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Valve starts Team Fortress 2 ARG - [Teaser Comic Unlocked]

Last night we launched our most fiendishly difficult ARG yet, involving roughly 5000 individual pieces of data that had to be painstakingly collected and decoded by equipping specific items and then performing even more specific actions in-game. It was diabolically, even needlessly complex, and there was some concern among the TF team that this time we might have gone a little overboard. It would take the community weeks to sort through this, we worried.

We shouldn't have. In just twelve hours, the master-class code breakers in the community put their collective brainpower to the puzzle and cracked it wide open, uncovering a mysterious link at 2:46AM PST this morning that promised a small taste of things to come in TF2. We couldn't be more proud of you guys. Also, if we're being honest, a little giddy at the possibilities, because if you can apply yourselves this commandingly to a goofy online puzzle for a war-themed hat simulator, next time we'll think big and ask you to construct a manned space shuttle to Mars or something.

http://teamfortress.com/post.php?id=8621
 

Robot Pants

Member
About as silly as attaching a narrative to their puzzle game's community levels that toys with several possibilities in the extended half-life continuity.

edit: nm. I forgot about all of Cave's monologues.

Last night we launched our most fiendishly difficult ARG yet, involving roughly 5000 individual pieces of data that had to be painstakingly collected and decoded by equipping specific items and then performing even more specific actions in-game. It was diabolically, even needlessly complex, and there was some concern among the TF team that this time we might have gone a little overboard. It would take the community weeks to sort through this, we worried.

We shouldn't have. In just twelve hours, the master-class code breakers in the community put their collective brainpower to the puzzle and cracked it wide open, uncovering a mysterious link at 2:46AM PST this morning that promised a small taste of things to come in TF2. We couldn't be more proud of you guys. Also, if we're being honest, a little giddy at the possibilities, because if you can apply yourselves this commandingly to a goofy online puzzle for a war-themed hat simulator, next time we'll think big and ask you to construct a manned space shuttle to Mars or something.

<3
 
everyone keeps asking for Half Life 3....what no one knew is that we've been playing it this whole time



directed by M. Night Shyamalan
 
Tie in with Portal I'm cool with - and it was a surprise no one saw coming.

TF2 is a different matter altogether though. The game is set in the sort of absurd world where Australians all have moustaches and stereotyping is more apparent than feasibly possible. And babies could fluently talk from age 0.

It's a cool concept, but Grey being G-man would grind far too much with Half-Life's serious narrative and (mostly) grounded reality.

Edit:
To put it in another perspective: would you really want the history of Half-Life's enigmatic G-man to end up being a baby who learnt algebra in his mother's womb, only to be snatched by an American Bald-Eagle when born and later in his life have machinery implanted in him, and eventually kill his brothers in order to usurp Hale.Co and then eventually plan to botch up a portal experiment in a Nevada science branch, to which he spectates Gordon Freeman? D:

Exactly.
 

OMG Aero

Member
I hope the actual update is next week and they didn't really expect the internet to take a while to work everything out.
 

Mastgrr

Member
TF2 merging into the Half-Life universe would be incredible.
It doesn't even make sense. Why dilute the entire decades-long earnest, gritty Half-Life universe and brand — which already have multiple game tie-ins, by tying it together with their absurdist universe, whacky art style game?

The most rational explanation is that it's just a fun reference, and a gimmick. No need for over interpreting it beyond that.
 

Chavelo

Member
People want HL3 so badly that they would let Valve screw up the stories/ethos of their other games so they can put in some lame #3 hint. :/
 

Bluth54

Member
I hope the actual update is next week and they didn't really expect the internet to take a while to work everything out.

I'm guessing it will be next week, they released the update for this ARG on a Saturday, and Valve never updates TF2 on Saturday. If the TF2 team was working on a Saturday they must be almost done with it.
 
I agree. It's insanely good stuff.
I think one of the first details that blew me away trying the beta for my first games was the first time I tried Ursa.
Seeing this bear's face speaking with perfect lip sync in the portrait made me stop for a moment in awe.
Since then I lost count of the amount of stunning details I noticed playing DOTA 2.

And everytime they are introducing a new hero it's always a little masterpiece.
In the last months I've started to point the game as the model which any "isometric" title (RTS, RPG, etc) should strive to match in quality.

Yep.

http://planetdota.com/new.html
 

Dmax3901

Member
To put it in another perspective: would you really want the history of Half-Life's enigmatic G-man to end up being a baby who learnt algebra in his mother's womb, only to be snatched by an American Bald-Eagle when born and later in his life have machinery implanted in him, and eventually kill his brothers in order to usurp Hale.Co and then eventually plan to botch up a portal experiment in a Nevada science branch, to which he spectates Gordon Freeman? D:

Yes.

Not Really.

I'm kinda bummed it's over :(
 
What makes you say this?

they have 8-10 people working full time on TF2 now, and that number will only dwindle further. They have one map maker and one programmer and the rest are artists/misc task people.

