A wallrunning experiment with new expanded modding capabilities
An impressive video showingTitanfall 2-esque movement and mechs insideTeam Fortress 2makes me mighty excited for the future of mods in Valve’s multiplayer shooter. Valve are currently testing new expanded modding features in TF2, letting modders play with the VScript feature supported by games includingCounter-Strike: Global OffensiveandLeft 4 Dead 2. While it’s not yet clear what will happen, a proof-of-concept video mashing in wallrunning, swish grappling hooks, and pilotable mechs suggests great potential. Come watch!
This being shiny and new still to TF2, we don’t have many concrete examples of what modders might make. But one thing we do have is a very striking video recreating bits of Titanfall 2 inside the other TF2:
That modding is the work of Sarexicus, who explained ina Twitter threadthat they were “planning to upload my work here” but they were “beaten to the punch” by this other tweeter. So across the thread, Sarexicus explains more of what we’re actually seeing here.
As for the Titan falling, Sarexicus says “the entire fall setup is actually done with map logic, rather than VScript, using existing particle effects and sounds to achieve the look.” But VScript does come in “when I get into the titan, which gives me a bunch of separate setups and attributes (including changing my model to Robot Soldier’s, although you don’t see that).”
Sarexicus isn’t done yet either:
Lastly, the future! I don’t plan to drop this now that I’m in the full swing of things.next up:- giving the grappling hook a timer and charges, like Titanfall 2- adding Apex Legends' slide mechanics- adding ledge grabbing to make the player movement more snappy and fun
As proofs of concept go, this is pretty dang cool. I am excited to see what else might be possible as Valve let modders fiddle deeper in TF2’s guts. Might be a while before really cool stuff becomes commongplace (VScript support is still in beta, for starters) but hell, TF2 is 15 years old and still kicking—what’s the hurry?
It is good to see Valve adding such a useful feature to Team Fortress 2. They had neglected the game for years, letting it become overrun with cheaters, racists, spammers, bots, and cheating racist spambots. They have started updating it with multiple notable patchesfollowing a fan campaign. Letting modders add and tweak more things themselves is a clever way to help revitalise the game.
