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In this instalment of How It’s Done, I interviewed Mangycarface, the creator of Yukon. Yukon was one of the two community-made maps included in the Classless Update.

How did you get into mapping?

MangyCarface: I’d messed around with CS maps when I was much younger, but didn’t really do much with it past silly map modifications. When TF2 came out, I actually didn’t like it at first, but once I got into it the settings and gameplay really appealed in terms of design. So over the years I’ve honed my ability while working with TF2’s assets… as other mappers feel, it’s truly a unique game to map for. I think it’s especially easy to get hooked on mapping for TF2, because of the great community support as well as the support on Valve’s part, adding things into the game code to enable more unusual variants on gameplay.

How long, from idea creation to finalizing, did Yukon take, roughly?

MangyCarface: If I recall correctly, Yukon specifically was begun as part of a contest on ETF2L’s part, at a time when good quality 5CP maps were still a bit rare. The layout probably took around 2 weeks’ time, just setting up the basic brushwork and making it functional. I wasn’t able to get as much playtesting as I wanted, and started to detail right away. That probably took 3 or 4 weeks… I remember powering through spring break after going back home. After detailing it, I was able to get some playtesting through the IRC channels, et al, to make changes even after submitting to the contest I originally planned to enter. Eventually though, my interest in it faded until receiving contact from Valve. After that I spent another 2 or 3 weeks to add some polish to the map. so maybe over the course of 6 months-ish? Not that I spent that whole time on it.

When exactly did Valve contact you in relation to when the map was released? The model contributors seemed to receive absolutely no warning they were having their creations added in.

MangyCarface: I think the process is a bit different for models, but in my case it was probably 2 or 3 weeks prior to the update to get some legal stuff out of the way while I was polishing up. The paperwork was done by 7/28 and then the Classless Update came out on the 13th of the next month. Getting the paperwork to my fellow mapper and the material artist for Yukon, Ace, was a bit tricky since he’s in Sweden, and then we were between updates so I think it was just coincidence that it took a few weeks.

When designing Yukon, what kind of balance issues did you face or have to deal with?

MangyCarface: Yukon is a map that still struggles at the moment, and has a few issues that have been hard to address. When detailing, I realized I’d made a dumb layout mistake in terms of optimization and geometry and had to patch it up with the sliding door between 2 and 1. And throughout the map’s development I’ve debated about the middle point. Many feel it would play better were it higher on the bridge, but it’s hard to make a decision like that. Also, in earlier versions, having only 2 routes between 2 and 3 was causing stalemates which I thought wouldn’t have been a problem based on the 2ish entrances to granary yard. But without a yard, the gameplay’s quite different, so I ended up adding a path that to this day I’m not quite satisfied with. I also have a good list of suggested improvements from Jaeger et al. such as a path from below CP1 up to the hut next to it

What part did Ace play in the creation of Yukon? And did anyone else help at all?

MangyCarface: Ace was very helpful in fulfilling material requests. We were kind of both working with maps at the same time, and originally Yukon was to be snowy, but I ended up liking his darker grey textures so much as to switch tracks to along those lines. I think many of the materials he made are commonly used now within the mapping community. As for other help… well, as always, my home community 2F2F and friends there were great help in terms of getting constant pub playtesting, but I also had friends in ETF2L and stateside helping me get tests of varying quality in the 6v6 environment. Many of whose suggestions influenced the map’s changes, and TF2maps.net was useful for stylization criticism among others

If you were given the opportunity, would you want to continue working on Yukon for official tweaks?

MangyCarface: Yes, I think Valve lets community mappers update their maps if needed. As soon as I clear some space in my schedule I’d like to make some tweaks.

What resources can you recommend for someone who wants to get into mapping or wants to map in TF2?

MangyCarface: The first thing they’ll want to do is register at TF2maps.net, undeniably the best resource for TF2 mapping. I also contribute to a group blog which isn’t as often updated as it ought be but, nodraw.net has some neat articles on the matter. It’s best to begin with the mindset that you don’t want to try to make your magnum opus with your first map, just practice, practice practice, and learn from your mistakes. If you hit a block where it seems boring or too hard to go on, step back and re-evaluate, and if you don’t enjoy the actual process of mapping, perhaps it’s just not your thing- I wouldn’t advise anyone to sink the hundreds of hours into a hobby they won’t enjoy.

If there was one big tip you could pass on about mapping for TF2, what would it be?

MangyCarface: Type tf into the keywords field in the material browser. HL2 textures are a no-go, it’s the #1 most common mistake made I find.

Are you going to make more maps and try to get them into TF2?

MangyCarface: Well, let’s see. I’ve probably made a dozen by now, and just won a TF2maps contest for my CTF map. I’m working on the artpass challenge at the moment and hope to bring something appealing to the table, though I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. So, in short, yes!

Do you think it’s wise for mappers to design their maps to emphasise on comp play, or is it good to keep things relatively balanced between comp and pub?

MangyCarface: I like to think perfect map design works across all player counts, but none of us are perfect so it’s good to set goals when you begin a map. Target audience might be a good goal to have in mind. Either way, I believe mappers should be open to the idea of how their map might play at the 6v6 level, and although being a good player does not make one good at layouts, there are definitely good people out there in the competitive community to consult about gameplay.

Thanks for the interview!

MangyCarface: My pleasure.

Lessons Learnt:
-Try to test your map with a variety of audiences, to ensure it works on both pub and comp levels of play.
-Don’t use HL2 textures for a TF2 map, as they do not fit in with the style well.
-Don’t be afraid to consult competitive players for gameplay related information, they will help you pinpoint exactly what problems your map may have.

…And there’s the story behind Yukon. Join us next time when I shall interview JoshuaC, the maker of Watchtower.

In this installment of How It’s Done, I interviewed Icarus, the creator of Coldfront, the community map included with the Engineer update and the first official non-valve map to use the snow theme.

How did you get into mapping?

Icarus: I’ve always had an interest in making games. When I was younger I’d used to make games on paper or with legos to play with my brother and friends. The first mapping ‘program’ I’ve ever touched was for Westwood’s original Red Alert for the PC. Over time, I’ve dabbled a bit in starcraft’s intuitive world editor and Duke Nukem 3D’s Build editor. I’ve even made a couple of primitive rail shooter games with flash. When TF2 came out, I was just captivated by how deep the game was, and how artfully done the worlds were. It wasnt until Steel went official (Heavy Update) that I thought maybe I could try my hand in it, too. I really hadn’t seriously mapped until TF2 rolled around, everything before that was probably closer to dabbling.

How long, from idea to finalizing, did Coldfront take to make?

Icarus: It started with one of TF2M.net’s minicontests. At the time though, I was already in a mood to make a 5CP map, so I designed my two entries to actually look like they might be in one, and leave an opportunity for me to stitch them together at a later time. I didn’t really start development until the Comp CTF contest started. Since then it’s been an on-again off-again process as I made some changes and waited for it to be tested. The cycle was a little slower than I’d liked it to be, but the last map I made (Vector) was tested pretty much everyday. It wouldn’t sit very well with the community that tests my maps. I’ve always had Coldfront’s general theme and playstyle in mind though, it’s not like I made it up as I went along.

When designing Coldfront, what sort of problems did you have regarding layout and balance? For example, wide open maps cater to snipers and scouts, whereas enclosed maps suit pyros and engineers.

Icarus: It seems like I tend to overcompensate for snipers myself. i.e. I worry too much about them. The biggest problem I thought I had was that sightlines were too powerful, especially in the mid point. After a few tests though, I learned that snipers, for the most part, don’t need to be dealt with. Optimization is probably the biggest demon in Coldfront though. As much as I would have loved to, I just can’t make the map as wide and open as I’d like to. It might be because some of the art decisions I’ve made, and it’s also probably why maps like Badwater and Thunder Mountain look quite plain in contrast to tighter maps. 5CP maps in particular are very intricate and require a lot more planning and thought than I initially thought. The way that both teams can make a push complicates things. What I think TF2’s push-style maps does very well is way it varies the level of action between every point. The slow capture times for mid points are necessary help make the initial clash more fun. The extremely fast capture times for final points are needed to prevent stalemates, especially as it’s almost always right next to the spawn room. A stalemate to me feels worse than actually losing the match. This is why the engineer can be such a nuisance. I kind of regret making coldfront all indoors, though. I haven’t stopped hearing complaints about soldiers and demomen.