Compare that to when they had 30-40 people a few years ago and produced large updates, I don't see this team being able to keep up and releasing updates at a good pace. Eventually updates will become smaller and smaller, and I think this update will be the last huge tons of items, maps, etc updates that we get for TF2, pending a huge surge of interest from Valve.
 

markot

Banned
they have 8-10 people working full time on TF2 now, and that number will only dwindle further. They have one map maker and one programmer and the rest are artists/misc task people.

Compare that to when they had 30-40 people a few years ago and produced large updates, I don't see this team being able to keep up and releasing updates at a good pace. Eventually updates will become smaller and smaller, and I think this update will be the last huge tons of items, maps, etc updates that we get for TF2, pending a huge surge of interest from Valve.

They might just be on other projects now, like Dota 2, but when those 'release' they can come back.

Its still one of the most popular games on steam.

And yea, and RPG done in dota 2 style would be so awesome fantastique.
 

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
Maybe I'm just thinking too much, but since with Valve there are no coincidences...

next time we'll think big and ask you to construct a manned space shuttle to Mars or something.

Isn't this a little too specific? I mean they even use 'Mann' in the sentence.
 

mclem

Member
Why does Grey look dissimilar to his two brothers? I think that's the strongest hint that there's more to the character who just
facestabbed his two brothers
than what the comic says.

I have a few suspicions.

Well, there is:

R: You there! Young man! Are you mechanically inclined?
G: Aheh. Yes. You could say that.

That's got my theory muscles going - and raises some interesting questions with interesting conclusions about the third baby (See also: Barnabas Hale's reactions in the historical segment) - but it comes to one crucial question: Who created him?
 

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
To add to my crazy sentence theory, isn't it coincidental that they would word the next thing they'll ask players to do to construct a rocket to mars when the last big update we got involved introducing a new game mode involving a rocket? With that, involving Australium (which is sort of a big deal in TF2 world and I'm guessing it likely what Gray is after).

Maybe I'm just thinking a rocket and mars can fit into an update that involves take-over, robots, giant tanks with antennas, and a man like Gray who is focused on building things. So for them to mention building something, it being a rocket, and to mars sort of just seems like connecting the dots to me, with the recent updates and hints...

Also predicting Gray is, in fact, a robot. Or at least a cyborg.
 

jambo

Member
WHAT A TWIST!

qJp5I.jpg
 

Dmax3901

Member
To add to my crazy sentence theory, isn't it coincidental that they would word the next thing they'll ask players to do to construct a rocket to mars when the last big update we got involved introducing a new game mode involving a rocket? With that, involving Australium (which is sort of a big deal in TF2 world and I'm guessing it likely what Gray is after).

Maybe I'm just thinking a rocket and mars can fit into an update that involves take-over, robots, giant tanks with antennas, and a man like Gray who is focused on building things. So for them to mention building something, it being a rocket, and to mars sort of just seems like connecting the dots to me, with the recent updates and hints...

Also predicting Gray is, in fact, a robot. Or at least a cyborg.

Depends on your definition of cyborg, but I'd say he already is one.


EDIT: Who else do we know that was raised by wild animals only to go on to greatness? That's right, Romulus and Remus who were raised by wolves and then founded motherfucking ROME.

HL3 set in Rome confirmed.
 
D

Deleted member 102362

Unconfirmed Member
I hope they shake things up heavily, I wanna enjoy TF2 again.

I'm one step ahead of you. I'm enjoying TF2 already! :D

Will Saxxys 2 happen before MvM? That's what I wanna know now.
 

Hargenx

Member
Don't say is all just about....MORE F*&@ÏNG IDIOTS HATS?!?!

No I prefer to wait, Valve don't gonna do it, no they don't.... ;_;
 
Well, there is:

R: You there! Young man! Are you mechanically inclined?
G: Aheh. Yes. You could say that.

That's got my theory muscles going - and raises some interesting questions with interesting conclusions about the third baby (See also: Barnabas Hale's reactions in the historical segment) - but it comes to one crucial question: Who created him?

My theory is that line references that Gray had a hand in the creation of their life-extenders. In the engineer comic where he gets his grandfathers papers it shows he created three. I believe after Helen offered the Australium to convince him to build one for both brothers, Gray later approached him with an offer to help him design it in exchange for one for himself. Hence why the brothers machines are so janky and big while Gray's is compact and doesn't cause him to die a few minutes every day.

Also I like the idea of a VIP mode but I bet it would be protect the Administrator. When Gray starts the takeover she drops the RvB shtick and tells them "O.K. idiots, new mission. Protect me."
 

Dipswitch

Member
I own this game, but I don't play it. I do enjoy the backstory stuff though - that comic had me chuckling all the way through.
 

Sianos

Member
how to be the winner at team fortress 2

1. load steam
2. load team fortress 2
3. join a server (preferably a payloadsofcorridors server)
4. select red team or blue team (but not gray team)
5. press 5
6. ???????
7. you're winner

emceegramr'd by heavies
 
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