Note: Skill and Meta in this article do not necessarily mean what the dictionary says they mean. Skill refers exclusively to the attributes of what I like to term “Skill Classes”, and not how well you play. I acknowledge that all classes require their own skills, and each is as difficult as the next, but that’s not what I mean by Skill. Please don’t be offended if I say a class you play a lot of takes very little Skill. I’m not saying it’s easy, I’m saying it’s Meta.

Skill Classes involve:

• Dodging
• Aiming
• Strafing
• Jumping (explosive, double and normal)
• Timing

Meta Classes involve:

• Map Knowledge
• Ammo/Health Conservation
• Class Knowledge
• Positioning
• Variety of tactics for various situations.
• Numbers. Lots of numbers. And theory

Then which classes are in which categories? The following graph hopefully answers that question.

At least one of you will complain about this graph

If you’ve ever introduced a friend to TF2, chances are you suggested they play Medic, Heavy, Soldier or maybe Scout if they had previous experience with FPSs to begin with, to learn the ropes before branching out into other classes like Spy or Demoman. These classes are all good beginner classes, in part because they’re forgiving but also because they mix Skill and Meta very well. The lowest level Meta of basic positioning, who’s best to heal, who to attack most and to look out for those damned Spies can be picked up in an hour or two’s play. This is enough to play the Heavy and Medic reasonably well for a new player, whilst not being too reliant on Meta, unlike the Engineer, who needs good map knowledge to play well.

Remember that Meta your new player picked up in an hour or two? Well, good news. That helps with Soldier and Scout too, which is why they also make good beginner classes. They’re Skill based enough that not knowing the game isn’t a huge disadvantage, but they’re also improved from learning the Meta more than, say, Snipers, so in theory, you’re improving twice as fast.

“Well that’s cool and all,” you might be saying right about now, if you’re in the habit of talking to articles on the internet, “but I’m not really new anymore, I’ve been using TF2lobby a lot with a few friends recently, and I’ve found it a lot of fun. How does this apply to competitive gaming?” Well, you’re in luck. This next bit’s about the competitive scene and applications of the Skill vs Meta theory.

If you find competitive gaming boring, then you might want to skip this next section.

This team has won the Standing In a Line From Skill To Meta League three years running.

The standard competitive setup is 6v6, with 2 Soldiers, 2 Scouts, 1 Demoman and 1 Medic. One thing might strike you about this setup. All the classes involved except for Medic are Skill Classes, and all the classes are somewhere around the middle of their category. Before I can explain this, we need to sidetrack and go back to the very first question asked in this article: did you ever wonder why a really good Demoman is more obvious than a really good Medic? The answer is of course because the former is a Skill Class, and the latter a Meta Class. Skill Classes typically have less dependence on team-mates than Meta Classes, thus can shine more on their own. Whereas a Heavy will still need team-mates to avoid being outmanoeuvred, a Demoman can work alone or with a team. In a setting where you need to be effective no matter who’s with you, having classes on your team that can work alone or with team-mates is obviously better than a team that can work well… but only when no-one’s dead.

This might be a good time to break out the BLU airstrike.

Then there’s the second point, that all standard competitive classes fall into the middle of their category. This is the ideal balance between Skill and Meta for a team focused on working together. A good competitive team will know the game really well and thus should benefit as much as possible from this knowledge. On the other hand, they should also have practised loads and should again benefit as much as possible from this. Combining this and the choice of a majority of Skill Classes, it’s clear that they ought to be picked from the middle of the Skill category, so as to make use of the Meta while still remaining Skill Classes. The Medic doesn’t fit the model of Skill Class leaning towards Meta, but this is because he’s there to allow the Skill Classes to last longer, which is more effective than just adding another Skill Class to the lineup since he can keep more people alive than the value of an extra player. He is also not too Meta that practice won’t help you play better, so the Medic’s not getting bored while everyone else is practising.

End competitive stuff.

‘So,’ you might be thinking around now, ‘what about the rest of us? Those who aren’t new, but aren’t into competitive play?’ Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about you. For starters, have you ever wondered why you often get a lot of Snipers and Engineers on teams? The former is very much a Skill Class, with very little meta (though there is definitely some in positioning, knowledge of health, etc) where you can just pick a spot and get some frags without having to worry about meatshotting perfectly, rocket jumping, health conservation, heal orders… well, you get the picture. That can be a very relaxing experience, especially for players who often play the more Meta focused classes. I often use it as a break from playing Medic myself. Similarly, Engineer is a popular class because you can plonk a sentry nest down somewhere good, and just use your knowledge of the game and the map to help your team, which takes the pressure off aiming and running around. Of course, there is plenty of scope within Engineer to play as more of a Skill Class (there is a reason I left a big gap at the end of meta after all), and that application of Skill can feel very helpful, whilst still mostly leaning on the Meta.

Sniper and Engineer were always so relaxing.

This also explains why Pyro and Spy can be very frustrating to play. They require enough Skill that they take a lot of practice (aiming, airblasting, timing cloaks, stab-saps, etc), but also a lot of Meta (ambushes, disguise choice, flamethrower ammo conservation, psychology, watch choice), that practice alone isn’t enough, and you need to either experiment with (or read about) many different strategies before you can begin to play them particularly well. While you’re busy experimenting, you’re probably also busy dying quite a bit, which isn’t particularly fun.

Finally, if you’ve ever changed class, you’ll know that the classes are split into Offensive, Defensive and Support, and each of them contains a decent mixture of Meta and Skill, with Pyro being the surrogate Meta Class under offense. Keeping this mixture means that players with a preference towards one or the other style of play can fill any role and still find something they enjoy. Think about your own playstyle. Do you tend towards Skill Classes? Meta Classes? A mixture? Perhaps you have a friend who’s interested but doesn’t know what to play? See how much they’d like to practise and how much they’d like to learn. Who knows, maybe the world’s never Meta player as Skilled as them.

(Thanks to Tygrys for his SUPERB GModdery)

How did you get into mapping?

MangyCarface: I’d messed around with CS maps when I was much younger, but didn’t really do much with it past silly map modifications. When TF2 came out, I actually didn’t like it at first, but once I got into it the settings and gameplay really appealed in terms of design. So over the years I’ve honed my ability while working with TF2’s assets… as other mappers feel, it’s truly a unique game to map for. I think it’s especially easy to get hooked on mapping for TF2, because of the great community support as well as the support on Valve’s part, adding things into the game code to enable more unusual variants on gameplay.

How long, from idea creation to finalizing, did Yukon take, roughly?

MangyCarface: If I recall correctly, Yukon specifically was begun as part of a contest on ETF2L’s part, at a time when good quality 5CP maps were still a bit rare. The layout probably took around 2 weeks’ time, just setting up the basic brushwork and making it functional. I wasn’t able to get as much playtesting as I wanted, and started to detail right away. That probably took 3 or 4 weeks… I remember powering through spring break after going back home. After detailing it, I was able to get some playtesting through the IRC channels, et al, to make changes even after submitting to the contest I originally planned to enter. Eventually though, my interest in it faded until receiving contact from Valve. After that I spent another 2 or 3 weeks to add some polish to the map. so maybe over the course of 6 months-ish? Not that I spent that whole time on it.

When exactly did Valve contact you in relation to when the map was released? The model contributors seemed to receive absolutely no warning they were having their creations added in.

MangyCarface: I think the process is a bit different for models, but in my case it was probably 2 or 3 weeks prior to the update to get some legal stuff out of the way while I was polishing up. The paperwork was done by 7/28 and then the Classless Update came out on the 13th of the next month. Getting the paperwork to my fellow mapper and the material artist for Yukon, Ace, was a bit tricky since he’s in Sweden, and then we were between updates so I think it was just coincidence that it took a few weeks.

When designing Yukon, what kind of balance issues did you face or have to deal with?

MangyCarface: Yukon is a map that still struggles at the moment, and has a few issues that have been hard to address. When detailing, I realized I’d made a dumb layout mistake in terms of optimization and geometry and had to patch it up with the sliding door between 2 and 1. And throughout the map’s development I’ve debated about the middle point. Many feel it would play better were it higher on the bridge, but it’s hard to make a decision like that. Also, in earlier versions, having only 2 routes between 2 and 3 was causing stalemates which I thought wouldn’t have been a problem based on the 2ish entrances to granary yard. But without a yard, the gameplay’s quite different, so I ended up adding a path that to this day I’m not quite satisfied with. I also have a good list of suggested improvements from Jaeger et al. such as a path from below CP1 up to the hut next to it

What part did Ace play in the creation of Yukon? And did anyone else help at all?

MangyCarface: Ace was very helpful in fulfilling material requests. We were kind of both working with maps at the same time, and originally Yukon was to be snowy, but I ended up liking his darker grey textures so much as to switch tracks to along those lines. I think many of the materials he made are commonly used now within the mapping community. As for other help… well, as always, my home community 2F2F and friends there were great help in terms of getting constant pub playtesting, but I also had friends in ETF2L and stateside helping me get tests of varying quality in the 6v6 environment. Many of whose suggestions influenced the map’s changes, and TF2maps.net was useful for stylization criticism among others

If you were given the opportunity, would you want to continue working on Yukon for official tweaks?

MangyCarface: Yes, I think Valve lets community mappers update their maps if needed. As soon as I clear some space in my schedule I’d like to make some tweaks.

What resources can you recommend for someone who wants to get into mapping or wants to map in TF2?

MangyCarface: The first thing they’ll want to do is register at TF2maps.net, undeniably the best resource for TF2 mapping. I also contribute to a group blog which isn’t as often updated as it ought be but, nodraw.net has some neat articles on the matter. It’s best to begin with the mindset that you don’t want to try to make your magnum opus with your first map, just practice, practice practice, and learn from your mistakes. If you hit a block where it seems boring or too hard to go on, step back and re-evaluate, and if you don’t enjoy the actual process of mapping, perhaps it’s just not your thing- I wouldn’t advise anyone to sink the hundreds of hours into a hobby they won’t enjoy.

If there was one big tip you could pass on about mapping for TF2, what would it be?

MangyCarface: Type tf into the keywords field in the material browser. HL2 textures are a no-go, it’s the #1 most common mistake made I find.

Are you going to make more maps and try to get them into TF2?

MangyCarface: Well, let’s see. I’ve probably made a dozen by now, and just won a TF2maps contest for my CTF map. I’m working on the artpass challenge at the moment and hope to bring something appealing to the table, though I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. So, in short, yes!

Do you think it’s wise for mappers to design their maps to emphasise on comp play, or is it good to keep things relatively balanced between comp and pub?

MangyCarface: I like to think perfect map design works across all player counts, but none of us are perfect so it’s good to set goals when you begin a map. Target audience might be a good goal to have in mind. Either way, I believe mappers should be open to the idea of how their map might play at the 6v6 level, and although being a good player does not make one good at layouts, there are definitely good people out there in the competitive community to consult about gameplay.

Thanks for the interview!

MangyCarface: My pleasure.

Lessons Learnt:
-Try to test your map with a variety of audiences, to ensure it works on both pub and comp levels of play.
-Don’t use HL2 textures for a TF2 map, as they do not fit in with the style well.
-Don’t be afraid to consult competitive players for gameplay related information, they will help you pinpoint exactly what problems your map may have.

…And there’s the story behind Yukon. Join us next time when I shall interview JoshuaC, the maker of Watchtower.

The next hour was one of the most frenzied of my gaming career.

I was on the RED team, rolling Medic. I had not developed any aiming skills as of yet, TF2 being my first authentic online experience. The appearance of a Medic on such a map was apparently most unusual, but my team welcomed the assist. BLU had captured all but the final point, barely held off by a constant barrage of explosions, with the kill-counter zooming by too quickly to be of use. I held back, charging an Uber, while enterprising Demomen took advantage of the overheal to jump to the monolithic mid-cap that dominated the map. I can only assume that they were successful, as the Sniper fire and sticky bombs began to thin out. Eventually the second CP was ours once more, and I had to force myself into the line of fire. Time after time, I was shot, bombed, fragged, and occasionally stabbed. The omniscient fear of critical shots turned the round into another game entirely, where rocket jumps and massed charges gave way to ambush and feints. The Ubercharge signified the arrival of Hell on Earth, often denying even the option of retreat to our foes.

Servers with ubiquitous criticals are infuriating to most players. Any class with rapid-fire capability can dominate the field, save the Heavy Weapons Guy. Most classes slower than average are killed almost immediately, denied the advantages of durability. Despite the obvious issues of class balance and mapping problems, servers with 100% criticals provide vital advantages in survivability training and forward planning. These are particularly helpful as a Medic, but all classes can take advantage of such advice.

Be alert

Firstly, players quickly learn to judge events happening all over the screen. While a player on a vanilla server would learn to spot counter-classes and enemy support classes, 100% critical servers taught me the importance of the background. If there is a pitched battle at the middle CP, instinct and camaraderie tell the player to join the dog-pile. I have often found that it is a better tactical move to move past the mosh pit to strike enemy reinforcements focused on the mob ahead of them. In PLR_Pipeline, for instance, the tunnel where the bomb tracks meet hold stairways that allow access to the opponents’ staging area. Attacking the informal conga line has a more lasting effect, and it’s harder for opponents to target the flanking team and hold the tunnel effectively.

