I Never Thought I Was a Part of Something Big

[$h4m3]

You see, I missed the initial surge by a few days. I heard FF came out a couple days after TF2 came out and immediately downloaded it. I heard the stories of a ton of players rockin it until the release of TF2, then they switched. Reasons? They had them. All in their own fashion. Glitches, graphics, end-user support. There were a ton of reasons people could/would/did switch to TF2. So, friends, when I started playing FF, it was dead-ish.

I don't believe I've ever seen more than 3 servers full at any given time. I've owned them, operated them, and moderated them in turn. I've learned the tricks of the trade of filling a server. Pretty much, just sit in it. Eventually 2-3 people would come and it would snowball from there. Sadly, this approach stopped working and we saw the rise of certain servers. Now we really only see those servers with players in them, if even them at all.

So now we are informed of the long-awaited 2.1's release on Friday. I sit and wonder what this actually means. The advertising, it's there. On the rare occasion that I pick up a pub and play I see at least 2-3 whenwillouts in the servers. In the words of our American politicians, "Change is Coming". But I have to wonder, how much? Don't get me wrong, I know of the need for change. My underlying question is, will it take FF to the level of TFC?

You see, as a child I played TFC alot. I clanned and pubbed and it was fantastic. The world of TFC was never-ending due to the many ways you could play. CTF was always available but when you tired of that you could move on to things like warpath or dustbowl. Even then, when the carnage became dull, escape maps, climb maps, conc maps, solly maps. The possibilities were endless on any given night.

At least on the servers I played on, after 10-11PM at night, when everything died down, the fun really began. People who know each other well would DM or we'd see who could complete a skill map the fastest. Someone would get fed up with a climb and noclip to the top and make fun of everyone elses' moms until an admin would slap him off the peak and watch him fall to his demise.

Even then I felt as though I was a cultist. That I had stumbled upon a video game not many knew. That we were involved in a game with never-ending possibilities. With a ton of people around we played by the rules but when they disappeared, we made our own.

So I guess what I'm trying to figure out is what direction are we really moving in. One without a PR pitch involved. I promote the idea that there is no problem with the core of the game, but all we've seen are adaptations of the core. It's the accessories that made TFC great. The multi-dimensional aspect to it. That was why people never bored of the game and never had to put it down, the fact that there was a map or gamestyle for every occasion and when you bored of one you could move to the next. Sorry for making it so long, I just felt the need.

[Sh4x]

I don't really get what you're trying to say.

You're asking in what direction we're really moving?...

I say forward.

[GeoKill----->]

Well from what I know, 2.2 will aim at new gamtypes and I guess we will see how it goes from there. I hope I did not miss your point

[Adamido]

Yeah, FF was about to fall from a cliff and die a horrible death, but we made a great leap forward.


I also get what are you trying to say. Too bad I never experienced it :P

[פֿяαιп βαмαgεפ]

Originally Posted by $h4m3

Blah

Cound't agree with you more, I've left TFC behind, maybe I should pick it up once more.

[KubeDawg]

I'm glad you mentioned gameplay types, because honestly, I think TFC pretty much hit the nail on the head on variety of maps that took the word customization out of it's box, and set it free. And while a lot of people, including myself, loved CTF or AvD maps, there were always servers with fun maps being played that I could just join and people would be there so I could have fun. I'm not talking about flag or command point maps, but maps like Turkeyburgers, or Shortbus25, a slew of concmaps, and anything else you could think of, really played a big part in why I played TFC for so long.

Now that this mod is getting bigger, and more open to improvements both gameplay-wise/graphically, I think that it will eventually be very popular, just like TFC was in it's days of glory. Will anything ever replace those memories of TFC, or any other game I was really into? No, but with mapping being a bit easier due to LUA code, and more textures/styles coming into the picture, I think this mod can have a gigantic following once more gameplay styles exist in FF.

ff_escape is being created by 12PACK - You can catch him in The Dark Ages server usually on weekends, that is a FUN map, and it's nearly done from what he tells me.
ff_shortbus - Gambit has offered to make the bus, if someone will map it.
ff_turkeryburgers/rats - Quite possibly the most fun DM maps in TFC, some have been ported to the Source engine, and a rats map already exists in FF.
concmaps - I've downloaded nearly 25 concmaps for FF so far, there is a lot of potential in this field.
sniper maps - although I've not seen any remakes of some sniper maps I loved in TFC, there have been many that are pretty damn fun to play.