Did you recieve any help with Coldfront from anyone? If so, what specifically did they do?

Icarus: I don’t think it would’ve been possible to do it without any help. I believe one of the most important parts of the development process is through testing and feedback. From random strangers, from a close-knit community, from other mappers/artists. I had help from them all. For Coldfront in particular, there have been a few who have helped in an exemplary way. The most notable was Flame. I met flame mid-development, around the time I was nearing the Beta phase. He helped me get a competitive viewpoint on the map, and withstood sharp criticism as he organized innumerable playtesting sessions and feedback from the competitive community. Once Coldfront was up to snuff around the Release Candidate phase, he helped me get it accepted into several competitive events, including ESEA Season 6. I seriously can not thank him enough for his help. Others have helped too. Seeing as I don’t have any modelling abilities, I had to get help from a few other friends I knew. Selentic helped modify a valve prop so it could be fitted in, as well as the snow on the rooftops outside. In the rooftop case, a model would have been the only way to make it look decent. Void made a couple of posters for me without even me asking. I loved his ‘Icarus Airlines’ poster so much that I just had to put it in. YM made the deer head trophy for the mid point, but it was already done as a part or the swamp pack. Getting help from friends and others is absolutely necessary. You might need to do quite a bit of legwork and networking to find them but it’s worth it.

What resources can you recommend for those trying to get into mapping, or trying to learn the TF2 style?

Icarus: The Valve Developer wiki for sure. It has everything you need to get started, including a straightforward “your first map” tutorial. TF2Maps.Net also has a massive archive of user-written tutorials for almsot every aspect of mapping. There is Boojum’s Ultimate Resource Pack on TF2M as well. It includes an updated FGD (hammer files) as well as some handy prefabs. I wouldn’t recommend using prefabs until you’ve built it yourself though. its a good way to learn how things are done, but you’re going to end up in deep trouble if all you do is copy paste parts into your own map. Here are some links:

• The Valve Wiki’s TF2 Level Creation page
• TF2Maps’ tutorials
• TF2Maps’ mapping resource pack

Oh, and one more thing, for more advanced users. There is this awesome optimization guide out there, that outlines everything you need to know about Source Optimization in detail. A must read before you start any serious map, once you get the hang of hammer.
I know reading isnt everyone’s thing though, I just spent most of my time experimenting in hammer. It’s almost assured that your first map will be bad, so there’s no point in worrying about it if it is.

If there one big tip you could pass on about mapping for TF2, what would that tip be?

Icarus: Paper. Pencil. Nothing is more important than pre-planning the map with sketches and doodles. It really lets you see the map as a whole, and make wild changes on the fly without worrying about hammer. It helps prevent ‘Mapper’s Block’ and your ideas will look more original. You can’t just go into hammer and make a map. You need to be ready to make one.

Are you going to make more maps and try to get them into TF2?

Icarus: At this moment I’m a lot more interested in Alien Swarm. I’ve been mapping for TF2 for some two odd years and I find it really refreshing to work on something new. I don’t want to say what I will be making for Alien Swarm, but (in my mind) it’s going to be crazy.

Thankyou very much for the interview.

Icarus: No problem. Thanks for running these interviews.

Lessons Learnt:
-Try to have your map playtested as much as possible. This will allow you to get the necessary feedback to improve the map with from the audiences you want to cater to.
-Optimization is key. Remember that the bigger the map is, the less detailed it can be before it starts causing performance problems.
-Don’t overuse prefabs. Otherwise, you won’t learn the skills needed to make your own.
-Don’t be afraid to rely on other people for certain things. A map can easily be a collaborative effort, just be sure to give credit where it’s due.

And that’s the story behind Coldfront. Join us next time when I shall be interviewing Mangycarface, the creator of Yukon.

Ok, to begin with, I strongly recommend that you take some deep, calming breaths. The picture you are about to see (Or has caught your eye already) can invoke massive amounts of terror and disgust, and therefore being in a calm state of mind is recommended. I strongly urge you to suppress any desire to smash things or stab your eyes out, despite the untold horrors that you may consider to lie below. Right, are you ready? Here goes…

Yes, that’s me playing Team Fortress 2. With a joypad.

Allow me to explain. To start with, no, I’m not going to try and argue that a joypad is far superior to a mouse and keyboard when it comes to methods of control. I’d be wrong if I tried to, because a mouse and keyboard does allow for a greater deal of precision, allows for faster reactions and responses, and generally can do more than a joypad ever could. Sure, I consider joypads to be precise and effective to an extent, but they aren’t in the same league as the trusty mouse and keyboard combination. So, no to that… What this is really about is certain other factors that are important, to me especially; Familiarity, comfort, and fun.

You see, I’ve never been the biggest PC gamer. I’ve dabbled in it over the years, for sure, but when it came to playing games I just always picked the consoles for no other reason than… Well, I just did. So over the years my skill with a joypad has risen, whilst the skill and ability in using a mouse and keyboard passed me by. It’s only really with Team Fortress 2 that I’ve really started playing PC games, and with this event came situations whereupon people destroyed me by deftly flicking their fingers over the keys, whilst I wondered why I couldn’t find the letter “R” all of a sudden. And whilst I’ve learnt over time to master the system, and continue to do so, I still remain at the point where I’m more comfortable with a joypad in my sweaty palms… Years of experience will do that to you.

The fact the computer I play TF2 is also placed on a desk which is just cluttered by nature meant I often found myself constantly shifting things about, just to give the mouse some space to try and kick ass with. So recently, after dying yet again to a guy with his hands fused to his keyboard and mouse after years of use, I thought “Screw this” and plugged the joypad in. Now, I laze about on my bed, know exactly what button is where and what it does, and are having more fun with the game than I have in a long while. Yes, I still tend to die a lot to the PC elite – just last night a medic bobbed and weaved right in front of my soldier and shot him with relative ease – but in some ways my joypad experience in comparison to my M+K experience means I’m actually doing better. I even got a few dominations last night, which in my world is a rare and wondrous thing. Besides, who cares about dying if the fun is there? It certainly was for me.

The choice is yours…

Anyway, enough of a personal monologue from me, I think. You may be asking why I’m putting up such a defence for the joypad anyway, and why I suggested at the start of this article that people might be trying to kill me. Indeed, you may be one of those future murderers yourself, and wondering why you feel that way. Well, you see, there’s a ton of hate towards joypads in comparison to the keyboard and mouse, because the latter is considered just to be better. I came across some of this hate when trying to get the joypad working, and asked myself – Why? Why are you even trying to press your method of control onto myself and others? It’s clear the people asking in those threads want to use joypads, whatever their reason may be – Fun, comfort, whatever. Smashing them down for not using the “Pro” choice seems pointless, and if anything, you should encourage it if you believe the joypad user will become easy pickings in a fight. Yet despite these facts, people have (And always will) try to press their choices on to others, and that’s a shame.

So come on, people. Give joypads a break. We may not be as cool as you, but perhaps that’s just the way we like it.

In this instalment of How It’s Done, I have interviewed Larolaro, the creator of the Homewrecker and a winner of the famed Polycount pack contest, with his Tank Buster pack for the Soldier.

Firstly, how did you get into Modelling?

Larolaro: Well, for the past 4-5 years I’ve been working as a freelance illustrator (http://larolaro.blogspot.com) and at the same time I’ve always had a lingering curiosity for games and what-not, so I started to dabble in modelling. It was a straight up nightmare at first, as I found it very difficult to learn by myself, so the extent of my knowledge comes from 4 years of tedious un-knowing button clicking, haha. 2D and 3D really are two opposite sides of the same coin but eventually I got the hang of it… Sort of. Now, to be honest, I’m never going back. Being a digital artist moving onto 3D really gives me a plethora of new options to realize my ideas.

You initially designed the Homewrecker. How long did the Homewrecker, from idea to realization, roughly take?

