Planet Fortress: If you don't mind, allow me to bring up a few TF2-related questions right at the start and then move on to some other subjects. First, a question you've been asked many times before, but which needs to be asked again. At this point in time what exactly is the role of yourself and John Cook in the TF2 project? Coder, "ideas man", grunt...?

Robin: I'm primarily design and game coding these days, whereas John's doing nifty technology additions to the engine itself.

Planet Fortress: You've been at Valve for over a year now working on TF2. Do you still feel that TF2 is "your baby", or do you feel that to some extent the game has been taken out of your hands? (Is TF2 still following your original vision?)

Robin: I'd definitely consider TF2 to be "our baby". The TF2 team at Valve is a lot more than just John and I, and everyone else contributes in very significant ways. That said, I don't at all feel that TF2's been taken out of our hands. TF2 has changed away from our original vision, but that's because we've grown more experienced as designers. John and I are quite happy with where TF2's going.

Planet Fortress: As far as gameplay goes, will TF2 play more like Counter-Strike or more like QWTF/TFC? Some people are wondering about the "slower" gameplay in TF2 and what that will mean to the faster style of play they enjoy right now. (And you being a gamer weened on the speed of Quake and TF, do you think people will make the adjustment easily?)

Robin: TF2's combat lies somewhere between TFC and CS. It's not as fast at QW TF, but that doesn't mean it's less exciting. TF2's combat generally involves more people than TF1/TFC, and the "slower" gameplay allows the people and squads involved to make better tactical decisions. The biggest adjustment to make is simply to realise that working with others makes a much bigger difference than you'd expect, even if you're a TF1/TFC player. If you're on your own, up against a squad of 3 or 4 enemies, you're in a lot of trouble.

Planet Fortress: Just a couple detailed questions about the game. One of the things missing from TFC is any sort of spectator support. Will various spectator modes be supported in TF2 or will this be a conscious omission from the game?

Robin: We'll be including at least one spectator mode. We'll probably roll one into TFC sometime too.

Planet Fortress: The subject of cheating never seems to go away. How tight will TF2 be in preventing cheaters from altering the original intention of the game (and yet still remain customizable)? On a related note, will server admins have more options as far as regulating who is allowed on their server (for example: will there be a "pure server option" like in q3 to prevent players connecting with additional pak files)?

Robin: So far Half-Life's networking has not been hacked. There are no client side bots or proxies for HL. We're confident that this will remain true for TF2. Our new networking is even more secure than Half-Life's. As for client side file hacking, yes, we will be supporting some form of server mode where the server refuses access to anyone with any changed files.

Planet Fortress: The question on everyone's mind: Will I be happily playing TF2 sometime this year (preferably before I eat another turkey dinner with my family)?

Robin: I sure hope so.

Planet Fortress: Will a TF2 demo be released before the game comes out?

Robin: Perhaps. But the main piece of the puzzle we'd like widely tested is the new networking code, and we'll be rolling that out in a HL update so everyone can help us work out any kinks in it.

Planet Fortress: We get a lot of email at Planet Fortress letting us know that "this store over here" says that TF2 is coming out "on this date". Just to set the record straight, will the software stores or online purchasing sites be told the release date of TF2 before the general public, or will fan sites like Planet Fortress get the news just as soon as anyone else will?

Robin: I'm sure we'll let the fan sites know as soon as we have a release date, so anything you hear from a store is likely to be wrong.

Planet Fortress: A last question related to TF2. Up there at Valve, can you feel the weight of public expectation for this game? Do you feel at all stressed or overwhelmed?

Robin: Not especially. We're aware that everyone has high expectations, and we hope we'll meet them with TF2. I'm confident we will.

Planet Fortress: Okay, time for some more random stuff. What is your opinion on the various Quake 3 ports of Team Fortress that are in development? Is that flattering, or does it bug you?

Robin: It's more disappointing than anything else. I don't follow the mod scene anywhere near as much as I used to in the Quake 1 days, but it seems these days that all the big mods planned for new engines are just rehashes of older ones. The new engines can do a lot more than older ones, but no-one's taking advantage of that. A Half-Life mod can completely rewrite the client interface, to the point where you could easily implement multiplayer Tetris or Hearts, or any number of weird things you couldn't do in older engines, but no-one's trying them. I find it hard to believe we've exhausted all the possible popular mods already.

Planet Fortress: A lot of the people who follow TF2 know that Valve's much-adored PR person, Jenni Gant, left to pursue another interest. Her replacement is Sarah Walker. Would Sarah happen to be your wife?

Robin: Nope, the surname is purely coincidence. My wife is a lovely Chilean lass by the name of Margarita Veloso, who I met in Australia and dragged over to the US with me.

Planet Fortress: One of your old pals, Damian Scott, has just released a beta of Kanonball, an entirely new kind of mod for Half-Life. Are you keeping in contact with Damian? Have you played the mod?

Robin: I haven't been following Damian's mod much, mainly waiting for the first beta to be done. I was back in Aus for Christmas, where I managed to catch up with the Kanonball team, but not Damian unfortunately. I'll be trying out the beta shortly I hope. It's nice to these guys trying out new forms of gameplay in their mods.

Planet Fortress: You mention being back home in Australia for the holidays. Do you find that you have become any sort of celebrity back home now or are things still pretty much the same for you there?

Robin: Pretty much the same. The guys I spent my time with all knew me before TF, so they don't treat me any differently. They do ask me release date questions a lot more than they used to though ;)

Thanks again to Robin for taking the time to speak with us.