![]() ![]() The game was set to have a much more realistic tone than the predecessor and promotional screenshots released for the game confirm this. Whilst these mods were being developed and Classic was enjoying its popularity, Valve began work on a direct sequel, Team Fortress 2: Brotherhood of Arms. These small modifications proved popular with existing players who sought to tailor the game to their own preferences. Most of these included relatively minor changes to the gameplay, such as implementing a money system in order to buy weapons and equipment and the introduction of new gear. There were also a multitude of modifications for Team Fortress Classic: NeoTF, CustomTF and MegaTF being the key ones. When Epic announced Unreal Tournament 20, new Team Fortress mods were announced but some never managed to make it past the Beta testing stages. Similarly, Unreal Fortress, developed for the Unreal engine allowed for more equipment and 5 game modes. Quake III Fortress never really managed to build up a large following yet remained popular amongst a small number of internet gamers. ![]() There were several notable modifications, but few managed the popularity of the original or Classic. From here, the modifications and different versions began to really multiply in earnest. Team Fortress Classic was now very popular, ranking alongside Counter Strike as the most played online game, with huge numbers of servers running it. The Demoman's "demo pack" grenade is now infamous, with its cluster bomb explosion often annihilating entire teams and even servers, as it wasn't 56k friendly. Interestingly, grenades were often a source of friction when skilled players could often use them with almost unfair precision. Team Fortress Classic also built upon the class system of the previous version by having each carry a unique weapon, as well as secondary and melee ones and a selection of grenades. After an update, a fourth game mode "football" was created, in which a ball must be captured and taken to the enemies' goal. In this game, one team is tasked with protecting the vulnerable VIP (a tenth class with only a melee weapon) whilst the other team must assassinate them. The emphasis on cooperation was still key to success and utilizing classes effectively was essential.Ĭlassic contains a range of game modes, including the now obligatory "capture the flag" and "capture control points" as well as the interesting VIP mode. Now, it became about a battle between the teams and became slightly faster paced in comparison. In the original modification for Quake, the game was primarily about hiding and could be suitably tense, yet Classic altered this. ![]() This remake was released in 1999 as a free addition to Half Life and made some changes to create a slightly different game. Yet, despite the set back Cook and Walker joined Valve and began working on a remake of the original game for the Half Life game engine, which became Team Fortress Classic. However, regardless of the work which had gone into the project, it never saw the light of day. Team Fortress remained highly popular amongst online gamers and soon work began on a sequel for Quake II by the original trio of developers. By the end of 1996 Team Fortress had a large internet following, largely from interested Quake players. It wasn't until version 2.5 that the Engineer, Spy and Pyro were added to create the classic 9 class line up. The Heavy was introduced alongside the now classic 2Fort. Soon, a 1.1 update was released, which began to introduce the changes that created the Team Fortress most people know and love. Interestingly, the original release contained only 5 classes: Scout, Sniper, Soldier, Demo Man and the Medic. By introducing different classes, this offered a more tactical and strategic approach to the game and helped separate Team Fortress from other titles. They sought to develop a game which offered something different than the standard "deathmatch" experience. The original Team Fortress was developed by Robin Walker, John Cook and Ian Caughley as a mod for Quake. When you look back and compare the very earliest incarnation, is it really so different from the smooth and polished version released only last year? Team Fortress was arguably the first popular online class-based multiplayer game, which goes a long way to explaining why at least 14 different versions exist. Yet if we trace back the game to its humble origins, as a mod for Quake in August 1996, we can see how far the series has come. When Team Fortress 2 was released in October 2007 it finally completed its 9 year development cycle and was warmly received by critics and gamers alike. Articles // 6th Aug 2008 - 15 years ago // By Steve 'Rasher' Greenfield Sentry Going Up : The Team Fortress Story ![]()
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