Fortress-Forever News

Dev. Journal: Nezumi

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Nezumi) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:37:36 GMT

'Sup y'all!

2.1 is, like, right here. We're in the kinda 'last call' phase, where everyone is threatened with getting their content excluded if they don't submit it like right now.

Which brings me to the main point of this dev jernal: ff_anticitizen and ff_tiger are done. Like, done done. /champaign.

So, there ya go. Someone will probably have an update about the installers being assembled, and our shamanic witch-doctors performing the arcane rite of linux compiling in a day or so.

I've got all sorts of ideas for projects to do next, but I'm not going to worry about that for a little while.

News: Q&A 6 - Now with PICTURES

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Fortress Forever Team) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:46:00 GMT

Welcome to Week 6 of our community Q&As, where you ask the questions and the devs answer them!

This week is full of a lot of questions that even we don't really know the answers to. We try to keep you guys in the know for development of new features, but a lot of things are still in the early planning stages. Saying anything definitively about many of the subjects covered today would be a mistake to say the least!

As always, feel free to drop down to our forums and ask a question yourself - we love to hear them, and while we don't answer every single question posted we certainly read them!

Special thanks to our correspondent Shadow00Caster for his fine photography featured in this week's Q&A.

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Question 1 (Dinosaur Gas, Hirohito):
When will FF comply with the Half-Life logging standard so programs like HLStatsX can work with the mod? Has there been any progress on the stats system?

Answer 1:
FF is currently focusing on upgrading to the Orange Box for a future patch. If we decide to implement the logging standards required by HLStatsX it would be after the OB conversion. Patch 2.2 is a possibility, but of course we are looking at our own solutions for stat tracking (as we have since before the public release) that would render a third party plugin like HLStatsX unnecessary for Fortress Forever.

The Orange Box upgrade brings a lot of new prospects to the mod, and stats are something that we'll be looking at.

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Question 2 (Firefox11):
AvD dustbowl style maps will get a fixed time limit, like 22/23 minutes just like in TFC to avoid 60 minute long rounds on some servers or shorter rounds than usual? Also, are there any plans on increasing the last CP point value to 50 to match TFC's?

Reasoning behind that: 5 points to Defense per minute = 110/115 points for a complete hold in 23 minutes rounds, but Offense only gets 30*3 = 90 points total for all three CPs. If the last CP is worth 50, a last second capture ends in a tie, since Defense did resist the whole timer but Offense captured just in time. (Also, I think this is more fair that Offense winning, Defense is harder and they held the HQ...)

ff_dustbowl

Answer 2:
The devs are currently discussing how we should handle scoring and the round timer for AvD maps. We have not reached a decision as of now.

Update by Nezumi: We're going the TFC route where the lua forces the round to end after a fixed time limit. Right now, Dustbowl and Anticitizen are both at 25 minutes, although either may be balanced up or down before release. The scoring is set up so the defenders get the same amount of points for holding until the end that the attackers would get for capping all 3 points. So no more confusion.

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Question 3 (chilledsanity)
What's the new ETA for bots coming out?

Answer 3
As many of you know, Dr. Evil is working on the bots. They'll be released in a future FF patch when he thinks they're ready for primetime. And if you're wondering about it... sorry guys, but bots don't have any chance of making 2.1.

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Question 4 (Firefox11):
Will the Pyro get a way of increasing burn level without having to use all three weapons?

Burn Level 2 in action!

Answer 4:
This is something that's been debated a good bit in the beta and dev forums. There are many possible ideas being tossed around, but unfortunately none of them will be implemented for 2.1.

Despite what a lot of people think, we do look at the Ideas & Suggestions forum. Some of us read it obsessively.

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Question 5 (Kubedawg):
Are there any new options or menus being added to the Fortress Options selection while in Fortress Forever?

Answer 5:
Short answer, not in 2.1.

As for 2.2 and beyond, we have a lot of ideas. We've faced more than a few questions this week where we couldn't really tell you guys very much, so I hope this will make up for it.

One of the ideas being kicked around is to create a folder for storing all of your customizations for FF - custom weapon models, custom background image, etc. Swapping out files is so 1998, so instead we're looking to let you choose your models from a list.

Exactly how complex this feature will be or when it will be implemented, we don't know. Patch 2.2 will probably be our most ambitious patch yet and really improve on the user friendliness and customization of the mod.

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And now, an interview with the ever lovable squeek.!

Ihmhi: The first question I always ask - how did you get to be on the dev team?

squeek.: Busted my way in basically. I got invited to the beta team by 4est, and just took it upon myself to get started on a training mode. Then AfterShok invited me to the dev team after I actually succeeded (surprisingly) in doing some cool stuff with Lua and whatnot.

Ihmhi: So Lua was your primary focus as a dev? You're well known (infamously, by some people's considerations) for your FF maps.

squeek.: I guess I was the only non-dev doing new stuff with Lua. Lua certainly wasn't my biggest focus when I joined the team, but it is a big part of making a training mode, so I guess by extention is was a big part of my initial focus. Now, I am doing a whole bunch of different things, though.

Ihmhi: As an aside, I'd like to state that so far 100% of the devs interviewed have taken a minute or two to carefully write out their answer. I'm looking forward to jon's interview solely because he will disregard that consideration entirely.

squeek.: rofl

squeek.: expect a lot of PEE PEE in jon's interview

Ihmhi: Well, I expect jon to say random and funny things like that, but I don't want to question him because I'm pretty sure he can shoot me from a couple hundred yards out.

squeek.: haha

Ihmhi: On the mapping front, there's a running joke that your maps are the ones that killed FF. (Personally, squeek_dm is one of the most fun maps in FF, and I have a boner for myth). As a mapper, what's your opinion on that?

ff_myth - Ihmhi (and many others) have a boner for this

squeek.: It's definitely true. My only rival is Darkness24713 with his controversial masterpiece: emulation_r3

Ihmhi: I love that map. It was hard to beat but I eventually figured it out.

squeek.: ;)

Ihmhi: The first person I interviewed was Pon, who is a Lua coder. Before he came along, you had an insane workload for many community, beta, and dev mappers. I personally owe you a lot for the Lua coding you've done from me, and I'm sure there's many mappers that can say the same. What I'd like to hear (and I'm sure many of the people you've helped as well) is why you've been so eager to help out with Lua coding for maps which is, frankly, a huge pain in the ass. Is it because of the challenge, the personal rewards for creating something that works from scratch, benevolence, etc.?

squeek.: Hm... I guess it was kind of my way of giving back to people that had helped either me or the community. Lua was completely new to me before FF, so I guess it also was a challenge-type thing, but mostly it was just helping out those who helped others. By the way, I owe a lot to Pon and others (A1win, Crazycarl, etc), who provided working examples of Lua before I even knew how to add backpacks in pitfall.

Ihmhi: Fuck! I forgot about A1win for a sec there. A1win helped me out a lot too. I hate how we have this awesome talent in our community and they tend to disappear and come back again and again (A1win, Nezumi, Sh4x, etc.).