Be surprising

Secondly, players learn common ambush techniques. Certain pieces of map geography imprint into the player’s mind, developing a much-needed knack for feints, workarounds, and counter-ambushes. Take, for example, the second CP on Dustbowl, phase 1. While the corridor leading to the point (to the right and up, from the CP) provides ample cover and workspace for enterprising Engineers, it is just as easy for the defending team to prepare for an onslaught from that corridor, preparing a counter-ambush on the platform just outside. With a bit of warning, a defender could jam the gate open long enough for a sweeper team to clean out the corridor. Speaking more generally, maps that have one or two grand entrances to each area (such as 2Fort, the opening points on Gravel Pit, and in certain cases Doublecross) have players that use the same set of ambush points. Such static thinking can be ruthlessly punished by sacrificing default tactical options for play that is tailored to the trap itself. In 2Fort, for example, the small aperture just beside the sewer entrance is a classic spy hideout, frequently purged by alert defenders. Knowing where a player will look grants knowledge of where they will not, allowing for unusual sticky traps and ambush points.

Heavies, Pyros and other common ambushers are less able to abuse these habits due to the difficulty of slipping such obvious threats under the radar. Such players should instead abuse blind spots in the enemy’s routes of advance. In CTF_Doublecross, for example, enterprising Heavies noting heavy traffic on the bridge may make a career out of “H-Bombing runs”, dropping from the upper bridge to the catwalks below to ambush the cowards that seek the safety of sewage. The new-found mobility of sentries allows for a fairly dynamic response to defensive needs, as popular routes of advance can be shut down as needed, channeling enemy flankers into more accessible fields.

Be creative

Thirdly, 100% critical servers teach the player to take whatever path is offered in order to advance. It was quite a feat in Orange_3x to advance from point to point, and the wide-open nature of the map forced me to look to my teammates for more esoteric forms of cover. If several friendly attackers broke to the right, then focus would be off of the left side of the field. Taking account of the enemy’s perception of the field and where they commonly hit allow other options to make themselves known. Once again, 2Fort provides an excellent example: there are two general routes of advance, barring the air. Players may attempt to charge the bridge itself, or go underneath and attempt to convert the sewers into a forward base. Such tactics often result in stalemates due to poor distribution of effort. A forward base in the sewer is bad, yes, but it is containable. It is preferable to an Engineer pod in front of one’s own base. If I, as a Soldier in 2Fort, held down TAB to see how many players were on each team, I could make a good guess at the ratio of “sewer workers” to total players. Light traffic would warrant a sweeper team to clean out the sewer, but if half the server is underground then taking to the air is a clever, safe way to infiltrate the enemy base. Likewise, if a single route of advance in Dustbowl was being used by the attackers, the defenders would be well-served to use the other routes as staging areas and ambush points.

Critical servers were designed with the intent to unbalance the game, tilting the odds in favor of the team that adapted to a game that prized fluid response and excellent awareness of the battlefield. In one sense it can be used to develop empathy, learning how an enemy would respond to several common strategies and what it would take to break a stubborn hardpoint. The lack of teamwork common to such maps can be profited from as well. Chaotic attempts to advance tend to repeat themselves, allowing a vital testing ground for ambush techniques. Lastly, the lethal nature of 100% critical servers forces the player to scan unusual places for threats, translating into an opportunistic zeal for shortcuts and distractions in a more team-oriented environment. So next time you leave a server after a loss, consider joining a crit-happy server, and learn from that which cannot be taught: chaos.

Special thanks goes to Tygrys for the picture making, and to the Orange_X “community” for being obtuse.

How did you get into mapping?

Icarus: I’ve always had an interest in making games. When I was younger I’d used to make games on paper or with legos to play with my brother and friends. The first mapping ‘program’ I’ve ever touched was for Westwood’s original Red Alert for the PC. Over time, I’ve dabbled a bit in starcraft’s intuitive world editor and Duke Nukem 3D’s Build editor. I’ve even made a couple of primitive rail shooter games with flash. When TF2 came out, I was just captivated by how deep the game was, and how artfully done the worlds were. It wasnt until Steel went official (Heavy Update) that I thought maybe I could try my hand in it, too. I really hadn’t seriously mapped until TF2 rolled around, everything before that was probably closer to dabbling.

How long, from idea to finalizing, did Coldfront take to make?

Icarus: It started with one of TF2M.net’s minicontests. At the time though, I was already in a mood to make a 5CP map, so I designed my two entries to actually look like they might be in one, and leave an opportunity for me to stitch them together at a later time. I didn’t really start development until the Comp CTF contest started. Since then it’s been an on-again off-again process as I made some changes and waited for it to be tested. The cycle was a little slower than I’d liked it to be, but the last map I made (Vector) was tested pretty much everyday. It wouldn’t sit very well with the community that tests my maps. I’ve always had Coldfront’s general theme and playstyle in mind though, it’s not like I made it up as I went along.

When designing Coldfront, what sort of problems did you have regarding layout and balance? For example, wide open maps cater to snipers and scouts, whereas enclosed maps suit pyros and engineers.

Icarus: It seems like I tend to overcompensate for snipers myself. i.e. I worry too much about them. The biggest problem I thought I had was that sightlines were too powerful, especially in the mid point. After a few tests though, I learned that snipers, for the most part, don’t need to be dealt with. Optimization is probably the biggest demon in Coldfront though. As much as I would have loved to, I just can’t make the map as wide and open as I’d like to. It might be because some of the art decisions I’ve made, and it’s also probably why maps like Badwater and Thunder Mountain look quite plain in contrast to tighter maps. 5CP maps in particular are very intricate and require a lot more planning and thought than I initially thought. The way that both teams can make a push complicates things. What I think TF2’s push-style maps does very well is way it varies the level of action between every point. The slow capture times for mid points are necessary help make the initial clash more fun. The extremely fast capture times for final points are needed to prevent stalemates, especially as it’s almost always right next to the spawn room. A stalemate to me feels worse than actually losing the match. This is why the engineer can be such a nuisance. I kind of regret making coldfront all indoors, though. I haven’t stopped hearing complaints about soldiers and demomen.

Did you recieve any help with Coldfront from anyone? If so, what specifically did they do?

Icarus: I don’t think it would’ve been possible to do it without any help. I believe one of the most important parts of the development process is through testing and feedback. From random strangers, from a close-knit community, from other mappers/artists. I had help from them all. For Coldfront in particular, there have been a few who have helped in an exemplary way. The most notable was Flame. I met flame mid-development, around the time I was nearing the Beta phase. He helped me get a competitive viewpoint on the map, and withstood sharp criticism as he organized innumerable playtesting sessions and feedback from the competitive community. Once Coldfront was up to snuff around the Release Candidate phase, he helped me get it accepted into several competitive events, including ESEA Season 6. I seriously can not thank him enough for his help. Others have helped too. Seeing as I don’t have any modelling abilities, I had to get help from a few other friends I knew. Selentic helped modify a valve prop so it could be fitted in, as well as the snow on the rooftops outside. In the rooftop case, a model would have been the only way to make it look decent. Void made a couple of posters for me without even me asking. I loved his ‘Icarus Airlines’ poster so much that I just had to put it in. YM made the deer head trophy for the mid point, but it was already done as a part or the swamp pack. Getting help from friends and others is absolutely necessary. You might need to do quite a bit of legwork and networking to find them but it’s worth it.

What resources can you recommend for those trying to get into mapping, or trying to learn the TF2 style?

Icarus: The Valve Developer wiki for sure. It has everything you need to get started, including a straightforward “your first map” tutorial. TF2Maps.Net also has a massive archive of user-written tutorials for almsot every aspect of mapping. There is Boojum’s Ultimate Resource Pack on TF2M as well. It includes an updated FGD (hammer files) as well as some handy prefabs. I wouldn’t recommend using prefabs until you’ve built it yourself though. its a good way to learn how things are done, but you’re going to end up in deep trouble if all you do is copy paste parts into your own map. Here are some links:

• The Valve Wiki’s TF2 Level Creation page
• TF2Maps’ tutorials
• TF2Maps’ mapping resource pack

Oh, and one more thing, for more advanced users. There is this awesome optimization guide out there, that outlines everything you need to know about Source Optimization in detail. A must read before you start any serious map, once you get the hang of hammer.
I know reading isnt everyone’s thing though, I just spent most of my time experimenting in hammer. It’s almost assured that your first map will be bad, so there’s no point in worrying about it if it is.

If there one big tip you could pass on about mapping for TF2, what would that tip be?

Icarus: Paper. Pencil. Nothing is more important than pre-planning the map with sketches and doodles. It really lets you see the map as a whole, and make wild changes on the fly without worrying about hammer. It helps prevent ‘Mapper’s Block’ and your ideas will look more original. You can’t just go into hammer and make a map. You need to be ready to make one.

Are you going to make more maps and try to get them into TF2?

Icarus: At this moment I’m a lot more interested in Alien Swarm. I’ve been mapping for TF2 for some two odd years and I find it really refreshing to work on something new. I don’t want to say what I will be making for Alien Swarm, but (in my mind) it’s going to be crazy.

Thankyou very much for the interview.

Icarus: No problem. Thanks for running these interviews.

Lessons Learnt:
-Try to have your map playtested as much as possible. This will allow you to get the necessary feedback to improve the map with from the audiences you want to cater to.
-Optimization is key. Remember that the bigger the map is, the less detailed it can be before it starts causing performance problems.
-Don’t overuse prefabs. Otherwise, you won’t learn the skills needed to make your own.
-Don’t be afraid to rely on other people for certain things. A map can easily be a collaborative effort, just be sure to give credit where it’s due.

And that’s the story behind Coldfront. Join us next time when I shall be interviewing Mangycarface, the creator of Yukon.

Rapid Dominance, the guiding theory behind Shock and Awe, focuses on affecting the perceptions of the opponent, sapping their will to fight. Rapid Dominance requires decent knowledge of the map one is on and some manner of teamwork, but when done right, turns formerly difficult or impossible objectives into realistic goals. In order to establish Rapid Dominance, the team needs coordination and technique more than sheer twitch aim and low ping time, something that can take time and effort to prepare.

Let’s take Gravel Pit as our first example. The two control points available at the start afford attackers with opportunities for misdirection unheard of on most maps. We will assume that RED team (the defending team) knows that Point B is easier to defend than Point A, and so concentrates their defenses on Point A. The RED team assumes that once Point B falls, a concentrated assault on A is inbound. Rapid Dominance seeks to paralyze the enemy by defying its expectations. The first and most obvious expectation is that every attacker will head for Point A when spawned, heading through the spawn hallway. This can be subverted by setting up an offensive base in an unusual but defensive location near the point. The valley under Point B and the surrounding environs provide ample build space for Engineers. Hidden teleporters, preferably more than one, will give flankers opportunities to attack. At best, however, it will panic the defenders, rendering them unable to choose priority targets and distracting them from the high and holy duty of spy checking. If the Engineers note that their teleporters are consistently being attacked, building a single exit can draw off defenders before a major push.

This strategy carries over to other maps as well. In Granary, sentry placement acts as much as a rally flag as it does a defensive tool. A level 3 sentry is a symbol of team dominance in an area, and assassinating that building, even if no one else died, disheartens the defense. In that instant, the offense has a chance to attack with redoubled ferocity. Kamikaze attacks on Engineers will at the very least delay the defenders’ recovery until the cavalry arrives. With their sentries down, masses of attackers pouring into the area firing rockets in every direction, only the most steel-jawed or inexperienced of players would retreat.

Rapid Dominance depends on altering the enemy’s perception of the battlefield, destroying their symbols and leaders instead of fighting a war of attrition. If there is a level 3 sentry controlling an area, destroying it will dishearten the enemy. If one or two players are coordinating the enemy’s efforts, counter-classes should be sent in with the aim of scoring a domination. Domination, like sentry destruction, alters the player’s sense of the battlefield. Revenge enters into their equations, and the resulting priority change can be taken advantage of.

Take 2fort as an example. As a Direct Hit soldier, one could repeatedly rocket jump up to the battlements and blow the Super Samurai Sniper Squad to hell. Once dominations are accrued, the designated Aussie-troller can then draw fire on the bridge, distracting the average Weighted Companion Sniper not only from his own kind across the field, but from Medics, Demomen, and Engineers looking to lock down the entrance to the fort.

Payload is perhaps the most difficult game mode in which to assert rapid dominance. The defense knows with certainty where you are, where you came from, and where you will go. In Badwater Basin, a heavily defended rooftop above Checkpoint 2 could hold up the bomb for more than five minutes. In this case, only altering the method of advance can unnerve the enemy. A consistent influx of Spies, preferably with the Dead Ringer, will confuse, frustrate, and distract the Engineers. What if, suddenly, five or six Spies, sappers and pocket watches in hand, ambushed the Engineers with no other objective but to sap? They would all die at the hands of a competent Pyro, but by that time a Soldier or a Demoman would have arrived, courtesy of the Spies distracting the pyromaniacal doorwarden. From a pure gameplay perspective this strategy is ridiculous, but human error and panic is the core of Rapid Dominance. Subverting enemy expectations and exploiting the resulting confusion can yield extraordinary success.

To review, rapid dominance uses speed, coordination, and map knowledge to subvert the enemy’s expectations, then exploits the resulting confusion to destroy key targets, such as sentries, coordinating players, or support classes. The enemy, disheartened, confused, and at a serious tactical disadvantage, has no other option but defeat.

Special thanks to this article go to Tygrys, for his GMod mastery, and to confused Scouts everywhere for donating Dominations.

-The community contributors who have been the basis to this series and provided valuable information to the community.

-Robin Walker and the TF2 Team for their incredible support through the blog and emails about recruitment (this was prior to the blog post, thanks guys!).

