Jump to content

Team Fortress 2

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 70.185.127.32 (talk) at 02:50, 13 June 2008 (→‎Gameplay). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

"TF2" redirects here. For the sequel to the Transformers film, see Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.
Team Fortress 2
The box art for Team Fortress 2
The box art for the standalone PC version of Team Fortress 2 depicts the heavy class in the foreground, flanked by the engineer, pyro and sniper.
Developer(s)Valve Corporation
Publisher(s)Valve Corporation
Designer(s)John Cook
Robin Walker
Composer(s)
SeriesTeam Fortress
EngineSource engine
Platform(s)Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Release
Genre(s)First-person shooter
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Team Fortress 2 is a team-based first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by the Valve Corporation. A sequel to Valve's previous Team Fortress Classic, it was first released as part of the video game compilation The Orange Box on 10 October 2007 for Windows and the Xbox 360.[1] A PlayStation 3 version followed on 17 December 2007.[2] The game was released as a standalone package for Windows on 09 April 2008. Team Fortress 2 was distributed online through the Steam system, while retail distribution was handled by Electronic Arts. The development of Team Fortress 2 was led by John Cook and Robin Walker, the designers who originally created the Team Fortress modification for Quake in 1996.

The game was announced in 1998, powered by Valve's GoldSrc engine, but has since been through various concepts and designs. In 1999, the game appeared to be deviating from its predecessors by pursuing a more realistic and militaristic style of gameplay, but the design metamorphosed over its nine-year development period. The final rendition sports cartoon style visuals influenced by the art of J. C. Leyendecker, Dean Cornwell and Norman Rockwell[4] and powered by the Source engine. The game itself revolves around two teams, each with access to nine distinct characters, battling in a variety of game mode set in evil genius environments.

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.[5] Upon its release, the game received critical acclaim and several awards, being praised for its graphics,[6] balanced gameplay,[7] comedic value[8] and for its use of full character personalities in a dedicated multiplayer game.[9]

THIS GAME SUCKS

Development

Origins

Originally planned as a free mod for Quake, development on Team Fortress 2 switched to the GoldSrc 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.[10] At the point of Team Fortress Software's acquisition production moved up a notch and the game was promoted to a standalone, retail product;[10] 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.[11] Notably, Team Fortress Classic was built entirely within the publicly available Half-Life Software Development Kit as an example to the community and industry of its flexibility.[12]

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. Team Fortress 2 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.[13]

Early development

The game's styling has changed drastically over its development

The new design was revealed to the public at E3 1999, where it earned several awards including Best Online Game and Best Action Game.[14] By this time Team Fortress 2 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,[15] and Intel's multi-resolution mesh[15] technology dynamically reduced the detail of on-screen elements as they became more distant to improve performance[15] (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 release date was given at the exposition.

In mid-2000, Valve announced that development of Team Fortress 2 had been delayed for a second time.[16] 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 Team Fortress 2 entered its notorious six-year radio silence, which was to last until July 13 2006, although in 2003 it was hinted that Team Fortress 2 may have been set in the time period between Half-Life and Half-Life 2.[17] During that time, both Walker and Cook worked on various other Valve projects—Walker was project lead on Half-Life 2: Episode One[18] and Cook became a Steam developer[19]—raising doubts that Team Fortress 2 was really the active project that would be repeatedly described.

Final design

The next significant public development occurred in the run up to Half-Life 2's 2004 release: Valve's Director of Marketing Doug Lombardi claimed that Team Fortress 2 was still in development and that information concerning it would come after Half-Life 2'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.[20] Before Episode One's release Gabe Newell again claimed that news on Team Fortress 2 would be forthcoming, and Team Fortress 2 was re-unveiled a month later at the July 2006 EA Summer Showcase event.[21]

The exterior of a RED base, showing warm colors and wooden construction materials

The exterior of a BLU base on the same map, using cooler colors and metal construction
Both teams sport their own art style to help players navigate the levels.

