HL Fallout's Azle Gamer: Please state your name and your association with Fortress Forever.

Dospac: My name is Kelly "Dospac" Dickinson. My work with Fortress Forever involves gameplay design and development, as well as testing. I also do some PR work!

HL Fallout: Why was Fortress Forever started?

Dospac: The Fortress Forever project began from the willful decision to not let TF's longstanding gameplay fall by the wayside in the growing online action gaming scene. The team's founding members felt they could offer something new to the genre, and hopefully these additions would be something to keep TF alive for the hundreds of thousands of people who've played a TF mod at one point or another.

HL Fallout: Will Fortress Forever incorporate or remove any features that were or were not previously in Team Fortress Classic like the engineer's teleporter for example?

Dospac: We are developing several all new features that could come as a shock for either those following our project or those who are familiar with TF. I can't go into details yet except to say that elements of Gunbound, Warcraft 3 and Halo2/BF2 are being drawn upon. On top of these more broad additions to the gameplay, classes that in the past were underpowered or underused will all be receiving new abilities
and/or reworked weapons — that sort of thing.

The engineer's teleporter is the only major element we're removing from TFC. We've left open the option for map makers to include functionality similar to the TFC teleporter in their maps, so it would be innaccurate to say there won't be teleporters.

HL Fallout: How long has Fortress Forever been in development?

Dospac: The mod entered the design phase over the summer of 2003 after the premature announcement of HL2 and the SDK's release, scheduled for September of that year.

HL Fallout: What sets Fortress Forever apart from other mods?

Dospac: Of what we're seeing done in the HL2 mod community, Fortress Forever stands out with its focus on fun, skill-rich, class-based "arcade" gameplay. Counter-Strike taught a lesson to the HL1 mod community, I believe that lesson remains applicable now. Namely, doing realistic shooter mods, or full blown retail endevors for that matter, won't get you far with CS and the other games on the scene. Realistic shooters are so dominant online that it seems you can't make a mod with real guns and realistic locations and expect anyone to play for any length of time anymore. This lesson appears lost to many of our peers.

HL Fallout: Will Fortress cater to new players that have never played the Half-Life 1 modification, or will it be aimed at the hardcore Team Fortress Classic players?

Dospac: In recreating TF for the Source engine, our team's veteran status in the TFC clanning scene assures that we will leave the clan game intact from TFC and hopefully improve upon it. However, a great percentage of our mindshare in developing the gameplay and features of Fortress Forever has been aimed at attracting and keeping new players. Often overlooked in the fanatical Quake community (from which TF draws its roots) is the importance of a player's first experience with the game.

A small percentage of PC gamers know much about Team Fortress. Our effort is concentrated on making the game work for new players in ways completely untouched by the hardcore FPS genre and the traditional TF mod. TF is somewhat unique in the number of gameplay elements it drops on new players. Streamlining the interface and configuration for new players will only go so far. We are working to provide interactive tutorials for all the fundamentals of the game, and we'll tie this in
with the online experience directly in a novel way. There should be more details on this before release, so stay tuned.

HL Fallout: The screenshots of maps so far look amazing, have the mappers encountered any problems while creating the maps?

Dospac: Thank you! Mapping has progressed well. Defrag and our mappers are doing a fantastic job.

Features of the new Hammer took some time to learn. Utilizing displacements and getting acquainted with new mapping tools was a challenge at the start (Eat is now a deft donut maker thanks to Hammer's torus tool!). Lately the only problems have included optimizing and getting props finished for placement into the levels. Nothing too major, 'cept all the weight Eat has put on. . . nevermind, haha.

HL Fallout: Has there been any love lost between Valve and Fortress Forever? Rumor has it that relations have been sullied between the two. Is there any truth to the rumors?

Dospac: There hasn't been much of any relationship, which may be telling in and of itself. We certainly have nothing but the highest regard for Valve. If they have a problem with us or our project, we would love to hear from them about that. The censorship on the Steam Powered forums is certainly puzzling, but the story is that they are censoring all 3rd party Team Fortress related discussion.

We're not far enough along yet to warrant the kind of attention a Steam update or something like that would bring. We simply hope that Valve appreciates the time and effort of all the mod teams working on behalf of HL2 equally.

HL Fallout: Is Fortress Forever seeking any more members for the mod team?

Dospac: Yes. We keep our job postings on our website here:
http://www.fortress-forever.com/?a=openings (http://www.fortress-forever.com/?a=openings)

Currently we're in search of a talented Character Skinner. Being a large team, as situations inevitably change, you may see more openings posted on that page and in the News section.

HL Fallout: Is there anything else you would like to add about Fortress Forever?

Dospac: First, I'd like to thank Burstfire.net for their continued support of both our front and backend development systems. A day doesn't go by that they aren't providing fantastic service to us and the development of the mod. They stand out among gaming service providers, check them out!

For those awaiting this mod's release, and the members of our Forum, keep up the support! It's great to have the community we do. Anyone interested in the development of Fortress Forever or wishing to learn more about us and the game we love ought to check out the forums on our website.

And of course, thank you to Half-Life Fallout for continued coverage and interest in our game! I found your site during HL2's development and have been a regular since. Keep up the good work.