-The Official Team Fortress Wiki for providing reference material and pictures.

-Pilk and Swizzle, for posting on various community forums to recruit contributors I couldn’t get in touch with.

-And you guys, the readers. Without your support this series wouldn’t have got as far as it has, and hopefully you’ll continue to enjoy the next instalments.

That’s everything, so without further ado, here is the latest interview for your viewing pleasure.

_______________________________________________________________

In this instalment of How It’s Done, I have interviewed Swizzle, the creator of the Pain Train. The Pain Train was unveiled in the first wave of community contributed weapons, unique for its capture rate-affecting ability.

How did you get into Modelling?

Swizzle: My first exposure to 3D modeling was in about 2000. My sister’s then-boyfriend showed me his copy of Bryce 3D, and it piqued my interest. Before that, I thought that only movie studios could do the things that I suddenly had access to. I didn’t get serious about 3D until about five years ago when I discovered CGTalk and other computer graphics forums online. After that, I got more and more into practicing and getting involved in the community. This is how I eventually ended up stumbling onto Polycount. I’d heard of Polycount through people on CGTalk, and even visited there a few times, but I didn’t really start participating for another year or two. I mostly lurked and learned from all the amazing stuff I saw constantly posted there.

What software packages/tools do you use?

Swizzle: I use Modo and Mudbox for the 3D stage of things and Photoshop for texturing. I’d like to stress, just as Larolaro did, that the tools aren’t important. A lot of people ask what the best tool to use is, and the only answer to that comes via your own practice and experience. I’ve seen people make amazing things with every 3D package out there, so you’re really only limited by your skills and your imagination. Just like in more traditional media such as pen and paper, paint or clay, it all comes down to familiarity with your tools and how you use them, but not the tools themselves.

Roughly how long did the entire process of creating the Pain Train take, from idea to finalization?

Swizzle: I’d had the initial idea for quite a while, and I’d even tried my hand at making the model a couple of times before, but I didn’t really make something I was satisfied with until I sat down for an hour or so and doodled on paper to come up with a good design. From there, it was a few hours modeling (and refining the model) and then a couple more for texturing. Getting it into the engine was a massive pain, though, especially since (at the time) I was unfamiliar with the process used to import models into Source. The initial import process took about two days to get right, and I promptly forgot everything because my personal life got in the way.

When designing the Pain Train, did you ever have any idea about what attributes it would have, or did you know not to design it with them in mind?

Swizzle: When I first designed and modeled the Pain Train, it was actually about a year before the contribution system had even been announced, so I was actually only interested in making something that looked cool and tought me the basics of working with weapon models in Source. After I learned about the contribution system, I went ahead and submitted it, but I decided that I probably couldn’t come up with something better than Valve. Thus, I only submitted it with a short note saying I thought it would probably work well as a demo/soldier weapon and left it at that.

Do you think Valve handled your submission well? The Pain Train, being the only capture rate affecting item, is a unique addition and an asset in a Soldier or Demoman’s arsenal.

Swizzle: Personally, I think Valve handled it fantastically. They came up with a unique gameplay mechanic (that I know hadn’t even crossed my mind before I heard about it) and I’m glad it’s actually a viable weapon to use in a variety of situations. That said, I do wish they’d add some attribute that would make it useful in modes like Capture the Flag.

Would you have liked to have had more influence on how the Pain Train turned out, had you know it was going to be included?

Swizzle: While I do have a streak of perfectionism running through me, I can’t think of any way that I could have helped beyond the modeling/texturing side of things. I don’t have access to all the information and statistics that Valve collects on player habits, so I wouldn’t have been able to make a useful contribution to the gameplay design process. I think the only thing I would’ve changed about the process of getting the Pain Train in the game is actually getting a notification from somebody at Valve, or even an automated system, that said “Hey, congratulations. The Pain Train made it in!”. The only way I learned that my item had been included in the first community update was through a message from a friend on a forum I frequent, since I didn’t have access to the game at the time.

What resources can you recommend for somebody trying to get into modelling, or wanting to model in the TF2 style?

Swizzle: I would recommend to anybody interested in modeling that they get some 3D package RIGHT NOW and start playing with it. Blender is a high quality, free 3D package that’s made a lot of big strides in the past year or so, especially in regards to usability, so it’s good for people just starting out. If Blender turns out to not be your thing, try out demo versions of other software. As I said before, it’s the artist and their skills that matter, not the tools. Beyond 3D packages, though, I’d suggest drawing and sculpting using traditional media. With artistic skill in place, 3D is nothing more than learning a new set of tools to make art with. As for working in the TF2 style, I’d recommend simply taking the time to load up some levels in TF2 and walk around looking at everything. Observation is key to any sort of art, so learning what goes into the artistic style of TF2 is paramount to making something that looks like it belongs. If somebody is really committed to making something good, start posting work on forums like CGTalk, Polycount, Game-Artist.net, GameArtisans.org, the TF2Maps.net forums and anywhere else they can find. Feedback and critiques are key to developing your skills, so go to those places to get help.

If there was one key tip you could pass on to someone trying to model or texture in the TF2 style, what would it be?

Swizzle: The silhouette is king. If your item, hat, weapon, character, model or map doesn’t read well with just large shapes and no inner detail, you need to work on it further. Valve designed the characters and items in TF2 to be read from a distance, and that all goes out the window with poor planning. Good planning leads to good designs, and the best designs read well from a distance. This is because reading those silhouettes is crucial to gameplay. Lighting conditions, angles and movements change in-game, but the only thing that doesn’t is the overall silhouette of an item. If you can tell what it is from just the silhouette, you’ve done something right.

Is there any interesting trivia you can share about the Pain Train at all?

Swizzle: Well, the stuff in the TF2 wiki about it being the discarded handle of an Axtinguisher and the name coming from a line delivered by a horribly drunken demoman are both ideas completely coined by people in the community. I think that’s pretty funny, but very creative.

What is it exactly, just to set the record straight: Just a makeshift handle with a railroad spike through it?

Swizzle: It’s exactly what it looks like. A big ol’ stick with a big ol’ spike. There’s another thing that aspiring weapon designers should take note of; it’s an extremely simple idea. Simplicity is a key element of a good design.

Do you think the Polycount contest was a good idea on Valve’s part, and do you think it’s possible a second one or something similiar could happen?

Swizzle: I think it was a great idea, and I hope they have other contests like it in the future. The Artpass contest over at TF2Maps is a good example. I hope other game companies take a hint and get their respective communities involved into the process of making games. As for the possibility of more of them happening, I think it’s just inevitable.

Was ‘The Pain Train’ the weapon’s original name, or something Valve conjured up?

Swizzle: I actually submitted it as the Pain Train. I’m completely convinced, though, that the note I included with the submission was the only thing that led them to keeping the name. It said, simply, “The Pain Train’s a-comin! Woo woo!”

Thanks for the interview.

Swizzle: It was a pleasure.

Lessons Learnt:

-The tools used by others are not the most important thing, so much as how well you can familiarize yourself with them. Experiment with various software and find what’s right for you.
-Visit a wide variety of sites and resources to look at other people’s projects, find guides and recieve critique for your own work.
-View your model as a silhouette and apply it to existing class silhouettes. This will help you see whether it can easily be identified at a distance, like a lot of Valve’s weapons.

…and there’s the knowledge behind the Pain Train. Join us next time for a slightly different topic, as we dive into mapmaking and interview Icarus, the creator of Coldfront.

Yes, that’s me playing Team Fortress 2. With a joypad.

Allow me to explain. To start with, no, I’m not going to try and argue that a joypad is far superior to a mouse and keyboard when it comes to methods of control. I’d be wrong if I tried to, because a mouse and keyboard does allow for a greater deal of precision, allows for faster reactions and responses, and generally can do more than a joypad ever could. Sure, I consider joypads to be precise and effective to an extent, but they aren’t in the same league as the trusty mouse and keyboard combination. So, no to that… What this is really about is certain other factors that are important, to me especially; Familiarity, comfort, and fun.

You see, I’ve never been the biggest PC gamer. I’ve dabbled in it over the years, for sure, but when it came to playing games I just always picked the consoles for no other reason than… Well, I just did. So over the years my skill with a joypad has risen, whilst the skill and ability in using a mouse and keyboard passed me by. It’s only really with Team Fortress 2 that I’ve really started playing PC games, and with this event came situations whereupon people destroyed me by deftly flicking their fingers over the keys, whilst I wondered why I couldn’t find the letter “R” all of a sudden. And whilst I’ve learnt over time to master the system, and continue to do so, I still remain at the point where I’m more comfortable with a joypad in my sweaty palms… Years of experience will do that to you.

The fact the computer I play TF2 is also placed on a desk which is just cluttered by nature meant I often found myself constantly shifting things about, just to give the mouse some space to try and kick ass with. So recently, after dying yet again to a guy with his hands fused to his keyboard and mouse after years of use, I thought “Screw this” and plugged the joypad in. Now, I laze about on my bed, know exactly what button is where and what it does, and are having more fun with the game than I have in a long while. Yes, I still tend to die a lot to the PC elite – just last night a medic bobbed and weaved right in front of my soldier and shot him with relative ease – but in some ways my joypad experience in comparison to my M+K experience means I’m actually doing better. I even got a few dominations last night, which in my world is a rare and wondrous thing. Besides, who cares about dying if the fun is there? It certainly was for me.

The choice is yours…

Anyway, enough of a personal monologue from me, I think. You may be asking why I’m putting up such a defence for the joypad anyway, and why I suggested at the start of this article that people might be trying to kill me. Indeed, you may be one of those future murderers yourself, and wondering why you feel that way. Well, you see, there’s a ton of hate towards joypads in comparison to the keyboard and mouse, because the latter is considered just to be better. I came across some of this hate when trying to get the joypad working, and asked myself – Why? Why are you even trying to press your method of control onto myself and others? It’s clear the people asking in those threads want to use joypads, whatever their reason may be – Fun, comfort, whatever. Smashing them down for not using the “Pro” choice seems pointless, and if anything, you should encourage it if you believe the joypad user will become easy pickings in a fight. Yet despite these facts, people have (And always will) try to press their choices on to others, and that’s a shame.

So come on, people. Give joypads a break. We may not be as cool as you, but perhaps that’s just the way we like it.

/lampshading

Anyway, there have been a few bits about TF2 nibbling at my ankles, some for quite a while, and some just recently coming into play. Whilst they’re not super important, they’re certainly things I’d like to see added, perhaps with an option to turn them off (although I don’t see why you’d ever want them off, unlike the dingalings).

______________________________________________________________________________

Frontier Justice crit activation

This one is fairly recent, given the weapon I’m talking about.
What I want is an action that allows you to toggle on/off any crits you’ve earned for the Justice, using mouse2 (or whatever weird key you have bound to +attack2, you nerd). It’s not a terribly huge deal, but (for example) sometimes I want to take a couple of potshots at enemies far away without wasting my crits, given that there’s less reasons around to use the Luger nowadays…

How it would work: This would start as normal – you’d have crits for your shotgun whenever you’ve earned them, but if you hit mouse2, they’ll shut off until you click it again.

______________________________________________________________________________

Invisibility and Dead Ringer icons

Spy is the one class where I always have viewmodels on. This is not to help time melee hits; rather, it’s because I don’t use the class icons on my fairly toasty HUD, and the only way to assure whether you have invisibility on is with the cloak bar, which is odd with the C&D.

Not only that, but I’d like a way to determine whether I have my Dead Ringer out or not, if I so choose to play without viewmodels.

How it would work: Perhaps have the cloak meter glow when you are fully invisible, and have a little cross on it when you’re only semi-invisible? Apart from that, have a Dead Ringer icon next to it whenever you have yours out, and perhaps just an outline when you don’t.

This may be a little confusing for new players though, so I’d just add it as a command that’s off by default.

______________________________________________________________________________

Syringe count

It’s just a pet peeve, but I’m someone who uses syringes a fair lot when they actually DO play Medic, blutsauger included.

I also, however, like to heal as much as possible for my charge, so sometimes I’m not so sure if I’ve reloaded yet before hitting a target with the beam. So…

How it would work: Show the syringe count, no matter which weapon you have out. Maybe keep the uber meter permanently on too.

______________________________________________________________________________

Grids for Engineers

This is slightly harder to do. In essence, I often find myself spending a second or two more than I’d like aligning my buildings to things like a corner, or just on a cliff, of sorts.

So , you could have the Engineer automatically align his building to the ledge or against the wall in a gridlike section, but the trouble lies with when you want it set diagonally, or don’t want it perfectly on edge.

How it would work: I think it would be handy to have an option that allows this ability. Just a simple console command to give people the choice, off by default, and with which they can script without having to add something silly to the game like +attack3 or +alt2 or anything.

______________________________________________________________________________

Glowing bars for items that recharge

Take Jarate, or Bonk, or even the Sandvich now. While the “ding” it makes is a nice touch, sometimes you miss it. Sometimes the bar glitches out and shows that it’s full regardless of the fact that you just used the item.

So here’s a little idea I had: make the bar that shows how far it’s recharged glimmer for a second when you’re fully charged. This would apply to Bonk!, the Sandman, the Banner, stickies, the Targe, the Sandvich, ubers, Jarate, and the spy watches; a sizable portion of weapons.

How it would work: Just a blink of light, maybe a second or so in duration. Alternatively, make the bar turn a different color like green, or make it blink green.

______________________________________________________________________________

They’re not very big issues, I’ll admit, but to paraphrase Mr. Croshaw, the niggly little bits in a game which one plays a lot come back to annoy you.