Ihmhi: I think we have let a bit of our community who was talented sort of go unnoticed, but recently the devs have been grabbing up talented people in the forums (some who've applied, some who haven't). Do you feel this is a change in the "meh, recruiting" habit of the FF Team, or was it just a burst of additions out of necessity?

squeek.: I'm relatively new to the team, but before the huge influx of new dev members, the dev team (or lack of one) was very restrictive about a lot of things (like adding new devs). That has changed quite a bit recently, though, and we've been adding new devs like mad. We had the need for new dev members for a while, so once we got the access to we went a bit crazy.

Ihmhi: Yeah, but everyone has been pulling their weight for the most part, haven't they? I think that active and constant recruiting is necessary to deal with the attrition of devs mod teams often face.

Ihmhi: Speaking of dev attrition, could you ever envision yourself not having time to dedicate yourself to dev work on FF like you do now?

squeek.: Well, I'm starting school in a bit and will likely get a part time job as well... but I don't see myself going away completely for quite a while--I still have a lot to work on.

Ihmhi: Ah, so you're one of those people who actually finish projects they've started. Basically, the polar opposite of me.

squeek.: Not always, but I'd like to this time.

Ihmhi: Good to hear. So, I'm going to go Barbara Walters on your ass and ask a Serious Business question. You and some of the beta testers have been at odds on more than one occasion on nearly every thing we've done, and you almost always stick to your guns. Do you believe such an intense rivalry is conductive or harmful to the beta testing and development of a game?

squeek.: I like to think I'm not completely stubborn, and I doubt my position very often. It just so happens that this time things seemed to have worked out. Everyone basically is in agreement about the general balance of the game at this point, and it feels good. After all the headbutting in the beta this time around, I think we might have finally stumbled upon a good way of going about things. The process (this time) might have been ugly, but the end result is quite impressive.

Ihmhi: So you're saying that conflict is actually good for mods? I agree with you on that particularly matter - if everyone was amiable and followed along without questioning anything, we'd never have anything interesting get done.

squeek.: I think compromise is important. Legitimate conflict isn't that great, but having people with differing viewpoints working together is something we need to keep.

Ihmhi: I'll be drawn and quartered by the community if I don't ask this - when training will out? I know the generic joke response is "when it's done", but anything you can let slip to give them an idea of what you've done so far would be really nice.

squeek.: Training is a massive undertaking. With a game as complex and deep as FF, it's really difficult to get something I'm happy with. I've gone through a couple revisions and multiple ways of teaching concepts, and there will likely be even more major changes I'll make along the way. However, I've been doing some other things besides working on training in preparation for 2.1. After 2.1, I'm going back into the training workshop and am going to hammer (puns are hilarious) this thing out once and for all.

Ihmhi: As a newbie mapper I understand that there are physical limitations to maps - a maxiumum amount of brushes (the basic building blocks of map geometry you can have), models, displacements, etc. Simple yes/no question leading to another - will training be completely single player?

squeek.: Simple questions aren't something I do. I'm not totally sure whether or not training will be multiplayer. It's possible, but I'm still undecided. As of right now, I'm only working on it as though it were single-player only.

Ihmhi: Since it's going to be single-player, wouldn't spanning it across multiple maps make the possibilities as infinite as you'd like them to be? I think that might be best considering the scope of the game.

squeek.: Sure, that's always been an option. Whether or not it's necessary is yet to be determined. Infinite possibilities are tough to handle, and those possibilities were the primary reasons why the prior training mode attempts never saw the light of day.

Ihmhi: Ah, one of those "don't know where to start" situations. That's starting any project, and it's daunting to pick where to begin for many people.

Ihmhi: So, two final questions for you.

Ihmhi: The first was related to me via Clem - I randomly asked him to give me a question that you would find difficult to answer, and it is (paraphrased): "What is your opinions of fountain pens, and what chance do they have of getting into FF?"

squeek.: Fountain pens are cool. They write good. They are also already in FF, you just haven't found them.

Ihmhi: Well, I guess I'm not looking hard enough. Well, the last question is this. Clem hasn't done his interview yet, so here's your opportunity to return the favor. Insert any question you'd like for me to ask Clem and I'll make sure he answers it. d:

squeek.: Who are you?

squeek.: :)

squeek.: make sure to include the smiley

Ihmhi: Haha, I will, I will.

Ihmhi: Well thanks for talkin' with me and lettin' the community get an insight into what you do!

squeek.: no problem chief

News: Q&A 5 - Q&A Now, redux

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Fortress Forever Team) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:59:00 GMT

Welcome to Week 5 of Fortress Forever's Developer Question & Answer sessions, where we take questions from the community and get devs off their bums to answer them!

All are welcome to participate. Simply visit this thread in our forums and drop your question in!

http://fortress-forever.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16481

And after the questions, we have an interview with one of the devs who have been around the longest, redux! (Apparently, his name has absolutely nothing to do with ducks at all. I'm as surprised as you are.)

Before we get started, I'd like to state a change in the weekly Q&As. A lot of devs get involved in the answers, and I tend to just edit them together into something that covers the subject nicely. Since it comes from multiple people, we'll no longer be listing which devs have answered the questions. I'd really prefer not to show (trepid_jon, Pon, Nezumi, redux) and five other dev names after each answer.

Question 1 ( reaper18 and many, many other people ):
When will the 2.1 changelog be posted? Is there an ETA on 2.1's arrival? When 2.1 will out? etc.

Answer 1:
This is something that was told to the beta testers a long time ago, and I will gladly tell it to everyone else. The dev team has an internal checklist - stuff they would like to get done for the next patch. Currently, about 95% of the checklist is green - green meaning done - but that does not represent the total completion of the patch. If my list was "add a new texture" and "rebalance HW", those are two items on a list but each includes different kinds of work. But yes, the internal checklist is mostly done.

FF tends to shy away from setting a release date. We probably could have been done a month ago, but .dt. (one of our new coders) had a little problem where his laptop got all messed up on him and he couldn't code anymore.

When we do have the patch done, we will probably go with something like a week's advance notice. We'll also probably release the server package a little bit early so server operators can get updates in place and relate any problems to us that might show up. And of course, we prefer to test the installer packages and make sure they work so we don't release something broken to the community.

Question 2 ( reaper18 ):
Have any changes been made to canal zone?

Answer 2 :
2.1 ff_cz2 (Canalzone2) is fun. That's all you really need to know now.

Buuut if you want the details... flags have basically been removed altogether. Now pretty much anyone can walk over a point and cap it. The map's teleporters are useful for helping to move your team to defend a point you still control.

One of the important elements of gameplay design is to get people to play the map the way you intended it to be played. In FF, that usually just means "Have fun". Frankly, cz2 was not getting played. It was slow and arduous - pretty much the exact opposite of what makes FF fun. Beta testers now love playing cz2, and we hope that that same love carries over to the general public.