Larolaro: I created the homewrecker roughly a year before I submitted it to valve through their contribute page. So, embarrassingly, the homewrecker was just a bit of tooling-around practice, as I just did it for fun and never intended for it to be a serious submission. The concept took me 5 minutes and the model and texture was complete in about 2 hours. However, the compiling and such took an age, the source engine really isn’t noob-friendly. I see the source engine as a beautiful ornate chair with a spike carved into the seat; It looks great, it’s solid and it will last for a long time, it’s just a pain in the ass to use.

What software packages do you use? Previous contributors have said that the paid stuff (like 3DSMax) is the best, but you can do just as well sometimes with freeware.

Larolaro: Oddly enough I get this question alot from random people on steam, and I never answer the question because if I did I would giving the impression that it matters which one to use. I’m sorry to burst any bubbles and such but unfortunately there really isnt a magic button to make 3D, as it’s difficult to learn 3D no matter what program you use. The program is just a tool for a similar result; just pick one that looks good and use it and if it doesn’t work out too well for you, you will naturally move onto a different program anyway. So my advice would be, try them all and pick what feels right for you.

The Homewrecker was originally an Axe/Axtinguisher skin (back when it was called Mr. Sledge), but upon submission did you ever think about what attributes it could have had? Some people think this is necessary, despite this not being the case.

Larolaro: Well, I have a lot of respect for the way valve do their thing, so I just left it to them, I had nothing in mind to be honest. I don’t manage a hugely successful online multiplayer game, so I don’t have any right to say what’s what because I really don’t know the amount of implications a game mechanic might have.

Do you think that Valve handled your submission well? The Homewrecker was initially a choice alternative for quick building destruction, but with the addition of the ability to damage Sappers it suddenly became a used and viable option for Pyros. And would you have liked to have had more influence on these modifications?

Larolaro: I really think they did great with the homewrecker, I was even happy with it before the sapper-removing stat, albeit it being a whisper of a weapon. The homewrecker was one of the first community weapons to be added into TF2, and it was new ground they are walking on, so I figured they would possibly weaken its impact on TF2’s gameplay.

When someone’s trying to get into modelling, can you offer any resources or tips you found helpful?

Larolaro: Well, I didn’t use many tutorials when I was learning so I don’t have any resources to offer. For learning 3D, my advice would be just stick at it, don’t give up and practice, practice, practice! It’s a decade long battle with a wall of scary buttons, so if you don’t suck it up and focus you’ll go crazy.

Do you think you learned much, if anything, from modelling for TF2?

Larolaro: Well, I’ve played and admired TF2 from the start, having clocked 1000+ hours in it. It really is a massive inspiration to me, modelling this and that for TF2 has really helped me on the way to becoming “industry” ready, if you know what I mean. It’s a huge compliment from valve to give the homewrecker and Tankbuster pack their professional blessing.

When you decided to enter the Polycount contest, did you have a clear image of the class/weapons you wanted to do, or was it a much more gradual and developmental process?

Larolaro: For the 5 weeks we had to do the contest, it took me a week to gather up the courage to even start. I really didn’t think I would have a chance of winning so I very almost didn’t enter, But I thought I might as well do it for some good old practice. So 1 week in I started a WWII Survival Theme (Check it out here). This involved a rucksack, a survival knife (See it here) and a scrim camo helmet. After 3 weeks I started to get a lot of criticism and my theme started to fall apart so I scrapped it entirely. I wanted to pursue an entry that went smoothly and people enjoyed, so I came up with a tangent off my original idea and this is when I came up with the Tankbuster Pack. I started my Tank Buster pack from scratch with only 10 days left of the contest. This meant I had 5 items to concept, model, texture and compile with 2 days each. It was total chaos and I really didn’t sleep very well for those 10 days, haha, but I learnt a lot and eventually got picked as a winner, so it was totally worth it.

Are there any other packs that you particularly liked in the Polycount contest? Valve have said that just under half of the entries were of a good enough quality for submission, so there will be more community items to come from the contest regardless of the main winners.

Larolaro: I enjoyed a lot of the entries in the contest, and it’s a shame only 5 won the contest, but I can understand coming up with game mechanics and balancing 12 weapons really is enough for one update. Some of the entries that caught my eye from the start were Nrek’s (Croc-O-Style), Progg’s (Gas Man), Both of Swizzle’s entries (Expert’s Ordnance Pack and Field Medic’s Tool Kit), Gerre’s (Hillbilly Pack) and Pierate’s (Medievil pack).

If there was another Polycount contest or something of that ilk, would you participate given the chance?

Larolaro: I have no doubt in my mind that Valve will do something similiar in the future, given the popularity and quality of the entries in the contest. In fact, I’d be surprised if they didn’t do something. And when that happens, I may have to take another shot at it, with a hopefully larger timeframe than what I had to do my entry in.

Lessons Learnt:
- Keep practising as much as possible. Remember, getting good is not a quick process, and needs time investment.
- Be sure to consider your ideas thoroughly first, and be ready to abandon projects if they become boring and are clearly not going anywhere.
- Once again, experiment with as many different softwares as you can until you find the one that suits you best. There is no definitive ‘best’, so it’s up to your tastes and working style to determine yours.

…and there is the lowdown behind one of the more successful modelling achievements in TF2.

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Now, this is where I reach out to you, the reader. If you are an estabilished TF2 contributor (this includes maps), are interested in an interview, or know one who would be happy to have one published here, then please try to contact me here in the comments, on the UC forums, or at the Official Team Fortress Wiki. I’d like to make this series last as long as possible as I’ve recieved such positive feedback and so much useful information for aspiring 3D artists has come out of it, as well as revealing info to keep non-modellers amused and interested. Thanks for all the support, and hopefully expect more in the near future.

Ibuprofen from the forums continues to do our job for us with this amusing image breaking down the appeal of each Team Fortress 2 class:

Some of you may have heard that CEVO is banning the Sandman, Natascha, and the Wrangler for the upcoming season, a decision that’s met with a lot of controversy. The arguments against banning them are rather obvious, but between CEVO’s forum and a topic on our own forum, a few excellent explanations have popped up to explain why they’ve chosen to ban these weapons

Starting off general with a theme that covers two of these bans, from Ubercharged forum member ibuprofen:

Didn’t the competitive scene say that Scouts are borderline overpowered?

The quote was that Scout is the only “borderline overpowered” class. This means that if a player can hit every meatshot, He is overpowered compared to any other class that can get every shot, i.e a Sniper getting headshots with every shot will not be as effective as a Scout hitting every shot.

Also, for those who don’t agree with Natascha being banned, think of it like this. There are 5 combat classes on a team of 6. One of them is running Natascha. This player has begun to attack an enemy. This enemy’s mobility is now non-existent. Not only can they not escape, but they are a piss easy target for the 4 other players on a team. Competitive players aren’t like your usual pub player; we hit our shots. Therefore, imagine being the enemy when a single bullet begins a cycle of helplessness.

TF2 is a game of momentum and mobility. If one player can destroy the mobility of every class on the enemy team, that team will probably take mid and gain major momentum. This is a major game breaker. Note how every class (not Medic obviously) that is standard in comp play is extremely maneuverable or has a method of gaining instant mobility.

A response to “Well, can’t the enemy just use a Sniper and easily counter the Heavy using Natascha?” again from ibuprofen.

OK, I’ll break it down for you to understand it better.

The Sniper’s advantage is that he can eliminate targets from range. His damage does not amplify depending on distance. He is able to get “picks;” kills that allow the pushing team an advantage of having a player over them. The best “pick” is a medic pick, where a medic is eliminated from the enemy team. Snipers can do this at a range, which is why they are favorable. However, this is the only thing they are able to do; frag. Scouts can frag as well. However, Scouts move extremely fast, have a double jump, are able to outmaneuverer explosives classes and fight through spam. They can also avoid a Soldier juggle. Scouts can insert themselves into a battle, complete their objective, and remove themselves just as easily and quickly. Scouts capture at 2x the regular rate. A Sniper can do none of these things.

