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Two blog posts in two days? Your eyes don't deceive you. We're blog-writing machines this week, and there's plenty of gas in the tank.
Today's update includes both of the Art Pass Contest Winners' maps: Mountain Lab by Valentin "3Dnj" Levillain, and Mann's Manor by Tim "YM" Johnson and Alex Kreeger.
Also included in this update: You being scared! [sound of bat wings] That's right, it's the Second Annual Team Fortress Halloween Special. Will there be ghosts? Quite possibly. Will there be exploding pumpkins? You never know. Will you wet your pants in terror? If you're anything like us, emphatically yes.
And what more perfect holiday than Halloween to add the scariest feature yet to the Mann Co. Store: Gift wrapping! If someone decides to trick or treat on your server, wrap up that spare bottle of Jarate and give them the gift a thousand words could never describe, and a thousand therapist appointments will never undo.
Also added to the store: new community items themed for Halloween and a few scary hats of our own dark design. Some of these new holiday items are only available to purchase during the holiday, but will remain wearable all year round, so grab 'em while they're grabbable.
We've been fairly busy around the office this week after it was mandated that browsing International Stately Hats of Nationals was not a good use of time and there was work to be done on the next update.
Are you prepared to make your mother proud? We've joined up with Kritzkast to determine what the Demoman really said during his diatribe in Meet the Demoman. Our sensitive ears are incapable of determining exactly what was said so it's best left to the experts. The funniest clean entry, funniest not so clean entry, and most accurate will all receive prizes. Recording your brother being dominated in Dustbowl is not a valid entry.
When you're done yelling into your microphone, check out this fine Sticky Bomb Plush now available in the Valve Store! Available in Red and Blue these are identical to the in-game variety except they're cloth, have fewer spikes, won't stick to surfaces, and can't detonate.
While we're here, we thought we should also mention that My Gaming Edge has continued working on their training mod designed around 1v1 play. The first player to 20 points wins the duel, and while changing classes might give you an upper hand it will award your opponent a point. The mod also features several arenas each with different class restrictions, and an ELO rating system to track player statistics. Awesome stuff.
Last of all, the fine gentleman behind the original interactive video, "A Heavy's 2fort Adventure" has released a new video with an even longer title, "A Granary Adventure: The Underdog Story" . Watching the Pyro flee brings smiles all around as it reminds us of all the times we've chased down a fleeing Eric Smith in our internal playtests.
After days of deliberation, a moderate amount of yelling, and an M&M inexplicably up Drew Wolf's nose again, we're happy to announce the winners of the art pass contest. That's right, winners. Multiple. There were so many good-looking and fun maps that it was incredibly tough to narrow them all down to a single entry. So much so that we didn't bother.
Congratulations to Valentin "3DNJ" Levillain and Timothy "YM" Johnson. TF2Maps.net has a page up where you can view the winners of the contest, along with many of the other fantastic entries.
Created by 3DNJ
Created by YM
We've gotten to play a lot of maps these last few days, and every one offered exciting, fresh experiences. One of the most notable entries was by Acegikmo, who built a final cap room that epitomizes everything we love: plants, television monitors, pipes, and the color red. Another notable entry was Gooba's, which contained a breathtaking skybox of ominous dark clouds casting a shadow in the distance. The Harvest theme made a few appearances -- but only two men, honeymustard and TerabyteST, were able to tame it into entries that made us all miss the Midwest.
Created by Acegikmo
Created by Gooba
Created by honeymustard
Created by TerabyteST
We're a little late but while you're here check out this highlight reel from ESEA S6.
Hello there, Team Fortress people. Now that I got your attention, the name's Whitaker, from Left 4 Dead 2. Nice little setup y'all got here. Now, I'm told y'all are hired killers. Also, I wanna make it clear that this is ALL I've been told. Ol' Whitaker don't pass judgment, and he don't take sides. RED, BLU -- your money's all green here.
Now, to business. I have once again been asked to try and clarify the essence of some sales paraphernalia.
While my words alone should have been enough to sway you to purchase one of these fine games, the good people at Valve have decided to throw in a little something extra for those of you who currently own or who purchase the game Left 4 Dead 2 by this Thursday at 4pm Pacific Standard Time. This is what those to the east of me in nawlins might call a Lagniappe.
So what are these items you may ask? Before we go into the finer details of said offer, let me tell you a little story. Many years ago before my gun selling ways, I sold house wares door-to-door. I truly must admit, I struggled in those early days. I simply did not have what those people wanted.
During a long walk down a dusty stretch of road, I met a boy. Now, this won't no ordinary boy, he had a sparkle about him, a gleam. You could tell he was gonna be somethin'. So in my desperation, looking to expand my product line into those items that people genuinely wished to purchase, I asked the boy what is the greatest gift a man could give?