I'm sure many server operators have taken cz2 off of their map rotations because it's made players leave as if the server were on fire. We hope that server ops will give cz2 a second chance in 2.1.

And damn it reaper18, if you don't stop asking such good questions there's not gonna be any left for other people.

Question 3 ( im2cool4uroflolz, v!be<<<Ampersand ):
What changes are being made to the Demoman in 2.1?

Answer 3:
Most notably, the Demoman's blue pipe timer has been extended from 1.1 seconds to 1.3 seconds.

The devs were caught between a rock and a hard place with the blue pipe timer. Originally, 2.2 seconds was deemed too hard for newbies to be able to use. If you can't get a hit with a blue pipe, then you have to try and aim it so the explosion happens when you want it to. 2.2 seconds was also far too spammable - you could just have a bunch of pipes clogging up a chokepoint which results in some very effective (but very spammy) area denial.

As a result, the timer was reduced to 1.1 seconds. Now we have pro demos saying that the timer is either too short (reduced range) or is too easy for newbies to hit targets with. Initially some of our testers advocated bringing the timer up to 1.5, but we eventually came to a compromise of 1.3 seconds. Those 0.2 seconds counts for a lot towards balance and extensive playtesting has shown that it works pretty well. We think nearly everyone will be satisfied with it.

There are not really any other significant changes being made to the Demoman. Take a look at the changelog when 2.1 comes out for the full details!

Question 4 ( im2cool4uroflolz ):
Are there any changes being made to Aardvark?

Answer 4:
No significant changes are being made to Aardvark. Nearly every map has little hidden optimization and balance changes uring patches, but nothing really big is going to happen with Aardvark in this patch.

Question 5 ( v!be<<<Ampersand ):
Hey guys, new to Fortress Forever here, just in case you're wondering why I popped out of nowhere =P Pretty badass mod so far.

That said, I've heard FF is converting to the Orange Box Engine? I'm definitely a Demoman player and I love the way the grenades from his launcher bounce in TF2. Once the conversion is complete, will they bounce that way in FF? Actually, I guess the better question to ask would be; Will conversion to the Orange Box Engine change the game's physics in any way? [forgive me, I don't know a lot about game engines, so sorry if that's a stupid question =\ ]

Answer 5:
So we have a huge question that's mostly about the conversion to the Orange Box.

Let's start with the disappointing news: FF will not be converting to the Orange Box for 2.1. We would have to delay 2.1 for months just to convert the code with the staff we have on hand.

And now, the good news. Conversion to OB is one of our priorities for 2.2. There's a 95% chance that 2.2 will be the debut of Orange Box for FF. What does this mean?

We'll be able to take advantage of all of the nice graphical things that OB has available to it, like the particle system used extensively in Half Life 2: Episode 2.

We'd rather not get into the extreme techincal details of it, but Orange Box will give our developers more tools to make the game run smoother and look nicer in general. The conversion to OB will show a much improved FF overall.

We really wish we could tell you more about it, but there's a lot that we're still planning and thinking about. Saying that anything is definite would be lying.

As for the Demoman, the major Demoman change (blue pipe timer) has been addressed in a previous question.

Dev Interview: redux

Ihmhi: Dux, are ye around?

redux: What's up?

Ihmhi: I'd like to do your dev interview now - do you have time?

redux: sure but i may be in and out for a few minutes

redux: im in the middle of painting a repainting a pinball cabinet and its about to rain again

redux: fire away though

Ihmhi: See, that's interesting material. Let's start with that, rather than my traditional starting question. Why are you painting a pinball cabinet, and what pinball game is it? I personally love how they can turn physical information (gears, switches, bumpers) into a GAME.

redux: I collect pinball machines in my spare time. The game is Spirit of 76 by Gottlieb. It is an Electro Mechanical pinball, which means there are no circuit boards. Everything is driven by electrical switches and gear driven mechanisms. I also own modern solid state games which are circuit board and CPU driven. Most of my games are from the 1990's.

Ihmhi: Wow man, that's the kind of shit I like. I'm the same way with lots of stuff like that. I have this handheld (handheld being the side of a football) video game from Radio Shack that's basically a Space Invaders ripoff. I still play it to this day, so I completely understand where you're coming from.

redux: I picked this game up from another collector near Dallas and figured I'd try my hand at a full restoration. It should look pretty close like it came out of the factory when I am done with it. Parts are hard to find however so we will see how it will turn out.

Ihmhi: Before my next question, I'd like to pimp one of Iggy's favorite websites out to you and the readers - http://www.atariage.com. The guys there know a lot about hardware and odds are there's a guy who knows about machines if you have questions.

Ihmhi: Aaand now to my traditional-first-question-which-is-now-the-second-question: how did you come to be on the dev team?

redux: I've helped test Fortress Forever since before the 1.0 release. I never really had the time to map though because I was taking 22 and 21 hour semesters of college.

Ihmhi: Wow. I'm a newbie mapper, and I personally think I'd be frustrated with trying to do anything in the pre-release environment. Server crashes were abundant and fixed very slowly - it must have been a bear to test out new stuff.

redux: It was tough testing sometimes because of a lot of crashing bugs. It was neat though seeing the list of bugs being reduced before release. The mod really has come a long way since then.

redux: It was great seeing all of the content progress even before the release. A change that I really remember best is the Shutdown2 makeover. We thought it was crazy good as it was, then Defrag made it into what it is now.

Ihmhi: I loved the SD2 remake as well. The first one was a good Source map, but it didn't really have its own identity. Defrag made it seem more alive.

Ihmhi: Speaking of mapping, you're working on a new project - return. I've been working with mapping myself, and honestly every time I look at something you, Defrag, Nezumi, etc. cook up I feel like a kindergartner with a finger painting trying to get into the Louvre. What tips can you give to new mappers to add that level to detail to your maps - basically, how do you make your maps look so damn good?

redux: Return was kind of a reintroduction to mapping for me, as the last map I released was in 2002 or so. I am not sure if I want to continue that map as I did a lot of things wrong with it. It was a great start on Source engine mapping as I hadn't done it before. Source mapping is a lot more time consuming than HL1 engine maps were by a long shot. As far as mapping tips go, when I started out I always had problems with lighting. I had a push style map in TFC titled 'pushed' that I was really satisfied with visually, but never really got the lighting right. After it was released, I learned better lighting techniques which I applied to maps after that. I would say ask for a source file from someone just to see how they did things. Things can look a lot different in Hammer compared to in game.

redux: I would also suggest texture variation and application. Simple geometry can look great if it is textured well.

Ihmhi: That's very useful information that a lot of mappers will appreciate - especially myself. Thanks for that.