Walker revealed in March 2007 that Valve had quietly built "probably three to four different games" before settling on their final design.[22] Due to the game's lengthy development cycle it was often mentioned alongside Duke Nukem Forever, another long-anticipated game that has seen many years of protracted development and engine changes.[5] The beta release of the game featured six multiplayer maps, of which three contain optional commentary by the developers on the game design, level design and character design, and provide more information on the history behind the development.[23]

Team Fortress 2 does not attempt the realistic graphical approach used in other Valve games on the Source engine such as Half-Life 2, Day of Defeat: Source and Counter-Strike: Source. Rather, it uses a more stylized, cartoon-like approach "heavily influenced by early 20th century commercial illustrations."[4] The effect is achieved using a special Valve in-house rendering and lighting technique making extensive use of Phong shading.[24][25] The development commentary in the game suggests that part of the reason for the cartoonish style was the difficulty in explaining the maps and characters in realistic terms. The removal of an emphasis on realistic settings allows these questions to be sidestepped.[23] 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. Team Fortress 2 was also the first game to implement the Source engine's new Facial animation 3 features.[26]

The art style for the game was inspired by J. C. Leyendecker, as well as Dean Cornwell and Norman Rockwell.[4] Their distinctive styles of strong silhouettes and shading to draw attention to specific details were adapted in order to make the models distinct, with a focus on making the characters' team, class and current weapon easily identifiable. Silhouettes and animation are used to make the class of a character apparent even at range, and a color scheme that draws attention to the chest area brings focus to the selected weapon.[27]

The map design has a strong evil genius theme with archetypical spy fortresses, concealed within inconspicuous buildings such as industrial warehouses and farms to give plausibility to their close proximities. The bases hide exaggerated super weapons such as laser cannons and missile launch facilities, taking the role of objectives. Between the bases there is a neutral space. The maps have little visual clutter and stylized, almost impressionistic modelling, to allow enemies to be spotted more easily. The impressionistic design approach also affects textures, which are based on photos that are filtered and improved by hand, giving them a tactile quality and giving Team Fortress 2 its distinct look. The bases are designed to let players immediately know where they are. The RED base uses warm colors, natural materials and angular shapes, while the BLU base uses cool colors, industrial materials and orthogonal shapes.[27]

Release and ongoing development

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 showcasing all nine of the classes demonstrated for the first time the game's whimsical new visual style. Managing director of Valve Gabe Newell said that the company's goal was to create "the best looking and best-playing class-based multiplayer game".[21] A beta release of the entire game was made on Steam on September 17 2007 for customers who had pre-purchased The Orange Box, who had activated their Black Box coupon, which was included with the ATI HD 2900XT Graphics cards, and for members of the Valve Cyber Café Program.[28][29] The beta continued until the game's final release.

The game was released on October 10 2007 both as a standalone product via Steam and at retail stores as part of The Orange Box compilation pack, priced at each gaming platform's recommended retail price. The Orange Box also contains Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two and Portal. Valve offered The Orange Box at a ten percent discount for those who pre-purchased it via Steam before the 10 October release, as well as the opportunity to participate in the beta test.[30]

Since the release of Team Fortress 2, Valve has continuously released free updates and patches through Steam and Xbox Live.[31] The updates include new official maps and game modes, as well as tweaks to classes and new weapons that can be unlocked through the game's achievement system.[32] The developers have stated that they aim to keep the updates free even for console versions of the game.[33] The medic was the first class to be covered, with the ability to unlock three extra weapons after the player completes a set of achievements.[34] The pyro is planned to be the second class to be updated with unlockable weapons.

Marketing

File:Meet The Scout.jpg
The scout talks about himself in his entry into the "Meet the Team" series.

