Team Fortress Turns 17 - Celebrated With Update + Comic Series

[Omnomnick]

The Team Fortress series recently turned 17 years old on August 24th 2013, and while some fans were apprehensive that Valve had somehow missed the anniversary, the team have uploaded a pair of new blog posts to the Team Fortress website earlier this evening to celebrate. The first blog post, entitled "Happy Not-At-All-Late 17th Birthday", discusses the three day delay before announcing the arrival of a new game update which hit the game client several hours ago. The update includes a number of gameplay fixes and map balancing tweaks alongside the introduction of "Chemistry Sets" recipe items, which are described as follows:

"Chemistry Sets are recipe items that have varying inputs and varying outputs. You can complete a Chemistry Set by fulfilling all of its inputs, which will then give you the items it has listed in its outputs."

Alongside the introduction of several new item crates, the update has also introduced an optional animated 3D replacement for the player status panel on the in-game HUD, which can be seen below alongside the older, and still available, static 2D counterpart. The 3D version will display whichever cosmetic items and weapons the player currently has equipped on their character. The effect can be toggled on or off in the game's advanced options via the main menu for players with older machines, or for those of you who simply prefer the cleaner, more static appearance of the older 2D design.​

​

​

The second blog post, entitled "Team Fortress Comics #1!", was released shortly after the first and has introduced a brand new six part Team Fortress 2 comic series set to star every living character from the game's fictional universe (and then some). Set shortly after the Mann vs Machine gamemode, the first part known as "Ring Of Fired" follows a number of the Team Fortress 2's internal and external cast members as they once again attempt to thwart Gray Mann and his army of evil robotic replicas.​

​

​

From today onward, the series is set to be released on a bi-monthly schedule so expect another release in around two weeks from now [Valve Time Status: Pending]. The blog post has also revealed that "at least one person dies" in the comic series, so we imagine this particular story is set to shake up the Team Fortress 2 universe quite a bit, even if Valve have said the comic series is the first to be released without any kind of tie to an impending update. We'll avoid going into any more detail regarding the comic in order to prevent spoiling it further, but we highly recommend checking it out if you've ever been interested in Team Fortress 2, the game's ongoing comic series, or the expanded universe.​

​

Be sure to stay tuned to both the Team Fortress blog and our own ValveTime.net Facebook group for future reveals as we more than likely won't be discussing the upcoming comic releases here on our front page.​

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Saxton Hale dies. Or the mercs die more than once. Go to hell Andrew Hussie.

 

[Ivy-kun~]

Saxton Hale dies. Or the mercs die more than once. Go to hell Andrew Hussie.

As long as we don't get Dream Selves in the next update.

 

[Lewk]

I usually don't share things with people, especially without at least having a second source. But I heard through one of my channels that after the release of the comic series, Valve plan to release a 15 minute long TF2 movie they've been working on. Again though, take that with a grain of salt, I can't back it up.

 

[Adabiviak]

17 years, and I still think of this as a 'new' game. I might be old.

 

[Lobster]

17 years, and I still think of this as a 'new' game. I might be old.

I remember going to a local cybercafe to play Quake Fortress on my 12th birthday. Seeing the number 17 here scares the crap out of me.

 

[Omnomnick]

17 years, and I still think of this as a 'new' game. I might be old.

The series is 17 years old, Team Fortress 2 is coming up to 6 years old in October 2013.

Saxton Hale dies. Or the mercs die more than once. Go to hell Andrew Hussie.

To be honest, quite a few characters could be killed off. Since this comic takes place at the latest point in the canon, practically anyone can be killed off without disruption to the main game. Miss.Pauling, Saxton Hale, Merasmus, the Administrator, etc. It just depends how many updates they plan to add which are set after this point (in the same way Mann vs Machine is set 4 years after standard TF2 in 1972).

Also, the last part of the comic is set to be released around November 6th, shortly before the conclusion of the Halloween update, so I wouldn't be surprised if this comic was tied into the event in some way.

 

[ríomhaire]

Does the new HUD accurately show what items your disguise has when you're a Spy? If so that's really cool. It's kind of weird that it's animated though.

 

[Omnomnick]

Does the new HUD accurately show what items your disguise has when you're a Spy? If so that's really cool. It's kind of weird that it's animated though.

Yes, it does show items as Spy.

 

[Skyace65]

I usually don't share things with people, especially without at least having a second source. But I heard through one of my channels that after the release of the comic series, Valve plan to release a 15 minute long TF2 movie they've been working on. Again though, take that with a grain of salt, I can't back it up.

It's been confirmed they are working on a 15 minute video for ages but we haven't heard anything on it. I would expect it to be released after the comic is over but than again this is valve time we area talking about.

also I'm loving this comic, the next part can't come fast enough

 

[Danny_ZQ]

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Nice catch, Danny.