#tf2 is such a core part of who i am that no matter how many phases with other things i have. i'll always come back to it

[the-captains-on-shore-leave]

I've seen a lot of tf2 stuff here and I'm wondering if I should get into it? I know OF the game, but that's pretty much it. What's it about? Where do I start?

buddy Y E S. it’s like this weird unlikely ~timeless masterpiece~ that has sooo many different facets to it. it’s silly and ridiculous and saturated with lots of interesting lore and characters, as well as fun and INCREDIBLY versatile gameplay- it can be played like a serious shooter with a serious objective, or it can become a block party where everything’s silly taunts and hats and the points don’t matter and oh boy just wait until you see the halloween events. tf2′s given me some of the best friends i’ve ever had, has gotten me through some of my darkest times, and has just generally brought me so much joy (directly and indirectly) throughout the years, that it will probably be one of my favorite video games for the rest of my life. so YES i highly recommend you give it a shot lol.

AND OK, SO…I ENDED UP WRITING A LOT. LIKE BASICALLY A BRIEF CRASH COURSE ON TF2. but c’mon man you’re asking me about one of my favorite games..i can’t help myself lol. i mean…objectively it’s very short for covering 10+ years of content, riiiight

but foreal it’ll just take a few minutes to read and it will give you some useful insight into tf2, what it is, and everything else you need to start your ✧・ﾟ:* magical   *:・ﾟ✧ hat-based journey (btw almost all italics are links jsyk, i know my blog is dumb and doesn’t make that obvious)

TL;DR:gaem is about shoot and silly hat with 9 boyes. is v fun 2 play, start with am watch meet the team videoz on tf yootoob.

And now for a more detailed explanation:

i’ll start by telling you how it began:  “team fortress” was the first team fortress series game ever made. this game was a quake mod, made in the mid-90s, not developed by valve, and based in another engine. it got reeeally popular, so, eventually, valve saw it, liked it, and put a ring on it, hiring the team to make a team fortress half-life mod, and later, a standalone version, known as “team fortress classic” (essentially, in regards to modern lore, tf1). valve eventually started developing a standalone sequel to tfc, “team fortress 2: brotherhood of arms.” this game was, stylistically, VERY different from the tf2 we know today- it was a super-realistic military game (kinda like counter strike?). but for some reason (thank you god) they ended up doing a 180 and went for something more cartoony  (if they’d gone with that original design, tf2 probably would’ve outdated and died off years ago). this more cartoony style is what you see today.

so now we’ve covered tf2′s history, let’s talk about what it is:  team fortress 2 is an online team-based multiplayer first-person shooter game that features a variety of gamemodes. here’s the basic in-game menu layout when you fire it up:

these different gamemodes include a casual mode, a competitive mode, and a player vs bot mode (which is super fuuuunn). here’s what the menu looks like when you click the “find a game” tab:

i’m mostly familiar with casual mode (formally known as “pubs” for “public servers”), which is the main part of the game anyway, so i’ll list what type of objectives you have to choose from in casual mode: (CORE GAME MODES) attack/defense, capture the flag, control points, king of the hill, and payload; (VALVE DIDN’T KNOW WHAT THEY WERE DOING ALTERNATIVE GAME MODES)  payload race, mannpower, pass time, and miscellaneous game modes.

but tf2 doesn’t only appear in game form! i remember i was hella confused about what exactly tf2 was for the longest time because of this, so next, let’s break down what it manifests as:  a video game, a comic series, and animated shorts (both official and fan-made). source filmmaker (sfm) is the animation program valve developed and uses to animate their shorts. a few years ago, this program was made free to the public, so there have been maaaaany many fan animations and posters made over the years about tf2 using the program. so many, in fact, that valve decided to start holding an annual tf2 film festival, called “the saxxy awards” (”saxxy” coming from “saxton hale,” a dude we’ll touch on ina bit). the festival is an opportunity for animators to showcase their skills, and SO many seriously amazing projects have come out of them. i recommend checking out winglet, uberchain, mag magnet, krunkidile (specifically his “TSA” series), py-bun, and nonamesleft, they are all very skilled animators who are also quite active in the community! there are so many more amazing sfm animators, but my brain is just about fried (it’s almost 4am), so i can’t think of them right now, but keep an ear open for whenever this year’s saxxies roll around and you’ll discover more no problem!

let’s move onto what it’s about:  the story takes place in the 1970s, and centers around 9 mercenaries who have been hired to fight in a “war.” the “war” was started by 2 bitch ass rich ass brothers who got their wealthy father to buy an enormous expanse of land in new mexico and move their family there. the brothers hated each other with a petty fury, and their father hated them both because the land they convinced him to buy….was absolutely worthless! so when he died, he gave their family munitions company “mann co.” to his closest aide (barnabus hale), and left them both nothing but that enormous plot of worthless gravel-filled land (hence the name “the gravel wars”) to fight over. and they’ve been fighting over it ever since. the bros got played, but they are so single-minded in their sibling rivalry that they don’t care.