Without hesitation that young boy said, a skillet to fry your bacon and hat to act as a mobile roof above your head sir. By god if that boy wasn't right. I added both to my product line that day and soon was the number three seller of cast iron skillets in the great state of Georgia. And for that boy? That boy grew up to be president.
So now you can see I am familiar with the merchandise I speak of. While I do not understand the machinations of this skillet and hat scheme, I do know that if you purchase the said game Left 4 Dead 2, it will reward you with a free hat from my friend Ellis and a handy skillet to fry yours or more importantly your enemy's bacon. These items all manifest themselves in some infernal game called TeamFortress2 which I have no understandin' of but my good friends what I do know is these items know no class, color, weight or gender. They work for all peoples.
Now if I could get a hat and a skillet for $6.80 — I would own a new hat and skillet. At that price, I implore of you, if you see a hatless or skilletless friend, buy them one.
If I was not bound by certain contracts and gentlemen agreements, I would be buyin' every hat and skillet I could afford. I would be leveraging myself to the gills to purchase enough hats and skillets so that I could corner the ever present, ever important, ever expanding hat and skillet market.
People, this is no time to be savin', this is a time to be procurin'!
With that, I thank you kindly for your time and your purchases.
*Current L4D2 owners will see the items appear over the next few days.
We've been getting some emails asking a lot of the same questions answered on the Mann-Conomy F.A.Q., so we thought we'd go ahead and send the link around again for those who missed it.
One of the interesting side effects of shipping free updates for Team Fortress 2 over the years has been a large and devoted group of people who write us asking if they can simply buy game items directly. We also get regular feedback from the bean counters on our fourth floor, who -- after watching with tooth-grinding irritation as we shipped over 120 free updates to a three-year-old game -- gently suggested that we "make some f$*&ing money already."
Then it hit us: it'd make everybody happy if we really DID let players buy items directly. Players'd be happy because we actually listened to them for once, and the bean counters would be happy because in-game stores are the future of everything, including making some f$*&ing money already.
Flash forward a few months, and we're proud to introduce the in-game Mann Co. Store. And, because we'd hate to satisfy the bean counters completely, we've decided community item contributors will get paid based on the sales of their items. So you can make some f$*&ing money already too.
Now, I'm sure you have dozens of questions, so just this once we put together a nifty F.A.Q. Of course the best way to find out more is to fire up the game yourself and check out the new Mann Co. Store for yourselves!
Just a quick heads up: our exhibition match with pros and pubbers is going to begin shortly. If we're being honest, we're 10% excited, 90% terrified. You should also be terrified, because our usual MO is to take notes of everything that happens during a match, then make changes to the game in bitter, small-minded retaliation. If Dave Riller can't kill someone because they're hiding behind a wall? Guess what? That wall's toast in tomorrow's patch. And if I get killed by too many Scouts, then there'll be no more Scouts, in any game, ever. Double jumps will be a fond memory in your grandad's head. Trust us on this. We have connections at Nintendo. Mario will develop a sudden desire to wear lead weighted boots.
Head over to the ETF2L page to see how you can watch the fun.
Since our recent TF2maps.net Art Pass Contest, our level designers have gone back to their default state at the TF2 offices, which is to say, doing nothing, taking naps, eating lunch, and complaining. This has become a bit of a poison pill for the rest of the TF2 team, all of whom possess strong opinions about working (against it), naps (pro), lunches (very pro) and complaining (big fans).
As part of the fallout, this morning the writing team refused to do their work for the month, which was to write today's blog post and name some hats. At first we weren't terribly concerned—partly because most of the team wasn't even aware the game had writing in it, but mostly because everybody here, unlike the writers, knows how to perform a skill AND write words. (Here's a pro-tip for you youngsters: Build your career on a skill that isn't something five-year-olds can do.)
But then someone pointed out that, even though writing's incredibly easy work, it's still technically work. So we reached into our comprehensive bag of solutions, and pulled out our well-worn one-trick pony: Community Contest Time!
Fans have been mailing us for some time now, asking for a contest that didn't involve modeling or level design. So now they get their wish. That's right: you'll be competing over who can describe hats the best. Introducing the first ever
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You probably thought we were done for the day too, but we've barely started this blog post. The fine folks over at Team 17 are about to release Worms Reloaded this week. Being massive fans of their work, all the way back to the original Alien Breed, we thought it'd be fun to do something with them. So, we approached them and politely asked if we could include an iconic element of their game in TF2. The conversation was going swimmingly until they said that the best item to use would be the Holy Hand Grenade. We shuffled our feet and nervously explained that some soon-to-be-fired idiot had removed all of TF2's grenades.
But luckily, we were saved by our own shoddy workmanship. While we removed grenades from the game during early development, we left two of them dangling on the front of the Soldier as a teasing reminder of what once was. So, to celebrate the release, we're going to give a nifty Soldier visual update to anyone who buys Worms Reloaded before Thursday, September 2nd, allowing him to sport two Holy Hand Grenades and a new Soldier helmet. Here's what it looks like in-game:
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Finally, a couple of quick competitive notes:
The fine folks over at ETF2L have launched their Highlander Community Challenge, and we're excited to be a part of it. We'll be giving out in-game medals to everyone who participates, so if you've got some friends who should stop wasting their gaming time and get to the work earning virtual goods (for you), now's the time.
