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There are some questions in the TF universe--questions like "Is Pyro a boy or a girl?" or "Who will be the tenth class?"--that get asked so often that they become, in a sense, unanswerable.
Then there are the questions nobody has thought to ask. Questions like, "Every time you explain something supernatural in TF2 you say the Soldier angered a magician. Who is the magician?" Questions like, "If the TF mercs went out trick or treating, what costumes would they wear?"
These are the questions we ask, because unlike those other questions, these ones we have an answer to. Answers like, "His name is Merasmus the Magician, and he's in a Halloween comic!" Answers like, "The TF mercs would wear awesome costumes that you can pick up by collecting scattered gifts in the Halloween update--which will be live very soon!"
Halloween is almost upon us, and for those of you who don't have an irrational fear of Presidents' Day, it's the scariest time of the year. This morning, we were reviewing this year's Third Annual Scream Fortress Halloween Update, and we realized that it is probably too scary. Scratch that - it's definitely too scary. This much concentrated terror would be like throwing you into the deep end of a pool... With no lifeguard on duty! [sound of lightning hitting a bat] But then, oh thank God, here comes a lifeguard. Sayyyy, he looks familiar. OH MY GOD it's Dracula! No wait, it's even worse! It's legendary Hollywood triple threat, Ethan Hawke! Acting! Directing! Writing! But not swimming! Everyone knows he can't swim! What monster would hire Ethan Hawke to be a lifeguard? Does this cursed rec center not have ANY lifeguard hiring oversight committee? IT DOES NOT! AWOOOOOOOOOOOO!
The point is, if we don't let all of TF's new players dip their trembling pinky toes into the shallow end of the blood pool before we unleash next week's scare-credible Third Annual Scream Fortress Halloween Update, they would drown in their body's own terror juices. So, for the next few days, revisit stately Mann Manor. Listen closely! What's that you hear? Is it the clip clop of haunted hoofs? Nope. It's the terrifying, completely foot-generated clomping of the Horseless Headless Horseman! He's come to steal your soul! And, if you have one, your horse! Brace yourselves to see the new update next week. Of course, we won't be seeing anything... Because WE JUST ATE OUR OWN EYEBALLS! TWIST BLOG POST ENDING!
A couple days ago we mentioned a "major project" we were working on that we promised to keep you updated on in the weeks and months ahead. Well, here's an update: It's done! Suck it, Valve Time.
That's right, folks. The Steam Workshop is live! What is it? An improved submission hub for community-created content that makes it easy for you to upload entries, check on their status and get feedback from us at Valve. Also, the TF community will be able to look at, comment on, and rate all item submissions in a single place.
But that's not all. The in-game Mann Co. Store turned a year old today. In just 365 days, item-creators have made more than $2,000,000 in profit from their creations. In celebration, we're releasing the massive Manniversary Update and Sale! What's included in it? Holy crap, try to think of something that’s not included in it. Check out all the new features, items and improvements.
Almost everything is on sale between now and Monday, October 17th, so limber up your buying finger, and don't forget that any store purchase automatically upgrades a Free account to a Premium.
Happy Manniversary, everybody!
If you played the "Halloween Manor" event last year, you may recognize this spine-chilling skull hat. What you probably don't recognize is the terrifying secret process I used to create it. Well, brace yourselves for a Halloween-themed learning nightmare, because this step-by-silent-Dracula-step guide is about to reveal all the gory details of hat making.
I thought this already existing noisemaker image would make a good starting point for a Halloween skull hat.
I converted the image into a 3D shape so I could sculpt on it. But after getting it to this rough point, I realized it was too close to the Spy's existing paper masks, so I decided to restart and try it as a helmet instead.
I bent the shape onto a sphere and sculpted quickly using a pressure sensitive pen. We like to try a lot of ideas, so it’s good to work fast and loose, since most of these ideas end up not working out.
Even though the sculpt is a bit messy at this point, it’s good to take it all the way to the game to make sure there isn’t some unforeseen problem.
Using a topology tool, I drew a new polygon mesh* over the top of the sculpt.
*Keeping the polycount low is critical for maintaining a decent framerate once the object is in-game. A high resolution sculpt can be as expensive to render as the entire rest of the game! We try to keep hats under 1,000 polygons, and weapons under 6,500.
Next, I laid the polygon mesh out flat like a bear skin rug so I could texture it. In this case, the textures were created using flat colors with a rendered ambient occlusion pass layered on top.
I compared the low polygon mesh against the sculpt to create a normal map.
I skinned the mesh to the hat joint, and then placed it on each of the different characters to see how it fit.
At this point, I decided it'd look cooler with some horns. I made a few variations and passed them around the team to figure out which one was everyone's favorite.
This was the winner.
I then tested the hat on each of the characters using the in-game itemtest feature.
Everything looked good to go, so I created an icon and put it in the store! Players can now wear the Spine Chilling Skull in-game. If this was a community-made item, the money from item sales would get split between Valve and the item maker!
The TF2 team has just started working on an improved item submission process that will make it easier for community creators to test, share and track the status of their creations. The new system will allow the entire TF community to participate by browsing, rating and giving feedback on all submitted items. It's a major project, but we promise to keep you updated on our progress.
It seems like just yesterday that we announced the Steam Trading Beta on the Team Fortress blog. That's when we looked it up and discovered we actually announced that four weeks ago, and over one million items and game gifts have been traded by beta testers since then. And that's pretty inspiring. Also, frankly, terrifying. Because when we say it felt like yesterday when we announced that, we mean we literally have no memory of anything from that blog post up until the entire TF2 team woke up in a tub filled with ice cubes this morning. We can't pinpoint specifically which organs we're missing, so we figure our best bet is just to play out the day and see if anything jumps out as different (no heartbeat, inability to go to the bathroom, missing circulatory system, etc.).
At any rate, as of today Steam Trading is officially out of beta, in the Steamworks SDK, and available to everyone. Two new games will now have tradable in-game items: Spiral Knights, the cooperative adventure from Three Rings and Sega, and our own Portal 2. And remember, this is just the beginning. We can't wait to see what our fellow gamers and developers are going to come up with to move Steam Trading forward.
To celebrate, items are on sale in the Team Fortress 2, Portal 2, and Spiral Knights in-game stores.
If you've gotten this far into this blog post and still have no idea what we're talking about, don't sweat it: There's an entire Steam Trading FAQ online to answer any questions you might have.
If, however, you've gotten this far into this blog post and have no idea what we're talking about because you woke up in an ice-filled tub this morning, and are wondering whether that queasy feeling you're having means you "have an upset stomach" or "are liverless", please get in touch with us, because we'd like to compare notes.
