TF2 Development Trivia

Covering trivia and fun facts regarding the development of Team Fortress 2

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

Team Fortress 2 was released for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 as a part of The Orange Box on October 10, 2007. The PC and Xbox versions were developed inhouse by Valve, whereas the PS3 version was outsourced to be developed by EA.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

The textures for Spy’s viewmodel arms not only use an outdated palette, but the red textures were also compiled with the blue skin’s pinstripe layer enabled, seemingly by mistake.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

The textures for the Engineer’s building blueprints were created using blueprints for a 1965 Imperial Crown Coupe.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

@Texture_Junky https://t.co/OGv6juE4dc

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

The pickup truck prop that is commonly used throughout TF2 is based on a photograph that TF2's art director, Moby Francke, shot in the 1980s while touring Sonoma, California. The truck is a Chevrolet AK Series model specifically.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

Additionally, many of Medic’s pieces of equipment appear to be inspired by devices from the film, with his backpack resembling the Proton Pack and his Reanimator resembling the Ghost Trap. He even possesses a nearly identical copy of the Ecto-Goggles as a cosmetic item.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

Happy Halloween!
Coming in with some seasonally appropriate trivia, it’s highly likely that Medic’s design was heavily inspired by Egon Spengler from the 1984 Ghostbusters film.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

Several elements of the Quick Fix's backpack mesh appear to be recycled from an older "Brewery" model created for an earlier iteration of Meet the Medic, suggesting that the backpack may have actually been made from some form of a beer keg.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

@veemoid2 No, these terminal props were made specifically for Powerhouse. It's highly likely that they chose this as their reference since it aligned with the space-themed teasing they were doing for Asteroid at the time.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

The texture used for the Powerhouse terminal's screen is directly referenced from the Nostromo's boot sequence in Alien (1979). Some of the reference image remains visible in the background of the texture.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

The recently released TF2SDK includes various revised code comments that have had their original vulgarity removed from them.

[Team Fortress 2 @TeamFortress]

Mod makers rejoice: The Team Fortress 2 SDK has arrived! We've updated the Source SDK with all of TF2's client and server game code. Change, extend, or rewrite TF2, and publish them as mods on Steam. https://t.co/tuYn8m8Bbt

[Seal @sealgb]

In other news! I recently discovered an official expiration date shot dmx, I'm releasing the dmx here for anyone to use!
Video below showcasing the dmx
https://t.co/8krR2JmlVN

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

Prior to release, TF2's environments initially made more use of normal-mapping. This is a technique to create the illusion of visual depth and detail onto simplistic geometry. As for why these normal maps were cut before release is unknown.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

It would appear that many farm props actually come directly from this particular Douglas Stenhouse painting.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

A lot of the world design in TF2 was inspired by photos taken by various early to mid 20th century photographers, particularly one named Jack Delano. He was contracted by the US government during the 1940s to go across the US and the Caribbean to take colored photos.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

Other inspirations possibly include artists, such as Charles Sheeler and Douglas Stenhouse. Most of this art is part of a movement called "Precisionism", focused on themes of industrialization and modernization in the American landscape, using defined geometrical forms.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

For example, here is this same type of noise being used in Demoman's texture.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

In TF2, nearly every texture uses noise, this is done to give objects in the environment subtle color variation. The classes however use a unique type of noise, created using photoscanned moleskin paper. It's believed this is done to help the classes stand out in the environment.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

@Zeldaboy14 @sealgb These are from the leak from last year, they were previously just in a format that only old prototypes of SFM could open, and nobody had the means to open them until recently.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

Recently some of the animations used to construct the first trailer for TF2 were found and fixed. Below is some videos showcasing the animations with a link to the fixed DMXs for those interested. Credit: @sealgb
https://t.co/bL3e3Sbr27

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

Although the Engineer's dispenser is commonly believed to be based on an old-fashioned cigarette vending machine, its design is more directly inspired by that of a Tokheim 452 gas pump.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

@halmodraws @DaMemeLord35 It used to be the draw animation prior to the switch to the c_models.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

Originally, the first person animations for the sapper were two-handed. Interestingly Spy's left arm is still posed to hold the sapper during the animations in retail, but has been rotated out of view. The animations were presumably changed to accommodate the invis watch model.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

@saucewisdom22 Both are mullets, however this iteration of Heavy with a mullet is vastly different in shape, mostly leaning into the right side of his head. It’s present in one concept and a few test renders of classes prior to them being textured.

[TF2 Development Trivia @TF2DevTrivia]

As TF2's character designs were still being finalized, the team brought in core TFC players to test the game. Unfortunately, many of them were not pleased with the art direction the game had taken. Despite this initial negative feedback, the team decided to pursue this art style.