Team Fortress 2 :: Production Focus

[StickFigure]

The game looks great, and its definitely a lot of fun to play. They really nailed it.

[bentllama]

A great article and a great game.

I am very envious of the work Valve has done on TF2. Brilliant.

PS: I demand an Art of Team Fortress 2 book!

[Rhs_CG]

PS: I demand an Art of Team Fortress 2 book!

I second that motion, and kudos for the game, and for the article. Thanks.

[Ollarin]

Awesome article.

Amazing game and amazing design gone into it!

[GoodfellowStudio]

the ability this team had with making generic but memorable characters is inspiring. The idea with the sillohuettes and animations nailed it, they were exactly right.

[ThomasMahler]

Best game of the year and best art direction in years. Awesome article, thanks!

[RockinAkin]

Awesome article - Congrats to everyone at Valve for creating such awesome games. :thumbsup:
I'd definately want an 'ART OF' book too.

And for those playing - dont forget to join us for the weekly friday night CGTalk TF2 Deathmatches!
(http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=2&t=541435)

[Skiatch]

I´ve searched for artwork of TF2 for about 1 month now. I got this game preordered and it´s just the GREATEST game if´ve ever played. Thanks for this article!!!
The Characterdesign TF2 is exellent. I think Valve really changed characterdesign in games.
You can figure out each class by just looking at the face of every single character. Brilliant!!!

[sielgaudis]

One of the best looking game! amazing and attractive persons in this game makes it very cool!

[sacslacker]

You've gotta love a company that is as dedicated to their craft as Valve. TF2 defines what a great game is. Not to mention Portal. Yay for Valve!

[fx81]

Best game of the year and best art direction in years. Awesome article, thanks!

i couldnt agree more!

this should be plugged on front page.

[cosmonaut]

Very nice article, but I was hoping it would say more about the shorts ... i.e. when's the next one coming??? Those character shorts are awesome ... I can't wait to see what they do with the pyro and doctor.

[brkn]

Valve knocked it way out of the park with this one, I've never seen better art direction and design in a game, and not to mention the gameplay is so damn fun! Big respect for breaking the mould and having the guts to try something new and innovative, instead of the yet-another-military-realistic-shooter that it could so easily have been.

[CarlCampbell]

You should all check out the 'Meet the ....' videos, you can find them in the 'trailers' section of steam listed under Team Fortress 2 (they're listed alphabetically). Downloading steam is free and it's worth it just to take a look at those videos. I'm sure they'll end up on YouTube eventually...

Some of the best animation and storytelling out there, period!

Cheers

[ThomasMahler]

PS: I demand an Art of Team Fortress 2 book!

Me too! I would be first in line to buy one.

It'd be especially cool if there'd be comparisons with Leyendeckers and Rockwells art - I like the little artwork samples in this article, but I'd really love to know with what you guys at Valve came up with design-wise, in order to achieve the final look of the game.

And yeah, it'd be darn awesome if there'd be more 'Meet the ...' shorts. Love em!

[switchblade327]

Nice article, thanks for sharing. I would definitely buy an art book as well. TF2 is one of the most brilliant, refreshing games I've played in years and I hope this is just the start of giving photorealism in games the finger :)



And yeah, it'd be darn awesome if there'd be more 'Meet the ...' shorts. Love em!

I know there's at least one more on the way, according to Yahztee (aka the zero punctuation game reviews from www.theescapist.com) who was at Valve a couple weeks ago. Didn't say anything more though, like which class it might.

[Geta-Ve]

Ya I hope they produce the rest of the shorts, so hilarious! I was thinking about it the other day and I am quite surprised there is no Female character.. Could have easily been the doctor or scout or something.

[fuss]

I was thinking about it the other day and I am quite surprised there is no Female character.. Could have easily been the doctor or scout or something.

Well, theoretically the pyro could be one... ;)

I mean, she DOES seem to have kind of prominent hips...

[switchblade327]

Ya I hope they produce the rest of the shorts, so hilarious! I was thinking about it the other day and I am quite surprised there is no Female character.. Could have easily been the doctor or scout or something.

I heard it was considered but I didn't find out exactly why it was scrapped. I imagine they didn't want something like gender influencing character selection and there are definitely a lot of male gamers who aren't quite... secure enough to play a female.

