46 responses so far ↓

• 1 NotAnAutomatedRobot // Jul 9, 2008 at 4:13 pm

  It also sounds kinda fun.
  In a weird, awesome way.

• 2 thezeus18 // Jul 9, 2008 at 4:48 pm

  I think if you read this right, they’re endorsing my roller-skates idea.

  http://i36.tinypic.com/34pf0gz.jpg

• 3 thezeus18 // Jul 9, 2008 at 4:49 pm

  Oh, I forgot.

  Goal: make the game more fun.

• 4 Niteowl // Jul 9, 2008 at 4:51 pm

  I’m sure they bandy about quotes from papers that have just been published in Nature and Lancet when trying to properly sub-optmize the best-flight post-trajectories of level 3 sentry rockets under 87% maximum enemy fire while maintaining a net-packet loss of less than 30kb over 17seconds-player units.

  Or you know, think of some witty phrase like ‘Back Burner’, and make up some ridiculous buff for it.

• 5 cliff // Jul 9, 2008 at 5:07 pm

  thezeus18 - That is AWESOME.

• 6 thezeus18 // Jul 9, 2008 at 5:49 pm

  Yes. Yes it is.

  Spread the word, get this into TF2.

• 7 thezeus18 // Jul 9, 2008 at 5:49 pm

  Roller-skates, that is.

• 8 Swiss // Jul 9, 2008 at 6:01 pm

  I hope they follow up this “get involved with designing the weapons!” trend with a post with a similar “idea-generating” goal for the “meet the team” videos.
  Storyboards? Animatics? Anything?

  But that’s just my inner animator geek demanding equal opportunity from the inner gamer geek.

  @thezeus18- That HAS to be in the game.
  or at least in a silly TF2 flash *scurries off to get on that*

• 9 Nyarlathotep // Jul 9, 2008 at 6:03 pm

  Not trying to be an asshole here, but uh, I’m not even going to need the TF2 Blog feed in my toolbar if you’re just going to update telling us whenever they do :|

• 10 The Linker // Jul 9, 2008 at 6:15 pm

  I think the point is more to give us — the 1Fort reader community — a way to discuss it amongst ourselves in the comments, since the Teamfortress blog doesn’t have a comments section and Chris is interested in our feelings and wants to know how we’re doing. Because he cares.

• 11 Nyarlathotep // Jul 9, 2008 at 6:17 pm

  Eh, I guess that makes sense.

• 12 PhatMan // Jul 9, 2008 at 6:44 pm

  @Swiss:
  i’ve already had a great idea for a meet the team video.

  its the meet the pyro video, and it has its little intro thing and wutnot. then it goes to the little interview scene like the heavy was in (as opposed to the sniper’s and soldier’s videos) and they pyro and demoman are both sitting in their chairs, facing the interviewer. the demomans translating for the pyro.
  after awhile, the demoman suggests to the pyro that he should take his mask off because its getting hot, and the demoman leans his head back to take a drink.
  the pyro takes his mask off AND….

  its a blue spy! the lights go out while the demo’s still drinking, and you hear an audible stab sound, followed by the camera being sapped.
  so then it turns into the meet the spy video.

• 13 Soundwave // Jul 9, 2008 at 7:05 pm

  Fund it.

• 14 Name // Jul 9, 2008 at 7:18 pm

  I propose the heavy’s shotgun unlockable give him the ability to rocket jump. Little to no damage to enemies, and he loses 25 health. Not when he jumps, but when he equips it, his max health becomes 275. It takes 50 health away from him when he rocket jumps, leaving him 225 health to surprise enemies with.

  It’d be as simple as a soldier’s rocket jump.

  Heavy is most fun when he’s in a position to mow down lots of guys from behind.

  A team of heavies with this upgrade would be easy pickings for snipers, and just alert teams.

  A medic would not be discouraged from healing the heavy, as he would still be a good medic buddy, and healing would still be appreciated.

  He would lose something, in this case both a small amount of health and his, albeit rarely used, shotgun, in exchange for becoming a more surprise oriented class.

• 15 Dave // Jul 9, 2008 at 8:31 pm

  The idea of the Pyro having a translater alone is outragous enough to make a good video.

• 16 ClearlynotaRobot // Jul 9, 2008 at 8:55 pm

  Or you could just have the Pyro mmph his or her way through the video.

  Gotta love the classics.

• 17 LaZodiac // Jul 9, 2008 at 8:56 pm

  The only problem with Pyro having a translator is that it would imply someone can understand him, which is silly.

