VALVE L.L.C. ACQUIRES TF SOFTWARE PTY. LTD.; SIERRA STUDIOS TO PUBLISH TEAM FORTRESS 2 AS HALF-LIFE EXPANSION PACK
E3, Atlanta, GA. - Valve L.L.C., developer of the eagerly anticipated Half-Life, announced today the acquisition of TF Software Pty. Ltd., Australian developer of Team Fortress, one of the most popular multiplayer games on the Internet.
Team Fortress (TF) is a first person action game with strong team oriented play and strategic elements. Each member of a team takes on a specific class, such as scout, sniper, or engineer, in competition with other teams. The player's class determines his or her appearance, tools or weapons, and skills. Close coordination with other team members is the key to success in the game; it is also the source of the game's long-standing popularity. The original Team Fortress, developed as an extension to id Software's Quake, was released in August 1996. Today, approximately 40% of current Quake servers are dedicated to Team Fortress.
The original Team Fortress was developed as an extension to id Software's Quake. Approximately 40% of the current Quake servers are dedicated to Team Fortress.
"When we began development of Team Fortress 2 our goal was to build the best team-based action game yet," said Team Fortress's Managing Director, Ian Caughley. "Most multiplayer action games are just collections of individuals killing each other, but with TF 2, the emphasis is as much on team play and strategy as it is on shooting."
"We looked at all of the different game platforms we could host TF 2 on," added Robin Walker, lead designer of TF 2. "Half-Life's advanced technology, as well as its flexibility for extensions, with features like client-side DLL support and add-on controllable HUD's (Heads Up Display), meant we could do things with Team Fortress 2 that wouldn't be possible on any other system."
"This is the best thing that could have happened for Team Fortress and the fans of the game who have been waiting for TF 2," said John Cook, lead developer of Team Fortress. "The resources we now have at our disposal ensure the game will have functionality and breadth of support that it wouldn't have had if we had continued on our own."
Sierra Studios and Valve also announced that Team Fortress 2 will be shipping as a Half-Life expansion pack later this year. "Half-Life is clearly perceived in both the user and press communities as the best single-player action game for 1998. Team Fortress is one of the most popular games being played on the Internet. Building TF 2 on top of Half-Life's will result in a multiplayer experience of much greater depth and broader appeal than anything currently available," said Scott Lynch, Senior Vice President of Sierra Studios.
Details on the TF 2 expansion pack will be forthcoming.
Team Fortress Background
The first version of Team Fortress, an add-on for Quake, was released on August 24, 1996. It was originally written because the authors wanted a first-person perspective, team strategy game for LAN competitions. Version 1.0 only included the Scout, Sniper, Soldier, Demolitions Man and Medic classes and did not support any map entities.
Shortly thereafter version 1.1 of Team Fortress was released, which incorporated the beginnings of TF map support, some playability improvements and the Heavy Weapons Guy. These features were followed by the incorporation of team objectives into the game design and the 2Fort map, perhaps the most copied map design on the Internet..
On the 22nd of December 1996 Version 2.0 was released for Quake World. It was the first released Quake World add-on. At this point, interest in Team Fortress exploded, with over 40% of the Quake community running servers dedicated to Team Fortress within several months.
TF Software incorporated on April 4, 1997 to commercially develop updates and future releases of Team Fortress. TF Software combines the efforts of approximately 20 developers, artists, musicians, modelers, and map makers in Australia, Canada, the US, Germany, and Japan.
Director Bios
Robin Walker, Founder and Lead Designer
Robin attended RMIT University prior to joining NEC where he wrote power station communications software. At RMIT he met John Cook and Ian Caughley and began development of the original Team Fortress. Robin has won three Australian national deathmatch competitions. He is responsible for the design and game DLL in Team Fortress 2.
John Cook, Founder and Lead Programmer
John attended RMIT studying Computer Science prior to co-founding TF Software. He has had a number of network administration and installation jobs to pay the bills while developing Team Fortress. Software he developed is being used on Toshiba shoproom floors. John is the lead programmer for Team Fortress 2.
Ian Caughley, Founder and Managing Director
Ian attended RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia where he received degrees in Aerospace engineering and Computer Science. In addition to running the business side of TF Software, he has designed many of the visual elements in Team Fortress 2. His most ignominious achievement was declaring the Australian GA-8 aircraft aeroelastically sound two months before the prototype plowed into the turf.