Ihmhi: On the same subject, I have some very insane ideas for maps. Like most mappers (especially new ones), I'm very protective of them. Do you have any really crazy and/or outlandish ideas for maps that you'd be willing to describe in detail? Basically, your dream map.

redux: To be honest, I think that maps with simple goals are better received. Back in TFC, some mappers tried some crazy stuff and it just never played out very well. The maps that got played were ones with easy to understand goals, such as CTF, AvD, etc. I did like the map run, as it was kind of a crazy idea at the time but worked really well. I think something like that would be great in Fortress Forever. Though not outlandish, I really enjoy King of the Hill style maps. As far as a dream map, I would like to have a map that is a new idea, but simple enough for everyone to understand and enjoy. I'm still trying to come up with that one.

Ihmhi: So basically, the holy grail of mapping. Well, at least people can't say you don't dream big!

Ihmhi: Hey, why not combine two interests into one and make a map that's a giant pinball machine. I'm sure your implementation would be fun and the scoring would be very accurate!

redux: The funny thing is I thought about doing that, even just for novelty's sake.

Ihmhi: Man, you completely should do it. When this Q&A goes up, I'm sure a lot of people will agree with you on that point. I'd love to see it, and you can combine two of your hobbies into one uber-hobby. It's like quad damage, but for fun!

redux: haha, yeah

redux: It would be a fun project.

Ihmhi: See man, now if you don't do it a whole lotta people will be disappointed. So basically I've just guilted you into mapping. I wonder if that's how the big companies do it, haha.

redux: Start waving Dollar bills at me and it'll be out next week!

Ihmhi: Well I know mervaka carries around a lot of Dollar bills, but that's mostly for strip clubs and riding the bus since he destroyed his van. Maybe he'll chip in!

redux: He'd better.

Ihmhi: Well technically he has Sterling Pounds, so that's like two Dollars in one! Very compact.

redux: hehe

Ihmhi: Back onto the mapping topic. You're working on bases now, correct?

redux: Yes, I am finishing it where Defrag left off.

Ihmhi: This brings up an interesting point - no one mapper has really worked on any FF Dev map. It's usually two or more guys working on it during different stages. What have you personally brought to bases?

redux: When I first started working on the map, most of the geometry was done. The ramp room and the small hallways were just an empty shell, and there was only one spawn room. There were a lot of other touches that hadn't been added in yet, such as some lighting, signs, and other brushwork.

redux: The main problem with the map was that it exceeded the brush and entity limits when the bases were flipped. FPS was really bad in most of the places so that had to be worked out as well. I had to tear down and rebuild some areas to get the limits down, while still trying to add new stuff.

redux: This would not have been possible without Crazy Carl who turned in a lot of brushwork into props. He really helped out a lot.

Ihmhi: The other testers and I noticed this blatant cheating and plan to do the very same for our own maps whenever we get around to doing them.

redux: When everything was almost complete, I handed the map over to Elmo-, who is a genius at optimization. He really helped out a lot at getting the frame rate to a good level. When he handed it back, I was awestruck at how he had optimized everything.

redux: Using props in a map is a great way to go as it saves a ton of geometry to be used for other sections.

Ihmhi: A lot of testers initially complained about low FPS and other graphics issues when they came on-board the pre-release team. Part of it was unoptimized coding, but a lot of it was probably unoptimized mapping as well. I'm sure you must have looked at more than one of the VMFs - are there any maps that could have insanely better FPS with optimization?

redux: Most of the ones I have looked at are optimized pretty well. I could see a few spots that could be optimized to reduce compile time though. I imagine Elmo could spot a lot more things than I could however.

Ihmhi: Have you learned anything looking at the optimizations that Elmo- and Crazy Carl have done? Ideally, the dev mappers would learn enough of the tricks where they can't really do much to improve the maps and then they would be on the street, homeless and naked. Well, good for them, bad for us.

redux: I've learned a lot to be honest. Hint brushes and areaportals were areas I really didn't understand until I saw them used correctly. Elmo- went over with me and showed me how to use hint brushes better also.

Ihmhi: Something I've been meaning to ask many of the devs - a lot of you guys seem to work in the game industry or are going to college to eventually get into the game industry. Do you work on games for your job, or do you do something totally boring and normal?

redux: I am still in college, but am considering a job in the game industry when I graduate. Regardless what I do, I will still do it as a hobby.

Ihmhi: More than a few devs have already gone off to work for other game companies. I'm personally excited about trying to get them to confirm what games they've worked on. Maybe five or ten years from now people will be playing a game on the XBOX 720 that you had a hand in.

redux: I just hope that if I do get a job in the game industry i won't end up hating game design.

Ihmhi: Things sort of change when you can't pick and choose what you want to make. I've thought about it and would rather be in a creative position like level design rather than a "make this level happen" position like mappers.

redux: Very true.

Ihmhi: My last question for you - something I personally haven't been able to figure out. What does redux mean? Is that replying to a duck's e-mail? A copy of a duck? Or is it not even remotely duck-related?

redux: Haha, its was in a list of something a friend had back when I was in 7th grade. We were coming up with 5 character nicknames so I picked that one because I liked the way it sounded. In the dictionary it means brought back, or returned. It is also the name of a diet pill that was banned many years ago.

Ihmhi: Oh right, like Apocalypse Now: Redux. How could I have forgotten that? Congratulations, you've made me feel stupid.

Ihmhi: Actually, scratch the congratulations, it isn't all that hard. Thanks for the interview!

redux: Thanks for interviewing me, see you soon.

Ihmhi: The same to you!

Dev. Journal: Circuitous

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Circuitous) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:34:36 GMT

We've got a new Official Fortress Forever server, thanks to the guys down at the TFLeague.

206.123.95.86:27015 The OFFICIAL Server - Hosted by TFL

Check it out.

Dev. Journal: Sh4x

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Sh4x) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:50:39 GMT

Hey oh! Can you smell 2.1 yet? No? Well you should! It's just around the corner! The to-do list is almost all green and green means DONE. Seriously, there's at least 1 update to the dev build everyday and that means people are working hard to get this 2.1 patch out the door asap!

On my end, I've been working on optimizing ff_dropdown alot. The yard is kind of a lost cause if I wanna keep the transparent windows in respawn (and I do) but I successfully optimized the inside of the base, sometimes doubling the FPS count, so it should play alot smoother in some places.

I'm also adding a new route in there but I'm not saying where. This new route should make it easier for some classes to get behind enemy lines and do their job. It'll also fix the issue where you had to type kill in console sometimes....

Besides ff_dropdown, I've been brainstorming ideas for this other map I got on my plate. It started like a small project, now it's a gigantic monster. I don't know if I'll ever get to do what I have in mind right now cause, you know... having an idea just isn't enough, you then gotta work your ass off and actually do it, but I think it would be pretty cool.

I've also been messing with the screenshot button alot lately. The result is that there's a new loading screen for 2.1. We're hoping to implement some cool features related to the loading screen like having a rotation of them so you don't end up looking at the same image all the time or even better, implementing the tools for everyone to create their own loading screen without having to leave the game at all... but don't expect any of this in 2.1.

And that's all for tonight... I'm off to Hammer! Cheers!

News: Q&A 4 - 2.1, HW Guy, Pon Pon Pata Pon!

