extremely effective if used in the right locations and supported by an engineer.
  • Medic - The only class who can heal other players, using his lock-on Ghostbusters style healing gun. It delivers a fast health charge, can be used constantly and each player it touches recieves a temporary 50% health buff. In addition it can fire an "ubercharge" every minute or so which makes the player it's attached to, and the medic himself, totally invincible. A medic is immensely powerful when used in an offensive role, charging more powerful characters like the Heavy, Demoman and the Soldier. The medic is equipped with a 40-shot repeating syringe-gun and a bonesaw, both of which can be quite effective at close range.
  • Sniper - Carries a bolt-action scoped sniper rifle, which slows him while zoomed and leaves a visible laser-dot where it's pointing. The gun charges up the longer the Sniper is zoomed in, taking about 3 seconds for full charge, which results in a much more powerful shot. A headshot from un-charged will kill most classes, however.
  • Spy - The most complex and difficult class to play, but also the most satisfying and useful. He can assume the disguise of any enemy class, looking exactly like them but for a paper-mask face. He can turn near-invisible using the right-mouse-button for approximately 15 seconds before needing charged, and can only be spotted by a very slight Predator-like refraction effect and the blue glow of his watch. He is not recognized by turrets while in disguise, allowing him to put a sapping machine on enemy structures. The engineer is alerted and has about 5 seconds to fix it. While disguised he can run up behind an enemy and stab him in the back, killing him instantly but revealing his identity. However, he can turn invisible immediately after backstabbing, making his getaway to don another disguise. He cannot attack or sap structures while cloaked and there is a de-cloaking delay of about 2 seconds. He also carries a quite accurate 6-shot revolver.

Maps

The game will ship with six maps[6] with more being added as time goes on.[6] It is worth noting that 2Fort will be the only capture the flag map initially available.

A multiplayer commentary system will help players learn maps.[6]

Map player limits will likely be 24 on the PC and 16 on consoles.[12] Control point match maps will also feature a timer after which the game enters sudden death, where no respawns are allowed to ensure there are no stalemates between two particular points.[13]

Critical reaction

History

Origins

File:Tf2box.jpg
A box art design for the 'old' Team Fortress 2.

Originally planned as a free mod for Quake II, development on Team Fortress 2 switched to the GoldSrc/Half-Life engine in 1998 after the development team (Team Fortress Software, consisting of Robin Walker and John Cook) were first contracted and finally outright employed by Valve Corporation.[14] At the point of Team Fortress Software's acquisition production moved up a notch and the game was promoted to a standalone, retail product;[14] to tide fans over—since, as well as time issues, much of the Team Fortress player base had purchased Half-Life solely in anticipation of the free release of Team Fortress 2—work began on a simple port of the game which was released in 1999 as the free Team Fortress Classic (TFC).[15] Notably, TFC was built entirely within the publicly available Half-Life SDK as an example to the community and industry of its flexibility.[16]

Walker and Cook had been heavily influenced by their three-month contractual stint at Valve, and now they were working full-time on their design, which was undergoing rapid metamorphosis. TF2 was to be a modern war game, with a command hierarchy including a commander with a bird's-eye view of the battlefield, parachute drops over enemy territory, networked voice communication and numerous other innovations.[17]

E3 1999

The new design was revealed to the public at the 1999 E3, where it earned several awards including Best Online Game and Best Action Game.[18] By this time TF2 had gained a new subtitle, Brotherhood of Arms, and the results of Walker and Cook working at Valve were becoming clear. Several new and at the time unprecedented technologies on show: Parametric animation seamlessly blended animations for smoother, more life-like movement,[19] and Intel's Multi-resolution mesh[19] technology dynamically reduced the detail of on-screen elements as they became more distant to improve performance[19] (a technique made obsolete by decreasing memory costs; today games use a technique known as level of detail, which uses more memory but less processing power). No date was given at the exposition.

In mid-2000, Valve announced that development of TF2 had been delayed for a second time.[20] They put the news down to development switching to an in-house, proprietary engine that is today known as the Source engine. It was at around this time that all news ran dry and TF2 entered its notorious six-year radio silence, which was to last until July 13, 2006. During that time, both Walker and Cook worked on various other Valve projects—Walker was project lead on Half-Life 2: Episode One and Cook became a Steam developer, among other tasks—raising doubts that Team Fortress 2 was really the active project that would be repeatedly described.

"Invasion" Design

When the Half-Life 2 source tree was leaked in late 2003 three TF2 models were included, along with direct references to the game in the stolen source code. They consisted of an alien, Combine-like grunt and a very cartoon-like and out-of-proportion soldier. The code was interpreted by fans as making references to the Seven Hour War, an integral part of the Half-Life story; however, the two leaked player models did not look combine or human.[citation needed]

The Source SDK was released with the Half-Life 2 source code, and also provided references to the game.[21] Some code merely confirmed what was already believed, but other segments provided completely new information, such as the presence of NPCs in multiplayer matches, the possibility of the game taking place in the Half-Life 2 universe, fixed plasma gun and missile launcher emplacements, and more.