To promote the game, Valve has released an ongoing machinima advertisement series entitled "Meet the Team". Constructed using the game engine and models, the series consists of short videos on individual characters, displaying their personalities and tactics. The videos are usually interspersed with clips of the character in combat in the game. The first installment, "Meet the Heavy", was released as part of the game's initial advertising and depicted an interview with the gun-obsessed Russian.[35] "Meet the Soldier" was released soon after, showing the soldier giving a misinformed lecture on Sun Tzu to a collection of severed heads.[36] The engineer was covered during the game's beta development phase, giving a calm discussion about his sentry guns around a truck filled with stolen enemy intelligence while the guns kill enemies attempting to attack him.[37] The demoman was the first class to be covered after the game's official release in October 2007, conducting an interview where he bemoans the fact that he is a "black Scottish cyclops", noting that as such he is quite rare.[38] Prior to the release of a major update in April 2008, "Meet the Scout" was revealed, in which the scout struggles with an enemy heavy for possession of both a capture point and a sandwich.[39] Valve has announced that "Meet the Sniper" will be released next.

Reception

Team Fortress 2 received critical acclaim after release, with an overall score of 92 percent on both Metacritic and Game Rankings.[44][45] Many reviewers praised the cartoon graphics approach and the resulting light-hearted gameplay,[8] and the use of distinct personalities and appearances for the classes impressed a number of critics, with PC Gamer UK stating that "until now multiplayer games just haven't had it."[9] Similarly, the game modes were received well, GamePro described the settings as focusing "on just simple fun",[47] while several reviewers praised Valve for the map "Hydro" and its attempts to create a game mode with variety in each map.[7][9] Additional praise was bestowed on the game's level design, game balance and teamwork promotion.[6] Team Fortress 2 has received several awards individually for its multiplayer gameplay[48][49] and its graphical style,[50][51][52] as well as having received a number of "game of the year" awards as part of The Orange Box.[53][54]

Although Team Fortress 2 was well received, Team Fortress 2's removal of class-specific grenades, a feature of previous Team Fortress incarnations, was controversial amongst reviewers. IGN expressed some disappointment over this,[7] while conversely PC Gamer UK stated "grenades have been removed entirely—thank God".[9] Some further criticism came over a variety of issues, such as the lack of extra content such as bots,[7] problems of players finding their way around maps due to the lack of a minimap, and some mild criticism over the medic class being too passive and repetitive in its nature.[9] The medic class has since been re-tooled by Valve, giving him new unlockable weapons and abilities.