I’ll agree, it’s probably best not to complicate things too much. The thing is, sometimes it’s better to just have a console command for those people who don’t want/need such options, as keeping them out of the multiplayer advanced menu makes it simpler for new players. Some of them, such as the item recharge bar glowing, don’t really need this, while some (like the Engineer grid) do, if there’s any chance at all some people don’t want them.

Anyway, part II will be here at some point. For the time being, anyone got any little things they think would be a good addition to TF2?

sometimes I want to take a couple of potshots at enemies far away without wasting my crits, given that there’s less reason to use the Luger nowadays.

The Scotsman’s stove pipe

I begin here because this hat is, annoyingly, the only ‘rare’ hat that I actually have. So what’s my issue with it? Well, it’s the fact that it looks almost exactly likea hat that is the most common of them all – The Ghastly Gibus. Practically everyone has one, the vast majority wear one, and as a result of this the Gibus now has no unique appeal, and has actually become rather boring to see perched on someone’s head. So when you see the silhouette of a top hat now, there’s the instant assumption is that it’s just another boring Gibus – Even if it’s a stove pipe. Ugh.

Sure, you can argue the hats are different in some ways, but let’s face it – You’re not going to do a detailed analysis of what’s on someone’s head in the middle of a warzone full of explosions and bullets, and you’ll be too busy raging at your death to pay attention to what your teammates are wearing during the long wait to respawn. So screw you, Mr. Stove pipe, for looking totally boring all the time. I hate you.

Mining Light / Trophy Belt

These two hats share a similar issue to that of the stove pipe, but in fact could be regarded as even worse, because these hats look dangerously similar to what the engineer and the sniper wear by default anyway, and these ‘default’ hats are the most boring headgear of all. Yet the fact there are some notable differences that can actually be considered rather neat, and the fact I don’t actually have a deep and overbearing hatred towards these pieces of headgear, mean I’m putting them separately. Yet these hats can also help raise a decent point – what’s with these tiny cosmetic changes anyway?

Part of the deep and mysterious appeal behind obtaining a hat is the fact it can make your character look cooler, or raises a laugh when you see yourself taunting, or doing something similar that shows off your dapper good looks in full glory. Yet these hats achieve nothing of the sort, and even if a certain appeal can be drawn from them, you’re going to have to be looking for it when everything moves around at a frantic pace. In the end, absurdity and madness are what we want, and these hats just lack the punch and uniqueness to pull such a thing off.

Ritzy Rick’s hair fixative

…Or Texas Slim’s dome shine. Or Baseball Bill’s Sports Shine. I think you can see where I’m going with this, and it’s going towards this point – They aren’t even hats! Not only that, but they look rubbish, and (In my personal opinion) actually make their respective characters look worse than they do normally. Perhaps you can see where Valve was going with the logic behind these hats at the time – it’s the great reveal behind what each of these characters were hiding behind their original headgear! Their ACTUAL HAIRSTYLE! Like, zomg. Yet any initial mystery was soon snuffed out with the boring and lifeless final results that were actually added to the game – I mean, why not give the engineer a Mohican, or something? I mean, the demoman got an afro, and it’s impossible to argue the fact that afros aren’t awesome. But a bald head? Not so awesome.

The cheater’s lament

Now, there’s nothing technically wrong with the look of the cheater’s lament – Indeed, my Medic sports this hat with style – yet it’s here because of the monumental amount of chaos it created when it first appeared, and the way it stands as the very first hat that people felt they were obligated to. In case you weren’t around when the storm happened (count yourself lucky), the cheater’s lament was given to anyone who didn’t idle for items, with those who DID idle finding themselves one hat down and labelled a cheater. Cue madness, and that’s only one thread I can find with ease. The fallout was monumental, and whether you think Valve was right or not, it wasn’t pretty to watch.

This dark day in TF2 history proved to be only the grim first coming of floods of whining about not getting one item or another, with the most recent example of this probably being the earbuds for playing on Mac, and those crazy golden wrenches. Practically all of this rage is unjustified, which makes it even less pretty to watch – I’m amazed a Valve employee hasn’t killed themselves with the amount of stupidity that’s been on show. The cheater’s lament stands at the pinnacle of this idiocy, and for that reason it’s got to be one of the worst hats out there.

Now, if you excuse me, I’m off to play for another 3,000 hours and then commit suicide when my reward is a Master’s yellow belt…

An exclusive interview with Mr.E., the anonymous author of the Übermensch controversial report that made its way into the internet last week.

Reporter: It is a pleasure to be here ladies and gentlemen, gamers and gamerettes. Today we have here Mr.E., who shall remain anonymous for the duration of this interview. Good afternoon Mr.E.

Mr.E: Good afternoon to you too.

Reporter: Now, Mr.E., last week this report made its way to the internet through secret channels, and has since then been brought to both the attention of the media and the public. Would you mind explaining to us what is the content of this report so that we are all on the same page?

Mr.E: Well, this report, if you so want to call your view of it, consists of the analysis of a colleague of mine at the Reliable Excavation and Demolition company. Now, it is common knowledge that none of us in the RED team are the most usual of individuals in the psychological front. You should hear what some of them talk about themselves. What some of them say to their weapons or what they do to grass or birds or…

Reporter: Excuse me Mr.E., but… Weapons?

Mr.E: Yes, I mean… it’s nothing, don’t worry about it. Because we’re RED, and at least we’re not BLU, and that’s what counts. That’s the important point. That. Is. What. Counts. Except… This colleague of ours… I’m not so sure if he still thinks the same. I mean, initially we were all pretty quiet, you know how it is when you’re all new at the job. But then after some time, after some updates in our lives, he started to talk a lot more. And suddenly his conversations do not seem so simple, his rage does not seem simply turned towards BLU, it seems towards everyone and anyone; and sometimes he looks at us, and believe me you don’t want to see him look at you, because his eyes, his eyes-

Reporter: They are scary?

Mr.E: Yes; well, I suppose scary is a way of telling it, but the truth is it’s more than that. Sometimes it’s as if he holds us in no more contempt than the BLU’s, and that we’re all ants to him, and he sits there in his chair, with blood dripping from his fingertips and with that look on his eyes.

*Mr.E. drinks a bit of water*

Reporter: So, you believe this colleague of yours might wish you harm?

Mr.E: No, it’s not that. We’re nine combatants in the middle of a war; of course someone wishes harm to someone else, accidents and hostilities happen. It’s normal, it’s the human condition that one or other of us might sometimes be angry. But the thing is that we cannot hurt each other. There is no fire between friends, and that’s nice and okay, because that means that we can protect each other and not be worried about stray bullets. Oh, and it helps against spies, can’t stress that enough.

Reporter: I believe there might be a ‘but’ incoming?

Mr.E: Yes, there is… He is the only one that can affect us. I mean, my dispensers and such can heal them, and I can teleport them, and perhaps I shouldn’t be saying so many things, but gosh darn it… We can help each other, but it’s all very subtle and simple. But he can heal us, uber us, give us crits – And he’s the only one who can directly affect us like that. And if he can heal us, then he might be able to hurt us; and he’s invincible and we don’t know if he shares his invincibility because he has to, or if he’s not bound by any rules, and and and….

*Mr.E. drinks some more water*

Reporter: Are you calmer now, sir?

Mr.E: Yes, yes. It’s just that when I think of him then, looking at us sometimes when he barges in, his body reflecting every light in a sickly red glow. It gets to my stomach a bit.

Reporter: I am sorry for the interruption sir, but it seems that there are some disturbances outside our studio.

Mr.E: What? WHAT? Is it him? It is him, isn’t it? It’s him? It’s HIM!

Reporter: No, of course not sir. It cannot possibly be him, our headquarters are well hidden, there’s no way such a person might find its way here, and-

Mr.E: He can, believe me he can. The things I’ve seen him do. He. Can.

*CRASH*

Mr.E: It’s him, it’s him. I know it’s him, no one can keep him out, no one, no one. Noonenoonenoonenoonenoonenoone-

*Reporter nervously wipes sweat from his forehead*

Reporter: Stay calm please Mr.E., I’m sure it’s just the wind, no reason to be alarme-

*CRASH*

External voice: We apologize for cutting this transmission. We shall make sure that the rest of this interview will be transmitted as soon as possible with possible corrections and RUN RUN RUN FOR SAFETY HE’S BEHIND ME AND HE’S WATCHING US ALL AND HE’LL KILL US ALL HE’S MAD HE’S M-

*SPLAT*

-connection lost-

Firstly, how did you get into Modelling?

Larolaro: Well, for the past 4-5 years I’ve been working as a freelance illustrator (http://larolaro.blogspot.com) and at the same time I’ve always had a lingering curiosity for games and what-not, so I started to dabble in modelling. It was a straight up nightmare at first, as I found it very difficult to learn by myself, so the extent of my knowledge comes from 4 years of tedious un-knowing button clicking, haha. 2D and 3D really are two opposite sides of the same coin but eventually I got the hang of it… Sort of. Now, to be honest, I’m never going back. Being a digital artist moving onto 3D really gives me a plethora of new options to realize my ideas.

You initially designed the Homewrecker. How long did the Homewrecker, from idea to realization, roughly take?

Larolaro: I created the homewrecker roughly a year before I submitted it to valve through their contribute page. So, embarrassingly, the homewrecker was just a bit of tooling-around practice, as I just did it for fun and never intended for it to be a serious submission. The concept took me 5 minutes and the model and texture was complete in about 2 hours. However, the compiling and such took an age, the source engine really isn’t noob-friendly. I see the source engine as a beautiful ornate chair with a spike carved into the seat; It looks great, it’s solid and it will last for a long time, it’s just a pain in the ass to use.

What software packages do you use? Previous contributors have said that the paid stuff (like 3DSMax) is the best, but you can do just as well sometimes with freeware.

Larolaro: Oddly enough I get this question alot from random people on steam, and I never answer the question because if I did I would giving the impression that it matters which one to use. I’m sorry to burst any bubbles and such but unfortunately there really isnt a magic button to make 3D, as it’s difficult to learn 3D no matter what program you use. The program is just a tool for a similar result; just pick one that looks good and use it and if it doesn’t work out too well for you, you will naturally move onto a different program anyway. So my advice would be, try them all and pick what feels right for you.

The Homewrecker was originally an Axe/Axtinguisher skin (back when it was called Mr. Sledge), but upon submission did you ever think about what attributes it could have had? Some people think this is necessary, despite this not being the case.

Larolaro: Well, I have a lot of respect for the way valve do their thing, so I just left it to them, I had nothing in mind to be honest. I don’t manage a hugely successful online multiplayer game, so I don’t have any right to say what’s what because I really don’t know the amount of implications a game mechanic might have.

Do you think that Valve handled your submission well? The Homewrecker was initially a choice alternative for quick building destruction, but with the addition of the ability to damage Sappers it suddenly became a used and viable option for Pyros. And would you have liked to have had more influence on these modifications?

Larolaro: I really think they did great with the homewrecker, I was even happy with it before the sapper-removing stat, albeit it being a whisper of a weapon. The homewrecker was one of the first community weapons to be added into TF2, and it was new ground they are walking on, so I figured they would possibly weaken its impact on TF2’s gameplay.

When someone’s trying to get into modelling, can you offer any resources or tips you found helpful?

Larolaro: Well, I didn’t use many tutorials when I was learning so I don’t have any resources to offer. For learning 3D, my advice would be just stick at it, don’t give up and practice, practice, practice! It’s a decade long battle with a wall of scary buttons, so if you don’t suck it up and focus you’ll go crazy.

Do you think you learned much, if anything, from modelling for TF2?

Larolaro: Well, I’ve played and admired TF2 from the start, having clocked 1000+ hours in it. It really is a massive inspiration to me, modelling this and that for TF2 has really helped me on the way to becoming “industry” ready, if you know what I mean. It’s a huge compliment from valve to give the homewrecker and Tankbuster pack their professional blessing.

When you decided to enter the Polycount contest, did you have a clear image of the class/weapons you wanted to do, or was it a much more gradual and developmental process?

Larolaro: For the 5 weeks we had to do the contest, it took me a week to gather up the courage to even start. I really didn’t think I would have a chance of winning so I very almost didn’t enter, But I thought I might as well do it for some good old practice. So 1 week in I started a WWII Survival Theme (Check it out here). This involved a rucksack, a survival knife (See it here) and a scrim camo helmet. After 3 weeks I started to get a lot of criticism and my theme started to fall apart so I scrapped it entirely. I wanted to pursue an entry that went smoothly and people enjoyed, so I came up with a tangent off my original idea and this is when I came up with the Tankbuster Pack. I started my Tank Buster pack from scratch with only 10 days left of the contest. This meant I had 5 items to concept, model, texture and compile with 2 days each. It was total chaos and I really didn’t sleep very well for those 10 days, haha, but I learnt a lot and eventually got picked as a winner, so it was totally worth it.

Are there any other packs that you particularly liked in the Polycount contest? Valve have said that just under half of the entries were of a good enough quality for submission, so there will be more community items to come from the contest regardless of the main winners.

Larolaro: I enjoyed a lot of the entries in the contest, and it’s a shame only 5 won the contest, but I can understand coming up with game mechanics and balancing 12 weapons really is enough for one update. Some of the entries that caught my eye from the start were Nrek’s (Croc-O-Style), Progg’s (Gas Man), Both of Swizzle’s entries (Expert’s Ordnance Pack and Field Medic’s Tool Kit), Gerre’s (Hillbilly Pack) and Pierate’s (Medievil pack).