It was suggested by a guy at another game studio that someone do an ALL female TF2 mod/conversion, which I think would be brilliant. Kate Archer from NOLF or Elizabeth Hurley from Austin Powers as the Spy, my high school gym teacher for the Heavy...

[Geta-Ve]

Thinking about it now the doctor definitely should not be female as he is the least used class as it is. However I think the perfect implementation would have been the scout as the class is integral to most missions.

Full female TF2, I'd pay for that :D

[PhilOsirus]

I think even Valve themselves don't realize how important this game will have been for the industry on an artistic level.

They have brought a much needed refreshing touch to the FPS genre, and I believe we will see this impacting the rest of industry further.

Congrats!

[eirenicon]

I imagine they didn't want something like gender influencing character selection and there are definitely a lot of male gamers who aren't quite... secure enough to play a female.
And yet they saw fit to include a "black Scottish cyclops", and in an even more risque move, an Australian. Don't underestimate how many people aren't secure enough to play an Australian.

[fuss]

Well, again theoretically, they could make a male AND female version of each character, and then it would be up to each player to choose the gender of their toon as they desire. Though it would be probably a lot of additional work, a lot of tweaking and fine tuning. Some personality traits (or I should rather say, STEREOTYPES) probably do not carry over equally well from one gender to another, and if at the beginning the guys (and gals ;)) at Valve had a certain concept of what the characters should convey individually AND as a whole, it might have been hard to achieve if some of the characters were female (or if they were male but some of them were different than they are now). I personally feel the characters are exactly the way they should be, changing anything about them would probably jeopardize the "balance" they emanate for me as a whole. But hey, here's an idea for a mod - create alternative female characters for each toon! :)


my high school gym teacher for the Heavy...

Hehe, good one...

[Kirt]

Thinking about it now the doctor definitely should not be female as he is the least used class as it is. However I think the perfect implementation would have been the scout as the class is integral to most missions.

Full female TF2, I'd pay for that :D
The game needs a Nurse (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=31&t=561708). :D

Love this game.
Best game of the decade.
Great job Valve.
I'd buy and "Art of" book also.

:applause:

[PaulHellard]

Don't underestimate how many people aren't secure enough to play an Australian.

I am! :buttrock:

[switchblade327]

And yet they saw fit to include a "black Scottish cyclops", and in an even more risque move, an Australian. Don't underestimate how many people aren't secure enough to play an Australian.

Perhaps true but insecurity about gender is going to be a much bigger issue in game development.

Kirt, those sketches are great!

[Geta-Ve]

The game needs a Nurse (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=31&t=561708). :D

Love this game.
Best game of the decade.
Great job Valve.
I'd buy and "Art of" book also.

:applause:

Nice! ;) I'd hit.. uhh.. play that :D

[Matias]

The facial expressions of the characters in animatics is unbelievable, this fact with face-robot not?
I love the concept of each character also, seen as light and expressive at the same time. Congratulations

_____________
My reel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw1CQ8vayzI

My web
www.matiasfernandez.com.ar (http://www.matiasfernandez.com.ar)

[pooby]

Wow that design is so accomplished and strong.

Ive never commented on a game before, because Its not where my interest lies, but really iS intimidatingly good.

[Pickman]

Hey guys, tremendous article ! Always looking forward to Valve work.
I agree with Bentllama, we need an artwork book for taht kind of stuff. Female version would have been damn cool too...Anyway congratulations for the guys involved. I really I'm suprised about Valve management policy. This is an interesting concept.

[Larrikin]

And yet they saw fit to include a "black Scottish cyclops", and in an even more risque move, an Australian. Don't underestimate how many people aren't secure enough to play an Australian.

Well the enviroments are apparently based on generic Australian scenes so it might be good to play the local.
The artwork and character designs are brilliant in this game. Congrats to Valve.
I'm disappointed there's no females too, I'd definetly play one. A female spy would be cool.

[Libor]

Great game, great art, great article!!

I think its truly pioneer in terms of merging fps with strategy (ie CS) and total "berserk" action (ie Quake arena). Definetely another milestone in a game industry era! Congrats on that boys! You rules!

L.

[mastajappa]

Would be really cool to get some more info of the making of and the design process. Really love the game and the look. I also missed a female character but I must admit that this game is a real boy toy though.

