TFC Goodies
What else is in store for TFC? We have the dirt.
— The PF Staff
In chatting with Robin and others at Valve, we have been able to put together a nice article that lays out
the current status of all the features for TFC that we have been waiting for that are not going to be
released in the upcoming 1.1.0.6 patch. I hope this answers any questions you had about what happened to
these features and if/when we will see them, enjoy!
PlanetFortress: What is the story on the 'commander class' that was talked about a while ago? Is that still
in development?
Robin:
We haven't got a fancy name for it right now, but we're calling it the "commander bot."
We wanted to create an automatic system that would take care of the simple stuff that happens over and over.
Even if we do introduce a full commander class to the game, it won't be much fun if their role is limited to
relaying simple stuff like "Incoming Scout" and stuff like that. So, we are attempting to automate that with
the commander bot.
Initially, it would be sort of a "coach" and help you understand what sort of things you need to do. So,
let's say you've never played TF before and jump on a server, and decide to play as the scout. The commander
bot will tell you things like, "Go and get the enemy flag." If someone else on your team grabs the flag, it
will tell you to go support him or her.
Now, we also want to take the bot further so he is useful to hardcore players. For example, it'll be able to
tell you about the enemy incoming, and important info about your team. Hopefully, it will not only make TFC a
little easier to understand, it will also remove the need for clans to have elaborate bind systems. It
should also teach us a bunch of useful information about what people want from their commander. "I like these
messages from my commander, but this wasn't useful."
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PlanetFortress: So what's the status of the Voice Communication?
Robin:
Were testing it still. Were trying to find out more about how it's going to affect the game.
That was the official question/answer that we got on tape. But when we were talking with Robin about
random things, the Voice Communication came up, and we found a couple more interesting tid-bits:
Those of you who are concerned about Joe the 12 year old screaming and swearing for no reason have
nothing to worry about. We were assured that those will be the least of your problems as ignore functions and
the like will be fully enabled. -- Which is very comforting to know.
Valve really wants to know about what happens when you join a server that you know everyone
on it has the ability to speak to you, and you to speak back. The question is, "What will happen?" Will
everyone immediately assign themselves a role? Will people fight for leadership? Will all the servers
simply become a 32 person phone chat? Will people not use it? Will a hierarchy develop? -- Valve has all
kinds of questions like these that they want to get answered before this feature goes public in TFC.
Beta tests are just about ready to start to explore what actually happens when all the players on
the sever can talk. There is no clue on how long this process will be, it all depends on what is
found in the tests. Lets hope for the best [g]!
What other information did PlanetFortress acquire in our trip to Valve Software? Check it all
out at our trip index page.
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