- Aug 4, 2023
- 63
- 17
My intentions with this thread:
One problem I had when working on my first map was finding resources on how I should detail it. Because of this I thought I’d might as well create a thread with some of the resources I’ve found on the games art style. If you have any resources relating to the subject, feel free to post them here!
If you’re too lazy to do a whole bunch of reading, here’s a semi-quick summary of the game’s environmental design:
Due to the Team Fortress 2’s heavy emphasis on clarity, a fundamental aspect of it’s design are strong silhouettes with basic shapes as well as washed out colors with the only super saturated areas being the teams’ spytech bases. Even then, the bases have a super uniform color scheme. These design decisions were made in order to ensure players stand out from their surroundings during gameplay. These simple rules form the basis for many of the games fundamental aesthetic choices. For example, it’s setting.
Team Fortress 2 is (usually) set New Mexico, specifically the fictional, sparsely populated badlands region. This region generally mimics the types of places you’d see all over New Mexico. From the alpine forests of thundermountain to the fertile farmland of granary and all the desert/badlands in between. This setting allows for a variety of environments while also furthering the gameplay and story of tf2. The region’s rugged terrain and not-so-green greenery maintains emphasis on the players/objective while providing an interesting backdrop to the endless conflict of the gravel wars. Due to New Mexico’s history of government conspiracy/conspiracy theories (depending on who you ask) as well as a large amount of the state’s land being owned by the U.S. government it’s the exact kind of place you’d expect a sixties-style spy base! In tf2, these high-tech spy bases are often used as a way to indicate to the player where the objective is located, subconsciously making them go; “this place looks important, so it’s probably important!”
Now that that’s over, here are the resources as promised:
-Tf2 dev commentary
-playing tf2 and looking at the environments (I know these first two are obvious but I thought I’d put em here for completion’s sake.)
-If you haven’t read this article already, I highly recommend you do so: https://web.archive.org/web/2011051...ety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=4338&page=3
-article on the Badlands region: https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Badlands_(region)
-a bunch of the game’s environmental art: https://valvearchive.com/archive/Team Fortress/Team Fortress 2/Art/Environment Art/
-blog post on environments:
www.teamfortress.com
-Blog post on alpine style:
www.teamfortress.com
-This youtube video of the games art direction:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebvbVO1QE5o&list=PLCC14A80D1357F133&index=3
-valve developer wiki on the spytech detailing:
developer.valvesoftware.com
-Valve developer wiki on the dustbowl detailing:
developer.valvesoftware.com
-valve developer wiki on sawmill detailing:
developer.valvesoftware.com
-valve developer wiki on hydro detailing:
developer.valvesoftware.com
-list of soundscapes:
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Team_Fortress_2/Soundscapes
-list of skyboxes:
developer.valvesoftware.com
-valve developer wiki on adding details to spawn rooms:
developer.valvesoftware.com
-valve developer wiki on tf2 design theory
developer.valvesoftware.com
-article on the density of details in tf2: https://nodraw.net/2010/08/tf2-density-of-detailing/
-list of in-game posters:
wiki.teamfortress.com
-series of articles on specific maps’ detailing:
nodraw.net
nodraw.net
nodraw.net
nodraw.net
nodraw.net
That’s all I’ve got for now. I’ll update this thread if I find anything else. If you have any thoughts or questions, feel free to tell me.
One problem I had when working on my first map was finding resources on how I should detail it. Because of this I thought I’d might as well create a thread with some of the resources I’ve found on the games art style. If you have any resources relating to the subject, feel free to post them here!
If you’re too lazy to do a whole bunch of reading, here’s a semi-quick summary of the game’s environmental design:
Due to the Team Fortress 2’s heavy emphasis on clarity, a fundamental aspect of it’s design are strong silhouettes with basic shapes as well as washed out colors with the only super saturated areas being the teams’ spytech bases. Even then, the bases have a super uniform color scheme. These design decisions were made in order to ensure players stand out from their surroundings during gameplay. These simple rules form the basis for many of the games fundamental aesthetic choices. For example, it’s setting.