CTF and AvD maps can be fun, but frankly, most of my hours playing TFC were on those fun maps that a lot of people also enjoyed.

MOAR FUN MAPS PLZ!

[פֿяαιп βαмαgεפ]

Someone PLEASE!!!! bring back hide 'n seek, I wasted HOURS on hide 'n' seek maps, binding our flashlights to backspace and shouting "medic" all over the place to confuse the seekers, man I had fun.

OK that's it *reinstalls TFC and goes to play hide 'n' seek*

[$h4m3]

Don't quite remember what I was getting at and I got lost part way through in memories past. I was bored at work but essentially I believe I was trying to say that what we lack is variety. I was trying for agreement/disagreement I guess.

[squeek.]

Originally Posted by $h4m3

Don't quite remember what I was getting at and I got lost part way through in memories past. I was bored at work but essentially I believe I was trying to say that what we lack is variety. I was trying for agreement/disagreement I guess.

Variety you shall have! The next patch and beyond will predominately be about maptype variety. But also remember that there is a good deal of maptype variety in this patch; plus, we have some solid prototype maps being tested in the beta with completely new gametypes.

[Iggy]

I still play TFC. I love the game, and probably won't put it down until the day I die. I would LOVE to see some "escape" maps, such as "thegame", "k_thegame", etc... I would also love to see some other maps ported over(55, bounce, nuclear, and many many more) to FF.

Half Life, TFC, and some of the other old-school mods will never stop being fun. They Hunger is another favorite of mine, although I can't get it to work on Steam.

But this is why I keep older systems around the house.

[reaper18]

Originally Posted by Iggy

...nuclear, and many many more)....

Yes!
Nuclear for the mother fucking win

[Digital_Ghost]

what i think was the biggest thing tha hurt in the beginning is, the game was released to soon froma ll the pressure from the community and most importantly, lack of proper PR. The team is doing things right this time around, alot of which should of been done along time ago.

[CaLeB-]

$h4m3 pretty much said it, and I feel the same. Half the time on TFC I'd be playing CTF maps, Hunted, etc. The other half, I'm playing hide-n-seek maps, escape maps like K_TheGame_r and TheGame, the Cube maps, sidemod AdminOP, etc. That's what it seems this mod is lacking.

[$h4m3]

I guess I also have a slight fear of this mod becoming "big". What happens then? What happens if Steam/valve/whoever offers to purchase the rights?

2.1 hasn't even come out yet and last night I saw 4-5 servers with 10+ people in them. 2 were full. That's unheard of in the last 6 months.

[reaper18]

Originally Posted by $h4m3

...1 hasn't even come out yet and last night I saw 4-5 servers with 10+ people in them. 2 were full. That's unheard of in the last 6 months.

yes, but thats fucking awsome!

[Ihmhi]

Originally Posted by $h4m3

I guess I also have a slight fear of this mod becoming "big". What happens then? What happens if Steam/valve/whoever offers to purchase the rights?

We wouldn't sell out. No one "owns" this game.

They'd be more inclined to buy something like Eternal Silence (which is not like any games they own) compared to us, which is just like two games they do own.

Same reason as to why Zombie Panic! will probably never be bought, since Valve is making up Left 4 Dead. No need to waste the money.

And who would get the money anyway? I don't think it could really be figured out. How do you value someone's work when you don't even know how much time they put into it? It's not like we've been keeping track of how many hours people work or something.

[$h4m3]

It's just one of those things, silly as it may seem, that this game could go mainstream. Noone technically owning it may make it easier for them to do it even.

Only Lord knows.

[Ihmhi]

I wonder how many times we'd have to say it won't happen for people to believe it won't happen?

Even if Valve did come to us, we wouldn't accept.

[be_]

Originally Posted by Ihmhi

Even if Valve did come to us, we wouldn't accept.

$$$ Why not?

If this went mainstream, what's that mean? Lots more players. So what's wrong with that? Also, the makers of this great mod could get some money they truly deserve. If you're afraid of creative freedom, just work out a contract.

[KubeDawg]

Because we fight against the man. When small businesses become big business, say like Walmart, for instance, they become hated by quite a few people. Another analogy would be Microsoft.