Poot facts about TF2 here! From scrapped concepts to gags involving old games, here are 10 note worthy facts about Team Fortress 2.
#10: It started from Quake
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| If it weren't for Quake, there would be no TF2! |
Over a decade before making this game, Robin Walker and John Cook made a free mod for Quake simply called Team Fortress. After they were hired by Valve, they would go on to make Team Fortress Classic before finally making this game.
#9: The game went through 2 redesigns during development
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| Talk about getting a makeover! |
Before becoming the cartoony FPS we all know and love, this game went through 2 different ideas during development. The first idea, given the subtitle Brotherhood of Arms, was a realistic military shooter kind of like Call of Duty. The next iteration was a game that pitted humans against alien invaders, somewhat like Valve's own Half-Life series.
#8: The Spy came about because of a glitch
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| Proof that some bugs are worth keeping around! |
The inspiration for the Spy was a glitch that happened in older versions of the original Team Fortress Quake mod. In the old versions of the game which didn't have the Spy class, there was a glitch where players would see other players with the wrong team colors.
#7: The supplementary stuff retcons a few things
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| What else are these mercenaries hiding? |
This game is known for having lore held within other sources like official videos and web comics. What you might not know is that some of this lore contradicts the original bios of the playable characters. For example: The Medic's bio implies that he never had a medical license, while in his Meet the Team video he tells the Heavy the story of how he lost it. Meanwhile, the Demoman's bio states that his eye was lost during an attempt at killing the Loch Ness Monster, while the comic released with the Very Scary Halloween Special reveals that it was actually taken and turned into a monster by an evil spell book.
#6: A lot of the items were community made
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| A Smissmas miracle! |
A surprising amount of the game's items were made by fans and submitted to Valve either through the Steam Workshop or the old contribution page on the TF2 website. These include several weapons like the Southern Hospitality, the Wrap Assassin, the Scotsman's Skullcutter and the Dalokoh's Bar.
#5: Some of the scrapped content made it in after all
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| Sometimes you just can't get rid of a good idea! |
Throughout its development, there have been plenty of weapons that went unused for one reason or another. However, some of them have made it into the game in vastly different forms. For example: The Instant Teleport became the secondary feature to the Eureka Effect, the Flame-Retardant Suit was reworked into the current incarnation of the Darwin's Danger Shield (plus some of its function became part of the Spycicle), and the Walkabout's main gimmick (being able to move at full speed while zoomed in) was added as a feature to the Classic.
#4: There was almost a TV show
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| This would've been freaking sweet! |
At one point in time, Adult Swim commissioned Valve to make a Team Fortress 2 cartoon for them. Sadly, Valve never got around to finishing it and before long the project was cancelled.
#3: It started off as part of a bundle
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| That's a damn good deal! |
This game was first released in 2007 as part of The Orange Box, a video game compilation that also included Portal and both episodes of Half-Life 2. It got its own standalone release the following year.
#2: Marriage on the set
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| Well, ain't that sweet! |
The voice actors for the Sniper and Administrator, John Patrick Lowrie and Ellen McLain, are married in real life. Speaking of the Administrator, her voice actress also voices GLaDOS from Portal, the Combine Overwatch AI from Half-Life 2, and the Witch from Left 4 Dead 2.
#1: There's a lot of scrapped content
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| Read all about it here! |
As mentioned before, this game has had quite a few concepts that didn't make it off the cutting room floor. Some of the more interesting unused content includes holdovers from TFC (throwable grenades, an actual flag for capture the flag, the Civilian class etc.), a camera model, some PDAs for the Demoman and Spy, animations of every character besides Pyro seemingly burning to death and concept art featuring female versions of the classes.
You're welcome fans of Valve's iconic shooter! If you can think of any facts I missed or feel that I got something incorrect, feel free to deploy some comments. Thanks for reading and keep those SFM videos a going!
