Valve has put out a weblog publish (opens in new tab) revealing that Workforce Fortress 2 will likely be getting a “main replace” this summer season, which is to say that it will not simply be getting the standard injection of latest beauty objects, however an entire smorgasbord of “objects, maps, taunts, uncommon results, warfare paints and who is aware of what else?”
The one catch is that it’s going to all should be supplied by the neighborhood: Valve has put out a name for Steam Workshop submissions to be made by Could 1 for this “as-yet unnamed, un-themed, however nonetheless very thrilling summer-situated (however not summer-themed) (until you need to develop summer-themed stuff) replace.”
To place issues in perspective, Workforce Fortress 2’s final main replace got here simply final October with “Scream Fortress 14.” If that does not sound too dangerous, I want to observe that TF2’s final non-Scream Fortress main replace was all the best way again in 2017 with Jungle Inferno. This moreover appears to have been the final time TF2 obtained new content material made in-house by Valve with the management level map, Mercenary Park. In any other case, the “main” updates have all been Steam Workshop-driven.
With the elevated love and a spotlight TF2 has gotten prior to now 12 months, notably with the fan marketing campaign (opens in new tab) to get extra developer-side assist of the sport from Valve, it is good to see that neighborhood rewarded with an additional replace. Even when this content material is all sourced from the neighborhood, these Workshop creations are being celebrated and having their profiles raised by Valve.
This information additionally follows Valve successfully giving the neighborhood the keys to the dominion (opens in new tab), granting modders a better deal of latitude in altering the sport via VScript. It’s going to be thrilling to see how the modding neighborhood responds to Valve’s name for submissions, in addition to if the developer will have the ability to craft a cohesive theme for the occasion from all these disparate initiatives.