For general feedback about the game.
Steam SupportVisit the support site for any issues you may be having with the game or Steam.
It's our favorite time of year again! It's time to announce this year's Saxxy Awards, and lay out the rules and deadlines for submissions. We're especially excited to find out how the mix of universes for entries this year is affected by both the release of the SFM within the Dota 2 Reborn Beta and the Dota 2 Short Film Contest.
We're mixing up the categories again this year, to encourage more of you to submit entries. (and encourage the overachievers among you to submit more entries!) The Action, Comedy and Drama categories are all changing to have a 3 minute limit, and there will be a new Extended category that has the 5 minute limit from prior years. We believe that there are a great many stories to be told in the new 3 minute format, and we hope to see more of them by adding categories in the gap that existed between 1 and 5 minutes.
On a more technical note, we're also changing the way that submissions are uploaded, so you upload your entries directly to YouTube, and add them to your Steam profile, instead of uploading through the SFM. The submission deadline is November 11th, but once again, we'd like to remind you that you can upload non-final versions up to a week in advance of the final deadline, to guard against last-minute computer failures, internet outages, YouTube login problems, etc. Check the guidelines for details on the rules and deadlines, and get your entries ready!
A while back we ran into some of the guys at Bad Robot. We liked the stuff they were making, they liked the stuff we were up to, and we hit it off almost instantly.
After we'd given them a tour, one of the things they found the most fascinating was TF2's ongoing update schedule. Traditionally a film and TV studio, they typically don't get to show their community anything until it's already finished. So the idea of shipping a beta version of something, then working with a community of gamers to make it better over time, was a wholly new and exciting concept to them.
"Man, we wish we could do something like that," they said. To which our logical response was: "Why don't you?" (There might have even been some buck-buck chicken noises.)
Flash forward a bit, and here we are: The TF team is incredibly happy to announce PASS Time, a new game mode for Team Fortress 2 dreamed up by Bad Robot and co-developed with the talented folks at Escalation Studios, available now in-game as a beta release. PASS Time combines TF2's usual fast-paced bloodsport with the actual fast-paced sports of soccer, hockey and basketball.
This is where you come in. PASS Time marks Bad Robot's first foray into rapidly iterative content, and they're really excited to get feedback on their beta so they can work with the TF community to evolve the game. This is a new way of doing things for them, and they're looking forward to working with you to see how it grows over time.
Keep reading for more information about the new game mode—or just boot up TF2 and play it for yourself. Take it away, Bad Robot!
Thanks, guys. And hello to the TF2 community! As massive fans of all things Valve and TF2, we've been thrilled to work with them, and the deft developers at Escalation Studios, to present this super early look at PASS Time. And now we're extremely excited to have the opportunity to collaborate with you, the players! Your feedback will be critical to making this mode, at very least, worthy of the game we all love. So, many thanks for hitting us up at passtime@valvesoftware.com with any and all thoughts. Here's hoping that, together, we can create something special that the community will enjoy as much as we've enjoyed just getting to this point!
RED and BLU face off in an epic battle to score more goals than their opponents. Coordinated passing, aerial shots, interceptions, team-based formations and plays, defensive lines and the like make for strategically chaotic play.
The "jack" is a ball that, when carried, replaces your weapons. Teamwork is key in protecting the jack-carrier. Pass and shoot with your primary fire. Pick up and intercept by simply touching the jack. Melee an opponent carrier to steal. Carrying the jack also gives that player the following boosts:
For real! It's live! Go hop in the game!
What's the point of having a cool gun if everyone else has one too? You know who has guns that are all alike? The army. And the army isn't fun at all. They barely trade and paint their weapons, they hardly ever give each other presents when one of them does a really good job, and their weapons don't even have kill-counters or sparkle effects. It's almost a job.
Introducing the Gun Mettle Campaign, new to TF2 and releasing tomorrow, which succeeds in every area where the army fails: Rare guns! Mystery boxes! Skill-based prizes! Buying a $5.99 Campaign Pass lets you test your TF mettle against a series of weekly challenges, and gives you the chance to earn one-of-a-kind weapons to keep or trade with your friends. A portion of the sales from Campaign Passes will go towards our hardworking TF2 community mapmakers. Find out more about the new campaign here, and don't forget to read the comic!
Now, say you're the sort of person who's thinking, "You know what's more exciting to me than the Gun Mettle Campaign? Having six dollars." Don't worry, frugal guy, we've got you covered too! A new Valve map! Three new community maps! Taunts! A new way to equip new weapons in-game for free! Loads of class and weapon changes! Check out the details here. You guys, this is a big update. And it lands tomorrow, so check back.
Are you great at making fun, addictive TF2 maps? Do you have no idea how to make a map, but you like playing on them? Are you only vaguely aware of what maps are and prefer to just walk in a single direction until you find what you're looking for? Introducing the Maps Workshop Beta, a place for all three of you to upload, enjoy or just learn about the existence of maps!
The Maps Workshop Beta is an in-development one-stop hub where mapmakers can instantly upload and get feedback on their maps. Simply head over to the in-game Workshop tool and click on the new Maps button. If you're just in the market to play new maps, you can now browse the Maps Workshop and up-vote and subscribe to maps you like—or just connect to a server running a Workshop map and it will download automatically from the Workshop.
And remember, this is a Beta that we'll be working to improve. The TF2 team is incredibly appreciative of your feedback.