None of the leaked information appears to have any bearing on today's version of the game. This iteration was mentioned in an August 2007 interview with Gabe Newell by GameTrailers, in which he mentions "Invasion" as being the second-phase of Team Fortress 2's development under Valve Software.[22]

Final design

The next significant public development occurred in the run up to Half-Life 2s 2004 release: Valve's Director of Marketing Doug Lombardi claimed both that TF2 was still in development and that information concerning it would come after HL2's release. This did not happen; nor was any news released after Lombardi's similar claim during an early interview regarding Half-Life 2: Episode One, then known as Half-Life 2: Aftermath.[citation needed] Near the time of Episode Ones release Gabe Newell again claimed that news on Team Fortress 2 would be forthcoming[citation needed]—and this time it was. Team Fortress 2 was re-unveiled a month later at the July 2006 EA Summer Showcase event.[4]

Walker revealed in March 2007 that Valve had quietly built "probably three to four different games" before settling on their final design.[23] Due to the game's lengthy development cycle it is often mentioned alongside Duke Nukem Forever, another long-anticipated game that has seen many years of protracted development and engine changes.

The old design of Team Fortress 2 is quite possibly the only game to have spawned a thriving sub-genre without ever being released itself.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Gabe Newell interview; Episode Two pack on Steam first". Evil Avatar (referencing Heise Online). 2007-08-28. Retrieved 2007-08-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "EXCLUSIVE: Half-Life 2 The Orange Box System Requirements!". YouGamers. 2007-08-22. Retrieved 2007-08-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "Vaporware: Better Late Than Never". Wired News. 2006-02-06. Retrieved 2007-05-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ a b "Half-Life 2: Episode Two - The Return of Team Fortress 2 and Other Surprises". Gamespot. 2006-07-13. Retrieved 2007-08-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ a b c Berghammer, Billy (2007-03-28). "Team Fortress 2 Hands-On Preview". gameinformer.com. Retrieved 2007-04-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Berghammer, Billy (2007-03-27). "The Team Fortress 2 Interview: The Evolution". gameinformer.com. Retrieved 2007-04-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ a b c d Onyett, Charles (2007-04-13). "Team Fortress 2 Hands-On". ign.com. Retrieved 2007-04-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ a b Bramwell, Tom (2007-05-22). "Team Fortress 2 First Impressions". eurogamer.net. Retrieved 2007-05-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Mitchell, Jason; Francke, Moby; Eng, Dhabih (2007-08-06), "Illustrative Rendering in Team Fortress 2" (PDF), SIGGRAPH 2007, Valve Software {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) -- Video Summary (WMV, 75.4MB)
  10. ^ Roper, Chris (2006-07-14). "Team Fortress 2 Teaser Impressions". IGN.com. Retrieved 2006-07-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ "1UP Show: Inside Valve Software". 1up.com. 2006-09-08. Retrieved 2007-04-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ "Team Fortress 2 Interview". IGN. 2007-04-10. Retrieved 2007-08-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ Onyett, Charles (2007-04-10). "Team Fortress 2 Interview". ign.com. Retrieved 2007-04-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ a b Dunkin, Alan (1998-06-01). "Team Fortress Full Speed Ahead". GameSpot. Retrieved 2006-06-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ "Team Fortress Classic (overview)]". Planet Half-Life. unknown date. Retrieved 2006-12-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ "About Team Fortress Classic". PlanetFortress. unknown date. Retrieved 2006-12-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ Dawson, Ed (2000-11-11). "Team Fortress 2 Q&A". GameSpot.com. Retrieved 2006-12-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ "Past Winners". gamecriticsawards.com. unknown date. Retrieved 2006-07-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ a b c "TF2: Technology". PlanetFortress. unknown date. Retrieved 2007-04-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ^ Park, Andrew Seyoon (2000-06-21). "New Engine for Team Fortress 2". GameSpot. Retrieved 2006-07-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ "TF2 snippets". Steam User Forums. 2005-10-08. Retrieved 2006-07-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ "Orange Box Interview". Game Trailers. 2007-8-29. Retrieved 2007-8-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  23. ^ Berghammer, Billy (2007-03-26). "The History Of Team Fortress 2". Game Informer. Retrieved 2007-04-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

Official
Media
  • PlanetFortress: The only remaining fansite for the "original" Team Fortress 2 to follow TFC, which differs significantly from the current product. Not maintained, but still available.
  • Overview of the nine classes
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