• 18 Nyarlathotep // Jul 9, 2008 at 9:26 pm

  Hey, if you’ve been around someone with a speech impediment long enough, you can understand them.

• 19 thezeus18 // Jul 9, 2008 at 9:57 pm

  Name, while we’re at it, why don’t we give the scouts mini-sentries, the demomen healing powers, and rapid-fire rocket launchers to the soldiers?

  Oh, and give the spy a compression blast and the ability to light people on fire with his cigarette. That ought to do it.

• 20 Name // Jul 9, 2008 at 11:55 pm

  I fail to see how the heavy jumping would ruin anything.

• 21 Cochrane // Jul 10, 2008 at 12:24 am

  Good thing that it is so much work to work for Valve. That’s why we love their games, after all.

• 22 Gothic // Jul 10, 2008 at 2:41 am

  The Pyro translator idea just HAS to be implemented.

• 23 FraktuRe // Jul 10, 2008 at 3:07 am

  Have Demo translate, but have the demo be drunk off his face while doing it.

  Then have the pyro take off /her/ mask, smack him in the face, and tell him to something or other.

• 24 ElliBelli // Jul 10, 2008 at 3:37 am

  Wall-e Didn’t have a translator and look at him. leading the robot uprising.

• 25 WeakLemonDrink // Jul 10, 2008 at 4:16 am

  Excellent title reference, Chris.

• 26 Korota // Jul 10, 2008 at 5:44 am

  I think one way for a Heavy to do his job(i.e., stand there spraying a room with your minigun and soaking up lots of damage) without a medic to uber him would be to give him a minigun with some kind of berserker mode. You activate it, and the edges of the screen turn red as the Heavy goes insane with bloodlust and starts firing his minigun non-stop, and keeps firing it until the time-limit is up. While he’s doing so, he continues to take damage, but he stays on his feet until his killing spree is over, at which point, if he’s at zero health, he keels over on the spot.

  Since he’s firing his minigun while he’s doing this, he can only move at a walking pace, so he can’t run away or anything, which makes this a ‘last stand’ kind of thing. I’m also thinking he won’t be able to pick up health while he’s doing this, so he can’t cheat death if he gets brought down to zero health while he’s going berserk. I’d probably make you have to charge it up beforehand somehow. Although, this idea might be a little too close to having the Heavy just uber himself, even though it’s got some significant drawbacks to it(slow movement, still taking damage).

  Alternatively, to allow the Heavy to recover health in the middle of a fight and stay alive without a medic, you could put a knife and fork in his hands and let him heal himself with his melee attack by EATING HIS OPPONENTS. “NOW IS COWARD CHEWING TIME!”

  …Or, y’know, not. Although I like the idea of him being able to eat things you shouldn’t to regain health. Maybe he could recover health from ammo boxes.

• 27 Swiss // Jul 10, 2008 at 5:51 am

  -Phatman
  That would make an awsome animation,(I’d do it myself if I had a mircophone) the “punchline” would make me a bit miffed. It would just be the blue spy talking and not our pal the pyro.

  That and I feel slighted, why is the demoman the only token minority? Pyro should be an angry hispanic/asian woman!

  The translator idea I can see valve running with, but for the last bit I think the pyro should start to remove the mask- and then end. Thus preserving the mystery!

  You know what I REALLY want to see? Team Fortress Holiday Party animation. The medic should be the token jew.

• 28 Dante // Jul 10, 2008 at 8:57 am

  I’ve been thinking long and hard about this. I play a heavy a lot, and it’s one of the trickiest classes to alter, because it doesn’t have any glaring problems like the Pyro (unsatisfying) and the Medic (underplayed). I decided to steer away from straight health buffs, as that is the medic’s domain, I wanted something with a different effect. I also concentrated on the minigun because, well the Heavy is pretty damn married to that gun, I also haven’t added restrictions, as I think it’s better if they come out of playtesting. Anyway, my thought process.

  Idea 1 - The slowgun (nope, I’m not doing cool names here)

  A minigun that slows down people it hits, allowing the Heavy to fire and flee with greater effectiveness.

  Pros - Makes fleeing an option for the heavy, allowing him to retreat to a dispenser or pickup when he has no medic.

  Cons - Really irritating for all the other players

  Verdict - Miss. Breaks the unwritten rule of making the game less fun for others

  Idea 2 - Knockbackgun

  A minigun with increased knockback, that enables the Heavy to push enemies away, surviving longer.