The mid fight is very important in competitive play, because the game is about momentum, as I mentioned. However, problematically, the Sniper is always late to the mid fight, which means the team’s Scout has a 1v2 fight at mid against the other team’s scouts. He also has to protect the team’s Demo and flank the enemy Demo, both of which are at mid. If you just don’t run scouts at all, first of all, your team’s Demo is dead instantly. Second, by the time your powerhouse gets to the fight, the point is already half capped. Thirdly, the enemy Demo will have stickies up the exits, trapping the combo. The enemy scouts will also have an advantage on the flank, etc.. etc… the list goes on. So, the team’s Scout is fucked at mid when you’re running a Sniper, jeopardizing the mid fight. That’s point #1.

The Sniper must be protected at all times. If a Soldier knocks him up in the air with a rocket, there is literally NOTHING the Sniper can do, as he cannot scope in nor outstrafe the extremely easily second rocket to complete the juggle. If the Sniper is ambushed from a blind spot by a Scout, he is dead before he came humanly react. Before you say, NO NO I’M A 1337 SNIPER I GET ALL THE SHOTS, keep in mind it takes 200ms for your shots to register as 150dmg headshots and not as null 50dmg bodyshots regardless. Add reaction time and lag (avg on central servers is 70ms) and you begin to realize how weak the Sniper is. The enemy team has TWO of these flanking classes, so if they ambush you at the same time, which they often do, you are dead before you can kill either. So essentially, you’re playing two classes down when you run a Sniper, since one has to babysit him. That is point #2.

The Sniper can do 150dmg a pop with a quickscope. This takes out unbuffed Scouts and Medics. In less time than it takes to do this, a Scout can deal two meatshots. Therefore, in the same time, the Scout could have killed any Scout (Buffed or otherwise), a Medic, an unbuffed Soldier, an unbuffed Demo, and put a buffed Demo in red to be pistoled easily. The Sniper can charge up, however, for 450 dmg. However, this takes four seconds. In these four seconds, the Scout can have popped out much more than 450 dmg. This is point #3.

Moving on to the Wrangler, here again from ibuprofen

This is just typical competitive crap. Why would a competitive clan/league or whatever ban weapons that provide a TACTICAL ADVANTAGE. Nat Heavies can be damn useful in a defense. The Sandman was damn useful before it got nerfed to oblivion and The Wrangler opened up a new skillset for the Engie.

This is what I don’t understand about competitive teams, they’re always banging on about skill yet when a weapon comes along that gives less experienced players an advantage over them, they’re quick to call for nerfs and bans as opposed to – oh I dunno… avoiding them?

I talked about the Natascha early on, but on the Wrangler, it makes a lot of sense. I’m not going to go to far into it, but in competitive play, sentries exist only to make enemies pop their uber early. Picture the Badlands choke when the offensive team is pushing out from yard after losing the mid fight. They have to fight uphill (THE worst position you could ever be in) and it is a back and forth struggle to peak out and get a pick so that their team could move in. Players flank from the house and scouts sneak in from the back side to ninja cap.

Now, what the team that has middle can do is they can run an Engineer and set up a level 3 sentry on the train car and wrangle it. This effectively shuts down both chokes and makes it impossible for the other team to push out. If they push out of the usual choke, they will get spammed in by a Sentry with a 66% damage reduction shield (seven stickybombs to frag) and double fire rate. If they try to push out house, the Sentry can just turn to the left and cover that too. So really, their only option is to push from valley (the area under the bridge), and this is a SEVERE disadvantage. Remember what I said about uphill fights behind the worst possible obstacle you could face? The valley is ten times more steep than the choke. Even when pushing out from here, the Sentry can still target you if you pop out. It will take literally the entire length of an ubercharge to kill a sentry. Which is not fair considering how fast the Engineer can build and maintain a sentry.

Like I said, I won’t go too far into it (there are loads of other problems), but to summarize, the Wrangler makes chokes impossible to push through and the entire game becomes a steamroll for whatever team wins mid.

Bellsprout, also from the UC forums, outlines the main reasons behind all three bans.

The only strategies that these weapons are good for are that of stalemating the game. The game revolves around Ubers, right? The Sandman is able to stun the Medic before he can Uber meaning he’ll be die. Or it can be used to stun the Soldier while he’s building Uber leaving the Medic defenceless. I should mention that by stun in those sentences I mean the speed nerf/unable to use weapons state.

The Natascha means that that an Ubered pair will go in and HAVE to focus that Heavy with 450 health, else he’ll stop any retreat. If there’s two of them then you’re just being stalemated as it is pretty much impossible to kill the two – especially if there’s a Medic with Uber. However because the team has two heavies it’s very difficult to push second. meaning stalemate.

The Wrangler means that an Uber is necessary to JUST kill the sentry. If there’s another engineer with another Wrangled sentry then you will lose. Simple. Once again, pushing to second is very difficult.

French Toast, one of our authors particularly well known for being part of the comp guide adds a side note about why guaranteeing that someone will die is so taboo.

The issue stems from the size difference between the average pub game and the average competitive game. When I stress to say “every little thing matters 10x more in a game with half the players”, I literally mean everything. It’s hard for a player used to comparatively large games to wrap their minds around because losing one or two guys in a pub only means another filling his place. If you’re down a man in 6s, that one man you just lost means a lot more in terms of fire power and coverage.

Laerin from our forums explains the “cannot move hence death” aspect a little more clearly

It’s been mentioned time and time again how the Natascha’s slowdown leaves players completely at the mercy of others. The scout, soldier and demoman are used instead of say two heavies becuase of their speed and versatility. The heavy is meant to be a tank with a high DPS and large amount of health but by trading off it’s speed. But the Natascha robs other classes of their speed and manueverability; the most important thing they have over the heavy. A soldier cannot rocket jump away. A scout cannot run away – or even get close to him. In one-on-one situations, unless you are right beside a means of escape, your two options are either to kill the heavy (the class with the higher DPS and health) or die. In most cases however, you will be a sitting duck to the other classes and your set of options will have dwindled by one.

This last one is from Sigma, over the CEVO forums

Quote: Originally Posted by Hawkeye
The Natascha ban is simply idiotic. It’s been around for a few seasons, used, no one had issues with it, it is not over-powered otherwise we would’ve seen the Heavy/Natascha a whole lot more then on maps to fend off scouts and more teams winning maps running Natascha heavies.
Natascha heavies came out on every map this season in invite (and almost every match of the lan, often doubled up). It’s to the point that even mid fights, where the heavy is traditionally terrible due to his speed, would see a heavy showing up. The increased speed + reduced spin time turned heavy from situational to crazy good. I don’t know about open or other leagues, but if players there aren’t using it it’s a result of not trying it and seeing how broken it is. Scouts pretty much cannot make any plays once a natascha heavy is spun up. They get hit by 1 bullet, are totally frozen + get directed + die. Soldiers and demomen can’t peek corners, because the bullet stream will cause them to be too slow to escape from the return spam. As a medic, you pretty much have to treat the natascha heavy as a sniper — once he slows you, you take damage from almost every rocket, so you have to stay out of LoS. If you suggest getting a heavy of your own or a sniper to counter it, sure, that works, but the game slows to a crawl and is no longer fun.

On the other hand, heavies are extremely effective for creating a health advantage through sandvich use and following up pushes with the huge 450hp buff. This remains unchanged with the regular minigun (and is in fact more exciting, because the heavy exchange happens much faster). The heavy can still hold the flank 1v2, but only if he has good tracking — as opposed to the natascha version, where he can sit spun up on a corner and get a guaranteed kill on any scout that peeks it.

AG used natascha heavies as much or more than the other invite teams, and all of us agree that the weapon is way too strong. By the end of the season Otter refused to use it in scrims because it was so lame, and it was so easy to use that there was no point in practicing it.