If there was another Polycount contest or something of that ilk, would you participate given the chance?

Larolaro: I have no doubt in my mind that Valve will do something similiar in the future, given the popularity and quality of the entries in the contest. In fact, I’d be surprised if they didn’t do something. And when that happens, I may have to take another shot at it, with a hopefully larger timeframe than what I had to do my entry in.

Lessons Learnt:
- Keep practising as much as possible. Remember, getting good is not a quick process, and needs time investment.
- Be sure to consider your ideas thoroughly first, and be ready to abandon projects if they become boring and are clearly not going anywhere.
- Once again, experiment with as many different softwares as you can until you find the one that suits you best. There is no definitive ‘best’, so it’s up to your tastes and working style to determine yours.

…and there is the lowdown behind one of the more successful modelling achievements in TF2.

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Now, this is where I reach out to you, the reader. If you are an estabilished TF2 contributor (this includes maps), are interested in an interview, or know one who would be happy to have one published here, then please try to contact me here in the comments, on the UC forums, or at the Official Team Fortress Wiki. I’d like to make this series last as long as possible as I’ve recieved such positive feedback and so much useful information for aspiring 3D artists has come out of it, as well as revealing info to keep non-modellers amused and interested. Thanks for all the support, and hopefully expect more in the near future.

Starting off general with a theme that covers two of these bans, from Ubercharged forum member ibuprofen:

Didn’t the competitive scene say that Scouts are borderline overpowered?

The quote was that Scout is the only “borderline overpowered” class. This means that if a player can hit every meatshot, He is overpowered compared to any other class that can get every shot, i.e a Sniper getting headshots with every shot will not be as effective as a Scout hitting every shot.

Also, for those who don’t agree with Natascha being banned, think of it like this. There are 5 combat classes on a team of 6. One of them is running Natascha. This player has begun to attack an enemy. This enemy’s mobility is now non-existent. Not only can they not escape, but they are a piss easy target for the 4 other players on a team. Competitive players aren’t like your usual pub player; we hit our shots. Therefore, imagine being the enemy when a single bullet begins a cycle of helplessness.

TF2 is a game of momentum and mobility. If one player can destroy the mobility of every class on the enemy team, that team will probably take mid and gain major momentum. This is a major game breaker. Note how every class (not Medic obviously) that is standard in comp play is extremely maneuverable or has a method of gaining instant mobility.

A response to “Well, can’t the enemy just use a Sniper and easily counter the Heavy using Natascha?” again from ibuprofen.

OK, I’ll break it down for you to understand it better.

The Sniper’s advantage is that he can eliminate targets from range. His damage does not amplify depending on distance. He is able to get “picks;” kills that allow the pushing team an advantage of having a player over them. The best “pick” is a medic pick, where a medic is eliminated from the enemy team. Snipers can do this at a range, which is why they are favorable. However, this is the only thing they are able to do; frag. Scouts can frag as well. However, Scouts move extremely fast, have a double jump, are able to outmaneuverer explosives classes and fight through spam. They can also avoid a Soldier juggle. Scouts can insert themselves into a battle, complete their objective, and remove themselves just as easily and quickly. Scouts capture at 2x the regular rate. A Sniper can do none of these things.

The mid fight is very important in competitive play, because the game is about momentum, as I mentioned. However, problematically, the Sniper is always late to the mid fight, which means the team’s Scout has a 1v2 fight at mid against the other team’s scouts. He also has to protect the team’s Demo and flank the enemy Demo, both of which are at mid. If you just don’t run scouts at all, first of all, your team’s Demo is dead instantly. Second, by the time your powerhouse gets to the fight, the point is already half capped. Thirdly, the enemy Demo will have stickies up the exits, trapping the combo. The enemy scouts will also have an advantage on the flank, etc.. etc… the list goes on. So, the team’s Scout is fucked at mid when you’re running a Sniper, jeopardizing the mid fight. That’s point #1.

The Sniper must be protected at all times. If a Soldier knocks him up in the air with a rocket, there is literally NOTHING the Sniper can do, as he cannot scope in nor outstrafe the extremely easily second rocket to complete the juggle. If the Sniper is ambushed from a blind spot by a Scout, he is dead before he came humanly react. Before you say, NO NO I’M A 1337 SNIPER I GET ALL THE SHOTS, keep in mind it takes 200ms for your shots to register as 150dmg headshots and not as null 50dmg bodyshots regardless. Add reaction time and lag (avg on central servers is 70ms) and you begin to realize how weak the Sniper is. The enemy team has TWO of these flanking classes, so if they ambush you at the same time, which they often do, you are dead before you can kill either. So essentially, you’re playing two classes down when you run a Sniper, since one has to babysit him. That is point #2.

The Sniper can do 150dmg a pop with a quickscope. This takes out unbuffed Scouts and Medics. In less time than it takes to do this, a Scout can deal two meatshots. Therefore, in the same time, the Scout could have killed any Scout (Buffed or otherwise), a Medic, an unbuffed Soldier, an unbuffed Demo, and put a buffed Demo in red to be pistoled easily. The Sniper can charge up, however, for 450 dmg. However, this takes four seconds. In these four seconds, the Scout can have popped out much more than 450 dmg. This is point #3.

Moving on to the Wrangler, here again from ibuprofen

This is just typical competitive crap. Why would a competitive clan/league or whatever ban weapons that provide a TACTICAL ADVANTAGE. Nat Heavies can be damn useful in a defense. The Sandman was damn useful before it got nerfed to oblivion and The Wrangler opened up a new skillset for the Engie.

This is what I don’t understand about competitive teams, they’re always banging on about skill yet when a weapon comes along that gives less experienced players an advantage over them, they’re quick to call for nerfs and bans as opposed to – oh I dunno… avoiding them?

I talked about the Natascha early on, but on the Wrangler, it makes a lot of sense. I’m not going to go to far into it, but in competitive play, sentries exist only to make enemies pop their uber early. Picture the Badlands choke when the offensive team is pushing out from yard after losing the mid fight. They have to fight uphill (THE worst position you could ever be in) and it is a back and forth struggle to peak out and get a pick so that their team could move in. Players flank from the house and scouts sneak in from the back side to ninja cap.

Now, what the team that has middle can do is they can run an Engineer and set up a level 3 sentry on the train car and wrangle it. This effectively shuts down both chokes and makes it impossible for the other team to push out. If they push out of the usual choke, they will get spammed in by a Sentry with a 66% damage reduction shield (seven stickybombs to frag) and double fire rate. If they try to push out house, the Sentry can just turn to the left and cover that too. So really, their only option is to push from valley (the area under the bridge), and this is a SEVERE disadvantage. Remember what I said about uphill fights behind the worst possible obstacle you could face? The valley is ten times more steep than the choke. Even when pushing out from here, the Sentry can still target you if you pop out. It will take literally the entire length of an ubercharge to kill a sentry. Which is not fair considering how fast the Engineer can build and maintain a sentry.

Like I said, I won’t go too far into it (there are loads of other problems), but to summarize, the Wrangler makes chokes impossible to push through and the entire game becomes a steamroll for whatever team wins mid.

Bellsprout, also from the UC forums, outlines the main reasons behind all three bans.

The only strategies that these weapons are good for are that of stalemating the game. The game revolves around Ubers, right? The Sandman is able to stun the Medic before he can Uber meaning he’ll be die. Or it can be used to stun the Soldier while he’s building Uber leaving the Medic defenceless. I should mention that by stun in those sentences I mean the speed nerf/unable to use weapons state.

The Natascha means that that an Ubered pair will go in and HAVE to focus that Heavy with 450 health, else he’ll stop any retreat. If there’s two of them then you’re just being stalemated as it is pretty much impossible to kill the two – especially if there’s a Medic with Uber. However because the team has two heavies it’s very difficult to push second. meaning stalemate.

The Wrangler means that an Uber is necessary to JUST kill the sentry. If there’s another engineer with another Wrangled sentry then you will lose. Simple. Once again, pushing to second is very difficult.

French Toast, one of our authors particularly well known for being part of the comp guide adds a side note about why guaranteeing that someone will die is so taboo.

The issue stems from the size difference between the average pub game and the average competitive game. When I stress to say “every little thing matters 10x more in a game with half the players”, I literally mean everything. It’s hard for a player used to comparatively large games to wrap their minds around because losing one or two guys in a pub only means another filling his place. If you’re down a man in 6s, that one man you just lost means a lot more in terms of fire power and coverage.

Laerin from our forums explains the “cannot move hence death” aspect a little more clearly

It’s been mentioned time and time again how the Natascha’s slowdown leaves players completely at the mercy of others. The scout, soldier and demoman are used instead of say two heavies becuase of their speed and versatility. The heavy is meant to be a tank with a high DPS and large amount of health but by trading off it’s speed. But the Natascha robs other classes of their speed and manueverability; the most important thing they have over the heavy. A soldier cannot rocket jump away. A scout cannot run away – or even get close to him. In one-on-one situations, unless you are right beside a means of escape, your two options are either to kill the heavy (the class with the higher DPS and health) or die. In most cases however, you will be a sitting duck to the other classes and your set of options will have dwindled by one.

This last one is from Sigma, over the CEVO forums

Quote: Originally Posted by Hawkeye
The Natascha ban is simply idiotic. It’s been around for a few seasons, used, no one had issues with it, it is not over-powered otherwise we would’ve seen the Heavy/Natascha a whole lot more then on maps to fend off scouts and more teams winning maps running Natascha heavies.
Natascha heavies came out on every map this season in invite (and almost every match of the lan, often doubled up). It’s to the point that even mid fights, where the heavy is traditionally terrible due to his speed, would see a heavy showing up. The increased speed + reduced spin time turned heavy from situational to crazy good. I don’t know about open or other leagues, but if players there aren’t using it it’s a result of not trying it and seeing how broken it is. Scouts pretty much cannot make any plays once a natascha heavy is spun up. They get hit by 1 bullet, are totally frozen + get directed + die. Soldiers and demomen can’t peek corners, because the bullet stream will cause them to be too slow to escape from the return spam. As a medic, you pretty much have to treat the natascha heavy as a sniper — once he slows you, you take damage from almost every rocket, so you have to stay out of LoS. If you suggest getting a heavy of your own or a sniper to counter it, sure, that works, but the game slows to a crawl and is no longer fun.

On the other hand, heavies are extremely effective for creating a health advantage through sandvich use and following up pushes with the huge 450hp buff. This remains unchanged with the regular minigun (and is in fact more exciting, because the heavy exchange happens much faster). The heavy can still hold the flank 1v2, but only if he has good tracking — as opposed to the natascha version, where he can sit spun up on a corner and get a guaranteed kill on any scout that peeks it.

AG used natascha heavies as much or more than the other invite teams, and all of us agree that the weapon is way too strong. By the end of the season Otter refused to use it in scrims because it was so lame, and it was so easy to use that there was no point in practicing it.

Quote:Originally Posted by Bodknocks
Banning Wrangler just seems really odd. I feel like it’s a huge knee-jerk reaction to the item. I don’t really know what else to say other than that, did people honestly think Engie would start being main classed and that Wrangler was going to dominate the scene? I just don’t really understand why this is supposedly overpowered in 6v6 environment, it’s definitely an upgrade from the pistol (lol) but that’s not a good reason to have it banned.
It only takes a couple scrims on gpit to see what’s wrong with it. Sentries have no damage falloff. This is fine if they have limited range, but when you can put a gun in a sniper’s position and spam huge damage from long range, then pick up said gun and hide it once it (eventually) gets damaged, the attacking team has no counter. The engy can sit at spawn with his gun, get free damage on any team that decides to push through C, then pick it up, teleport to B, and put it super far away from the doors to spam more long-range damage. You can try things like double-DHing it, but you still need 6 or more rockets to bring it down (thanks to the ridiculous shield), and the engy can easily just pick it up and hide it, the shield will let it live long enough. Heck, you could even rocket jump a teleporter to the roof and teleport your gun (and team) up there (without having to deal with the old problems of taking a long time to get up and being vulnerable to snipers). Who wants to push B with a heavy, level 3 infinite range sentry, sniper, demo, med, soldier all sitting on the roof? I know I don’t.

Hopefully, this helps you better understand CEVO’s decision. If not, however, let me just close with a couple of choice comments from French Toast

The minute people stop thinking of competitive player as this separate group of completely foreign players, the sooner you realize that everyone plays the same game. It’s the same thing as some people liking 32 man, roll the dice servers, or other people preferring 18 man 24/7 arena servers. Competitive players are just another bunch that like to play the game the way they like, and it happens that the leagues agree that it’s the most competitive way to play, so they host tournaments for that style.

It’s our little corner of the world, and the actions the leagues take are our concerns. If you can’t accept our reasoning, which has been rather beautifully laid out before you in this thread, for following certain rules, and banning the use of certain weapons, we don’t care. Why? It doesn’t affect you, it’s our little corner of the TF2 world and we enjoy it the way we have it.

Every unlockable weapon has to have a drawback, even if it’s just an artificial drawback like the “reduced damage” on the Axtinguisher. Bar a few weapons (which will go unmentioned), there must be a reason you’d want to use the original weapon apart from aesthetic and fun, otherwise the unlockable isn’t really an alternative.

Most commonly, the drawback is lack of access to the original weapon, with over 10 items carrying this effect, i.e. you trade a weapon for another completely different one, such as the Sandvich.
After that, Valve most often uses a “lost ability” status and reduced damage, followed by health penalty and slower firing rate (see KGB).

