<div style="float: right; padding: 3px;"><img src="http://images.totalgamingnetwork.com/images/thumb_missing.1273785485.jpg" border="0">
</div>In a sad twist of fate, a new staff member at Valve has apparently gone missing. Fortunately for our amusement, he apparently left his developer diary behind. Let's take a little look behind the scenes of what really goes on at Valve. A hint: Hats are a way of life.
More diary entries can be found at the Team Fortress 2 Blog.
</div>In a sad twist of fate, a new staff member at Valve has apparently gone missing. Fortunately for our amusement, he apparently left his developer diary behind. Let's take a little look behind the scenes of what really goes on at Valve. A hint: Hats are a way of life.
Big team meeting today. I came prepared. I've been programming a playable demo version of TF2 with an entirely new tenth class. I had to teach myself programming, modeling, level design, character design and about twenty other skills, but I think the results speak for themselves. Everybody took a crack at playing it.
"This is pretty balanced gameplay," admitted Robin.
"I like how we haven't found any hats yet," said Brandon Reinhart. "It sets up the suspense better. I'm all, 'When am I going to find a hat already?'" Everyone laughed.
"I hope it's soon, I can't wait much longer," said Corey Peters. "Look how stupid this tenth class's bare head looks!" More big laughs.
"Actually, there aren't any hats in this demo," I said, chuckling. Deathly silence. Then everybody got up at once and stopped playing. Eric Smith got really mad and threw his keyboard through a wall, then stormed out and went home. Robin asked to speak to me privately.
"I don't think you're applying yourself enough," he said.
"But I invented an entirely new class from scratch," I said, feeling my face get hot.
"Yeah, that's really, really..." he trailed off, so bored with the sentence he didn't bother to finish it. "Look, maybe you should read this. You know--help you get into the 'Team Fortress' mindset."
He slid over a well-worn game design manual. I leafed through it. It wasn't a game design manual, it was a coffee table-sized book of women wearing hats.
Mistaking my confusion for interest, Robin excitedly pulled his chair over to me, and looked over my shoulder. "Would you look at that hat," he whispered, pointing to a lady in a wide-brimmed hat. "Gorgeous."
"This is pretty balanced gameplay," admitted Robin.
"I like how we haven't found any hats yet," said Brandon Reinhart. "It sets up the suspense better. I'm all, 'When am I going to find a hat already?'" Everyone laughed.
"I hope it's soon, I can't wait much longer," said Corey Peters. "Look how stupid this tenth class's bare head looks!" More big laughs.
"Actually, there aren't any hats in this demo," I said, chuckling. Deathly silence. Then everybody got up at once and stopped playing. Eric Smith got really mad and threw his keyboard through a wall, then stormed out and went home. Robin asked to speak to me privately.
"I don't think you're applying yourself enough," he said.
"But I invented an entirely new class from scratch," I said, feeling my face get hot.
"Yeah, that's really, really..." he trailed off, so bored with the sentence he didn't bother to finish it. "Look, maybe you should read this. You know--help you get into the 'Team Fortress' mindset."
He slid over a well-worn game design manual. I leafed through it. It wasn't a game design manual, it was a coffee table-sized book of women wearing hats.
Mistaking my confusion for interest, Robin excitedly pulled his chair over to me, and looked over my shoulder. "Would you look at that hat," he whispered, pointing to a lady in a wide-brimmed hat. "Gorgeous."
More diary entries can be found at the Team Fortress 2 Blog.
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