As you know, we’ve been hard at work retro-fitting Open Fortress to newfangled ‘Steam Power’. We’re pleased to announce the game is now fully ported to the official TF2 SDK, meaning the new build of Open Fortress can be uploaded to the Steam storefront!
And it will be. Soon. But not yet.
Now that the titanic effort of getting Open Fortress SDK-compatible is over, we’re continuing production to search for the holy grail of game development: ‘Version 1.0’.
Consider this update both a look ahead (a sneak peek, perhaps?) and a victory lap. Kate, Erem2k, and Fraeven have accomplished something really amazing with their work on the port. To explain the task in non-coding terms, it’s like if they took apart a go-kart and rebuilt it as a steam-powered motorcycle. Impressive, right? It’s okay to let them know you’re impressed. We’re impressed: we think Fraeven may be some kind of ‘enlightened being’.
In case it’s still hard for you to visualize what we’ve been up to, here are some visuals. Arsen’s updated some iconic weapons in the Open Fortress Arsen-al, and the comparisons speak for themselves.
These three images are worth a thousand words each, but here’s twenty-five more: Literally every part of the game is getting this treatment. If you can think of an asset, it’s probably being polished. Yes, even that one.
When we talk about making Open Fortress the best arena FPS of all time, we’re very serious. No jokes here: just a blazing passion to make really, really good video games. That means we’re doing more than just making the game pretty. Elliot (A.K.A ‘Mr. Skill’), has laid out a clear vision for the best version of Open Fortress, and spent countless hours directing workflow pipelines that produce Hot Stuff. In line with our focus on quality, the 1.0 release will feature a tight, highly refined map pool, curated for excellent gameplay loops and variety in map geometry. They’re pretty, too, of course. We can prove it.
Note the changes in elevation, intersecting paths, and cool potential routes in each of these gorgeous maps. Also, they play good - we checked. Our core map pool will give new and returning players alike a great place to master Open Fortress 1.0’s refined and rebalanced game systems in anticipation of our first tournaments on Steam.
Visible things are the easiest to show you, but they’re not all that goes into a great game. ‘Audio’, which may sound familiar, is getting a remaster of its own. Stachekip has, with help from Omniary, remade and remastered more or less every sound in the game. The Open Fortress soundscape is being brought up to professional standards, with a ton of new voicelines, besides: Stache is making sure you’ll get to know the Merc better than ever.
That effort goes beyond the recording booth. Elliot and Stachekip, our project leads, have been worldbuilding in ways that’ll fuel all sorts of creativity in years to come. They’re working with our writing team, Sloofy and Vera (who enjoys referring to herself in the third person), to cook up some really cool surprises. The team’s all fired up to bring you what we hope will be one of your favorite games.
Get Psyched!
P.S. - P.S. stands for ‘Pretty Subtle’, which is why it’s used to ram extra little secrets in post-script. You know, just in case your equally subtle (and very clever) foreshadowing didn’t get the hint across to your reader.
Big thanks to Extra Ram for this mysterious blueprint, depicting the schematics for a device that looks like it can be legally owned in all US states but Maryland.