it’s on this land where most of the in-game maps are located. the brothers’ names are redmond mann and blutarch mann (hence the team names red and blu). in-game, you play on either red or blu. on both sides, you can play as any of the 9 mercenaries, scout/soldier/pyro (offense), heavy/demoman/engineer (defense), or sniper/medic/spy (support). it’s never really touched upon in lore how both brothers managed to hire the same mercenaries to fight, and it probably never will be, since it is just an in-game mechanic. but it does still beg the question. in the shorts, it’s shown that they literally fight clones of themselves (like in the game). in the comics, certain mercenaries are shown on blu team, while others are on red. there are a lot of fan theories, but generally it’s just said that “they fight each other” (interpret as you will). the world may never know.

each of the mercs are referred to by their job title (i.e. heavy weapons guy, sniper, medic, etc.), but they have their own real names oc (except maybe pyro). however, we don’t know all their names yet. they each have really unique personalities and skills that have built them to be these memorable characters. which leads me to where you should start:

i would say go to the team fortress youtube channel and just start working your way through the videos. Start with the “meet the ____” videos, cause those will give you a sense of who the 9 mercenaries are personality-wise (and sort of lore- and gameplay-wise, too). on that channel, you’ll also find some shorts that don’t have to do with any particular mercenary. these shorts were made to coincide with the various in-game updates that have happened throughout the years (the most recent short being “jungle inferno,” released just a few months ago).

once you’ve gone through all of that, and if you find you wanna dive deeper into the lore of tf2, you could start reading the tf2 comics. i highly recommend them, they’re all written very well, have a great sense of humor, and have a surprisingly extensive and intriguing storyline. you can find them all here. the comics are broken up into sections:  tf comics, update comics, and the saxton series. the saxton series are some silly vintage comic book covers that feat. ya boi saxton hale (current owner of mann co. and grandson of barnabus hale. also i didn’t mention this before but mann co. supplies the gravel war effort. jsyk). the saxton series isn’t really lore relevant. but the update and tf comics are. i highly recommend starting from the bottom of the page and working your way up. pay attention to the date the comic was uploaded (beneath the comic icon and title), and just read them in chronological order from oldest to newest. that way you won’t get confused or not know who’s who, what’s happening, etc. it’ll basically be like you were along for the updates without having to put up with the wait! speaking of which…

currently we’re all on the edge of our seats waiting for the next and final tf2 comic. been waiting for over a year and counting…

the last comic came two years after it’s predecessor, so….let’s just say you’ve got time. and plenty of it.

OKAY SO I THINK THAT JUST ABOUT BRIEFLY TOUCHES ON EVERYTHING U GOTTA KNOW. the rest of the story is lore stuff that you really should read in the comics. it’s worth it, trust me. and you just gotta experience the game for yourself. you can add me if you want (send me your steam profile) and we can play some. i’m always down for a few rounds :)

anyway, i hope this was helpful and not too tedious to get through. most importantly, i hope it encouraged you to get into tf2! it might seem daunting or a lot of stuff to take in at first, but it gets easier once you get a foothold. and you might decide that you don’t really care for the lore, only the game. or vice versa. but however you choose to enjoy it, it’s a great thing to experience, and i hope you choose to. i hope i helped at least a bit!

[liketherogue]

Gigantic & PAX West Decompression (9/6)

Been a while since I posted about games, but August was a rather weird month for me. Aside from making and releasing my first game, friends came up to visit, job-hunted, and questioned my career choices. Standard stuff.

To start off with, last weekend I attended PAX West in what was my 2nd full convention, 2.5 overall (interesting story that involves a Portal sweater, Chipotle, and testing the bonds of friendship). PAX was a truly amazing experience that further cemented my drive to be in the video game industry, no matter the capacity. My problem has been where exactly that niche is. At 24 years old, I’ve got a bit of a late start compared to other people. But, as I have told myself and other people have told me, it’s wrong to think of the past few years as a waste. Without them, without the struggles I endured, I wouldn’t be in a position now where it truly feels like I’m following my passion. 

It does get hard sometimes. Despite my best efforts, comparison will always seep through, and with them regrets. Regret that I didn’t follow this sooner. Regret that I didn’t study compsci. Regret that I haven’t been more consistent with my creative endeavors. But regrets look only at the past, and while the past has been important to shape who I am today, my focus needs to be directed forward.

Video games have always been a part of my life and will continue to be important to me. Seeing that same dedication and passion at PAX West was truly eye-opening. Getting to meet the developers to Children of Zodiarcs, discovering that the LucasArts crew is back and better than ever, and simply being in an environment where games are celebrated: well, it was better than I could’ve imagined.