Quote:Originally Posted by Bodknocks
Banning Wrangler just seems really odd. I feel like it’s a huge knee-jerk reaction to the item. I don’t really know what else to say other than that, did people honestly think Engie would start being main classed and that Wrangler was going to dominate the scene? I just don’t really understand why this is supposedly overpowered in 6v6 environment, it’s definitely an upgrade from the pistol (lol) but that’s not a good reason to have it banned.
It only takes a couple scrims on gpit to see what’s wrong with it. Sentries have no damage falloff. This is fine if they have limited range, but when you can put a gun in a sniper’s position and spam huge damage from long range, then pick up said gun and hide it once it (eventually) gets damaged, the attacking team has no counter. The engy can sit at spawn with his gun, get free damage on any team that decides to push through C, then pick it up, teleport to B, and put it super far away from the doors to spam more long-range damage. You can try things like double-DHing it, but you still need 6 or more rockets to bring it down (thanks to the ridiculous shield), and the engy can easily just pick it up and hide it, the shield will let it live long enough. Heck, you could even rocket jump a teleporter to the roof and teleport your gun (and team) up there (without having to deal with the old problems of taking a long time to get up and being vulnerable to snipers). Who wants to push B with a heavy, level 3 infinite range sentry, sniper, demo, med, soldier all sitting on the roof? I know I don’t.

Hopefully, this helps you better understand CEVO’s decision. If not, however, let me just close with a couple of choice comments from French Toast

The minute people stop thinking of competitive player as this separate group of completely foreign players, the sooner you realize that everyone plays the same game. It’s the same thing as some people liking 32 man, roll the dice servers, or other people preferring 18 man 24/7 arena servers. Competitive players are just another bunch that like to play the game the way they like, and it happens that the leagues agree that it’s the most competitive way to play, so they host tournaments for that style.

It’s our little corner of the world, and the actions the leagues take are our concerns. If you can’t accept our reasoning, which has been rather beautifully laid out before you in this thread, for following certain rules, and banning the use of certain weapons, we don’t care. Why? It doesn’t affect you, it’s our little corner of the TF2 world and we enjoy it the way we have it.

In this instalment of How It’s Done, I bring you a slightly special edition with two interviews for the price of one. The first interview was with Daimao, the creator of the Frenchman’s Beret.

How did you get into Modelling, firstly?

Daimao: One day, I woke up and started gathering concepts and reference material and just started modelling. I honestly don’t remember what my drive was, but TF2’s environment models (the models you see in the levels like logs, power generators and wall computers) had some impact on it though.

What sort of software do you use for what you do? I understand that you’ve helped with numerous people’s textures or models, and also modelled yourself (the frenchman’s beret)

Daimao: I use Autodesk 3DSMax 2010 for low-poly modelling, ZBrush for high-poly modelling and sculpts. For my textures, I usually use Photoshop CS4 for actually painting the textures and VTFEdit to edit my .vtf and .vmt files. I also use GUIStudioMDL to convert my models to ingame formats.

A common theme among the already interviewed contributors is that the paid software is often the better choice, due to the outstanding quality it can produce. Do you agree with this, or do you think that it’s possible to get by just as well with freeware stuff?

Daimao: I think paid software indeed is the better choice, especially for 3D modelling, however that doesn’t mean you can’t make nice models or textures with free software. If I remember correctly, Luigimario, one of the community contributors, makes his models with Milkshape. Here’s an example what you can make with free software provided by him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zazCHTd7Kxs

Modelling can be a very time intensive affair, but more experienced modellers can accomplish what they want to do a lot faster than others. How long do you think it took for you to actually make the Frenchman’s Beret? It has been said that the majority of the time taken for people’s contributions has been the ideas phase.

Daimao: I made the Frenchman’s Beret in approximately a day. This includes modifying the model and texture based on constructive criticism by a few friends, shipping the model over to Mister Royzo for a blue skin and packing it up in a Valve-friendly format. Please keep in mind that hats are made far faster than weapons or Engineer buildings.

If there was one key thing you learned when modelling or texturing for TF2, what would that thing be?

Daimao: I have only two words for this question: paint patches. The square paint patches (in combination with some wear and tear) you see in TF2’s environments make up much of the ‘painted’ art style Valve is going for. Even on the smallest things it’s there, right down to the syringes the needlegun fires.

Any interesting trivia or stories surrounding the frenchman’s beret at all?

Daimao: The fact that the blue skin was made by someone else wasn’t because of me being colour blind (a silly rumor), but it was rather a cheap attempt to get someone else a selfmade item too. Hehe.

The Beret was originally submitted under the name Bourgeois. Do you think this was changed with reason?

Daimao: Probably because it’s hard to remember and/or pronounce. I’m not certain if the English playerbase can pronounce ‘bourgeious’ the way it’s meant to be pronounced, so I’m guessing that’s the reason behind the change.

Borge-wahs?

Daimao: Yes. One of the alternative names was ‘Artsy Beret’ but that just wasn’t fancy enough for the Spy in my opinion. It does fit with the paintbrushes though. The original concept had some team-colored paint splotches on the hat too, but that just aimed the focus of the player directly at the hat and not at the player trying to kill him.

Anything you want to add about modelling or texturing?

Daimao: For beginning texture artists (or veteran texture artists unknown to TF2’s art style) I’d like to recommend a few articles or threads to get acquainted with the TF2 art style. I have a bunch of them saved on my desktop for references:

http://www.primotechnology.com/2008/02/25/gdc-08-the-illustrative-world-of-team-fortress-2/
http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=4338
http://halcyonrealms.com/animation/the-art-of-team-fortress-2/
http://virtuallyreality.supacomm.net/2010/01/17/team-fortress-2-the-artisic-journey-from-game-to-culture-part-1/

The last one especially is an incredible read.

When modelling hats, do you have to account for the otherwise unseen inside of the hat?

It’s recommended that you do so, especially for the Sniper, since one of his taunts involves him taking off his hat. Generally I model the inside of the hat, but keep it low poly so it doesn’t have that much of an impact on the polycount.

Thank you very much for the interview.

Lessons Learnt:
-Although the paid software is cited to be generally more usable and produces better results, you can still use the free software (such as Blender or Milkshape) to produce decent models.
-When texturing, practice and try to master the basic techniques used in the TF2 style, such as random squares of colour and spots to give surfaces that worn, painted look.
-Valve may make any changes they like to your submission using their own discretion. Don’t submit it if you don’t want it to be possibly altered or changed!

My next interview was with Gerre, the creator of the Sergeant’s Drill Cap and the Physician’s Procedure Mask.

How did you get into modelling?

Gerre: I learned it at school. I studied game development. The TF2 models are just for fun, though.

What software do you use?

I use 3DSMax for modeling, and I have a student license for Photoshop when it comes to texturing.

You’re the first person to have submitted a misc item. Was this intentional, or did valve decide to make it so on a whim?

I suggested it myself to make it a misc. item in the “anything else we should know”. Simple enough.
How long do you think the mask and the drill sergeant’s hat take to make each? Experienced modellers tend to get them done quick, from what I’ve seen.
Gerre: The Mask was easier than the Drill hat… I would say about half an hour. I didn’t put that much time in the textures, it’s just simple ambient occlusion and flat color. The hat took about the same.

When someone’s getting into modelling or texturing, can you recommend any useful resources of tips you found helpful?

Gerre: Hmm, well I learned a lot at school, but I guess if you are new to modelling try modeling stuff from real life and make it as accurate as possible. Reference is very important.

If there was one key thing you learned when modelling for TF2, what would that be?

Gerre: TF2 doesn’t use that much normal mapping so your model has to look good enough without it. The silhouette is important too to make it easily identifiable.

The Wiki thinks that you decided to do the Drill Sergeant’s Cap based on Corporal Hartman from Full Metal Jacket, is this true, or is the Wiki making things up again?

Gerre: It wasn’t the main reason, I just made it because it fits the soldier well.

Is there anything that someone needs to be prepared for when getting into modelling?

Gerre: It might be a bit overwhelming at first, but if you keep practicing you will get better. And be sure to ask for other people’s opinion on your models

Do you think you might create any items for the recently added Misc 2 slot? Currently nothing exists to use in it, though the polycount greentooth badge is suspected to be put in there.

Gerre: I think the Misc. 2 slot will be used for medals worn on the chest as you can’t wear them together with the mask/beard (seeing as they currently occupy the same slot).

Thank you very much for the interview.

Gerre: Anytime.

Lessons Learnt:
-If you want to Valve to know something specific about your contribution, be sure to tell them in the ‘Anything else we should know?’ box on the Contribute! website.
-If you are struggling for ideas to practice modelling with, try modelling objects around you and keep using them as reference.
-TF2 does not use many normal maps. Therefore, your model needs to look good without them.

