About Team Fortress 2
|
|
The Box!
|
No one can tell you the history better than the people who created it, the following is the history description of TeamFortress from TeamFortress Software:
Robin and John wrote the first version of Team Fortress 1, an add-on patch for Quake, in August 1996. It was originally written because we wanted a first person team strategy game for our LAN days. It was released unspectacularly on the net as a freeware on the 24th August. Back then it only included the Scout, Sniper, Soldier, Demolitions Man and Medic classes and did not support any map entities.
Almost instantly people started to become interested in the patch and week later version 1.1 was released adding the beginnings of TF map support, some playability improvements and the Heavy Weapons Guy. Another two weeks and there were team objectives in the maps and 2Fort was unleashed upon an unsuspecting community.
Ian worked on the initial design at the start, and then dropped out for a couple of versions due to other obligations. He returned on the later versions to help out with design, code, and anything else that Robin and John didn't want to do (namely all the important but un-fun stuff like management)
On the 22nd of December 1996 Version 2.0 was released for Quake World. It was the first released Quake World mod and it is still attracts more players than any other Quake World mod.
The success of Team Fortress led to a number of game distributors contacting us about producing our next product. Because of this attention, we incorporated in Victoria, Australia on the 4th April 1997. We began work on what we called Team Fortress II, intending to make it a commercial add-on for Quake 2. The initial design was completed in November 1997, and coding began the minute Quake 2 was released.
While working with id software on establishing a contract allowing us to make a commercial add-on, a newcomer caught our interest. Valve contacted us, asking us if we'd be interested in making TF2 for the game they'd been working on, called Half-Life. We flew over to Seattle to take a look at it, and what they had simply amazed us. Since most people have seen Half-Life by now, you can understand how excited we were when we saw it.
So we began work on TF2 for Half-Life. We spent 3 months in Seattle, working with the entire Half-Life team. The more we worked with them, the more we found our thoughts on gaming, and specifically multiplayer gaming, were similar. At the end of the 3 months, Valve made us an offer to merge with them, and we took it.
Now, with a full might of Valve behind it, TF2 has grown from being a TF2 add-on to a full standalone product. You can read more about it on the
official TF2 page.
For more history of TFS and its supporters, head over to A Romp Through TF History.
Originally, TF2 was going to be an official multiplayer add-on for Half-Life, however as development ensued, it became apparent that if Valve wanted to truly fill TF2's potential as it should, it would need to become it's own game. This caused a little excitement in gamers who had already plunked down the money for Half-Life in soul anticipation of TF2, but once they got to play HL, were elated. And Valve had another treat for us, in the process of making development tools for mod-makers, Valve decided that the best way to do it was to create a mod that would cause you to test everything you would ever want to do when making a mod. And what better mod to do that than TeamFortress? Thus TeamFortress Classic was born, a reincarnate of sorts from Quake TF1, now prettier, smoother and better balanced, a true commemoration and finish to the mod that will live in infamy, TeamFortress.
Here is an overview from teamfortressclassic.com:
Team Fortress Classic is a free add-on for Half-Life from the creators of the original Team Fortress mod that took the action gaming community by storm in 1996 and has since been downloaded by more than 500,000 people.
This enhanced port takes advantage of the underlying technology of the Half-Life engine and features a wide variety of character classes--from Medic to Spy to Demolition Man--enlisted in a unique style of online team warfare. Team Fortress Classic also features several innovative team play options usually reserved for real time strategy games. In addition, this free add-on includes enhanced graphics, an updated user interface, and two entirely new maps from David Sawyer and Matt Armstrong, the developers of the acclaimed Canal Zone map.
Extending the gameplay of Half-Life, Team Fortress Classic also serves as a point of reference for those who are interested in what Valve has in store for their next full title, Team Fortress 2.
If your interested in finding out even more about the history of TF, TFC & TF2, check out:
|
RSS Feeds