[Zealotlee]

If you look closely at the Pyro's locker in the spawn room on some maps, you'll see a pink purse. They imply that the pyro might be a female.

[Laa-Yosh]

The facial expressions of the characters in animatics is unbelievable, this fact with face-robot not?

I'd say it's more like good old FACS and blendshapes, considering that Bay Raitt of Gollum fame has been at Valve for a few years now...

[Slythis]

freakin' awesome...i love the art direction

[wowbaggin]

awesome article, awesome game

[Toastedhead]

This game was a legend for me even during the classic. When I heard about TF2 in production, I hunted every piece of information about it. I read the whole article, and it reminds me and told me that to get something strong you have to stick to the basic. And thats what Valve did with talent again. I would find it sad that those basic rules, like silhouette, color scheme, character obviousness,.. are something new for some professionnal art director. Its a basic that as been studied by traditional animator since 100 years.

Still,... where is the Concept Art book for Fan :cool:

[adam-crockett]

Ok I totally have to play an all female version now. That would be the best mod!

@kirt, I love your sketches, especially the zaftig gunner!

[oktawu]

great article, amazing game.
wish they detailed the animation and facial work more in the article
its by far the best looking facial animation and animation overall in a game.
tamas might be right since it was also bay raitt that suggested the use of normal maps in half life 2, but i would probably think its a combination of keyframed blendshapes and face robot (im making that assumption since i know their animation pipeline still revolves around softimage)
just like nvidia did those (creepy) demos for the 8800 geforce using face robot for keyframe animation only. no mocap whatsoever.
im thinking its something along that line, but id love to have an official statement though

[alfiojr]

Great article !!! I 'm looking for some reference meshes to my character and I love this style, team fortress style is incredible. Anybody know where can I find this wireframe character or similar?

Cheers

[Rawz]

I've not seen nor heard anything about this game - the art and style is just brilliant!!

The suggestions here of some female characters is excellent too, no reason why there shouldn't be a host of wrench weilding boiler suited, Bettie Page and psycho librarian types tearing a new er, line in this concept.... brilliant.

But, I would also just like to pipe up and say I hope that the good people at Valve are more than happy to reveal and release a whole lotta production material for a super fat art book!!

Thanks for showing what you have.

Rory

[Antropus]

Congrats to the whole team. This game (and everything that comes from Valve...) looks phenomenal!

Best,
-Kris

[switchblade327]

Great article !!! I 'm looking for some reference meshes to my character and I love this style, team fortress style is incredible. Anybody know where can I find this wireframe character or similar?

Cheers

If you have XSI or the XSI mod tool, you might be able to import a character's .smd files and have a look at the wireframes.

[ThomasMahler]

The game needs a Nurse (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=31&t=561708). :D

Love this game.
Best game of the decade.
Great job Valve.
I'd buy and "Art of" book also.

:applause:

Dude, if you're okay with it, I'd love to use those if I find time to do some sculpting. I had the idea with the female versions too, but the Heavy is just too cool, so I sculpted him first:

http://www.thomasmahler.com/files/heavy03.jpg

Early WIP, but I'd love to take your stuff and go with it and see how it'd fit in :)

[Kirt]

ThomasMahler - That's cool. We should probably continue this in the WIP forums (or my thread) so as to not hijack this thread. But I welcome anyone to sculpt/model from my concepts. Just let me know where I can see the work so I can return the praises. :applause:

[Matt-Clark]

It's an amazing looking game, stands out a mile. I was honoured when quite a few reviewers felt it drew on the character style of a game I worked on several years ago:, Evil Genius (http://www.matt-clark.co.uk/pic.php?o=47). Now that was a strategy game with teeny little characters, I would have loved to have done an FPS like TF2, especially with the polycounts and shaders that time has delivered since EG.
Don't know if I could have done it as well as Valve did though....:)

[Auctane]

I love how Valve puts character into characters that were previously just cookie cutter characters.

I was thinking of starting up a mod team to make a all new - all female character lineup & a couple of girly maps... cool to see that there is interest in it & that I wasnt the only one thinking it. ^_^

Cool sketches Kirt!!

[switchblade327]

I was thinking of starting up a mod team to make a all new - all female character lineup & a couple of girly maps... cool to see that there is interest in it & that I wasnt the only one thinking it. ^_^

Cool sketches Kirt!!