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Fortress Forever Team) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 12:11:00 GMT

Welcome to Week 4 of community Q&A! We love listening to your questions and we'd love to see more - send 'em our way in this thread:

http://www.fortress-forever.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16481

Now onto Q&A 4...

Question 1 ([AE] 82694):

What plan does the Dev team have for FF after the 2.1 release?

1) Will you be concentrating on models.

2) More maps with all the new mappers the Dev team has.

3) What your plans for FF in general are.

Answer 1 (-pF-)

1) There will be changes to the models. From what it looks like right now, there will be tweaks in size and proportion to help distinguish classes. Also, we will probably switch to a new skeleton to facilitate the addition of new animations. Finally, we'd like to retexture some, if not all of the models. So texture artists with prior experience in texturing characters, please apply (like, now)!

2) There's a few really good brand new maps being made up by beta testers and devs alike. When 2.1 comes out, you'll enjoy them for sure!

3) We plan to keep refining the game and make it as fun and balanced as possible. We'd also like to add features to help new players understand the Fortress genre better.

Question 2 (cfive):
Why don't you just make hardcap a serverside thing so people can choose?

Answer 2 (Nezumi):
Since this question has been asked and answered many times in the past, I'll answer again now: different bhop mechanics in different servers would divide the community, and segregate people to their own prefered play style, which we don't want. We want everyone to learn to play together. It's okay for maps to have different and interesting playstyles, but the basic look and feel of the game should stay roughly the same no matter what you're playing.

Question 3 (cfive):
I want to help FF gain popularity, is there anyway I could join the PR team?

Answer 3 (Implode, Iggy):
We do not have any specific plans for community involvement ready at this time, but they are being worked on. When we have something we need you guys to do we'll let you know about it! However, please feel free to continue to invite new potential players to the mod. Basically, tell your friends, and try to get them interested. Hopefully they will like it, and do the same.

Question 4 (reaper1):
What changes, if any, have been made to the Heavy Weapons Guy?

Answer 4 (Ihmhi):
I'm just going to paraphrase the general reaction of the beta testers for this question: "Holy shit, the HW Guy destroys now!"He's not overpowered, but he's not a pansy anymore.

Question 5 (reaper1):
Have any core changes to the mod been made that have had an effect on the frames per second for clients?

Answer 5 (-insert any mapper here-):
As for maps, any FF mapper can tell you this: framerates are a result of map optimization. That said, Elmo- has busted his butt improving the FPS for Monkey. Waterpolo no longer drives your FPS into the ground. Most other dev maps are getting little FPS improvements here and there.

And as for code, we haven't focused very much on optimizations, but rather fixes, tweaks, and additions. We're going to wait to do a lot of code optimizations until the Orange Box is our code base, simply so we don't have to do a lot of Orange Box merging once again and so we don't spend a lot of time fixing what Orange Box might have already fixed.

B-B-Bonus Content:
This week, we have an interview with one of the devs. Ihmhi asked Pon (one of our Lua guys) some questions about Lua and his experiences with FF in general. If he can wrangle the devs into a corner for a few minutes in the future, we hope for this to be a regular feature until we run out of devs.

So with that, here's the interview!

Ihmhi: We'll start with an easy question: describe your position on the Dev Team.

Pon.id: Well, my position is that of an Lua scripter. Generally, our mappers come to me, ask if 'such and such' a feature can be done with Lua, and if it can, can I get to work on it. If it can't, I tell them to bug the programmers until it can

Ihmhi: How did you manage to join the dev team? Did you apply, or did someone invite you?

Pon.id: I was invitied by squeek., who seemed to notice the work I was trying to do to help community mappers with their Lua, I guess.

Ihmhi: A lot of people, including myself, view Lua as this sort of mystical language invented by insane people. Could you give us a little insight into how Lua works with FF maps and why it's such a powerful tool for us?

Pon.id: Well, insane is a bit strong... close, but a bit strong The main reason it's so useful and is a powerful tool, in my opinion, is the control over damn near everything it gives you. You can use it to dictate how most everything in FF should work if you want, from map entities to the damage dealt by each weapon. Alongside that, you can customise the feedback your map gives the player via the HUD. Most importantly though, you can use it to build pretty much any gamemode you can think of. Technically you could have a Fortess Forever map that plays like Counterstrike, for example.

Ihmhi: Is there anything you can't conceivably do with Lua in FF?

Pon.id: Hmm, well, yes, I guess there will be. Most everything has limits. But, given that FF is in active development, anything that can't be done, and is needed, can be added. For example, for one map, it was nessecary that the player's health be drained, which currently wasn't possible. So, someone set the AddHealth function to accept negative values, and that was it, job done. So, I guess that, conceivably, I can't think of anything that can't at the very least be added if needed.

Ihmhi: So if FF's lua functionality can't do something, the other devs can code it in for you?

Pon.id: Yeah, pretty much. It's also something I should learn to do myself as well, I guess.

Ihmhi: One of my personal peeves with Lua (and coding in general) is uncommented code. Pretty much all of the core lua files and nearly every single released map's Lua is uncommented. Will there ever be an effort to get the Lua code commented so it's easier for people new to Lua to get a handle on it?

Pon.id: Hopefully. It would would be useful to a lot of mappers, I think.

Ihmhi: What was the hardest bit of Lua coding that you've had to do recently?

Pon.id: Probably for a map called Impact which is currently in development. Without wanting to give too much away, the main problem was to have a system in place that allowed for multiple flags to be in play at any one time, without spawning a new one every time one was needed and being a massive resource drain. And that also switched teams each round.

Ihmhi: Last question (and make it quick as I have to leave for work now). Did you ever regret mercilessly beating on chickens in a Legend of Zelda game?

Pon.id: Never.

Ihmhi: Thanks a bunch!

News: Q&A 3 - P.R., the Spy, and other wonderful things

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Fortress Forever Team) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:59:00 GMT

Welcome to this week's Q&A, where the devs answer your questions! If you would like to ask the devs a question, just register for the forums and go to this thread:

http://www.fortress-forever.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16481

The best questions will be picked out by a certain dev and submitted to the devs for their responses.

Question 1(Rutabeggar):
A lot of the people I know have written off FF since they played it way back in 1.0, is the dev team is planning to reach out to the players that was so unjustly isolated by the majority of the first team and new players in general, we all talk about "PR" but what kind of "PR" is being planned, if any?

Answer 1 (Implode):
We have recently created an active "PR" department that has already begun working on several things...just a few of these include: Getting FF listed on the 3rd Party mod, an update notification on steam list, and also advertising on national gaming and CPU sites. And of course, answering questions for people, just like yours.

Question 2 (Rocketrunner):
I don't know if this has been asked before, but, in 2.1, will the Nailgun and Super Nailgun have individual pros and cons so that, nobody keeps using medic ALL the time?

Answer 2 (squeek.):
No changes to the nailgun or super nailgun are being made in 2.1.

Question 3 (reaper18):
Will there be more notification of players who accomplish goals?
For example, who captured the flag, or who secured Command Point X?