This author, however, would like to make a statement. You see, things such as health, speed, and damage dealt are what I like to call “passive” weapon statistics. They’re not in your control, and giving a class a buff without really requiring the player to do anything isn’t very interesting.
This not only makes them a little boring to start with, but also requires no input on the part of the player as far as the benefit/drawback goes. Giving the heavy, say, a speed boost to 350 units at the cost of some health is just a stats change, and while I don’t disapprove of a G.R.U.E. style unlock, where you can go with these kinds of unlocks are limited at best. Sure, it’s a different skillset when the numbers matter, but TF2 isn’t an MMO. Or at least, not yet, anyway.

All that said, here are the few drawbacks to a weapons bonus that I think deserve a little attention.

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Ammo count

Ah yes, ammo. Two weapons currently feature this, the Force-a-Nature (although it doesn’t really count), and the Frontier Justice.

Ammo management is an important aspect of the Soldier, and to a lesser extent, the Heavy, Demoman and Scout. Knowing how many rockets you have left in the clip is a pretty important aspect of any competent Soldier, seeing as he has limited killing ability after expending them all, and he cannot run around/away like a little bunny while reloading.

Ammo management, however, isn’t quite something that’s on the mind of many other classes such as the Sniper and Pyro. Introducing such a thing into a weapon would certainly go a way towards what I believe is a new skill set.

For example: What if the Heavy had a weapon (we’ll call her “Ludmila“), that increased the Heavy’s base run speed to 280 units, but he has to reload a new chain belt every 40 shots? Bar the animation budget, it would certainly be more interesting to see how this plays out. Plus, no random crits.

And actually, that ties in directly to my next point…

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Reload time

Ah yes, again the thing that mainly the Soldier (and Demoman) have to take into account. 6 of the unlocks don’t even have these (discounting “cocking”), but a gun with a decent reload time also takes management skills.

But forget purely reload time for a second. TF2 itself allows you to interrupt any and all your reloads to continue firing the remainder of your clip. What if, and I stress if, you had a weapon that COULDN’T be interrupted in the middle of reloading?

This idea came to me while watching Pistol Frenzy 2; a traditional reload where you’d have to get an appropriate time to reload when combined with a substantial reload time.
For instance, say we get a shotgun with an 8 shell revolver-style magazine. It does a base damage of only 50, and you can’t interrupt the reload, but the reload time is the same as 4 shells on a normal shotgun. You’d have more ammo to work with, but you’d also have to watch out because you can’t pull a round or two out while reloading, and it makes you think more about combat readiness. Also, no random crits.

Now before all the jarheads come in with their CS:S comparisons, hear me out. Consider how it would add to a certain weapon’s drawback: you’d have to be paying attention to your ammo, and pick an appropriate time to reload, such as in the company of teammates or when you’re sure no one can get to you before you finish. I think it would be a decent drawback compared to, say, no random crits, albeit a little boring.

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Reserve ammo

A subtopic of Limited Ammo Count, this looks into the ammo you can spare on the battlefield.

TF2 in it’s original form, as well as TFC, used to give you a bucketload of ammo to go crazy on. Soldiers and Demos used to have tons of ammo for their main weapons back in the day, and now ammo management is more important as the game changed.

Remnants of these days are still present in TF2 with weapons where your current ammo isn’t too much of a hassle. This includes all shotguns, the sniper rifle, the syringe gun, all sentries, the minigun (think about how 200 ammo was considered “a small amount” by the development team), and the flamethrower, although the compression blast reduces this somewhat.
Most notably, think about how the Engineer has 200 spare 9mm bullets, and goddamn, even with the autopistol that’s a crazy amount.

Valve has taken a look into this with unlockables already; the huntsman gives you (somewhat) limited ammo, as does the flare gun (although 16 flares is still quite a lot for it’s firing rate). I do think that limited ammo can make an interesting drawback, and to heck with Engineers complaining about their metal.

Regardless, it’s not something that can stand up as a drawback by itself. A shotgun that, say, deals 100 base damage with only 10 extra shots would be a pretty devastating weapon, and would encourage suicide runs anyway, even if it had no random crits.

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Anyway, hopefully I’ve been able to provide some insight into these weapon design ideas as far as ammunition ideas go. Ignoring “brand new weapons,” feel free to throw in any ideas you may have as far as stat changes and new design goes. And who knows, if they’re good, I’d be so inclined to ask permission to put them on the front page.

As a concluding point, as much as I’ve said stats don’t usually make for the most fun weapons, I am putting together some ideas for what would make more interesting weapon advantages.

Something I’ve noticed is Valve’s plentiful use of crits, and as of late, mini crits, in their weapon designs. But, like I said, the amount of damage you pump out (while being an important part of gameplay) is a boring design to put into weapons as an advantage, even in the form of crits (for example, the direct hit).

So, in the next post, expect a few different ideas for advantages that don’t simply ditch the set weapon designs themselves. Not plain unlockable ideas, but ideas that can be part of an unlockable. Thank you, and good night.

Daimao: One day, I woke up and started gathering concepts and reference material and just started modelling. I honestly don’t remember what my drive was, but TF2’s environment models (the models you see in the levels like logs, power generators and wall computers) had some impact on it though.

What sort of software do you use for what you do? I understand that you’ve helped with numerous people’s textures or models, and also modelled yourself (the frenchman’s beret)

Daimao: I use Autodesk 3DSMax 2010 for low-poly modelling, ZBrush for high-poly modelling and sculpts. For my textures, I usually use Photoshop CS4 for actually painting the textures and VTFEdit to edit my .vtf and .vmt files. I also use GUIStudioMDL to convert my models to ingame formats.

A common theme among the already interviewed contributors is that the paid software is often the better choice, due to the outstanding quality it can produce. Do you agree with this, or do you think that it’s possible to get by just as well with freeware stuff?

Daimao: I think paid software indeed is the better choice, especially for 3D modelling, however that doesn’t mean you can’t make nice models or textures with free software. If I remember correctly, Luigimario, one of the community contributors, makes his models with Milkshape. Here’s an example what you can make with free software provided by him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zazCHTd7Kxs

Modelling can be a very time intensive affair, but more experienced modellers can accomplish what they want to do a lot faster than others. How long do you think it took for you to actually make the Frenchman’s Beret? It has been said that the majority of the time taken for people’s contributions has been the ideas phase.

Daimao: I made the Frenchman’s Beret in approximately a day. This includes modifying the model and texture based on constructive criticism by a few friends, shipping the model over to Mister Royzo for a blue skin and packing it up in a Valve-friendly format. Please keep in mind that hats are made far faster than weapons or Engineer buildings.

If there was one key thing you learned when modelling or texturing for TF2, what would that thing be?

Daimao: I have only two words for this question: paint patches. The square paint patches (in combination with some wear and tear) you see in TF2’s environments make up much of the ‘painted’ art style Valve is going for. Even on the smallest things it’s there, right down to the syringes the needlegun fires.

Any interesting trivia or stories surrounding the frenchman’s beret at all?

Daimao: The fact that the blue skin was made by someone else wasn’t because of me being colour blind (a silly rumor), but it was rather a cheap attempt to get someone else a selfmade item too. Hehe.

The Beret was originally submitted under the name Bourgeois. Do you think this was changed with reason?

Daimao: Probably because it’s hard to remember and/or pronounce. I’m not certain if the English playerbase can pronounce ‘bourgeious’ the way it’s meant to be pronounced, so I’m guessing that’s the reason behind the change.

Borge-wahs?

Daimao: Yes. One of the alternative names was ‘Artsy Beret’ but that just wasn’t fancy enough for the Spy in my opinion. It does fit with the paintbrushes though. The original concept had some team-colored paint splotches on the hat too, but that just aimed the focus of the player directly at the hat and not at the player trying to kill him.

Anything you want to add about modelling or texturing?

Daimao: For beginning texture artists (or veteran texture artists unknown to TF2’s art style) I’d like to recommend a few articles or threads to get acquainted with the TF2 art style. I have a bunch of them saved on my desktop for references:

http://www.primotechnology.com/2008/02/25/gdc-08-the-illustrative-world-of-team-fortress-2/
http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=4338
http://halcyonrealms.com/animation/the-art-of-team-fortress-2/
http://virtuallyreality.supacomm.net/2010/01/17/team-fortress-2-the-artisic-journey-from-game-to-culture-part-1/

The last one especially is an incredible read.

When modelling hats, do you have to account for the otherwise unseen inside of the hat?

It’s recommended that you do so, especially for the Sniper, since one of his taunts involves him taking off his hat. Generally I model the inside of the hat, but keep it low poly so it doesn’t have that much of an impact on the polycount.

Thank you very much for the interview.

Lessons Learnt:
-Although the paid software is cited to be generally more usable and produces better results, you can still use the free software (such as Blender or Milkshape) to produce decent models.
-When texturing, practice and try to master the basic techniques used in the TF2 style, such as random squares of colour and spots to give surfaces that worn, painted look.
-Valve may make any changes they like to your submission using their own discretion. Don’t submit it if you don’t want it to be possibly altered or changed!

My next interview was with Gerre, the creator of the Sergeant’s Drill Cap and the Physician’s Procedure Mask.

How did you get into modelling?

Gerre: I learned it at school. I studied game development. The TF2 models are just for fun, though.

What software do you use?

I use 3DSMax for modeling, and I have a student license for Photoshop when it comes to texturing.

You’re the first person to have submitted a misc item. Was this intentional, or did valve decide to make it so on a whim?

I suggested it myself to make it a misc. item in the “anything else we should know”. Simple enough.
How long do you think the mask and the drill sergeant’s hat take to make each? Experienced modellers tend to get them done quick, from what I’ve seen.
Gerre: The Mask was easier than the Drill hat… I would say about half an hour. I didn’t put that much time in the textures, it’s just simple ambient occlusion and flat color. The hat took about the same.

When someone’s getting into modelling or texturing, can you recommend any useful resources of tips you found helpful?

Gerre: Hmm, well I learned a lot at school, but I guess if you are new to modelling try modeling stuff from real life and make it as accurate as possible. Reference is very important.

If there was one key thing you learned when modelling for TF2, what would that be?

Gerre: TF2 doesn’t use that much normal mapping so your model has to look good enough without it. The silhouette is important too to make it easily identifiable.

The Wiki thinks that you decided to do the Drill Sergeant’s Cap based on Corporal Hartman from Full Metal Jacket, is this true, or is the Wiki making things up again?

Gerre: It wasn’t the main reason, I just made it because it fits the soldier well.

Is there anything that someone needs to be prepared for when getting into modelling?

Gerre: It might be a bit overwhelming at first, but if you keep practicing you will get better. And be sure to ask for other people’s opinion on your models

Do you think you might create any items for the recently added Misc 2 slot? Currently nothing exists to use in it, though the polycount greentooth badge is suspected to be put in there.

Gerre: I think the Misc. 2 slot will be used for medals worn on the chest as you can’t wear them together with the mask/beard (seeing as they currently occupy the same slot).

Thank you very much for the interview.

Gerre: Anytime.

Lessons Learnt:
-If you want to Valve to know something specific about your contribution, be sure to tell them in the ‘Anything else we should know?’ box on the Contribute! website.
-If you are struggling for ideas to practice modelling with, try modelling objects around you and keep using them as reference.
-TF2 does not use many normal maps. Therefore, your model needs to look good without them.

And there’s some knowledge behind hatmaking! Join us next time for an interview with the creator of the Homewrecker and the Polycount contest winning entry, The Soldier’s Tank Buster Pack.

Where? – Whereabouts on the map the jump is. Accompanied by a fancy taunt.

Who? – Which classes can get up there. Most will be confined to Soldier/Demoman, but the odd jump will be available to Scouts, and on rare occasion, everyone. I haven’t had practice with the Wrangler and sentry jumping yet, so go ahead and try these jumps with your sentry gun. I can’t promise anything.

How? – The nitty-gritty of the jump. I’ll explain how to get where I got. The screenshots show where to place your stickies. Unless otherwise stated, a rocket jump from the same place should work as well.

Why? – Accompanied by a screenshot of the view, and suggestions on how to use the position.

This article focuses entirely on Badwater.

Position 1

Where? – White pipe just past the first point.

Who? – Soldier and Demoman

How? – There are two ways to do this with both classes, but Demoman has a much easier time of getting up there. Firstly, you can lay a sticky at the bottom of the pipe and do a standard sticky jump up to the top, however, this is quite tricky to pull off, as if you don’t have the right angle, you will just fall straight back down. Easier is to place a sticky on the corner of the “shelter” where Engineers often build. Take a look at this screenshot and you’ll see what I mean.Then just do a standard sticky jump from there, making sure to get some distance as well as height.

As a Soldier, this jump can be quite tricky. You have to either do a wall jump, or airstrafe. If you choose to airstrafe, do it from a similar position to the above sticky, and it should be easy to get onto the pipe. If you can’t airstrafe, don’t worry! Stand at the bottom of the pipe, do a normal high rocket jump, making sure to hold forwards, crouch, and keep your rocket launcher at the same angle. Then once you hit the peak of your jump, while still holding forwards and crouch, shoot another rocket into the corner. This will give you extra height and get you on top of the pipe. If you do this, however, you’ll use a lot of health, so consider the Gunboats, and make sure to ask for an overheal from any nearby Medics.