  Pros - Similar effect to the slowgun, but with less irritation (we’re all used to knockback) preserves the heavy by repelling the enemy.

  Cons - Repeatedly knocking people back will likely kill them anyway, fairly minor in effect.

  Verdict - Miss. Doesn’t do enough.

  Idea 3 - Interceptor Gun

  A minigun that can shoot rockets and grenades out of the air.

  Pros - The quick, hard impact of a rocket is the easiest way to die in TF2, this makes it hard for anyone to hit the Heavy with indirect fire from the front. It also carries on the depowering of splash projectiles started by the Pyro, and it would look freaking cool.

  Cons - Could get on Soldiers’/Demos’ nerves, but hell, they’ve been the kings of this game for too long. Hard to tell how effective it is without testing.

  Verdict - Cautious optimism. This could really work, it’s a subtle approach, but it gives the Heavy a little extra defence against rockets and grenades. He’s still vulnerable to snipers, but then he is with a medic too. Plus, once again, it’s got to be cool looking.

• 29 Jimmay // Jul 10, 2008 at 10:53 am

  I think Dante’s “interceptor gun” is a fantastic idea, possibly one of the best so far, as far as implementation goes. I think instead of just shotting them down, they would explode in mid-air wherever they are hit, causing splash damage to all those around.

  The only downside I can think of is the fact that a soldier or demoman under fire wouldn’t be able to shoot back at all for risk of their projectile blowing up in their face as soon as it leaves the barrel! I’m pretty sure that would ruin the fun for anyone playing those two classes.

• 30 rammingspeed42 // Jul 10, 2008 at 11:02 am

  @ Name, I don’t see how a rocket-jumping heavy would still make a good medic buddy, to be honest. I mean, if we are talking a jump like the soldier’s or demoman’s, on a map like 2fort, the heavy would jump into the upper battlements and the medic wouldn’t be able to follow, thus losing the advantage of the medic.

  And I guess it does take quite a lot of work at Valve, which is kind of a depressing realization. I hope they do the Kukrit….

  On a completely unrelated note:

  http://fanboys-online.com/index.php?comic=287

• 31 J3553 // Jul 10, 2008 at 11:19 am

  PPSSSHHHHHH, we’re basically working for Valve, we should get paid!

• 32 Mr brit // Jul 10, 2008 at 12:11 pm

  @ Korota, I’m suprised no-one said anything about your idea! It strikes as being really good. It should work somewhat like a weaker ubercharge, charged by causing damage, while it doesn’t prevent damage, it stops him from dying until the time is up and his weapons work regardless of ammo to prevent it running dry. It should also offer a damage bonus perhaps related to the amount of health he has, so that he can kill everyone within the time. It’d be fun to implement and the Medic’s ray could be ineffective while he is berserked. It still builds an uber but doesn’t heal so he isn’t overpowered. What sort of tradeoffs could it come with though? I’m thinking an ammo reduction, or damage reduction when firing normally.

• 33 Mr brit // Jul 10, 2008 at 12:15 pm

  Also regarding the Pyro vid, I thought it should be him in a blacked out room. The pyro takes a seat, his face obscured and removes the mask, casually tossing it on the table. He begins to speak but the voice is that of the Heavy and the subtitle reads “Actors are used to preserve people’s privacy”. Then it continues as the normal vids but with various team members doing the dubbing.

• 34 Dave // Jul 10, 2008 at 1:07 pm

  If the Pyro has a translator, it has to be the second least-coherent class. I’m stuck between the Sniper and Demo.

• 35 Dante // Jul 10, 2008 at 1:40 pm

  Jimmay - Yeah, I was imagining they’d blow up in mid air.

  And I can imagine it’d be hard to shoot while under fire, but that just means moving a little, finding a better angle. It just adds extra skill to playing as a Soldier or Demoman, rather than finding one place to fire away.

  It’s not like the Heavy’s a great shot in the first place, he blankets an area and tracks targets. I doubt he’d be stopping one person from firing so much as firing wildly into the rockets in an attempt to stop them.

  Not to mention that, if you’ve got a Heavy firing right at you for any length of time, you’ve got way more problems than not being able to fire.

• 36 thezeus18 // Jul 10, 2008 at 2:05 pm

  Dante’s idea is the best yet, I think, thought it stacks with the medic.

  However, it’s still not as original or fun as roller-skates.

  http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7830779&highlight=roller-skates#post7830779
  http://i36.tinypic.com/34pf0gz.jpg

• 37 Linfear // Jul 10, 2008 at 8:46 pm

  Remember that weapons should somehow fit with the class. Each unlockable has always been associated with each weapon that the class can wield.

  1. Mini Gatling Gun - Shoots as fast as the standard minigun but is unable to crit. Does not have a windup time (The heavy can begin shooting right off the bat) but the heavy is unable to move during shooting.

  Rationale: Having no windup time is a great advantage for a Heavy, so this has to be offset by something reasonable…. by limiting the Heavy to being a somewhat immobile sentry.

  2. Double-barrel shotgun: Come on who hasn’t seen this coming yet!? Self-explanatory. Shoots two shells at the cost of slower reload and running out of ammo fast.

  Rationale: How else would you change the shotgun? Using Valve’s most-used shotgun models of all time. Double-barrel!

  3. Knuckle-duster: As the last unlockable, I would think that it should be good enough that would warrant a Heavy going head-to-head with a soldier with his fists instead of his minigun. It either causes a guaranteed critical hit, or knockback in similar scale to the pyro’s airblast.

  Rationale: This at least gives Heavies a REASON to press 3 and lay the smackdown. A knockback can be followed up by some good ol’ fashioned minigun spray. A Heavy can be described as a hunk of muscle, and it fits very well into his character that he can at least knockback an incoming pyro.

  I think these changes are realistic and easy to implement. Simple ideas can be good ideas. Unlockables aim to provide alternatives for players, providing a wider range of playstyles.

  Srsly…… how can anyone think of ROCKET-JUMPING HEAVIES. L2design.

• 38 Wossname // Jul 10, 2008 at 10:56 pm

  That sample quote from Valve is really basic common sense for any type of development… but I guess it needs saying. Especially when you go to the official forums and see reams upon reams of unlockable ideas proposed just because they look/sound cool and would inevitably make a class overpowered.

• 39 PhatMan // Jul 10, 2008 at 11:18 pm

  everyone kinda strayed from the point of my video idea, the pyro actually being the spy, and focused on have a translator for the pyro.
  i was thinking my whole segment would be the intro to the meet the spy video, maybe 1/3 of the vid.
  everyone thinks its the meet the pyro video at first, and then he pulls off the mask and suddenly its the meet the spy video!

  ive got an idea for the heavy’s fist unlockable:
  the main goal of this weapon will be getting enemies away from the heavy, mainly so that he can escape.
  regular punching will cause serious knockback. i’m thinking 5ft or so if theyre standing on the ground.
  a crit punch will uppercut and send the opponent into the air almost straight up. if you can regular punch your enemy while they’re in the air they’ll be sent flying, maybe 15ft.
  if a punch sends an enemy to a wall (or a ceiling) they will take damage for momentum. the faster they’re going, the more damage. it’ll do less than fall damage, tho, so as not to be overpowered.

  the main drawback of this is that it knocks enemies out of reach, and puts them out of harms way. that makes this weapon ideal for escaping, but ineffective for combat.

  i was thinking maybe boxing gloves? made out of rubber? idk i was focusing on the concept!!

• 40 Dante // Jul 11, 2008 at 8:36 am

  Linfear - I really like the idea of knuckle dusters/boxing gloves with knockback. Not only would it be fun, but it’d also help the Heavy’s survivability without a medic. Run out of ammo in a tight spot? Sock ‘em and run.

• 41 thezeus18 // Jul 12, 2008 at 8:01 am

  I like the idea of roller-skates better.

• 42 Ledundead // Jul 12, 2008 at 10:41 am

  Roller Skates would be the most interesing gameplay change ever made, and we would all love it.

• 43 thezeus18 // Jul 12, 2008 at 5:08 pm

  He speaks truth.

• 44 Dante // Jul 13, 2008 at 8:08 am

  Incidentally I have a more detailed version of my Heavy ideas here:

  http://manvshorse.wordpress.com/2008/07/13/dante-the-unbearable-heaviness-of-being/

  If anyone’s interested.

• 45 zealot_guy // Jul 13, 2008 at 5:49 pm

  http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/418094

  Best. Interview. Ever.

• 46 Dwight K Schrute // Jul 31, 2008 at 2:01 pm

  I like Dante’s idea about a rocket/grenade interceptor mini-gun, but instead of detonating them prematurely - how about it pushes them off course at random angles. Thus the soldier/demo aren’t insta-killed by a heavy haphazardly shooting at them while they return fire, and the new heavy gun retains its intended defensive ability.

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