What are the ultimate goals for FF after completion?

[o_red baron]

I was thinking about this a while back, and it has finally bugged me enough to come out and say it.

What are the goals concerning the mod after the team has finished and released it?

Do you hope that Valve picks it up and supports it?

If so, how will you feel about Valve taking your game and making it "their own"? Will you embrace this action? And what if Valve decides to market and sell TFC as it's doing DoD? Will you request a share in profits?

If Valve sees FF as a competitor and continues to ignore the FF mod, what plans does the team have for marketing (i.e. getting the mod out there to the general gamer who has never heard of TFC)?

Many statements have been made by a certain dario@valvesoftware about the progress of Valve's own TF2. Does FF see the hush-hush title as any type of competition?

What, if any, contact has been made with Valve concerning the development of FF?


I'd just like to thank you all again for all the time and effort you've put into recreating my favorite game of all time. Keep up the good work! Thousands of people including myself are going to back you until the end!

Fortress-Forever FOREVER!

[Defrag]

Hmm wtf, I just made a lengthy reply to this topic and it just disappeared.

[o_robg]

Dammit, I just wrote a brilliantly incisive answer to this as a 5-part harmony for a male voice choir, but it's all gone.

[o_fresh]

i suspect a good goal would be to get the game and established player base by fixing bugs and endorsing a league or two

[o_eat]

Im only one member of the team so its not really an official response but since I've been here since the beginning maybe I can answer the questions quite accurately.

Originally Posted by red baron

I was thinking about this a while back, and it has finally bugged me enough to come out and say it.

What are the goals concerning the mod after the team has finished and released it?

We want to keep the mod updated and have a very strong community relationship. If a bug is found, or someone creates an exploit we will be there to fix it asap. We will listen to feedback concerning gameplay and hopefully keep people interested. New or better features may be added as the game updates after release.

Do you hope that Valve picks it up and supports it?

Hell Yeah. Having the game available for people to download via steam would expose FF to a huge number of people, which can only be a good thing.

If so, how will you feel about Valve taking your game and making it "their own"? Will you embrace this action? And what if Valve decides to market and sell TFC as it's doing DoD? Will you request a share in profits?

We would want control over the project. Nothing worse than seeing someone else take your work and stuff it up. If valve wants to make a profit out of our work then we deserve to aswell, right? I personally think this is quite unlikely, especially if we are competing against one of valve's mods. We have talked about it but haven't given it serious discussion or worked out a $-tag for FF

If Valve sees FF as a competitor and continues to ignore the FF mod, what plans does the team have for marketing (i.e. getting the mod out there to the general gamer who has never heard of TFC)?

This is what we fully expect. All the other possibilities (mentioned above) are less likely than us 'going it alone'. And this is also the most exciting possibility. It would be a huge challenge to push the game to new players. We have tonnes of ideas. I think ingame videos would achieve the most, without taking out a fullpage spread in the NY times. If you show people ingame footage and present it well, how can they not want to play the game?

Many statements have been made by a certain dario@valvesoftware about the progress of Valve's own TF2. Does FF see the hush-hush title as any type of competition?

Im not really up to date with TF2 or whatever its called but it is competition however you look at it (unless its not really a fortress type game). If joe public sees two versions of a Fortress mod he is more likely to go for the Valve version first, for ease of installation and the prestige of being made by valve. Theres no doubt we have the attention of the TF community and we expect a healthy release due to this, but any game always needs fresh blood. Being able to attract new players determines the future of all mods/games so FF is no different.

What, if any, contact has been made with Valve concerning the development of FF?

One of the non-valve employees took exception to one of the FF dev team due to other projects he had worked on and decided it was a good enough reason to ban the whole mod from steam forums. C'est la vie. We aren't bitter and I think we had a little bit of contact with an actual valve employee who was really nice and friendly.

[o_eat]

Yes fresh that was something I forgot to mention. We would love an all-encompassing site for the mod with leagues and satellite sites on it(map reviews, gameplay tips, customizations). It would be great to have official leagues and rankings on our site and somehow unify all the competitive play. It could get a bit confusing with different leagues on different continents but its a hurdle we would have to overcome.

[o_ivaqual]

Originally Posted by eat

One of the non-valve employees took exception to one of the FF dev team due to other projects he had worked on and decided it was a good enough reason to ban the whole mod from steam forums.

*cough* leak-related stuff ? *cough*

[o_fresh]

Yeah, i think a league that started a few months after the release date would be nice.

It wouldnt be hard to make a decent official league if you have to know how, keep it clean and unclutered like the FF webby, get a few staff in.

Obv alot of third party website will be created for FF, however i feel we need some solid foundations

[Defrag]

Originally Posted by nagual678

*cough* leak-related stuff ? *cough*

No, TFC related stuff.

[o_sp0rk]

This is some insider info, but I'll leak it:
After FF is complete, the dev team plans to move on to develop a Source remake of everyone's favorite mod, Ricochet.

[o_fathom]

If this mod is a huge success, will we see more work from you guys? It would be a shame that this team you guys have formed only came together for this one project.

I know you will be constantly updating FF.. but what about expanding your skills. Create your own company... Start small... work your way up. You guys have the skill to do it, and trust me... if this mod takes off.. there would be no stopping you. It might not be a bad idea to make a career out of it :/

[Defrag]

I wouldn't rule out working together in future, but starting a company? Heh, no. This is all about TF, it's not really about us or our future. You see a lot of mods that are just vehicles for employment, this isn't one of them.

[o_fresh]

Defrag and the dev team have no future now. There hands are tied by moans of the restless public, update update upade. The words echo through your mind as you wake up in a cold sweat.

[o_beavis]

The above two posts are correct.

[o_storm]

I like the idea of the site being the hub of the entire community from national to continental to international leagues. That would be sweet...

[Mulchman MM]

yeah we could just park some domains or make subdomains (whatever it's called where you have http://XXXXXX.fortress-forever.com) for like igl, sta, etc :P

[o_sh4x]

That said, I hope to see new blood as big league admins.

[Jiggles]

After the dev team completes FF, they plan on getting the power-up, and winning the game.