Why? – It’s out of the way, and since you’re high up, a lot of classes will have a difficult time hurting you, due to damage falloff, spread, and arcs. The view is surprisingly wide (see screenshot below), and it’s a good place to rain down explosives from, catching those who are unsuspectingly pushing the cart. Once you’re done, jumping down will cost a lot of health. To help reduce this, there’s a billboard with a big A on it. You can actually land on top of this billboard then jump the rest of the way. It won’t stop you taking fall damage altogether, but it might mean the difference between life and death. Unfortunately, you’re in full view of one of BLU’s exits, so if you’re on RED, you’re in danger of being sniped. Consider using this as a quick ambush then moving on.

Position 2

Where? - Around the corner from the first point. On the roof of the alcove, just before the push to second point.

Who? – Soldier and Demoman

How? – This jump is surprisingly simple, although it has one caveat. The area you can stand on this roof is a very small rectangle close to the corner. To get onto the roof, you have to make sure you’re as close to where it meets the other building as possible, otherwise you will hit an invisible wall and fall. To get up there, simply sticky or rocket jump from this spot.

If you’re a Demoman, you should get more than enough height to land on the roof. If you’re a Soldier, you need to practise getting close to the corner. After a few tries, you’ll learn what does and doesn’t work. Although I recommend it for all jumps, for this one in particular, it’s helpful to create your own local server and just practise.

Why? – It’s a very strong defensive position. You have just enough manoeuvrability to walk backwards a little and duck, giving you pretty good cover. When you’re not taking cover, you can shoot rockets or stickies down to defend the chokepoint, and when the cart moves past you, drop down and attack from the rear. Your view of the chokepoint is amazing, and there’s very little chance of being sniped:

Position 3

Where? – The pipe attached to the wall of the building next to point 2.

Who? – Soldier, Demoman

How? – This one’s just a simple hop up there. Standard rocket or sticky jump, just make sure not to overshoot. Approaching from the side is easier, just be careful not to overshoot.

Why? – A simple ambush. You have a clear view of the opposite entrance, and people coming from the other will tend to just walk straight past you. You’re pretty much on top of the small health pack, so you can guarantee some enemies will come your way, especially if you have a Pyro working his magic down on the ground. This is also somewhere from which to destroy any teleports placed out of reach on top of the vent.

Position 4

Where? – The pipe by the entrance to the small building just after point 2.

Who? – Everyone but Heavy.

How? – Two different methods. Playing anything but Soldier, simply jump onto what I have dubbed the “reactor thingy” pictured below. From there it’s a simple crouchjump to the pipe for most classes. Soldier is too slow to get across, so if you’re playing a Soldier, just do a short rocket jump onto the pipe instead.

Why? – Again, a simple ambush. People rarely look up, so laying in wait above them, then dropping down and stabbing their juicy exposed backs (Razorback notwithstanding) or blowing them up or setting them on fire or… well, you get the picture. Basically, ambushes are great.

So, this article has shown you four fun places to try standing next time you play Badwater. Discovering places like these is great fun. I encourage you all to create a local server and go exploring. You never know what you might find.

And not just any wrenches, of course.

Golden Wrenches.

Dearest Himmel,

I write to you not because your articles are awesome (they are) but because I was wondering if you could do me a small favor.

I don’t know if you have heard of it, but I am running a charity fundraiser in Team Fortress 2 for the Child’s Play Charity. So far it has raised nearly $900 (in about 3 days) on the premise that, at the end of the charity drive in August, I will delete my Golden Wrench (#31).

(Actually, the figure is well over $1000 now).

Recently, I have been able to convince two other golden wrench owners to join me, offering to destroy their wrenches as well if the fundraiser reaches certain benchmarks. I have at least 2 other wrench owners who have told me “maybe” so the total could be as much as five of these stupid wrenches.

Well, whether or not you want to see the wrenches gone, charity is charity, and kids are kids. If you’re interested, check out the Golden Charity information page, or watch the promo vid. Cheers to you, WiNG, and I hope you get something nice and sparkly for this. 

How did you get into Modelling?

Benjamuffin: Well, as I’ve said on the wiki, modelling is more Sam’s latest experiment in media. He, like I, like to learn how things are made, then work on the process of doing that thing ourselves. For me, modelling has probably got to be the one thing I have yet to try properly. The closest I’ve come is playing around in Blender a couple of months ago. As far as I know, modelling for Sam however was one of those things you feel you’d like to pick up and learn. Somewhat like a guitar I suppose, you see or hear someone playing something you like, and you wish you could just pick up that instrument and do it to at your leisure. That’s how I feel about most things I’m capable of using at a impressive level in media, and I think that’s likely the same case for him too. Especially seeing as most of his work these days goes to his deviantart rather than being used for anything.

Ah, I see. You did the Dalokohs Bar co-operatively, didn’t you? How did that process work?

Benjamuffin: Well the process was a little bit of fun really. We never thought anything would come of it. The two of us are close friends, and one night while talking on Skype, we were discussing the contribute page and the fact that I had recently released a Coach Heavy skin. Someone mentioned on the skin release that a chocolate bar would go great with the Coach Heavy, and I simply said to Sam. “Hey… how about we make the chocolate bar, then submit it to the contribute page?”. At this point Sam was pretty playful when approaching modelling, and shunned the thought a little of doing something serious so soon. But nevertheless, we sat and did it all in one night. Sam opened up the program, and I described how it should look (given it was intended for my skin release). So we sat and discussed exotic chocolate styles, and such, until we eventually came up with the chunky shape you see now. Needless to say we slept like logs during the morning of that day. So, to summarize my ability to digress beyond a simple answer: Sam modelled, and I supplied direction. I then worked around Sam’s rather “out there” texture map, and did the business in photoshop, which is where I am at home (having used it for about 5 years or so).

So the actual process of idea creation didn’t take very long at all?

Benjamuffin: I suppose not. We’re just fond of the playful side of Team Fortress 2, and wanted to contribute something that would support that. It would have likely been out of character for us to make a weapon, not unless it had fuzzy spheres on springs, and fuzzy dice attached to it. That and the weapon would have to fire cake or something. We wanted something we could use when we were just stood around playing with other users, rather than something that would go unnoticed during the heat of the battle. Everyone likes Sandvich Parties, so we figured, why not give him some more things to eat?

I’d use a cake gun anyday.

Benjamuffin: Hmm, maybe we made the wrong item… . Noted for the future.

Many would-be modellers and designers find it difficult to get into because the software choice is so large, and that the better quality options are a lot more expensive. What software do you and Sam use, and do you think it’s worth paying so much for the good stuff?

Benjamuffin: I suppose it all comes down to how talented you are to in some respects. For example, good video editors can create something in windows movie maker and people would be none the wiser, whereas a bad video editor will make it strikingly obvious. The same applies to software. If you have the willpower and the ability to understand where and when something is going wrong, and the ability to pick something up, then the free 3D modelling programs are fine for anyone. I’ve seen some brilliant things done with Blender. However when it comes to choosing something to model in, you can’t really go wrong with 3D studio Max. It’s the most commonly used application among the public as far as I know, and offers the most versatility. However in comparison to the free options, it comes with the hefty price tag, and it obviously isn’t as easy to pick up. However, if one works there way up from the bottom, following tutorials along the way, one can’t go wrong. Experimenting in free time is probably the best way. Forget official guide books. You can get a much better feel of your surroundings if you just run the program, and figure out everythings purpose. It’s how I was with photoshop, and I’ve never looked back. It also helps to find applications that have similar layouts. There’s no point in finding a rather indie and unknown 3D program, learning it’s layout, then finding the standard 3D applications use a different layout.

When designing the Dalokohs Bar, did you have any idea about what attributes it should have? Valve insist it’s not up to the creators to fulfil that goal, but some people do so anyway, or (unknowingly) make their contributions based on those ideas.

Benjamuffin: Not at all unfortunately. We never gave it a thought due to the fact that we didn’t think it would make it in given the many REALLY good modellers out there, and we were just doing it for a friendly bit of fun. There was also the aspect that we figured if it DID make it in, then we’d be fine with the fact it was in the game, regardless of what it did. Looking back however, I do wish that we had been able to put a little input into it. The publics reactions among the angsty teeny gaming community hasn’t been exactly 100% pleasant. People seem to forget, we’re only responsible for the item itself. When asked people think it looks great as a Team Fortress 2 chocolate bar, but most people tend to judge it on what it does. And now, what with the latest update to the Sandvich and Dalokohs, people seem to hate the bar even more. It’s a little saddening, but at the end of the day, we?re still very proud of the achievement. I wanted to say something about me being happy to help, in a humorous way, but my mind is lacking. So I shall just say “Jolly good!” and look the other way.

You currently maintain the Dalokohs’ respective page on the Official Team Fortress Wiki. To negate the fact that most people dislike its use over the Sandvich, can you recommend any good tips or times/situations to use it in?

Benjamuffin: Well initially I would say to casual people, “Most of you only use the Sandvich for eating in groups. Isn’t chocolate better?”, but since the downgrade I suppose a legitimate time would be if you are challenged by another Heavy several times. Or just as a buff in general. People claim the Sandvich is better due to the health gain, but I rarely see it used, and with the new cooldown, the Dalokohs is somewhat more useful. If used before battle. The Sandvich is pretty quick and just as useless in the heat of battle, as it can’t prolong your life when being attacked as it used to. So to summarize once more, if the threat demands you outlive a clashing opponent, or if in general you need a health boost. It’s a weapon about choosing your battles, and making your future ones more successful. Nothing more I can add really. People will think what they want to think at the end of the day. All weapons are situational, that is in essence the point of having different unlocks, yet people seem adamant on claiming things such as the Natascha or the Backburner are completely useless and that only noobs use them. It’s a little strange really.

When did you find out the Dalokohs was going to be implemented? Did Valve let you know a short time before the update, or was it a case of simply opening up the game and finding it there, or the steam forums revealing it? And also, when did you get your selfmade items, instantaneously or soon after?

Benjamuffin: Surprisingly Valve said nothing, even though there is an email section when submitting something. Even to this day we received nothing official stating we were in. Sam called me up in the middle of the night, in a hyped up mood, and told me to go and look in the GCF. Naturally, I was a little confused and annoyed, being woken up to look through files and folders of a game I regularly check the GCF for (for base skin files). He showed me c_chocolate. I got excited, but waited until I opened it up in the model viewer first. It was our bar. We were stunned and childlike about it all. This was during the night before it was released. But the first moment I stepped into TF2 in that area of time, I received the Self-Made Dalokohs Bar. The server I was on had about 3 people on it, who I don’t even remember anymore. But there you go. Kind of wish I’d gone on a busy server really. Also the map was 2fort. I was outside the red spawn room. There’s some random Trivia. Also I was Heavy. Wait… that was obvious, scratch that.

When someone’s trying to get into Modelling or Editing, can you recommend any resources you found useful?

Benjamuffin: With texture work, a lot of people advising others wishing to learn tell them to use VTFedit and Gimp, among several other applications. If you’re completely set on only using free programs, this is the way to go, but it’s a chore to do it that way. So many steps, and so many programs to go through. Photoshop is the best bet for anything graphical really. With the VTF plugin you’re good to go. When you get used to photoshop it’s a pretty straight forward program. Though following tutorials is a good way to learn. Not tutorials explaining the program, but tutorials that show you how to create a certain effect on a picture, or how to replicate a logo. Things slowly become second nature after doing those for a while, and it also comes with the benefit of creating decent looking work, when you’re only a novice. For 3D, as I’ve said, Blender is a great place to learn. It’s free and there are even tutorials on the Steam forums on how to model hats in it. So you’re covered on that one. Another program that has some uses for Team Fortress 2 texture making is a program called Corel Painter. It is laid out very much like photoshop, and has the ability to simulate real life painting. It’s the kind of program Valve switched to when they stopped painting giant textures then scanning them in. It gives clarity, and avoids photo artifacts. I haven’t used it beyond painting pictures, but it’s great to get that patchy hand painted look for Team Fortress 2. It’s a lot of fun to use, but a bit awkward (Painter). There are some amazing artwork pieces out there made in it, that you would SWEAR were painted with real paint. Anyone can pick that one up and create something.

If there is one thing you learnt when modelling/texturing for TF2, what would you pass on? So far, New has said it’s key to get your project ingame to check it looks alright. What can you add?

Benjamuffin: That’s a good piece of advice. And I would agree, the model viewer has limitations. What looks fine outside the game can have unexpected problems ingame. It can be tedious going back and forth, but it’s better in the long run. You should see my desktop. It’s cluttered with copies of the same file, material structured folders (ready for drag dropping into a copy of TF2). The two things I hate are pixel stretching and doing two things for alpha channels. For pixel stretching an example would be that I had to do stripes on something, and the right looking size came out at 1 pixel in width. The model, then causes the texture to stretch in places sometimes, which means it’s wider than one pixel on the model. Now the problem with that, is photoshop can’t go smaller than a pixel in width for a brush. So you have to then make the texture bigger, which can cause peoples computers to go a bit odd if it’s not up to scratch. It’s a very annoying process when you come across something like that. The other thing is alpha channels as said. If I have something that needs to light up, and have a normals map too, I end up tyng myself in knots and making a mess as it means I need more than one alpha channel somewhere. It just confuses me. So I guess what you could take from this is: If you come across pixel stretching issues, resize your texture to be large. Providing the scale is the same, the game will make everything look right. Just don’t make it TOO big, or people will hate you for it. And if you’re stuck on alpha channels… don’t ask me as I’ll probably mess something up, because I never remember the details of that that until I’m stuck into it.

Is there any interesting trivia about the bar you could share?