Answer 3 (squeek.):
We have talked about this a bit, but it will likely not be implemented in 2.1.

Question 4 (reaper18 / im2cool4uroflolz):
Also, are the tranq effects going to eventually resemble TFC more so than they do? Like giving hallucinations of bullet impacts, grenades, gunshots, and explosions? What changes have been made to the spy cloak and are there any more planned features/optimizations? What sort of changes will be made to the Spy in 2.1?

Answer 4 (squeek.):
These questions are very similar, so they've been grouped together as one. When reaper18 says "tranq effects", I believe he is referring to the hallucination effects of the TFC Spy's gas grenades. There will likely not be any changes to the effects of the Spy's gas grenades this patch.

The Spy's cloak and disguise dynamics have changed a bit regarding Sentry Guns in 2.1. When you are disguised as the enemy and cloaked, enemy Sentry Guns will not see you. Being cloaked and disguised as the wrong team or just being cloaked will still result in the Sentry shooting you.

*EDIT* Actually, now a cloaked spy disguised as an enemy will be detected by enemy sentries, but only within a shorter range than the regular lock on distance. *END EDIT*

The spy is 100% invisible when cloaked and standing still. No shadow, no talk icon, nothing.

Question 5 (Hammock):
Would it be at all possible to display the Time Remaining of the current map when selecting the option "View Server". It displays the players, their scores and how long they've been in the server.

But there's been many times I don't want to join a server playing a map I don't care for. It'd be nice to know how much longer the map has without actually joining the server, or maybe you can't join cause it's full and know the best time to join is during a map change, also good to know when that map change will occur.

Answer 5 (dt):
"It might be possible to show the time and other game info in the server browser, but that's something we really haven't messed with yet. Our coding staff is working hard on things with a higher priority and this is something we might get into a future patch if it can be coded."

News: Q&A 2 - the Engineer, resupplies, and some AvD lovin'.

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Fortress Forever Team) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:28:00 GMT

Here's this week's Q&A, brought to you remarkably late on account of every dev is too damn busy to talk to me. As always, remember to hop over to the FF Q&A thread and ask more questions: http://www.fortress-forever.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16481

Question 1 (Rutabeggar):
What would you say are the most stark contrasts between 2.1 and the mods previous patches as in are there any new game breaking/making things being added such as the heavy becoming important again?

Answer 1 (Circuitous):

For starters, the HW is much more useful now. We are still working on some of the finer points of the class but overall it is better than the 2.0 HW. The Engineers will be able to resupply a bit easier. (This is expanded upon in Question 2.) The Pyros are slightly less spammy, and the flamethrower's push has been notched up a bit. Snipers are more efficient than their 2.0 predecessors.

Question 2 (Agent Buckshot Moose):
What's going on with the Engineer in 2.1?

Answer 2 (Circuitous):

This is an interesting list.

- Dispensers now start with ammo and armor, regenerate twice as much per tick, dispense twice as much per tick, and dispense faster than before.
- Carrying your Railgun regenerate rails.
- Railgun Charging is quite different,
--- each charge level only takes 1 second and 1 rail,
--- after fully charging, you can continue to hold it for up to 3 seconds,
--- after 3 seconds, the Railgun overcharges. This costs an additional rail, but gives you 40 Cells. Great for SG spots that don't have handy resupplies.
--- overcharging in this way does not hurt you anymore.
- lastly, and this may not make it to patch time, we want dispensers to "pick up" any bags dropped nearby.

Question 3 (Gwarsbane):

Will there be more no build stuff put into all the official maps to stop people from building stuff in the spawn rooms and in doors? Will all the spawn areas in official maps that don't have them get the no grenade code? Well and Aardvark come to mind as they seem to be the ones spammed the most.

Answer 3 (Circuitous)

They absolutely should, but it's a matter of what we have access to now. All of the new maps, and any maps that are actively being worked on or reconstructed, have nobuilds and noannoyances where needed. We'll see what we can do.

Question 4 (Gwarsbane)

Will spawn bags ever heal broken legs, medic infections, tracer tags, put out flames and stuff like that? That would help in most cases against people spamming the spawn room with spy gas, or a medic running in, or a scout concing the spawn room.

Answer 4 (Circuitous)

Will they ever? I think they should. Do they now? Not yet.

The good news is this should just be a Lua change - it'd be quite easy to do. Assuming no one finds a reason not to, this should be in the next patch.

Question 5 (Tsukasa)

Whats the status on all the AvD maps?

Answer 5 (Circuitous, squeek., Nezumi)

Dustbowl has been re-optimized, and now includes HDR and a slew of bugfixes.

squeek. is working on the updated version of cornfield. There are some minor changes to the map that should make gameplay a little more interesting: the cap triggers are now 1 unit above the cap point, and the defender's spawn points are moved forward.

The AvD crowd will be glad to hear that they will be getting a brand new map in 2.1. Nezumi has an awesome new AvD map called anticitizen. It's currently being playtested to death and it's a lot of fun.

Dev. Journal: squeek.

fortress-forever@gmail.com (squeek.) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:11:55 GMT

So, there have been some cool new things added recently to 2.1. I thought I'd just show some quick screenshots of one of those things: the Objective Icon. Pretty self-explanatory, so here are the pitchers:

Oh, yeah, and that's ff_bases.

News: ff_2fort teaser

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Fortress Forever Team) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:32:03 GMT

What would a Team Fortress game be without 2fort? Fortress Forever hasn't had an official version of 2fort yet, but luckily we have a mapper named shadow making a really great rendition of it. So finally, the upcoming Fortress Forever 2.1 will include ff_2fort.

One of our beta testers, Iggy (aka [AE] 81206), made a video of the map to the tune "When I Grow Up" by Crack the Sky...

Again, thanks to shadow for making this great new version of 2fort, and also thanks to Iggy for making this cool little video.

Dev. Journal: Elmo-

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Elmo-) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:51:11 GMT

Heyy, I just gotta say...

2.1 is so much fun! Played it for 6/7 hours last night during beta testing, and I would've carried on but my bed was calling to me. I'm starting to get ill from the lack of sleep! Waterpolo was some of the best fun I've had in ages along with hunted and cz2; something I'd have never expected! I'm a CTF freak through and through... normally!

Everything felt great. The increased bunnyhop (which feels strangely smooth) combined with the skim cap is is awesome, the dynamic lights on the rockets are really nice, the fixed jumppads are alot better, the SGs rock and can actually be killed, the dispensers are much more useful, the changes to the spy cloak are very fun indeed.... and thats just a FEW of the things that come to mind.

All of us on last night had an awesome time. 2.1 isnt a step in the right direction, its a leap...

I'm so happy with monkey, it looks absolutely sexual (If I may say so myself), playing with full server spam at 150 fps rather than 80. The only thing we realised is that I forgot to put the locations back in, duh! Other than that, its done!

Working on ff_bases at the moment, it's a really nice looking map which I'm trying to get optimised for redux. Definatly helped gain a few FPS around the place but not as much as I'd have hoped; though it was running pretty well to begin with.