And there’s some knowledge behind hatmaking! Join us next time for an interview with the creator of the Homewrecker and the Polycount contest winning entry, The Soldier’s Tank Buster Pack.

In this instalment of How It’s Done, I have interviewed Benjamuffin, one half of the duo that created the Dalokohs Bar (as SamMunRawr had been away). The Dalokohs Bar was released in the first wave of community content, and introduced the concept of a temporary max health increase.

How did you get into Modelling?

Benjamuffin: Well, as I’ve said on the wiki, modelling is more Sam’s latest experiment in media. He, like I, like to learn how things are made, then work on the process of doing that thing ourselves. For me, modelling has probably got to be the one thing I have yet to try properly. The closest I’ve come is playing around in Blender a couple of months ago. As far as I know, modelling for Sam however was one of those things you feel you’d like to pick up and learn. Somewhat like a guitar I suppose, you see or hear someone playing something you like, and you wish you could just pick up that instrument and do it to at your leisure. That’s how I feel about most things I’m capable of using at a impressive level in media, and I think that’s likely the same case for him too. Especially seeing as most of his work these days goes to his deviantart rather than being used for anything.

Ah, I see. You did the Dalokohs Bar co-operatively, didn’t you? How did that process work?

Benjamuffin: Well the process was a little bit of fun really. We never thought anything would come of it. The two of us are close friends, and one night while talking on Skype, we were discussing the contribute page and the fact that I had recently released a Coach Heavy skin. Someone mentioned on the skin release that a chocolate bar would go great with the Coach Heavy, and I simply said to Sam. “Hey… how about we make the chocolate bar, then submit it to the contribute page?”. At this point Sam was pretty playful when approaching modelling, and shunned the thought a little of doing something serious so soon. But nevertheless, we sat and did it all in one night. Sam opened up the program, and I described how it should look (given it was intended for my skin release). So we sat and discussed exotic chocolate styles, and such, until we eventually came up with the chunky shape you see now. Needless to say we slept like logs during the morning of that day. So, to summarize my ability to digress beyond a simple answer: Sam modelled, and I supplied direction. I then worked around Sam’s rather “out there” texture map, and did the business in photoshop, which is where I am at home (having used it for about 5 years or so).

So the actual process of idea creation didn’t take very long at all?

Benjamuffin: I suppose not. We’re just fond of the playful side of Team Fortress 2, and wanted to contribute something that would support that. It would have likely been out of character for us to make a weapon, not unless it had fuzzy spheres on springs, and fuzzy dice attached to it. That and the weapon would have to fire cake or something. We wanted something we could use when we were just stood around playing with other users, rather than something that would go unnoticed during the heat of the battle. Everyone likes Sandvich Parties, so we figured, why not give him some more things to eat?

I’d use a cake gun anyday.

Benjamuffin: Hmm, maybe we made the wrong item… . Noted for the future.

Many would-be modellers and designers find it difficult to get into because the software choice is so large, and that the better quality options are a lot more expensive. What software do you and Sam use, and do you think it’s worth paying so much for the good stuff?

Benjamuffin: I suppose it all comes down to how talented you are to in some respects. For example, good video editors can create something in windows movie maker and people would be none the wiser, whereas a bad video editor will make it strikingly obvious. The same applies to software. If you have the willpower and the ability to understand where and when something is going wrong, and the ability to pick something up, then the free 3D modelling programs are fine for anyone. I’ve seen some brilliant things done with Blender. However when it comes to choosing something to model in, you can’t really go wrong with 3D studio Max. It’s the most commonly used application among the public as far as I know, and offers the most versatility. However in comparison to the free options, it comes with the hefty price tag, and it obviously isn’t as easy to pick up. However, if one works there way up from the bottom, following tutorials along the way, one can’t go wrong. Experimenting in free time is probably the best way. Forget official guide books. You can get a much better feel of your surroundings if you just run the program, and figure out everythings purpose. It’s how I was with photoshop, and I’ve never looked back. It also helps to find applications that have similar layouts. There’s no point in finding a rather indie and unknown 3D program, learning it’s layout, then finding the standard 3D applications use a different layout.

When designing the Dalokohs Bar, did you have any idea about what attributes it should have? Valve insist it’s not up to the creators to fulfil that goal, but some people do so anyway, or (unknowingly) make their contributions based on those ideas.

Benjamuffin: Not at all unfortunately. We never gave it a thought due to the fact that we didn’t think it would make it in given the many REALLY good modellers out there, and we were just doing it for a friendly bit of fun. There was also the aspect that we figured if it DID make it in, then we’d be fine with the fact it was in the game, regardless of what it did. Looking back however, I do wish that we had been able to put a little input into it. The publics reactions among the angsty teeny gaming community hasn’t been exactly 100% pleasant. People seem to forget, we’re only responsible for the item itself. When asked people think it looks great as a Team Fortress 2 chocolate bar, but most people tend to judge it on what it does. And now, what with the latest update to the Sandvich and Dalokohs, people seem to hate the bar even more. It’s a little saddening, but at the end of the day, we?re still very proud of the achievement. I wanted to say something about me being happy to help, in a humorous way, but my mind is lacking. So I shall just say “Jolly good!” and look the other way.

You currently maintain the Dalokohs’ respective page on the Official Team Fortress Wiki. To negate the fact that most people dislike its use over the Sandvich, can you recommend any good tips or times/situations to use it in?

Benjamuffin: Well initially I would say to casual people, “Most of you only use the Sandvich for eating in groups. Isn’t chocolate better?”, but since the downgrade I suppose a legitimate time would be if you are challenged by another Heavy several times. Or just as a buff in general. People claim the Sandvich is better due to the health gain, but I rarely see it used, and with the new cooldown, the Dalokohs is somewhat more useful. If used before battle. The Sandvich is pretty quick and just as useless in the heat of battle, as it can’t prolong your life when being attacked as it used to. So to summarize once more, if the threat demands you outlive a clashing opponent, or if in general you need a health boost. It’s a weapon about choosing your battles, and making your future ones more successful. Nothing more I can add really. People will think what they want to think at the end of the day. All weapons are situational, that is in essence the point of having different unlocks, yet people seem adamant on claiming things such as the Natascha or the Backburner are completely useless and that only noobs use them. It’s a little strange really.

When did you find out the Dalokohs was going to be implemented? Did Valve let you know a short time before the update, or was it a case of simply opening up the game and finding it there, or the steam forums revealing it? And also, when did you get your selfmade items, instantaneously or soon after?

Benjamuffin: Surprisingly Valve said nothing, even though there is an email section when submitting something. Even to this day we received nothing official stating we were in. Sam called me up in the middle of the night, in a hyped up mood, and told me to go and look in the GCF. Naturally, I was a little confused and annoyed, being woken up to look through files and folders of a game I regularly check the GCF for (for base skin files). He showed me c_chocolate. I got excited, but waited until I opened it up in the model viewer first. It was our bar. We were stunned and childlike about it all. This was during the night before it was released. But the first moment I stepped into TF2 in that area of time, I received the Self-Made Dalokohs Bar. The server I was on had about 3 people on it, who I don’t even remember anymore. But there you go. Kind of wish I’d gone on a busy server really. Also the map was 2fort. I was outside the red spawn room. There’s some random Trivia. Also I was Heavy. Wait… that was obvious, scratch that.

When someone’s trying to get into Modelling or Editing, can you recommend any resources you found useful?

Benjamuffin: With texture work, a lot of people advising others wishing to learn tell them to use VTFedit and Gimp, among several other applications. If you’re completely set on only using free programs, this is the way to go, but it’s a chore to do it that way. So many steps, and so many programs to go through. Photoshop is the best bet for anything graphical really. With the VTF plugin you’re good to go. When you get used to photoshop it’s a pretty straight forward program. Though following tutorials is a good way to learn. Not tutorials explaining the program, but tutorials that show you how to create a certain effect on a picture, or how to replicate a logo. Things slowly become second nature after doing those for a while, and it also comes with the benefit of creating decent looking work, when you’re only a novice. For 3D, as I’ve said, Blender is a great place to learn. It’s free and there are even tutorials on the Steam forums on how to model hats in it. So you’re covered on that one. Another program that has some uses for Team Fortress 2 texture making is a program called Corel Painter. It is laid out very much like photoshop, and has the ability to simulate real life painting. It’s the kind of program Valve switched to when they stopped painting giant textures then scanning them in. It gives clarity, and avoids photo artifacts. I haven’t used it beyond painting pictures, but it’s great to get that patchy hand painted look for Team Fortress 2. It’s a lot of fun to use, but a bit awkward (Painter). There are some amazing artwork pieces out there made in it, that you would SWEAR were painted with real paint. Anyone can pick that one up and create something.