Benjamuffin: Well most people have figured out that it’s Shokolad spelt backwards. And the other stuff such as the slogan which is cut off by the wrapper, which is now on the Wiki trivia thanks to me. But I suppose if people didn’t know, the bar originally had a normals map, and was submitted in blue without team colors. So it originally looked a lot more detailed in some ways, and the BLU team can now either rejoice, or explode with anger. It’s their bar, they should deal with it. Eat it, I mean… Oh! And people always mess up how to pronounce the name. It’s a European bar, so it has no rounded vowels. People like to say Dah-low-cuss. It’s as I wrote on the Wiki, Dah-loh-cuss, or Dah-lock-uss. I just hope the Valve team get it right if they ever get round to giving the Heavy some lines for it. Another small bit of trivia, though it’s not as important, is that I like to change the bar’s lore at random when on servers. I find that being the creator, people take it as fact until I change my mind. It’s a little bit of fun.

When will we have our official WHITE Dalokohs Bar? We know you have it hidden somewhere, and some people (including myself) would prefer a lighter variety.

Benjamuffin: Funny you should say that! I’ve been emailing Robin about that one on and off. He’s a bit of a promise breaker somewhat. Now and then, I will email him about Dalokohs changes. Textures and such (the white one being one of the main ones). And every time, he has turned round and said they will try and get it in. That’s the impression of most of his emails. Then nothing happens. He is a busy man though, so I’m not surprised if he forgets it about it. However, at one point I did suggest the Self-made one could be the only white one. But that’s just me, heh heh heh. I do love white chocolate. My hopes are that someday the Dalokohs will make it into a Meet The… video. Even if it’s just a background prop. Until then I can’t wait for new Heavy lines. I can guarantee that will go as my phone ringtone.

A Heavy with his gun and full of chocolate is a happy Heavy.

Thank you very much for the interview, it’s been informative.

Benjamuffin: Cheers.

Lessons Learnt:
-If collaborating with another person on your submission, make sure that you discuss the details and clearly get what you want from them across.
-Don’t end up relying on guides and tutorials. They may be good for learning the very basics of a software package, but try to get a feel for it yourself once you’ve got those and simply learn by doing.
-If using Photoshop, try to find plugins for editing .vtf files, the primary filetype used for Valve’s textures.
-Remember that when applying a texture a model, the texture’s features may appear uniform but on the model can be distorted. To remedy this, either edit the texture so that the composed model looks how you want it to, or alter the model slightly to acommodate the texture’s details. In the event that you can’t make any details smaller, increase the size of the entire texture.

Credits: Benjamuffin for the Interview and for filling in for Sam somewhat.
The Official Team Fortress Wiki for providing Dalokohs and Heavy pictures.

…And there’s the knowhow behind the Dalokohs Bar! Join us next time for an interview with the creator of the Frenchman’s Beret.

To address this, I have been conducting a series of interviews with established Community Contributors, the people behind the models who have helped provide material for new game mechanics (The Tribalman’s Shiv, The Southern Hospitality), taken Valve’s concepts and ran even further with them (The Scotsman’s Skullcutter, The Dalokohs Bar) and covered countless people’s heads with marvellous new headwear. For those that want to see what kind of software or packages people use, here you go. For those that want to see how long it took to design so-and-so, here you go. And for those less interested in the know-how of it, you can find out interesting trivia that only creators previously knew, and other little stories surrounding the less published parts of TF2. This is going to be the first in a series, so expect more interviews, hopefully with the creators of your favourite community contribution. I will also be posting a list of lessons learned from each interview, to summarize the key points that can be learnt from each interview.

_______________________________

My first interviewee was New, the creator of the Tribalman’s Shiv and an avid modeller. The Tribalman’s Shiv was released in the second wave of community content, and introduced the unique bleed mechanic to the game.

Alright then, let’s start. I guess my first question is, how did you get into modelling?

New: It started when I first got my Nintendo 64 and I decided I wanted to make game art. I just went around downloading trials for different programs like Lightwave 3D, 3DS Max, Maya, and eventually I settled with Softimage3D since I liked it the most. I just read through as many tutorials and articles as I could and tried my best to create things I would see in games that I liked as a child.

In which case, is it recommended to get the paid software (such as 3DS Max, or I assume Softimage3D)? Some of the more accessible (i.e. freeware) ones like Blender and Milkshape can be used, but their interface and overall quality can be a lot harder to get to grips with or different than others, something beginners may find difficult.

New: I personally recommend getting the paid software. They have better support for the most part as well as a larger community. All the big game companies use things like 3DS Max and Maya and Softimage, and only use free software to compliment their already established workflows. I also tried Blender back when it was 2.49 and I immediately did not like the interface at all. It seemed badly put together and I couldn’t figure out where anything was. I basically used it for almost 10 minutes before uninstalling it. You were also correct when you thought Softimage is a paid software, though it is cheaper then Max or Maya.

Ah, right. Some people are uncertain about their hefty price tag, but it seems right that they have it, considering the quality you pay for.

Roughly how long did the entire process of creating the Shiv take? From idea to submission, some experienced modellers take no time at all and some can take much longer, so do you think that your timespan was either of these?

New: Oh boy, how long it took. Well I first decided I didn’t want to spend very much time on this project since I was procrastinating in school too much, and had a lot to catch up on. I first spent a few days in Math class drawing up some concepts and thinking of what class I would create something for. I can’t give an exact time but it took 2 classes so something like 3 hours for the concept. After that I had established that I wanted to make a sniper melee weapon. After that I decided to develop the idea a bit more. I noticed he had a wooden primary weapon as well as a wooden secondary and decided to make the melee wooden as well. From there I ended up with two finished concepts. The first was a paddle that was carved from a piece of wood with some animal teeth attached to it and the second was the shiv which would just be a simple wooden knife. To me the knife seemed like it could be made very quickly which is what I needed so I went with that. That phase took about 8 minutes. From there I started using the concept and the model of the machete as a reference for size until I had made the Shiv in less then an hour. It was a very simple shape to make for the most part. From there texturing and creating the UV maps took 20 minutes. After this I spent 3 hours trying to export it into the source engine, but I could never get it to show in-game. After that I just decided to send it in as is and a few months later it was in a update. So I suppose this took no time at all at a total time of 7 hours 28 minutes, I believe. Though if I knew it would be accepted, I would have gone back and made it look a lot better. I actually thought the model was so bad that I actually deleted the original files, only to find out it was accepted later, annoyingly.

So the majority of the time invested was the idea phase?

New: Yes it was, though it was most likely less since I had to hide it from the teacher.

Ah, I see.

New: The most time spent creating a solid idea, the faster I can create the finished product in my head and from there, making it actually becomes much easier than people would think.

When designing the Shiv, did you have any thoughts about what attributes it would have? It’s enforced by Valve that it is not necessary to submit ideas for attributes, but some people do so anyway, or (unknowingly) set about designing a weapon with their ideal attributes in mind.

New: I had no intention of bleeding as an attribute for the shiv in any part during the creation. I was only supposed to be a model replacement for the normal machete. But I guess valve thought that would be boring and decided to surprise everyone, especially the Spies who seemed really butthurt about it.

Are you happy with the way Valve have handled your submission? The Tribalman’s Shiv was originally a unanimously accepted and used upgrade to the Machete, but with the coming of the Engineer update and the second bleed-using weapon (The Southern Hospitality) it was toned down for supposed balance reasons.

New: I couldn’t be happier with the way the submission was handled, at least at first. I liked it when it did a larger amount of damage before the update since I’m actually really bad at TF2. Anything that helps me get more kills was better and I liked the way it did more damage over a period of time. With the recent updates though the only reason I use my Shiv is because it sparkles. Not to mention I can’t really hit anything with it now since there are Baby Sentries EVERYWHERE. Hopefully in a few weeks this will change and everyone will start playing Engineer less.

Would you have liked to have a little more influence on how the Shiv turned out? While determining weapon attributes was up to Valve, would you have liked to have some hand in its mechanics?

New: Not really. Valve is successful for a a reason, they know what they’re doing. Though I would have liked it if they had the Shiv world and View models face the proper way.

Bizarre Mistakes, Vol. 1: The man born with his Shiv the wrong way round.

Ah yes, THAT problem…

New: Valve are silly sometimes.

When did you find out that the Shiv was going to be implemented? Was it a short time before the update which included it, or was it literally something that you found upon opening up the game that day? And in relation to that, when did you get your self-made shiv, on the update or a while after?

New: I wasn’t actually notified by Valve that it was put in. My IRL and steam friend LuFa actually saw the picture of the Shiv in a thread on the steam forums when someone opened the models in Gmod to show them off. After I found out it was included in the update I felt stupid for deleting the files. I went and opened TF2 immediately, but the steam servers were busy for a few hours. When I finally got on, I didn’t receive the shiv for about half an hour after I actually got online.

Well, I guess that was a nice surprise, if a little delayed.

New: Yes it was, I took pics and showed everyone online. Nothing like bragging and rubbing it in everyone’s face once in a while.

When someone’s trying to get into modelling, can you recommend any resources or tips that you found helpful?

New: When you first start, open your program of choice and read through the help files. Most have tutorials on how to model things like chess pieces and will teach you the basics. After that, choose something you’re interested in and make it. If you really like what you’re making, its easier to stay motivated and actually finish it. Don’t be afraid to post on forums for critiques on both the model itself (topology, smoothing, etc.) but also on the texture. There are plenty of good places with people who are willing to take a few minutes to write something for you. This leads to being actually being able to take critique. I’ve read and seen a lot of people who can’t take any opinion that doesn’t glorify the piece of garbage they made (Deviant Art) and they end up freaking out and instead of learning and making it better their work stays at a very low level. A lot of places I visit even though I don’t post there are http://www.game-artist.net/forums/, http://www.polycount.com/forum/, http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/index.php and http://www.zbrushcentral.com/. All of these places, even though not strictly directed at me, give useful hints and tips aswell as inspiration to try and do better (especially the Zbrushcentral site, goddamn some of the stuff on there is intense).

Alright, awesome.

If there was one key thing that you learned when modelling for TF2, what would that thing be?

New: Try to find a way to view it in-game even if it means using a different modeling package or having a friend do it for you. The day the Shiv came out everyone was saying that it doesn’t fit the style of TF2 and similar things. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t have known since whenever I tried viewing it ingame the model would show up with no texture and glowed bright white (so I couldn’t fix it to make it look like it belonged in the TF2 universe).

New: Another thing.

Oh?

New: Wood looks awful in the TF2 universe. It’s just brown, flat brown.

At least the Shiv has some nice orange to it.

New: There’s actually a reason for the orange. I couldn’t export hard edges with the model, so the smoothing was awful. Without the orange you couldn’t tell where it was sharp.

On the Official Team Fortress Wiki there’s a note about the shiv supposedly being designed as having been made from the wood of a certain tree that promotes bleeding, is this intended at all or rampantly loose speculation? Not the bleeding part specifically, as that was Valve’s idea, but the concept of it being a special tree.

New: Rampantly loose speculation but pretty cool at least. No special tree for me, just wood and Mann Co. technology I guess.

Magical.

New: A magic tree, grown by science.

Do you have any interesting trivia to share about the shiv?

New: The knife was supposed to have teeth roped onto it with twine or sinew, but I couldn’t find a way to make it look good which is why there are notches on the knife instead.

Did you enter into the polycount contest, or ever think about it?

New: I thought about it but never got around to it. I bought a bunch of games including Monster Hunter Tri which has already eaten 250 hours of my life, so I haven’t had much time. Though, I have a few medic and sniper ideas, but I’m not sure if they’ll get on paper or not.

Was it originally called the Tribalman’s shiv?

New: No, that name was given to it by Valve. I couldn’t think of a name and originally for file naming purposes just called it Wooden_Kukri.

Interesting how they didn’t use Tribesman’s instead.

New: Hmm, yeah. Odd.

Wait, so which way is the right way up? With the notches facing towards the enemy?

New: The notches go up with the smooth part down. Originally when it crit he was supposed to flip it so he swung with the teeth down, but I couldn’t figure out the custom animations I needed, since I’m awful at it.

Complimentary sparkles not shown. The ultimate tool for the fashionable bushwhacker.

Alright, that seems like everything. Thank you VERY much for the interview.

New: You’re welcome.

Lessons Learned
-Software choices are variable in modelling, so try many different packages out and find the one that you like the most.
-Paid software such as 3DSMax and Maya are expensive, but well worth the price tag in terms of resultant quality.
-Remember that Valve are the ones who determine the attributes of the contributions, so don’t try designing your weapons specifically for your gameplay ideas.
-Make sure to view your model in-game, even if it involves changing around software and file types, or getting a friend to do it for you. This will allow you to see any major flaws with the model when actually placed in the context of the TF2 universe, and also give you time to adjust it appropriately.
-Readily use resources such as the sites listed above to assess your work, learn from others, and most importantly of all, take critique. You will not get very far unless you develop the ability to do so, and accept that your work may need improvements.

Credits: New for being a good sport, agreeing to the interview and sending me the screenshots of his self-made shiv.
LuigiFan/LuFa for helping me get a hold of New. Cheers!
The Official Team Fortress Wiki for the images and killicons of the Shiv.

…and that’s the story behind the Tribalman’s Shiv! Join us next time for an interview with one of the creators of the Dalokohs Bar.

There are a couple other ones in the works too, featuring the Pyro, the Sniper, and the Engineer. There’s also one with a surprisingly risqué Heavy/Medic pairs dance sequence. I, for one, can’t wait for these to be finished.