Interview with Robin Walker of Valve Software

Interviewer: Steve Lieb
Robin Walker of Valve Software

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6. The “commander” role is almost universally acknowledged as a parallel of the character Gorman from Aliens (I'll predict it here: in the same sense that the guards in HL are called "Barneys" the commander is going to be called "Gorman").  Was this concept specifically in your mind from the beginning, or did you start with a little more conventional idea of how to implement an overall commander (i.e. a person IN the game, command radii, etc) - again, how did you get from there to here?   

ROBIN WALKER: Actually we were always convinced, right from the start, that for the Commander to be effective, he had to be a character "outside" of the game. We wanted the Commander to be the one person that everyone relied on for their team's strategy.  This meant he really needed to have enormous amounts of information at his fingertips, and be able to get as much of it as possible, and quickly. He also needed to have no distractions, to allow him to think clearly. We didn't want him getting sidetracked with deathmatching or plain survival either. We wanted him to be completely and utterly focused on providing his team with a strategy.  After thinking about it, we decided that the best way to achieve this was to keep him “outside” the game, and give him an interface that's more like an RTS than an FPS.

5. What struck you about the commander concept that suggested such an idea would be feasible or necessary?  

ROBIN WALKER: The main thing that convinced us was that we'd already seen it done. We used to have LAN parties regularly, and went to teamplay tournaments, and we noticed that some 4-player teams had a 5th person who stood behind them and watched them all play. The 5th person kept relaying information between them, saying things like "John's just reached the front of the enemy base, and seen 2 enemy soldiers. He's out of ammo, so he's hiding behind the rock, waiting for backup... Robin, you're near him". He'd simply relay information around the team. This was very useful, even when the team members were within earshot of each other, because it's hard to communicate effectively while you're getting shot at.

So, we added a 5th member to our team, and found he made a big difference. We sat down and figured out what extra information we could give him to make him even more effective. This grew into the Commander class.  

6. I guess I can see that the majority of TF players would probably see themselves in the 'tactical' (classic) TF roles.  Do you see the commander role as being played (typically) by a TF'er, or do you think it may draw the interest of more strategy-based gamers?  

ROBIN WALKER: We hope it will bring in some of the more strategy-based gamers, especially those who are getting a little bored of the standard RTS's. The Commander UI is designed to mimic an RTS as much as possible, so the transition to it should be nice and easy. The strategy, on the other hand, will probably be a lot more interesting, since you're dealing with real people, some who will be good, and some who'll be fodder. Good Commanders will be the ones who use their player's strengths and weaknesses in the right places.  I'm sure that many of TF'ers will move to playing the Commander too, and they'll have the advantage of first-hand experience at the different classes, allowing them to make better decisions.  The best Commanders will definitely have an interesting mix of skills.  

7. Looking at TF2, one might be inclined to think that this might be the "end of mods", or at least the radical mods that totally change the character of the game (TF leaps to mind).  The amount of work in the textures, models, vehicles, etc would seem make the idea of a "total conversion" daunting to anyone but the independently wealthy.  Do you agree?   

ROBIN WALKER: I don't think TF2 spells the end of mods. I think it makes it a little harder to do a TF-style mod, but that would be it. There are still many different places mods haven't gone yet, and they still don't require enormous amounts of artistic content. There will still be many mods all trying to be the same thing, and we'll still have the few bright sparks of innovation that stand out and get lots of fans.  Ultimately, people aren't expecting professional class content from a mod anyway.  The easiest area that mods can compete professionally in is gameplay / design, and TF2 isn't going to change that.  

8. Do you think TF2 will invite modification?  How simple would it be, for instance, to offer a WWII mod with WWII-only weapons? 

ROBIN WALKER: We're doing a lot of work to ensure TF2 is easy and powerful to modify. Many of the engine enhancements are designed with customization in mind. For example, when we were looking for a licensable Level-of-Detail solution for our models, we were adamant that the solution would allow mod makers to use it too, and with a minimum amount of extra work. We chose Intel's Multi-Resolution-Mesh (MRM) because it requires no special work on the part of mod makers. They don't need to build 3 versions of their model. They make a highly detailed model, put it in the game, and MRM just works.

9. Are there environmental effects - rain, fog, etc - and could they be dynamic?

ROBIN WALKER: We've got rain and fog, yes. They're not dynamic right now, but they could easily be made so.

10.  All the commentary I've seen to this point involves 2 sides – will TF2 support more?    Can there ever be more than one Gorman per side?  Could this be modded in?

  ROBIN WALKER: TF2 supports up to four sides, but most of our maps only use 2 or 3. There's only one Commander per team, but that's more of a design decision than a limitation, so it wouldn't be too hard to mod in.

11. Will TF2 support cooperative multiplay - the players against a computer?  

ROBIN WALKER: Yes. The Bot system allows you and your friends to play against any number of enemy Bots. You could even get some Bots to fill out your team if you don't have enough players.

  12.  Finally, what do you think about TF2 as a strategic game?  Are there aspects to the game that I haven't touched on or that we don't yet know about that would make it more attractive to strategic gamers?  

ROBIN WALKER: I’m very happy with the way TF2's progressing, especially in the minds of those working on it, including myself. We began something that we saw as a teamplay FPS, and it's become something more than that. It's only been during our playtesting that it's really beginning to dawn us just how different it is from any FPS out there. Much of TF2's design was aimed at rewarding players who work as a team, and even we weren't prepared for how well it's worked. Comparing it to TFC isn't doing it justice. Perhaps one way of saying it is that TF2 is to TFC as TFC was to deathmatch.

SGO’s thanks go out to Robin for the time he took to give us these observations and insights into the strategic elements of TF2.

Thanks also to Jenni at Valve Software for shoehorning into Robin’s “to-do” list!