I feel really good about 2.1, and I'm sure alot of you will too :)

Dev. Journal: Sh4x

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Sh4x) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:44:00 GMT

Hi everyone,

I've been destroying, rebuilding, plastering and painting walls lately in my new apartment. Still got alot of work ahead but it's been going great so far. I did not cause a flood or fire nor did my neighbours called the police yet. Hurray!

Needless to say I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to work on FF since my last journal but I still managed to make some progress on this map where fatties and doctors play dirty games together until one side puts the other to sleep. This map will probably be interesting in the future once the hwg is fixed (coming in 2.1) and the medic finally gets his medigun (coming when I'm done convincing everyone that a medigun is so much cooler than a medikit).

For now, you can drool over this fantasmagoric art piece below. Be careful though, by looking at this image you are agreeing to be bound by the terms of this agreement. This image appearing below is my exclusive property and is protected under international copyright treaties. It is made available for your personal viewing enjoyment only. It is not within the Public Domain. This image may not be copied, reproduced, redistributed, manipulated, projected, used or altered in any way without my prior express written permission and payment of a fee or arrangement thereof. Violators will be prosecuted and their flag capped.

News: Q&A Week 1 - The hard cap, map remakes, Orange Box, training, and the almighty Soldier.

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Fortress Forever Team) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:44:00 GMT

Big ups to everyone who's been posting questions.

In order to take this at a manageable pace, we'll be answering (at least) 5 questions a week.

We're starting off with some good ones we received early on. Look back next week for even more.

First up, we've got a question that's been seeing a lot of debate on the forums...

Question 1 (Kubedawg):
Will the hard cap stay implemented as a feature if most people end up not liking it? If there is no hard cap, could you explain what changes are being made as far as movement goes for all classes in general?

Answer (Circuitous):
The hard cap is being applied as a fix to the issue of skimming (retaining speed from conc and weapon jumps) - in testing it has worked well, but if the overall opinion of it is decidedly bad once it's released, then obviously we'll look to make some changes to it.

There has been very little in the way of negative feedback to the hard cap [in the beta] so far, so we'll see how that works out.

Question 2 (Nuk3m):
Will there be a release of more classic maps, like rock2, schtop, coming in 2.2?

Answer (Circuitous):
Yes, many are in the making and will be released in subsequent patches.

Question 3 (Drain Bamaged):
How's the conversion to the Orange Box Engine going, what features are you going to use from it, besides motion blur?

Answer (trepid_jon):
Nothing has been done to the Orange Box version of FF since we finished the initial conversion and made the dev journal, but I think the main feature we'll use is its particle system. Trails, impacts, events, maps, and so forth should receive quite a few visual improvements in terms of particle effects. It will be nice having Steam avatars in the scoreboard as well, but maybe we can integrate those avatars into other areas of FF, like the chat menu, "physically" in the world, during gameplay moments, and/or whatever else we can think of. We also think vgui videos can be utilized well in FF, allowing us to put videos in lots of menu places. More robust map overviews, for instance, as well as interesting concepts like like little picture-in-picture video hints, tutorials, and commentary.

Question 4 (Myersjr):
Will there be a training mode included in 2.1?? I have heard talk that there will be...

Answer (Squeek):
The base for the training mode has already been completed. Constant changes to the mod are holding us back from releasing it to a perticular patch. A few more additions need to be made before we are comfortable before releasing it. Expect it in 2.3 and hope for it in 2.2.

Question 5 (RocketRunner):
Are the rockets for the Soldiers RPG going to change in any way?

Answer (trepid_jon):
Radius has been decreased to compensate for the harder bhop cap, and now rockets also emit dynamic lighting

Any discusion on these answers can be posted below on this thread. All questions and concerns will be answered. Any additional questions should be asked here: http://www.fortress-forever.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16481

Dev. Journal: Circuitous

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Circuitous) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:38:59 GMT

I added a couple new fields for forum profiles.

To access them, click User CP at the top left, and then choose Edit Profile on the left sidebar.

The new fields are:

Class / Position - your preferred class and position (O or D).
Gametype - your preferred gametype.
Clans/Guilds - your clans, guilds, or other affiliations.

If you can think of any others worth adding, let me know.

I know this isn't exactly big news, but I figured I'd post it up anyhow.

Dev. Journal: Elmo-

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Elmo-) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:08:55 GMT

Just a short one this time to make up for my monster one last time. 21st birthday was 2 days ago and I'm leaving for swtizerland in 2 weeks! I'm going out and celebrating every few days at the moment! Once I leave (1st August) it may be the end of my involvment in FF (playing or developing!!) I hope not though.

Monkey almost done, playtesting is currently taking place and theres only a few 'small' things that people want changing. Having a hard time getting HDR to work well though, the contrast between the base and yard means looking out over bridge can seem way too bright. Trying to sort it out. But the general thoughts have been good so far! Performance reported to be better... I should damn well think so

There will be a _b3 release of medieval soon too. I'm pretty happy with it at the moment! Playing with a "ruin" to be placed on the surrounding landscape, currently it doesnt look anything like a castle ruin. Any modellers wanna do one for me? lol Also trying to sort out my teleporter exits to throw you in the right direction! As soon as I do them I'll have a new release.

Hope all of you are well. Thank you all for your continued support and keeping this game alive! Especially all you guys in #ff.pickup ;)

Dev. Journal: z0rt

fortress-forever@gmail.com (z0rt) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:00:40 GMT

Star date: F*ck The World!

Life has begat moi a fecundity of failure, meaning life sucks. I've been forced to reformat the hard drive on my laptop. As if that weren't bad enough, I came back home from work today to see my computer off. So I did what anyone would do... I turned it on. Then, out of the ordinary, the fuses blew and the power to my house went out. So we flipped the switches to return the power, and of course I turned my computer on. Rather than the usual stupid windows boot up screen, I heard scratches-- nasty scratches. "What could it be," I thought? And then I realized that two of my hard drives on my desktop computer were... guess what? That's right, they crashed. My Western Digital hard drives, the brand I always swore to, had died on me. So now, I hate Western Digitals and I hate Seagate. I've always hated Intel, but now I hate them even more. Don't ask me why, I am not a man of logic (not now anyway).

Today, I've been left with a 4 year old 120GB hard drive, and a laptop with a virus infested windows partition-- but don't worry, the linux partition is fine (for now... knock on mother f*cking wood).

I have to ask myself, with all honesty, why so many bad things could happen. What have I done to deserve all these bad things? Why couldn't I have gotten 1 more point on my final last month to get an A instead of a shitty A-? Why has the backup hard drive died. Why does Norton not know anything about this stupid virus. Why have I lost all my Kung-Fu movies and Anime that I've spent YEARS collecting? Why!? WHY!?!?!?!?

Spare me your pity. My beef is with God (and Western Digital, and Intel, and Seagate, and jkkJcBtT.dll, and Asus and...).

