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If you'd rather not get spoiled on whether or not there's an update coming soon, you'd better not read the rest of this sentence, and you also might want to skip directly to the last paragraph of this post. Then also don't read it, because SPOILER: This post is allllllll about an upcoming update.
First off: this update is going to have a list of patch notes longer than a stalemate on Hydro. Rather than just dropping all of that in your lap with no explanation, we figured we'd spend a few blog posts taking you through some of the soon-to-be-released update content, so you'd get an idea of the process behind some of the changes and additions we're making. Let’s start with maps.
TF2 has been evolving since the day we released it back in 2007. Unfortunately, as players' tactics and abilities have grown, so have the bugs and exploits in some of the maps. For example, since Badwater shipped in The Heavy Update, TF2 has added more than 140 weapons to the game, some of which introduced new capabilities: sentry jumping, rocket jumping with no health cost, the ability to pick up and move your buildings. All of these are just a fraction of the many ways players can now turn maps like Badwater upside down.
It didn't take long before clever players discovered how to use sentry jumping to build on roofs, Jumpers to move quickly behind enemy lines and spawn camp, and sneakily place buildings inside of their spawns. While we love players coming up with new and inventive ways to win, let's face it: It's never fun to be gunned down from above and behind.
And Badwater is just one of the maps with fixes in this update. In fact, the majority of maps in TF2 have gone through the same process. By eliminating these exploits and bugs, players can once again feel like they understand threats and the dangers presented in combat spaces.
Secondly: Sure, it’s great to fix the old maps, but we’re also adding two NEW community-created maps by Ian Cuslidge that, and here's another spoiler warning, are fricking awesome. Introducing two all-new Capture Point maps: Process and Standin. Beyond a great polish, both of these maps offer unique and exciting gameplay; Process with its five streamlined Capture Points and Standin with its triple Cap Point free-for-all.
These maps were selected by the TF2 team in part for their straightforward and intuitive layouts, and in part because they were a hell of a lot of fun to play. These CP maps were designed with little visual noise, were easy to understand and fun to navigate through. If you're a community map maker and want to see us ship your map, here's another spoiler on how to do that: Make it better than these.
Since the Steam Workshop launched in October of 2011, over 1,200 items created by the TF2 and now the DOTA community have been made available for sale. That's added up to a whopping $10 million in royalties paid to item creators.
The thing is, nobody creates a TF2 item in a vacuum. Chances are if you've made something for the Workshop, you've probably gotten some amount of help and feedback from various toolmakers, communities and mentors. A lot of these resources have proven to be immensely valuable to item creators. We'd like to give you a chance to show them just how valuable.
What if we were to tell you that you can now compensate the service providers that've helped you by giving them a percentage of the sales from your in-game item? And then what if we were to notice you walking quickly away from us after we said that? So what if we ran after you and told you hold on, you didn't hear the important part: You'll get to compensate those service providers without any actual money coming out of your own pocket. That's right: The contribution will be made from a set percentage that is redirected from Valve to the service provider, not taken from your royalty.
Starting today, item creators like yourself can leaf through a wide variety of communities, toolmakers and individuals, and decide who most deserves a percentage of your item sales (again, not your percentage). Those who'll benefit are completely up to you—from forums to programs to tutorial writers. You can divide the money between as many or as few benefactors as you'd like.
We've posted the list here, and we realize it's far from comprehensive. So be sure to let us know about other helpful resources we might have missed.
If you already have an item in the Team Fortress 2 Workshop, you can add and set Service Allowances by visiting the page for your item in the Workshop. So get out there and pay it forward like Kevin Spacey did in that movie, Superman Returns, when he gave Superman all that kryptonite, and then Superman paid it forward into space.
We were really impressed that so many of you resubmitted your items as Gold Star submissions since our last post two days ago. Now, given that this is what we asked you to do, you might wonder why we’re so impressed, and the answer is that nobody’s ever done anything we asked ever, so this is a bit of a novelty for us. We’ve been asking Robin Walker to stop breaking into our houses at 2AM to show us his latest hat designs for two years now, and we still wake up with him hovering inches over us, whispering “No worries” and holding up his sketchpad.
But enough about our night terror! The important part is that, to celebrate, we grabbed some of those Gold Star submissions and shipped them. “How much did you ship them?” you ask, your eyebrow arching suspiciously. We shipped them all the way, guys. No half-measures. We shipped the HELL out of these items.
This isn’t the big update we hinted at in the last post, by the way, or any of the other super-secret update content we've been working on that we haven't even hinted at yet*. This is just a little taste, a tide-me-over, what the French might call an amuse-bouche (“Your mouth pleases me.”) Enjoy! Or as the French say, Bon appétit! ("It is good that you are starving.")
*Except just then.
Over the weekend we hit a new landmark, with over ten million dollars paid out to over 400 contributors and partners. And close to $250,000 of that figure will be paid out to the sixty-plus people who created the Robotic Boogaloo update.
If you just read that last paragraph and are kicking yourself for not making that beard of bees sketch a reality, here's the good news: We've also done a bunch of work improving the item submission tool, so it's never been easier to submit. The tool now automatically tests new creations against a set of standards, meaning anything you create is now significantly more likely to be game-ready.
You can now also see how your items will render on TF2 characters within the tool, making the creation process itself even quicker. Plus, every item submitted through the tool will now be tagged with a gold star, showing everyone that it's been vetted. FYI, our next update is going to ship exclusively with "gold star" items, and there's going to be no limit on how many we'll include. (Check out the Workshop FAQ for more info.)
In short, there's never been an easier, faster or more rewarding time to submit to the Workshop. If you're not making that beard of bees dream a reality, let's face it, at this point it's probably a motivational problem on your end.
Do you like Adult Swim? Do you like The Venture Brothers? Do you like questions? Because we have some bad news: We’re all out of questions. Is there any good news? Questions are back in stock! But that’s not even the best part - we’ve once again teamed up with Adult Swim for three new Venture Brothers-themed items. The terrifying Bacteria Blocker, the whimsical Weather Master, and the also terrifying Breather Bag are now available in the Mann Co. Store. And to celebrate both these excellent new items and the rich history of sales in general, we’re putting our existing Adult Swim items and bundles on sale.
Not sold yet? Well then, we dare you to watch this TF2 commercial that ran during The Venture Brothers premiere last Sunday. Feel free to enjoy every one of its fifteen seconds - the final, desperate fifteen seconds of the crabby old you that refused to be sold.
