So after reading that thread Icarus started, the first thing that came to mind was, "Cool, everyone wants to work on training mode to get it finished fast." The second thought was, "Oh god all the training maps will be completely inconsistent."
So I thought up an idea that would make training mode really cool. I emailed Robin about it (because it's the hip thing to do nowadays):
Is anyone else interested in making this happen? Assuming Robin doesn't respond saying it's terrible, we could make a whole project out of it, and have a few older members oversee it to get all 8 other classes up to the same level of quality. Then we send the pack to Valve, and profit! Plus the end result is a training mode that isn't like I said in the email, a patchwork.
So I thought up an idea that would make training mode really cool. I emailed Robin about it (because it's the hip thing to do nowadays):
I got the word from a TF2Maps post that you're looking for the community to work on training maps. I know of a great way to incorporate all the classes into a consistent set of maps!
Are you familiar with Perfect Dark 64, and its training missions? In that game, there was a set of optional training missions on each gadget in the game. They all started from one room, and as you completed each gadget one at a time more paths would open up branching from that room. Each gadget required a new location to be used properly, but this set-up kept all those locations within a short distance of the player, and the fact that it was all in one training facility felt really slick.
Obviously copying the Perfect Dark training wholesale would be silly. But it's an idea I haven't seen emulated since then, and the gist of it would translate very well to TF2. The current tr_target has a big, iconic warehouse where the player starts. Certain classes (eg sniper) could use a modified version of that room, but other classes (eg pyro) need a space of their own. It would be really cool to start the player in that room regardless of class, and have a set of doors on the side walls for classes that need to travel to a special room. It avoids the obvious problem of community-made training maps, which could result in a patchwork of stylistically-inconsistent training missions that could rub new players the wrong way.
For instance a pyro training could start you in the same place as the soldier, but after a brief instruction open a gate in front of you to let you burn down the targets. Then it would open a door on the side wall and say, "go here to learn about corner ambushing" or something, and the mission would continue in there.
I don't know what the TF2 team had in mind with the training mode, but what do you think of that set-up? If you like the idea I could modify tr_target to accommodate it and get some TF2Maps members to build off of it.
Is anyone else interested in making this happen? Assuming Robin doesn't respond saying it's terrible, we could make a whole project out of it, and have a few older members oversee it to get all 8 other classes up to the same level of quality. Then we send the pack to Valve, and profit! Plus the end result is a training mode that isn't like I said in the email, a patchwork.