Team Fortress 2 Classic

''Team Fortress 2 Classic'' is a free mod of the 2007 game ''Team Fortress 2'', developed by Eminoma and utilizing the Source engine. Building on a 2012 leak of the game's source code, with the code itself dating back to some point in 2008, the mod features not just community-made content, but also reworked content that was cut from the original game's development, and content based on '' Team Fortress Classic''. This includes new weapons, gamemodes, and two new teams (GRN and YLW) used in some game modes in addition to the base game's RED and BLU teams. Additions to the mod also notably include the Civilian, a scrapped character from Team Fortress 2.

Development

''Team Fortress 2 Classic'' was originally envisioned as an attempt to bring back and rebalance various cut weapons and other cut content from early development of ''Team Fortress 2'', such as the Nail Gun and the various cut grenades. In addition to overhauling the gameplay, the mod also jettisons all lore following the "Meet the Team" animated shorts minus Meet the Pyro. The "Classic" part of the ''Team Fortress 2 Classic'' name was chosen as it pertained to the aforementioned original goal of the project; to re-add and balance prerelease ("classic") cut content.

Development was started in December of 2014 by users Danielmm8888 and TF2CutContent, with the initial source code being uploaded in January of 2015. Early on in the life of the project, four new gamemode ideas were concepted including Deathmatch, Four-Team, VIP and Espionage. As a result of the additional new gamemode plans, the focus of re-adding and balancing early cut content was shifted aside in favor of adding new content. Several other ''Team Fortress 2'' mods would later attempt to accomplish the mod's initial goal of rebalancing cut content, namely ''Pre-Fortress 2''. Deathmatch and Four-Team were the first two new modes to be worked on out of the four, with VIP receiving a bit of work, and Espionage not making it out of conceptual stages. The Espionage gamemode would later be worked on by a separate development team in the mod ''The Espionage Project''.

After Danielmm8888 and TF2CutContent both left the project around 2016, the team structure underwent several changes before ultimately settling on Eminoma, a development team consisting of the remaining ''Team Fortress 2 Classic'' members led by user Drudlyclean, in 2018. At this point, the project's direction underwent another major change in direction and shifted towards reimagining the initial release years of ''Team Fortress 2''. The development team has stated that there will never be hats or cosmetics in ''Team Fortress 2 Classic'' in order to keep the core principles of ''Team Fortress 2'' intact.

A "2.0" version of the mod was announced, with all available downloads for the original versions of the mod being delisted. The delisting of downloads was done to start on a clean slate for the 2.0 version and help minimize any misrepresentation of what would or would not be in the 2.0 version. The 2.0 version took 4 years to complete, and was fully released as the "Death & Taxes" update on July 4, 2020. This update's added content included new weapons, gameplay content, and curated maps, which included VIP maps that centered around the Civilian.

During the development of the Death & Taxes update, the Deathmatch game mode was cut from ''Team Fortress 2 Classic'', and is now currently being developed as a separate mod titled ''Team Deathmatch Classic'', helmed by the development team Compucolor Pictures.

Post-Release

Much like ''Team Fortress 2'', ''Team Fortress 2 Classic'' has released updates and patches after the release of the game. Patch content has ranged from introducing bug fixes to new content such as new weapons, maps, and other gameplay mechanics.

''Team Fortress 2 Classic'', along with the mod ''Open Fortress'', were temporarily removed for download on September 10, 2021, citing an arrangement with Valve. On June 1, 2022, both mods would later return to being available for download, claiming they received no responses from Valve after several attempts.

On April 26, 2023, Eminoma announced the first major content patch for ''Team Fortress 2 Classic'', the "Fight or Flight" update.

Reception

Jonathan Bolding of PC Gamer called the mod "remarkably well-produced", calling its Four-Team maps the most exciting addition.

Notes

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{{Source (game engine) modifications
Source (game engine) mods
First-person shooters
Multiplayer video games
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