If there is one thing you learnt when modelling/texturing for TF2, what would you pass on? So far, New has said it’s key to get your project ingame to check it looks alright. What can you add?

Benjamuffin: That’s a good piece of advice. And I would agree, the model viewer has limitations. What looks fine outside the game can have unexpected problems ingame. It can be tedious going back and forth, but it’s better in the long run. You should see my desktop. It’s cluttered with copies of the same file, material structured folders (ready for drag dropping into a copy of TF2). The two things I hate are pixel stretching and doing two things for alpha channels. For pixel stretching an example would be that I had to do stripes on something, and the right looking size came out at 1 pixel in width. The model, then causes the texture to stretch in places sometimes, which means it’s wider than one pixel on the model. Now the problem with that, is photoshop can’t go smaller than a pixel in width for a brush. So you have to then make the texture bigger, which can cause peoples computers to go a bit odd if it’s not up to scratch. It’s a very annoying process when you come across something like that. The other thing is alpha channels as said. If I have something that needs to light up, and have a normals map too, I end up tyng myself in knots and making a mess as it means I need more than one alpha channel somewhere. It just confuses me. So I guess what you could take from this is: If you come across pixel stretching issues, resize your texture to be large. Providing the scale is the same, the game will make everything look right. Just don’t make it TOO big, or people will hate you for it. And if you’re stuck on alpha channels… don’t ask me as I’ll probably mess something up, because I never remember the details of that that until I’m stuck into it.

Is there any interesting trivia about the bar you could share?

Benjamuffin: Well most people have figured out that it’s Shokolad spelt backwards. And the other stuff such as the slogan which is cut off by the wrapper, which is now on the Wiki trivia thanks to me. But I suppose if people didn’t know, the bar originally had a normals map, and was submitted in blue without team colors. So it originally looked a lot more detailed in some ways, and the BLU team can now either rejoice, or explode with anger. It’s their bar, they should deal with it. Eat it, I mean… Oh! And people always mess up how to pronounce the name. It’s a European bar, so it has no rounded vowels. People like to say Dah-low-cuss. It’s as I wrote on the Wiki, Dah-loh-cuss, or Dah-lock-uss. I just hope the Valve team get it right if they ever get round to giving the Heavy some lines for it. Another small bit of trivia, though it’s not as important, is that I like to change the bar’s lore at random when on servers. I find that being the creator, people take it as fact until I change my mind. It’s a little bit of fun.

When will we have our official WHITE Dalokohs Bar? We know you have it hidden somewhere, and some people (including myself) would prefer a lighter variety.

Benjamuffin: Funny you should say that! I’ve been emailing Robin about that one on and off. He’s a bit of a promise breaker somewhat. Now and then, I will email him about Dalokohs changes. Textures and such (the white one being one of the main ones). And every time, he has turned round and said they will try and get it in. That’s the impression of most of his emails. Then nothing happens. He is a busy man though, so I’m not surprised if he forgets it about it. However, at one point I did suggest the Self-made one could be the only white one. But that’s just me, heh heh heh. I do love white chocolate. My hopes are that someday the Dalokohs will make it into a Meet The… video. Even if it’s just a background prop. Until then I can’t wait for new Heavy lines. I can guarantee that will go as my phone ringtone.

A Heavy with his gun and full of chocolate is a happy Heavy.

Thank you very much for the interview, it’s been informative.

Benjamuffin: Cheers.

Lessons Learnt:
-If collaborating with another person on your submission, make sure that you discuss the details and clearly get what you want from them across.
-Don’t end up relying on guides and tutorials. They may be good for learning the very basics of a software package, but try to get a feel for it yourself once you’ve got those and simply learn by doing.
-If using Photoshop, try to find plugins for editing .vtf files, the primary filetype used for Valve’s textures.
-Remember that when applying a texture a model, the texture’s features may appear uniform but on the model can be distorted. To remedy this, either edit the texture so that the composed model looks how you want it to, or alter the model slightly to acommodate the texture’s details. In the event that you can’t make any details smaller, increase the size of the entire texture.

Credits: Benjamuffin for the Interview and for filling in for Sam somewhat.
The Official Team Fortress Wiki for providing Dalokohs and Heavy pictures.

…And there’s the knowhow behind the Dalokohs Bar! Join us next time for an interview with the creator of the Frenchman’s Beret.

Hey there, I’m Hackett, a moderator at the Official Team Fortress Wiki and a regular TF2 player. With the recently finalized Polycount update, a whole wave of new community contributed content will be released into the game, starting a new rush of trying to get the new weapons, trying on the new hats and revelling in the new content that people have put hard work into. Many people, however, tend to disregard who exactly made these items, how much work went into them, or are unsure of whether they think they could try it themselves, or how they would go about it.

To address this, I have been conducting a series of interviews with established Community Contributors, the people behind the models who have helped provide material for new game mechanics (The Tribalman’s Shiv, The Southern Hospitality), taken Valve’s concepts and ran even further with them (The Scotsman’s Skullcutter, The Dalokohs Bar) and covered countless people’s heads with marvellous new headwear. For those that want to see what kind of software or packages people use, here you go. For those that want to see how long it took to design so-and-so, here you go. And for those less interested in the know-how of it, you can find out interesting trivia that only creators previously knew, and other little stories surrounding the less published parts of TF2. This is going to be the first in a series, so expect more interviews, hopefully with the creators of your favourite community contribution. I will also be posting a list of lessons learned from each interview, to summarize the key points that can be learnt from each interview.

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My first interviewee was New, the creator of the Tribalman’s Shiv and an avid modeller. The Tribalman’s Shiv was released in the second wave of community content, and introduced the unique bleed mechanic to the game.

Alright then, let’s start. I guess my first question is, how did you get into modelling?

New: It started when I first got my Nintendo 64 and I decided I wanted to make game art. I just went around downloading trials for different programs like Lightwave 3D, 3DS Max, Maya, and eventually I settled with Softimage3D since I liked it the most. I just read through as many tutorials and articles as I could and tried my best to create things I would see in games that I liked as a child.

In which case, is it recommended to get the paid software (such as 3DS Max, or I assume Softimage3D)? Some of the more accessible (i.e. freeware) ones like Blender and Milkshape can be used, but their interface and overall quality can be a lot harder to get to grips with or different than others, something beginners may find difficult.

New: I personally recommend getting the paid software. They have better support for the most part as well as a larger community. All the big game companies use things like 3DS Max and Maya and Softimage, and only use free software to compliment their already established workflows. I also tried Blender back when it was 2.49 and I immediately did not like the interface at all. It seemed badly put together and I couldn’t figure out where anything was. I basically used it for almost 10 minutes before uninstalling it. You were also correct when you thought Softimage is a paid software, though it is cheaper then Max or Maya.

Ah, right. Some people are uncertain about their hefty price tag, but it seems right that they have it, considering the quality you pay for.

Roughly how long did the entire process of creating the Shiv take? From idea to submission, some experienced modellers take no time at all and some can take much longer, so do you think that your timespan was either of these?