Team Fortress 2 is (usually) set New Mexico, specifically the fictional, sparsely populated badlands region. This region generally mimics the types of places you’d see all over New Mexico. From the alpine forests of thundermountain to the fertile farmland of granary and all the desert/badlands in between. This setting allows for a variety of environments while also furthering the gameplay and story of tf2. The region’s rugged terrain and not-so-green greenery maintains emphasis on the players/objective while providing an interesting backdrop to the endless conflict of the gravel wars. Due to New Mexico’s history of government conspiracy/conspiracy theories (depending on who you ask) as well as a large amount of the state’s land being owned by the U.S. government it’s the exact kind of place you’d expect a sixties-style spy base! In tf2, these high-tech spy bases are often used as a way to indicate to the player where the objective is located, subconsciously making them go; “this place looks important, so it’s probably important!”
Now that that’s over, here are the resources as promised:
-Tf2 dev commentary
-playing tf2 and looking at the environments (I know these first two are obvious but I thought I’d put em here for completion’s sake.)
-If you haven’t read this article already, I highly recommend you do so: https://web.archive.org/web/2011051...ety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=4338&page=3
-article on the Badlands region: https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Badlands_(region)
-a bunch of the game’s environmental art: https://valvearchive.com/archive/Team Fortress/Team Fortress 2/Art/Environment Art/
-blog post on environments:
Team Fortress 2
www.teamfortress.com
-Blog post on alpine style:
Team Fortress 2
www.teamfortress.com
-This youtube video of the games art direction:
-valve developer wiki on the spytech detailing:
Spytech - Design Theme - Valve Developer Community
-Valve developer wiki on the dustbowl detailing:
Dustbowl - Design Theme - Valve Developer Community
-valve developer wiki on sawmill detailing:
Sawmill - Design Theme - Valve Developer Community
-valve developer wiki on hydro detailing:
Hydro - Valve Developer Community
-list of soundscapes:
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Team_Fortress_2/Soundscapes
-list of skyboxes:
Team Fortress 2 - List of Skies - Valve Developer Community
-valve developer wiki on adding details to spawn rooms:
TF2/Adding details - Valve Developer Community
-valve developer wiki on tf2 design theory
Team Fortress 2 Design Theory - Valve Developer Community
-article on the density of details in tf2: https://nodraw.net/2010/08/tf2-density-of-detailing/
-list of in-game posters:
List of posters - Official TF2 Wiki | Official Team Fortress Wiki
wiki.teamfortress.com
-series of articles on specific maps’ detailing:
A look at the detail of TF2 Part 1: Badlands | Nodraw.net
I’m going to be moving all of my articles from TF2maps.net over to Nodraw in the next few weeks. I’ll keep most of the original information but I’ll be updating a lot of it. Starting off with Badlands…
nodraw.net
A look at the detail of TF2 Part 2: Goldrush | Nodraw.net
Here is the second part in the series. I was looking to Goldrush a lot whilst making Hoodoo, it was the first official map I spent any length of time actually studying so a lot of the techniques I use…
nodraw.net
A look at the detail of TF2 Part 3: Dustbowl | Nodraw.net
One of the first six maps for Team Fortress 2, Dustbowl remains favourite for many, I’ve seen it criticized as under detailed and bland but I feel that it’s right at the pinnacle of TF2.
nodraw.net
A look at the detail of TF2 Part 4: 2Fort | Nodraw.net
Last of the re-writes here, the most infamous Team Fortress map, 2Fort. Touching on a previous topic here, clustering details around doors. Since doorways are a place players run through a lot they…
nodraw.net
A look at the detail of TF2 Part 5: Viaduct | Nodraw.net
It came up when people were asking and it’s a map I admire myself so koth_viaduct is the subject of my final part of this series. The best way to end a re-run is with something entirely new too…
nodraw.net
That’s all I’ve got for now. I’ll update this thread if I find anything else. If you have any thoughts or questions, feel free to tell me.
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