Like I said over in the other thread, if someone else concepts and builds these I'd love to animate them. I think it'd be very important to maintain most of the game qualities though (same weapons, same health, same movement speeds, etc) which we could hopefully extract from XSI. I'm hardly fluent in Source but I have messed around with it a bit.

[RalphDamiani]

Valve, along Blizzard, is my favorite gaming company. Certainly in the top 3 list in the gaming industry when it comes to quality, creativeness, technical innovation and reliability. Congratulations on the excellent games and design philosophy.

[joelrodrigues]

1) Anyone knows if it is possible to use 3ds max for modeling for this game?
2) Does this game requires Half Life 2 installed?

[switchblade327]

1) Anyone knows if it is possible to use 3ds max for modeling for this game?
2) Does this game requires Half Life 2 installed?

1)Yes! Look for .smd exporters for 3ds max (there are two I believe; the more popular was written by a guy name Cannonfodder). I believe they have versions for Max 7-9. .smd is the format used for models and animations in Source.

2)You can buy TF2 seperate from HL2 and save a whopping $20 (and miss out on HL2, Ep 1, 2 and Portal which are all great) but I imagine you still need HL2 for the mod tools. Don't be cheap; Orange Box is a sound investment.

[joelrodrigues]

1)Yes! Look for .smd exporters for 3ds max (there are two I believe; the more popular was written by a guy name Cannonfodder). I believe they have versions for Max 7-9. .smd is the format used for models and animations in Source.

2)You can buy TF2 seperate from HL2 and save a whopping $20 (and miss out on HL2, Ep 1, 2 and Portal which are all great) but I imagine you still need HL2 for the mod tools. Don't be cheap; Orange Box is a sound investment.


Thanks very much!

[adam-crockett]

I was reading back over this fantastic article. I had some questions about this paragraph.

They tended to use shading techniques which accentuated the internal shape of characters with patterns of value, while rim highlights rather than dark outlines to pull their silhouettes out of the background. Other principles included making sure the shading obeyed a warm-to-cool hue shift, and shadows going to cool and not black. Ensuring that saturation increased at the terminator with respect to a given light source, where the terminator is often reddened, and being selective in omitting high frequency where possible.

I understand the patterns of value and the rim highlights.

Can someone explain the "warm to cool hue shift", with a visual example?

Also, what is meant by "the terminator", why is it "often reddened", and what is meant by "omitting high frequency" ? Again, please use visual examples wherever possible.

Thanks for curing my ignorance.

Adam

[adam-crockett]

nevermind, I found all the answers I needed in this slide show:

http://www.valvesoftware.com/publications/2007/NPAR07_IllustrativeRenderingInTeamFortress2_Slides.pdf

[joelrodrigues]

nevermind, I found all the answers I needed in this slide show:

http://www.valvesoftware.com/publications/2007/NPAR07_IllustrativeRenderingInTeamFortress2_Slides.pdf

Man, this article is really cool... Where did you get it? I know it is from VALVE site, but in which section in the site you find that article? (i looked for and didn´t find).

[switchblade327]

nevermind, I found all the answers I needed in this slide show:

http://www.valvesoftware.com/publications/2007/NPAR07_IllustrativeRenderingInTeamFortress2_Slides.pdf

Awesome, thanks for sharing that.

[adam-crockett]

Man, this article is really cool... Where did you get it? I know it is from VALVE site, but in which section in the site you find that article? (i looked for and didn´t find).

I looked, but never found a way to browse to it from their homepage. It basically just turned up when I googled "team fortress 2"

[tmek]

I've played hundreds of hours of TF2 now and i can easily say it's the most visually impressive video game I've played in terms of polish and style. Not to mention it's just plain fun due to the humorous nature of the character and map design. Valve really hit this one out of the park in a way that very few people were expecting could work in a market dominated by 'super serious/realistic' first person shooters.

tmek - http://www.meanfortress.com

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.

[PaulHellard]

Reopening thread for vibrant discussion.......

[Bramboogie]

Ever since tf2 came out, I've been wondering what the next step in visuals would be. Taking it in a different direction with a style reminiscent of the incredibles, focussing more on graphics that support gameplay and not on striving for realism really placed this game at the top of my greatest-games-ever-list.
Will tf2 be updated with smoother graphics, high-res models from the meet-the-...-videos, sss-skin, smoke, etc... over the coming years? Or are that things reserved for tf3 in 2026?