New: Oh boy, how long it took. Well I first decided I didn’t want to spend very much time on this project since I was procrastinating in school too much, and had a lot to catch up on. I first spent a few days in Math class drawing up some concepts and thinking of what class I would create something for. I can’t give an exact time but it took 2 classes so something like 3 hours for the concept. After that I had established that I wanted to make a sniper melee weapon. After that I decided to develop the idea a bit more. I noticed he had a wooden primary weapon as well as a wooden secondary and decided to make the melee wooden as well. From there I ended up with two finished concepts. The first was a paddle that was carved from a piece of wood with some animal teeth attached to it and the second was the shiv which would just be a simple wooden knife. To me the knife seemed like it could be made very quickly which is what I needed so I went with that. That phase took about 8 minutes. From there I started using the concept and the model of the machete as a reference for size until I had made the Shiv in less then an hour. It was a very simple shape to make for the most part. From there texturing and creating the UV maps took 20 minutes. After this I spent 3 hours trying to export it into the source engine, but I could never get it to show in-game. After that I just decided to send it in as is and a few months later it was in a update. So I suppose this took no time at all at a total time of 7 hours 28 minutes, I believe. Though if I knew it would be accepted, I would have gone back and made it look a lot better. I actually thought the model was so bad that I actually deleted the original files, only to find out it was accepted later, annoyingly.

So the majority of the time invested was the idea phase?

New: Yes it was, though it was most likely less since I had to hide it from the teacher.

Ah, I see.

New: The most time spent creating a solid idea, the faster I can create the finished product in my head and from there, making it actually becomes much easier than people would think.

When designing the Shiv, did you have any thoughts about what attributes it would have? It’s enforced by Valve that it is not necessary to submit ideas for attributes, but some people do so anyway, or (unknowingly) set about designing a weapon with their ideal attributes in mind.

New: I had no intention of bleeding as an attribute for the shiv in any part during the creation. I was only supposed to be a model replacement for the normal machete. But I guess valve thought that would be boring and decided to surprise everyone, especially the Spies who seemed really butthurt about it.

Are you happy with the way Valve have handled your submission? The Tribalman’s Shiv was originally a unanimously accepted and used upgrade to the Machete, but with the coming of the Engineer update and the second bleed-using weapon (The Southern Hospitality) it was toned down for supposed balance reasons.

New: I couldn’t be happier with the way the submission was handled, at least at first. I liked it when it did a larger amount of damage before the update since I’m actually really bad at TF2. Anything that helps me get more kills was better and I liked the way it did more damage over a period of time. With the recent updates though the only reason I use my Shiv is because it sparkles. Not to mention I can’t really hit anything with it now since there are Baby Sentries EVERYWHERE. Hopefully in a few weeks this will change and everyone will start playing Engineer less.

Would you have liked to have a little more influence on how the Shiv turned out? While determining weapon attributes was up to Valve, would you have liked to have some hand in its mechanics?

New: Not really. Valve is successful for a a reason, they know what they’re doing. Though I would have liked it if they had the Shiv world and View models face the proper way.

Bizarre Mistakes, Vol. 1: The man born with his Shiv the wrong way round.

Ah yes, THAT problem…

New: Valve are silly sometimes.

When did you find out that the Shiv was going to be implemented? Was it a short time before the update which included it, or was it literally something that you found upon opening up the game that day? And in relation to that, when did you get your self-made shiv, on the update or a while after?

New: I wasn’t actually notified by Valve that it was put in. My IRL and steam friend LuFa actually saw the picture of the Shiv in a thread on the steam forums when someone opened the models in Gmod to show them off. After I found out it was included in the update I felt stupid for deleting the files. I went and opened TF2 immediately, but the steam servers were busy for a few hours. When I finally got on, I didn’t receive the shiv for about half an hour after I actually got online.

Well, I guess that was a nice surprise, if a little delayed.

New: Yes it was, I took pics and showed everyone online. Nothing like bragging and rubbing it in everyone’s face once in a while.

When someone’s trying to get into modelling, can you recommend any resources or tips that you found helpful?

New: When you first start, open your program of choice and read through the help files. Most have tutorials on how to model things like chess pieces and will teach you the basics. After that, choose something you’re interested in and make it. If you really like what you’re making, its easier to stay motivated and actually finish it. Don’t be afraid to post on forums for critiques on both the model itself (topology, smoothing, etc.) but also on the texture. There are plenty of good places with people who are willing to take a few minutes to write something for you. This leads to being actually being able to take critique. I’ve read and seen a lot of people who can’t take any opinion that doesn’t glorify the piece of garbage they made (Deviant Art) and they end up freaking out and instead of learning and making it better their work stays at a very low level. A lot of places I visit even though I don’t post there are http://www.game-artist.net/forums/, http://www.polycount.com/forum/, http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/index.php and http://www.zbrushcentral.com/. All of these places, even though not strictly directed at me, give useful hints and tips aswell as inspiration to try and do better (especially the Zbrushcentral site, goddamn some of the stuff on there is intense).

Alright, awesome.

If there was one key thing that you learned when modelling for TF2, what would that thing be?

New: Try to find a way to view it in-game even if it means using a different modeling package or having a friend do it for you. The day the Shiv came out everyone was saying that it doesn’t fit the style of TF2 and similar things. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t have known since whenever I tried viewing it ingame the model would show up with no texture and glowed bright white (so I couldn’t fix it to make it look like it belonged in the TF2 universe).

New: Another thing.

Oh?

New: Wood looks awful in the TF2 universe. It’s just brown, flat brown.

At least the Shiv has some nice orange to it.

New: There’s actually a reason for the orange. I couldn’t export hard edges with the model, so the smoothing was awful. Without the orange you couldn’t tell where it was sharp.

On the Official Team Fortress Wiki there’s a note about the shiv supposedly being designed as having been made from the wood of a certain tree that promotes bleeding, is this intended at all or rampantly loose speculation? Not the bleeding part specifically, as that was Valve’s idea, but the concept of it being a special tree.

New: Rampantly loose speculation but pretty cool at least. No special tree for me, just wood and Mann Co. technology I guess.

Magical.

New: A magic tree, grown by science.

Do you have any interesting trivia to share about the shiv?

New: The knife was supposed to have teeth roped onto it with twine or sinew, but I couldn’t find a way to make it look good which is why there are notches on the knife instead.

Did you enter into the polycount contest, or ever think about it?

New: I thought about it but never got around to it. I bought a bunch of games including Monster Hunter Tri which has already eaten 250 hours of my life, so I haven’t had much time. Though, I have a few medic and sniper ideas, but I’m not sure if they’ll get on paper or not.

Was it originally called the Tribalman’s shiv?

New: No, that name was given to it by Valve. I couldn’t think of a name and originally for file naming purposes just called it Wooden_Kukri.

Interesting how they didn’t use Tribesman’s instead.

New: Hmm, yeah. Odd.

Wait, so which way is the right way up? With the notches facing towards the enemy?

New: The notches go up with the smooth part down. Originally when it crit he was supposed to flip it so he swung with the teeth down, but I couldn’t figure out the custom animations I needed, since I’m awful at it.

Complimentary sparkles not shown. The ultimate tool for the fashionable bushwhacker.

Alright, that seems like everything. Thank you VERY much for the interview.

New: You’re welcome.

Lessons Learned
-Software choices are variable in modelling, so try many different packages out and find the one that you like the most.
-Paid software such as 3DSMax and Maya are expensive, but well worth the price tag in terms of resultant quality.
-Remember that Valve are the ones who determine the attributes of the contributions, so don’t try designing your weapons specifically for your gameplay ideas.
-Make sure to view your model in-game, even if it involves changing around software and file types, or getting a friend to do it for you. This will allow you to see any major flaws with the model when actually placed in the context of the TF2 universe, and also give you time to adjust it appropriately.
-Readily use resources such as the sites listed above to assess your work, learn from others, and most importantly of all, take critique. You will not get very far unless you develop the ability to do so, and accept that your work may need improvements.

Credits: New for being a good sport, agreeing to the interview and sending me the screenshots of his self-made shiv.
LuigiFan/LuFa for helping me get a hold of New. Cheers!
The Official Team Fortress Wiki for the images and killicons of the Shiv.

…and that’s the story behind the Tribalman’s Shiv! Join us next time for an interview with one of the creators of the Dalokohs Bar.

Thanks to Bazinga for sending this in. YouTube user thejazzman9475 has been hard at work creating some of the best TF2 videos ever made. Ever. So far, they’re unfinished, but they’re already dripping with freshly painted win.

There are a couple other ones in the works too, featuring the Pyro, the Sniper, and the Engineer. There’s also one with a surprisingly risqué Heavy/Medic pairs dance sequence. I, for one, can’t wait for these to be finished.