Ubercharged.net has put up their most recent Interview with a Community Item Creator, Larolaro. We love reading these, because it's often the case that we get the best feedback when the community talks to itself, instead of when it's talking to us.We ask for feedback on our tools all the time, and everyone's much too nice to tell us directly that they're like a "beautiful ornate chair with a spike carved into the seat". Also, Hackett mentioned to us that he's trying to get in contact with other Community Item creators, so if you've made something that we've shipped, and want to create more colorful analogies for describing our toolset, then contact him on the UC forums.
This afternoon Corey Peters suddenly yelped and jumped out of his chair claiming that a Creeper had gotten into the new training map he was working on and that it was blocking his ability to get any work done. This was followed a few minutes later by Jon Lippincott claiming he couldn't finish up his code because he had run out of Iron Ore. Even as I write this I can hear Dave Riller telling a story about how he beat a sheep to death with his bare hands to make a new set of pants and a woolly hat.
It seems, dear friends, that our development team has succumbed to Minecraft addiction.
Minecraft is an amazing little (read: freaking huge) world building sandbox game by Markus Persson, aka Notch...the very same Notch that developed Left4kDead a couple years ago. In Minecraft you carve out your own little empire in the wild, building just about whatever you want while the natural world tries to slaughter you every nightfall. The game's box-like representation of reality is cute and definitely charming...until a horde of cute box-like skeletons rip your cute little box-like arms from your cute little box-like body in a spray of cute little box-like blood and gore.
Yes, you should play this game.
Apparently we aren't the only ones to fall prey to the lures of Minecraft. A number of you in The Community have also discovered the game and, as we have come to expect, you immediately went out and imported it into our game, Team Fortress 2.
Check out this Payload Race map developed by some Minecraft fans:
I have a feeling we'll be "playtesting" this map once it's available.
You can check out the latest updates for Minecraft by reading Notch's Blog.
Just a quick, but excited note: TF2maps.net has opened their doors on their new Art Pass Contest.
It's a fantastic opportunity for everyone involved: you get a chance to show us how much better at detailing maps than we are, and our (ex) art team gets a chance to find new jobs at companies that still need their kind!
After our usual delay, we're proud to announce we've finished the utterly impossible task of selecting the winners of the Polycount Contest. These five lucky individuals will soon receive the unbridled adoration of the TF2 community when we release their packs in an update. Unluckily for them, we're also going to attach gameplay attributes (probably of a game destroying nature) to these items, sullying their perfect work with our clumsy attempts at game design. Anyway, enough mucking about, head over and see who won!
Winners:
The Gasman (pyro)
Tank Buster (Soldier)
Special Delivery (Scout)
Croc-o-style (Sniper)
Saharan Spy (Spy)
In other good news, the chaps over at CEVO dropped us a line to say that registration for the CEVO TF2 Season 6 tournament has just opened up. With three skill divisions, it's a great place to play some competitive TF2 matches, even for relative beginners. They're trying to convince those of us in the Valve TF2 team to play in the Amateur division as well, which would be possible if we ever figured out how to curb our usual desire to cheat spectacularly.
Note: The current top 4 TF2 teams in North America (Complexity, Blight-fanom, eMazing Gaming, Nexus) will be battling it out this weekend at the ESEA season 6 LAN in Texas. The top CS:S and CS 1.6 teams will also be there. http://www.Pwnage.tv will be covering all 3 games.
Since our announcement of Team Fortress 2 on the Mac, we've received literally thousands of emails from over seven people, curious as to how the Apple comic shown in the update fits into the ongoing TF saga. Did Saxton Hale really buy the Apple company? Can Heavy's gun actually shoot email bullets now? Who was that mysterious figure? And why were Valve's lawyers so insistent that he remain mysterious?
Some good questions. Good enough, anyway, that when we angrily confronted our writers with them, they got that look animals get when they're walking across a road in the middle of the night, headlights appear, and they realize they're about to lose their jobs. Following a frantic search through the internet for fancy excuse words, they came up with an answer.
Apparently the Apple comic was non-canon. Think of it like a "commercial". Then imagine yourself removing the quote marks around "commercial", because it was a commercial. "Ah, now I get it," you're saying. Just in case you're lying, here's another example: Say Team Fortress was Hercules. Our class updates would be all of those times that Hercules fought gorgons or suplexed an evil king into a mountain. The Apple update would be like the time Hercules enjoyed a jalapeño popper platter at Applebees.
Since this announcement creates a canon-shaped void in the lives of TF2's biggest story fans—our writers—we let them "imagineer" (their words) an epic Engineer story spanning three generations.