TF2's visuals don't date as fast as other fps-games focussing on realism and huge-explosions where you want to dial back the detail or install brightskins in order to actually distinguish the player from the surroundings.

I absolutely adore the fact that tf2 has been the testing-platform for valve as it meant free updates and more incentives to keep coming back even though i only play on pubs. Up until the start of the manconomy-store i felt i stole the game by buying the orange box so cheaply and allwys wondered why a company would keep investing in something they allready sold. I hope the freighttrain with money allows for a never-ending wave of updates (but with fewer glitches/bugs/.... ).

TF2 lives on a very creative community, and I can't help but compare it to little big planet. If it weren't for a creative community, that game would've been in and out in under a year. With LBP2, all the original community levels are still present and playable, giving LBP2 allready thousands of great levels from the go, although with the improved LBP2-engine.

Also, i'd like to craft my 25 crates into one companion cube or a portal-style-sentry...

The portal2 release might be a good time to introduce a space-theme (incredibles meets james-bond)

[MiguelAngeloCBT]

The art direction and character design still on top! :)

Nice article Paul.

[WilliamCameron]

Fantastic game!
Art Direction, Facial expressions, voice acting, gameplay, everything,
All brilliant

Valve really know how to make a great games,
Can't wait for Portal 2

Still waiting for the 'meet the pyro' vid though

[WyattHarris]

Probably the best game investment I've ever made. It never fails, even in our match last night 3-4 years after release and something I've never seen before will happen.

Also, Valve introduced new content with the last update and all of the proceeds go to the Red Cross disaster relief fund for Japan. Seems like a perfect way for the community to help out.
http://www.teamfortress.com/

[Boristone]

I like so much the style of the characters and the animations of them. The fact of every character has his own personality very defined is also remarkable.

[Bramboogie]

yes, it's incredible how recognizable all characters are. Every aspect about the 9 classes help to differentiate one from another. Their posture, outline, clothing, etc... all work together to help identify. The different headgear/attributes/weapons helps to differentiate between different players using the same class.

There's been a lot of people asking for a tenth class (not me though, 9 is plenty), but i am curious as to how you could introduce a tenth character that's as easy to distinguish as the rest, is unique and doesn't upset the delicate balance. (e.g. female character/ old(er) character/robotic character/... )
When introducing a new space-theme... valve could also introduce e.g. cartoony-space-themed-suits, yet still retaining the recognisability. Those would work better in moonraker-stiled-environment.

imagine switching/alternating gravity combined with team fortress cartoony physics... try capping a controlpoint when someone reverses gravity

[Matroskin]

its all of course a great game and nice article, but why do they post it for the 2nd time?
Maybe I am not getting the "volt" thing, but its the first time I see the artcile being re-used after i guess 2 years or so :P

[WyattHarris]

Maybe I am not getting the "volt" thing, but its the first time I see the artcile being re-used after i guess 2 years or so :P
Vault not volt, as in "from the vault". Not the first time they have brought back an old article for a refresh.


I loved how this article went into the game mechanic decisions made by the graphical style. That was then. Now, one of the topics that has popped up a lot lately is how much all of the new content is diluting the original style of the game. While that may or may not be the case it does allow for easy on-sight identification of players. There may be more than one person playing a class but I know immediately who it is when I see a green or purple spartan. And there is no mistaking those hot-pink accessories. May be an unintended "feature" of the game.

[Bramboogie]

true... when i'm being targetted by spies/snipers... i know it's time to switch headgear :arteest:

people pay good money for hats/weapons... but don't have to. Not every hat/weapon makes it in the game, thank god. At first is disliked all the new apparel, now I see them as extra/different tactics.

And since it was mentioned... I want that "meet the pyro"-video...pls :)

[DimitrisLiatsos]

The style , design and animation, not to mention the memorable characters ...demand for an animation film with these guys...awesome game .

[TheNeverman]

Ditto, so much great content and back-story here, really wish they'd pursue a feature-length film.


The style , design and animation, not to mention the memorable characters ...demand for an animation film with these guys...awesome game .

[fusedgore]

Now with the steam workshop its allot better cause we can now add stuff easier but I am wondering how do we submit new unusual hat effects ,or what if we want to get some real life toys made .

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=4281