References

  1. ^ a b "Orange Box Goes Gold". GameDaily BIZ. 26 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ a b "The Orange Box". GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
  3. ^ "Team Fortress 2". Steam. Valve Corporation. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
  4. ^ a b c Mitchell, Jason; Francke, Moby; Eng, Dhabih (August 6 2007). "Illustrative Rendering in Team Fortress 2" (PDF). Valve Corporation. Retrieved 2007-10-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Video summary (WMV, 75.4MB)
  5. ^ a b "Vaporware: Better Late Than Never". Wired News. 2006-02-06. Retrieved 2007-05-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ a b Gerstmann, Jeff (2007-10-11). "The Orange Box Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  7. ^ a b c d e Onyett, Charles (2007-10-09). "Team Fortress 2 Review". IGN. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  8. ^ a b c Wong, Steven (2007-10-12). "Team Fortress 2 Review". GameDaily. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Francis, Tom (2007-10-10). "PC Review: Team Fortress 2". PC Gamer UK. ComputerAndVideoGames.com. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  10. ^ 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)
  11. ^ "Team Fortress Classic (overview)]". Planet Half-Life. Retrieved 2006-12-02. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ "About Team Fortress Classic". PlanetFortress. Retrieved 2006-12-02.
  13. ^ Dawson, Ed (2000-11-11). "Team Fortress 2 Q&A". GameSpot. Retrieved 2006-12-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ "Past Winners". GameCriticsAwards.com. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  15. ^ a b c "Team Fortress 2: Technology". PlanetFortress. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
  16. ^ 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)
  17. ^ "Orange Box Interview". GameTrailers. August 29 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ Berghammer, Billy. "Half-Life 2: Episode One Hands-On, Details, And Extensive Video Interview". GameInformer. Retrieved 2008-05-05. {{cite web}}: Text "date-2006-05-26" ignored (help)
  19. ^ "Friends 3.0 Pre-beta Interview". The Steam Review. 2006-01-26. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  20. ^ OnboardError (2005-11-17). "HL2World's Interview With Doug Q+A". hl2world.com. Retrieved 2008-03-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference gamespot 2006-07-13 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ 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); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  23. ^ a b Valve Corporation (2007). Team Fortress 2 (PC). Level/area: In-game development commentary.
  24. ^ Roper, Chris (2006-07-14). "Team Fortress 2 Teaser Impressions". IGN. Retrieved 2006-07-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ Cite error: The named reference gameinformer 2007-03-28 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ Ruymen, Jason (2007-05-14). "Face-to-face with TF2's heavy". Valve Corporation. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  27. ^ a b Hellard, Paul (2007-12-01). "Visual Design, Comic Game Action, with a purpose". CGSociety. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
  28. ^ Hatfield, Daemon (2007-09-11). "Team Fortress 2 Beta Begins Next Week". IGN. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  29. ^ McElroy, Justin (2007-09-18). "Team Fortress 2 beta now available". Joystiq. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  30. ^ Bokitch, Chris (2007-09-18). "Team Fortress 2 beta now open". Valve Corporation. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  31. ^ "Team Fortress 2 360 DLC Details Due 'Pretty Soon,' Fate of PlayStation 3 Content Uncertain". Shacknews. 2008-05-21. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
  32. ^ Park, Andrew. "Team Fortress 2 Updated Hands-On - Goldrush, New Achievements, New Items". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
  33. ^ Loftus, Jack (2008-03-05). "Valve wants free Team Fortress 2 expansions". GamePro. Retrieved 2008-03-23. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  34. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gold Rush was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  35. ^ Cite error: The named reference Meet the Heavy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  36. ^ Cite error: The named reference Meet the Soldier was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  37. ^ Cite error: The named reference Meet the Engineer was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  38. ^ Cite error: The named reference Meet the Demoman was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  39. ^ Cite error: The named reference Meet the Scout was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  40. ^ Elliot, Shawn (2007-10-10). "Team Fortress 2 PC Review". 1UP.com. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  41. ^ Bradwell, Tom (2007-10-10). "Team Fortress 2 Review". EuroGamer. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  42. ^ Watters, Chris (2008-05-03). "Team Fortress 2 for PC review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  43. ^ Accardo, Sal (2007-10-10). "Team Fortress 2 Review". GameSpy. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  44. ^ a b "Team Fortress 2 (PC: 2007): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-05-01.
  45. ^ a b "Team Fortress 2 Reviews". Game Rankings. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  46. ^ "Team Fortress 2 for Windows". MobyGames. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  47. ^ Burt, Andy (2007-10-10). "The Orange Box Review". GamePro. Retrieved 2008-05-02. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  48. ^ "GameSpy's Game of the Year 2007: Team Fortress 2". GameSpy. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
  49. ^ "2007 1UP Network Editorial Awards". 1UP.com. Retrieved 2008-02-18.
  50. ^ "GameSpy Game of the Year 2007: Multiplayer". GameSpy. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  51. ^ "GameSpy's Game of the Year 2007: Special Awards". GameSpy. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  52. ^ "IGN Best of 2007: PC - Best Artistic Design". IGN. Retrieved 2008-02-18.
  53. ^ "11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards". AIAS. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  54. ^ "Spike TV Announces 2007 'Video Game Awards' Winners". PR Newswire. 2007-12-08. Retrieved 2008-05-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Team_Fortress_2&oldid=218996196"