Engination video

Nice cinematic effects in this one. I SO enjoy what can be done by amateurs these days!

It starts a little slow, and the sound when they're talking is really low compared to the LOUD volume of the action (gunshots, etc), but it's definitely worth a watch. After the little storyline at the beginning, it turns to a music video. Hilarious. I especially appreciated the MacGyver reference.

Oh, and if you can, definitely watch it in full screen HD!

TF2 on deviantART

deviantArt.com is kinda like Flickr for artists. A great community for sharing art of all kinds and exchanging comments and getting inspired by others of like talent.

I've found quite a variety of artists who also enjoy Team Fortress 2, and you can see a bit of that in my TF2 Collection there.

You'll notice that there are a lot of folks that like drawing the medic, the heavy, the pyro, the spy -- but I finally found someone who gave the demo man a little love. Check it out (click to the dA page and view full size):


TF2: A Day in the Life -- 1 by ~alciha on deviantART

Please, if you find any Team Fortress art gems, post a link in a comment!

And don't forget to drop by my dA gallery when you get a chance and leave a comment on my profile to say hi! I've only got a few pieces up so far, starting with a "self-portrait" of the dedicated medic buttercup!

Team Fortress Game Sprays by GameSprays.com

I found another Team Fortress gem the other day.

Gamesprays.com is a rich resource for quality TF2 sprays. Here's a few of my favorites... (NOTE: the gray around the edge is actually transparent when you use it as a spray, so the signs look more realistic in-game...)

They have a good tutorial on how to make your own, too.

A little TF2 Christmas cheer

When I started playing TF2, I browsed around YouTube for stuff, and came across these. Too, too funny.

May you find these Christmas-themed Team Fortress videos as enjoyable as I did! Even if you've seen them before, there's always room for another round of Christmas cheer, right?

I recommend watching them in order:

It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Dustbowl
(or see the lyrics here)

Chaos Got Run Over By a Railcar

Spy Sapping My Sandwich

The thing that REALLY gets me is that real, grown men MADE these videos and sang these songs! Goodness! LOL.

There are more, but you can find them easily enough on your own... If you find another gem, please put it in a comment below and share the laughs!!!

Map creators - be inspired!

Recently we visited the U.S.S. Hornet in Alameda, CA. This was our second time touring the old ship-museum, and the first time since starting TF2 gaming. As we walked through the narrow corridors and I noted all the signs and arrows on the walls, there was one thought that pulsed in my brain:

This would be a great environment for a TF2 MATCH!!!

Wow, the ambience was perfect. Steel walls and floor. Thick ropes, cables, pipes everywhere (floor, walls, ceiling). Stairways, hatches and catwalks. Large panels of switches, readouts and gauges. There was tremendous variety available in terms of space:

• the upper flight deck was huge and open
  


• the hangar bay was big and open yet could be easily cluttered with large crates and stationary aircraft for cover
  


• rooms of varying sizes and with a variety of props (offices, comm rooms, torpedo maintenance, machinist shop, engine room, sick bay, bathrooms, bunk rooms, mess halls, briefing rooms, etc.)
  


• the tight corridors are similar to the vents of some maps like Turbine and Black Mesa
  


• several decks offer opportunity for multi-stage movement if you want a longer game

I'm no map creator myself, so I only know enough to recognize the potential. I'm guessing it would best be a cp map. It seems to me you could have a capture point on the bridge and a few below decks. Maybe one on the open flight deck, although I don't know the pros/cons of taking/defending wide open spaces.

You could have a sort of officers vs. mutineers scenario: One team starts on the bridge, the other starts in the bowels of the ship or in a small building at the far end of the flight deck. Each trying to take control of all the cap points (maybe 5 total points).

It might be tricky, but I suppose you could do a payload map, too. Try and escort the bomb from the flight deck down to the engine room or something (or from the bomb room to the bridge).

Just imagine all the fun you could have on a ship like this! Surely I'm not the first to think of it. Does anyone know of any maps set on an aircraft carrier?

If not, here's an open call to the map makers out there (yes, I'm talking to you, Blade!). Take a look at some of these photos I brought back with me, and be inspired!

Create another masterpiece, this time set on an aircraft carrier! Pleeeeeeeease!

Don't meet the spy - video

If you love the spy -- or love to hate him -- this is an excellent quality video with a nicely done music / sound clips mix. Enjoy! (try full screen!)

A satisfying KA-BLOOEY

As you may have noticed (if you play with me at all), I play medic 95% of the time (or more).

However, there are some maps or situations that just don't seem to lend themselves to this approach, and so I venture into the other classes.

The Viking map (probably related to ctf_yaaargh, shown in images and youtube video used in this post) is one of those cases. Last night, with few players on the server and map objectives that aren't particularly medic-friendly, I chose to try pyro, demo and scout this time.

It was my demo efforts that prompted this post. I consider myself very, very newb at the classes other than medic. Their speed, movements, reload timing and weapons fit like gloves two sizes too big -- everything feels slow and awkward, unfamiliar. In other words, I hit the respawn room a lot.

But I know by now that only with practice does skill come. So I stuck with demo a bit on this map to try and improve my grenade lobbing aim. The spiral stairs is a great place for this. There were enemies up the stairs, and I figured I should be able to lob a few grenades and damage them without getting in range of their weapons.

It was a nice theory.

Did I mention that I respawn a lot? Anyway, I kept at it, and then decided I'd try the sticky approach. While they were gone from the stairs, I placed some stickies on the ceiling and walls. It was kinda obvious, but I still hoped to catch someone.

A scout came running along and figured I was easy prey for his shotgun (not the first time). I lured him up the stairs, and he came cheerfully along, figuring to dodge my 'nades and mow me down with the scattergun at close range. And he almost did. But I fell down the stairs out of his way, and then just as I guessed he was passing my stickies on his way to finish the kill, I hit the right mouse button.

KA-BLOOEY!!!!

SCOUT STUFFING EVERYWHERE!!!

Oh, my. Oh, my! It was truly satisfying. I finally killed somebody with my stickies ON PURPOSE. I laid the snare, I lured them in, and BAM! got the timing right.

Ahh, yes. Very memorable moment, my first sweet kill as demo.

So tell me: What TF2 firsts do you remember best?

And for your viewing pleasure, a video that pretty much captures the fun of this map: