Introducing the Gun Game gamemode!

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Anyone familiar with custom game modes for Valve games knows exactly what Gun Game means when they hear it. While the mode originated from classic Counter-Strike, it’s created a life of its own with versions implemented in titles like Call of Duty and the Battlefield franchise.

It even made its way officially to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with the introduction of Arms Race, and seems like it was only a matter of time before it came to another Source Engine game like Team Fortress 2. LizardOfOz has been working on a Team Fortress 2 version of this game mode using the newly added vscript!

A new gamemode is born!

The thought of bringing Gun Game to TF2 started with something a bit different; after the release of the Versus Saxton Hale mode, Lizard began thinking about what other custom modes they could possibly create next with Vscript with a deathmatch gamemode being an obvious choice. Thankfully it already existed in the form of a mod for TF2 called "Open Fortress" that focuses on Deathmatch. Think of it as Quake but using the same engine and setting as TF2.

Naturally; a collaboration between Lizard and the Open Fortress team was born. However, recreating the entire Deathmatch gamemode was too daunting of a task; given the dozen or so custom weapons. So it was decided to start with a simliar gamemode called "Gun Game" which would focus on TF2's existing weapon arsenal.

 

So what is Gun Game?

Gun Game is a free-for-all gamemode where each time a player gets a kill they are given a new weapon that scales in difficulty the more kills you get. 

Everyone plays as the new Mercenary class, and is given the ability to bhop.

The objective of the gamemode is to be the first to 25 kills. It is intended to be played with 24 players and has no round timer.

Meet the Mercenary

One obvious issue with this new gamemode is that each class in TF2 has unique ablities, stats and weapons; making the balancing of this new gamemode difficult.

Enter the Mercenary class; Open Fortress’s answer for how to make free for all Deathmatch work and still feel like Team Fortress 2. This class has in depth weapons training and can utilize anything he can get his hands on! Having all players locked to this class puts everyone on an even footing.

 

Movement

A key mechanic in to Quake-like games is Bunny Hopping (bhopping). Movement is as much a part of the combat as the guns themselves, and bhopping allows players to build an absurd amount of speed.

In Quake, this was done by jumping just as your player character lands and strafing with your S and D keys and slightly panning your camera around constantly increasing your momentum. However this ability was purposely left out of TF2's code; or more specifically was patched in TF2's engine so that it doesnt grant the momentum benefits.

This code is deep within the internals of the engine; making its implementation with vscript rather challenging. However you can't really do this game mode without having it as movement is a key element to combat.

The solution was to make it so speed is only lost after standing on the ground for a relativlty long duration. A player can simply continously press space bar and build momementum like traditional bhopping but it is very forgiving to execute.

There is also a hud element that indicates your current speed, making it easier to understand your movement and how your actions affect it and makes it approachable to new players. 

 

Lets talk Guns

We can't really discuss this gamemode with mentioning the meat of it which is the guns!

TF2 itself boasts and impressive arsnel of over 100 weapons, but we can't include literally every one of those, so which do we pick?

First off lets eliminate any weapon from the list that doesn't do damage such as gunboats, cozy camper or rocket jumper.

Next we notice that theres a ton of melee weapons that more or less do the exact same thing, such as the Ham Shank, Frying Pan, Stock Melee, Conscientious Objector etc; so these can be combined into a single melee option.

Next we can eliminate weapons that are extremely situational, such as Manntreads or Thermal Thruster.

This narrows down the list to 25 weapons; starting with the stock Rocket Launcher and ending with the only custom weapon made for the game; the illustrious golden crowbar.

For a full list of the weapon progression; see: <insert link>

Maps

Along with the pubic release of the Gun Game vscript logic are a handful of maps; some ported from Open Fortress, and some made specifically for Gun Game. These are excellent places for us to test this gamemode and continue making it better as well as a place for others to play test it and give feedback. 

We'd like to showcase a few of these maps breifly.

Badworks

A missile facility located somewhere in the New Mexico desert.

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Deadlock

A missile facility located somewhere in the New Mexico desert.

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Forgecall

A missile facility located somewhere in the New Mexico desert.

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Deathmatch coming soon to a TF2 near you...

After the release of Gun Game; Lizard of Oz has continued work on the original Deathmatch idea and has been busy bringing it to Vscript along with all of its mechanics and weapons from Open Fortress. The tenatively release for this Deathmatch mode is June 2024.

Gun Game and all of its required assets are fully available now both on TF2maps and the Steam Workshop. Check them out if you have any interest in the mode and keep your eyes open for more to come in the near future.