Dev. Journal: trepid_jon

fortress-forever@gmail.com (trepid_jon) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:09:59 GMT

I recently remade this old TFC flash video for FF...

http://images.trepid.net/just_a_game_ff.html

ff_2fort is being made by shadow, and I think it's turning out great

On a side note, I like to make werewolf movies.

Dev. Journal: z0rt

fortress-forever@gmail.com (z0rt) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:29:48 GMT

With Regards To Updates And Fortress Forever 2.1

This post has been split up into 2 parts. The first is a short and sweet message, the second is a longer read, but has more information (and my personal feelings) I entreat you to read both (if possible).

I.
Please try to realize the amount of time that has been put into 2.1. This will not be the final patch to the game. If any single element does not work -- it can and will be fixed in future patches, just as problems found in 2.0 are being fixed with this release. I humbly ask-- saying it, however, can be taken two ways-- 1) you are in a position with no power, or 2) you are being condescending-- either way it damages the message. I ask the people to stop arguing amongst themselves. If there is a serious problem, talk to me. I don't want to make fool out of myself, and I'm sure you don't want to either. It only makes things worse.

II.
What, with computer woes still aplenty (ps Gator, Avira didn't work), it seems I've been dragged into this, albeit unfortunately. Many people seem to be complaining about the 'Hard Cap'. I'd like to address this as tactfully possible, so please don't misconstrue my words to be harsh or acerbic. If, per chance, I have not conveyed my message properly, it is not for you or anyone else to attack me or anyone else on the development team (coder, mapper, and what have you). Having said the aforementioned, let's get started with business.

First off, I have made it my personal goal to listen to each and everyone of you out there. Many of you know I have been an active listener. I have read your comments online and have done everything in my power to earnestly hear out the people. However, just because I listen to you does not give you the right to impose things on me or the development team. The dev team has a very hard time trying to do what we do. When people make posts and questionnaires that undermine us, it makes things even more difficult. Please refrain from making posts attacking our decisions.

It takes a lot of time from our ends to accomplish things. Some of you who've played TFC remember 1106 and the changes that were made. Some of you remember the STA rules about chop hopping in TFC as well. There are times when as individuals, we cannot agree with the changes that are made to a game. Yet, despite these changes, it is our duty to silently acquiesce (agree) to the decisions and choices that were made by those above us. This doesn't mean that you ought to shut your traps, this means that we ought to take our time before we protest. Simply put, certain people in the community have been protesting changes that they haven't physically-- and I use this word liberally, mind you-- experienced any of these changes.

It is our goal to make FF 2.1 as friendly as possible. Let's not argue here. My own personal agenda-- and on that note, my own opinions-- are my own (and my own only). Each of us have our own opinions, and I will respect your opinions, even if we don't meet eye-to-eye on some things. Any qualms I have are to be addressed by those of equal caliber, meaning that if I have a beef with something, I will discuss it with the dev team, not you.

Let's not argue here. A lot of time has been put into 2.1 already. Before anyone protests, first give it a chance. We can always make changes in 2.2. Let's not be hasty.

I ask the people to stop arguing amongst themselves. If there is a serious problem, talk to me. I don't want to make fool out of myself, and I'm sure you don't want to either. It only makes things worse.

Dev. Journal: trepid_jon

fortress-forever@gmail.com (trepid_jon) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 06:05:59 GMT

You're craz-you're crazy, man. You're crazy! I like you...but you're crazy.

Last week, I started converting FF's source code to the Orange Box code. It was an insane task, to say the least. First of all, nobody else wanted to do it. I mean, everyone wants FF to use the latest version of Source, but nobody wanted to do this psychotic conversion that Valve has forced on all the old mods. Granted, a mod would have an easy integration if it didn't modify any base files, using nothing but brand new files specifically created for that particular mod. FF's not like that, though. Yeah, FF's code uses a lot of unique files, but we also did a lot of base modifications. Luckily most of those modifications were commented well, and now even more of that is better commented and separated from the base stuff.

1 week, thousands of differing files, and hundreds of compile errors later, FF can now be played with the Orange Box engine. OOOoooOOOhhh!!! There are quite a few bugs to work out, however, so 2.1 won't be using this code unless we fix all the major bugs within a couple weeks.

After getting past the initial problems of FF crashing immediately upon startup, during map load, and lots of other similar spots, I finally got into the game...but I couldn't pick a team or class, and therefore couldn't spawn. I could go into thirdperson, though...

Wow, right? That's so Orange Box.

The first thing I noticed was this...THING...on the left. Said something about "Server" blah blah, like I cared. I later confirmed it's the chat window. Well, part of it. It's this little spot/coffin where all the received chat messages go to hang out forever. It's basically the worst thing imaginable.

Anyways, I couldn't move or look around in firstperson, but I could look around in thirdperson (as a side note, Valve greatly improved thirdperson mode with a moving camera that has collision, among other cool things). So once I could move the camera around, the next thing I noticed was that awesome Orange Box motion blur effect...

This is called a town. It's where everyone hates you and makes fun of you.

The problem with picking a team and class had to do with the way the new code handles console commands. FF has a special way of making some console commands, and most of the console commands use this special method (team, class, +gren1, dispenser, cloak, etc...pretty much everything you do in FF that's directly related to FF). Long story short, I fixed that crap and some other crap dealing with different crap and was then able to look, run, shoot, and do all that other minor stuff FF needs to be considered a game.

WARNING: if you don't like motion blur, you'll hate every single one of these screenshots, because I was literally shaking the mouse to make all of them blurry, haha...

In the Orange Box engine, your flashlight casts dynamic shadows off objects.
(including yourself when you're in thirdperson)

In 2.1, hunted's dirt hole is a vent (finally).

Blur slideshow, WOOH!

Apparently the flamethrower's particles aren't drawing.
Just another reason to revamp FF's effects using the new particle system.
It will be so nice.

More blurry 2.1 hunted.

Some blurry 2.1 cz2 as well.

I don't know if redux wants this seen yet, but it's blurry...so nobody's really seeing it.

2.1 has swim animations, y'all!

So by having FF use the Orange Box engine, we get motion blur.

The other new things like vgui videos, the new version of Hammer (lighting preview, what?), the new particle system, the material and commentary editors, steam avatars, and so forth...all of them mean nothing in comparison to the greatness that is motion blur.

r.

Dev. Journal: z0rt

fortress-forever@gmail.com (z0rt) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:32:57 GMT

Hi everyone! It's your neighborhood friendly DT. As you may have noticed, I have been inactive for the past several days. Why? Well... unfortunately, my laptop got infected by some new virus. Good job Symantec for nothing (long string of expletives)! I'm in the process of fixing the laptop, and don't expect to be active in development or beta testing for another week. Since the virus is new to the scene, I have to clean up manually, which can take God-knows-how-long... not to mention the many reboots and many many attempts.

In other news, the beta testing seems to be going very smoothly. Expect 2.1 to come around the Earth's aphelion.