So until the day I find myself a part of the industry that creates these fantastic titles, I’ll be happy simply adoring them from a distance. 

At least that distance has shrunk, right?

Due to a mix of different factors, I haven’t played many video games lately. Gigantic is one of the few that I have consistently made time for. I’ve been a fan of the game since it was first announced back in 2014 and tried to play the closed beta (my computer was potatoes at the time). With the game’s full release, it’s at an extremely polished state in terms of aesthetics and design. Unfortunately, with the rise of hero shooters like Overwatch, Paladins, and Battleborn, it’s gotten a bit lost in the shuffle. It’s a shame, because Gigantic is very clearly a labor of love made all the more impressive that the team sits at under 100 developers. Having met the developers at PAX West and confirmed that they are indeed passionate creators, I want this game to succeed even more. It’s not without its rough edges but overall it’s a fantastic experience.

Story

The world of Gigantic is rather vague and a simple Light (House Aurion) vs. Dark (House Devaedra). Five heroes fight for a giant glowing gryphon against another set of five heroes fighting for a giant glowing snakedragon thing. Battles take place across three different locations (desert industry, overgrown and waterlogged ruins, shipwrecked glacier) where ultimately the focus is the gameplay, not the story.

That said, there are still quite a few story elements to be found that aren’t tied to the core gameplay. Gigantic divvies up its lore and backstory in the skins for the heroes and their weapons, doling out bits of information through small sentences that, much like Dark Souls, gives a very small window into a very wide world. Currently, it’s a mish-mash of interesting lore, so hopefully Motiga will take the effort to tie these threads together somehow later down the line.

Mechanics

Back in the beta, the game handled rather floatily. Floaty? Floatingly? Yes. At any rate, whatever has been done since then has smoothed everything out immensely. What Overwatch did for FPSes, Gigantic did for OTS 3rd person. This is thank is no small part to the gorgeous animation on Motiga’s part, where moving in three dimensional space feels like a watercolor in motion. Every motion flows beautifully from one to the next and all the abilities flow and cancel into each other very smoothly.

My one gripe is with the stamina system which, balance-wise, I understand, but it still takes some getting used to. The in/out of combat system isn’t entirely intuitive, at least off the bat. The more games I’ve played the less attention I’ve had to actively pay to the indicator at the bottom of my screen that lets me know as I’m about to exit combat. 

At first, it was easy to get lost in the effects and numbers piling up but I’ll attribute that more to getting used to the format of the game rather than any design flaw on the developers’ part. As each game passed and I became increasingly familiar with each Hero’s abilities and the corresponding particle effects, it became easier to parse out what was happening where and why. The combat can best be described as controlled chaos, but that’s pretty standard fare for hero-based games. And that’s a large part of why I love them.

On the macro scale of things, matches take place across roughly symmetrical arenas that, similar to Heroes of the Storm, has objectives laid out that generate resources for the team that has captured them. Fighting, if both teams are doing the right thing, will largely take place around these objectives. What I particularly love about Gigantic’s gameplay is that the objectives are active rather than passive, in the sense that gameplay is more than just about standing in and around the objective. The players can actively manipulate what sort of defenses the objective will have and it does factor into how the flow of a fight will pan out. The macro affects the micro in more ways than one and it’s been a delight to sort out the method in the madness.

Aesthetic

Gigantic is flat out gorgeous. The bold, striking colors and shapes all blend together in three dimensional space to create a vibrant world that is pure visual bliss to move through. It takes a page out of TF2 and, where Overwatch went a step towards realism, Gigantic takes a step towards style. Shapes and features are exaggerated, but form still does follow function. That’s a critical component missing from a lot of other games, e.g. Battleborn, Atlas Reactor, Borderlands, where the stylized visual aspects are incredibly pronounced but at times it feels like they’re colorful for the sake of being colorful. In a panel presented by the Motiga devs at PAX, they talked about the importance of shapes, silhouettes, and form/function dictating a character’s geometry. 

Another huge point in the game’s favor is the decision to go for a more storybook feel, in that the characters feel very heavily cartoony and stylized while belonging to established Western fairy tale archetypes. It fits the world of Gigantic quite well. It threads a fine line between stark danger and playful whismy, whirling together into a blend of storybook fantasy that feels almost nostalgic.

Technology

Gigantic was built in Unreal 3, which explains the impressive effects that the game produces. Complex geometry is formed real-time and lighting and shading are cast on large, packed scenes. I don’t know too much about Unreal or what it’s capable of, but especially since beta whatever Motiga has done to smooth things out it shows.

Note: Posting this 10 days after I initially started writing, but chalk that up to an incredibly debilitating fever and a slightly bloody concussion. Better late than never, as it goes.