When we first heard that legendary game demaker Eric Ruth would be turning his pixelated genius towards Team Fortress 2, we had a lot of questions. Sure, Team Fortress Arcade looked like a spectacular reimagining of Valve’s shooter as a retro side-scroller, but would it be able to satisfy our nostalgia pangs for ‘90s arcade games and our love of TF2? Would all nine classes be just as fun to play in 2D? More importantly, when would it be released?
The answers to those questions are: yes, hell yes, and today.
Download Team Fortress Arcade for Free!
That’s right, you can download Team Fortress Arcade right now. Just click that giant link right up there.
If you’re still not convinced, head past the jump and take a look our earlier hands on preview vid and an exclusive new interview with Eric Ruth himself. You’ll get to see three of the game’s ten levels, six of the the nine characters, and, of course, the local co-op that makes TFA a blast to play with your friends.
We were lucky enough to sit down with Eric and get him to answer a few questions about TFA to commemorate its release.
Piki Geek:Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Eric.
Eric Ruth:No problem, man. Glad to be of service.
PG:So, what made you decide to make TFA a retro side-scroller? It’s not exactly the first genre I think of when I hear TF2.
ER:Well, anyone who knows my work understands that I’m a big fan of a simpler time when games were a little easier to just pick up and play. I kind of miss games that have a limited number of buttons and functions. This usually means that the SKILL is what separates players from each other and not just unlocks, downloaded items, key binding, etc.
One of my favorite genres of the by-gone arcade era is the side-scrolling beat-‘em-up that used to inhabit the retro arcade scene. I’m a BIG fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles, Final Fight, Streets Of Rage, X-Men Arcade and the mostly forgotten DJ Boy. So, naturally, I tried combining two things I love together (this is how they invented peanut butter and jelly sandwiches) and in the end, came up with the concept that you can now play on your computer for free.
PG:What’s your favorite class in TF2? In TFA?
ER:In Team Fortress 2, my best class is Soldier, but I’m also decent with an offensive Engineer and a vanilla-loadout Demoman. In team Fortress Arcade, I like to use Sniper and Pyro. Although, all classes are fairly easy to just run through in TFA, I still have my favorites.
PG:Why BLU team? Got a problem with RED?
ER: Not at all. In Team Fortress 2, when you’re in a mission that specifically has an offense/defense structure, BLU is always the attacking team. RED is always defending. This was the information I utilized behind the choice of which color you were going to play as. It’s simply to keep accuracies to the source material.
PG:I have to say, it’s a bold move to release anything TF2 related without hats. What are the odds you’ll be adding some in at a later date?
ER: I would LOVE to keep the hat stuff intact, but because this game is a sprite based 2D game, that means that I would have to draw hats directly on to sprites, which means that there would be a LOT of room and A LOT of extra programming just to add a functioning hat system that ultimately has no place in a side-scroller anyways. Its not that I don’t care or I don’t love hat collecting, but its just not realistic for this title. There isa nod to some in-game hats in TFA though, so keep your eyes peeled!
PG:How much money will I have to give you to get an online multiplayer update?
ER:I actually intend on updating the game in a couple months with some new modes, difficulty challenges, a player VS player match-up and yes, online co-op. For now, I needed to get the game out the door, but just like the real Team Fortress 2 that we know and love, there will be updates later to add things you will most definitely want. So, you won’t have to pay me anything, I assure you (although donations go a long way) to get online co-op involved in the project.
I was just talking with KritzKast about this last week when Agro wanted to know the same thing. We wound up chatting about a bunch of stuff involved in the Team Fortress universe and how some of it relates to my game. You can catch the interview here.
There you have it. Online multiplayer’s on the way, hats aren’t, and you officially have no excuse not to download the game ASAP.
The worst part about work is that you’ve got to wait to get home before playing awesome new games. Even though there’s no de-make of degrootkeep, it still looks pretty damn fun!
Really excited about the prospect of online multiplayer. The side-scrolling beat-em-up was always a genre near and dear to my heart.
BADASS.
release it on steam!
Think there is any chance it’ll be ported to OS X?
AWWWWWW YEA
love it
There’s a bug when the medic fires his healing “rings” the heavy is unable to move downwards
Are you playing off the same keyboard? This sounds like a problem with the type of keyboard you have. There is nothing in the code that would cause this, but on a lot of keyboards, you can only hold down so many keys at once. So if one of you is holding the healing button and walking and the other is walking and shooting, it is very possible your keyboard won’t even register the down key because its already receiving too much information.
This is impressive enough to be a stand alone title on Steam, if Valve were to allow it. Some minor gameplay tweaks would be awesome, but I very much liked this.
Not my cup of tea, but if you like it, more power to you.
Lol, also, it says in the interview that you intend on doing PvP, but in the readme, you said it most likely will not happen. What’s up with that?
Wait, don’t tell me it didn’t upload the comment about the stuff that needs fixing. Unless I forgot to hit submit. >_>
To make it quick, Sniper gets stuck in walls sometimes (happened twice), there are collision inconsistencies (boulders hitting me when I’m above them), I can’t get past the first batch of TNTs in Stage 7 as Demoman (gamebreaking bug or am I doing something wrong?) and most of the bosses definitely need a difficulty boost. Also would like a life system if possible. Still, really fun game; your work definitely paid off. Just gotta get that stuff fixed.
This has all been fixed. Redownload.
Yes! Thank you so much.
Few more things to take care of
1) As Medic, RED Engineer was completely invincible to the syringe gun. Was still able to be hit by Bonesaw. Not sure if it might have to do with the fact that I lost the Payload Race, though.
2) As Pyro, RED Heavy could not hurt me. At all.
3) As Soldier, in The Dark, Soldier was completely invincible to all attacks. Furthermore, I eventually reached a point where I could advance no further in The Dark. Either the game stopped scrolling, or the Spy simply forgot to show up. Either way, gamebreaking bug.
4) RED Engineer and RED Sniper really need to be made more difficult. Engineer should probably summon more Sentires at a time (sometimes, he only brings out one o.O) and the Sniper’s pillars should be made much more impervious to the Demoman’s weapons. >_>
I’ll let you know if I find anything else.
A new build has been uploaded. Try redownloading again.
Okey dokey. RED Heavy doing no damage and RED Spy not showing up has been fixed. However, I still can’t hurt RED Engineer with Syringe Gun and BLU Soldier once again became invincible to all attacks in The Dark (right around where I cap the last point). In addition, without divulging any spoilers, when fighting the final boss (which I love, btw XD) a certain ally eventually stops showing up and as such, I am unable to damage the final boss.
Sorry if I keep messaging about bugs and such. Just want to make sure that this game gets the proper polishing and stuff since it’s a really fun game.
MY GOD!! It lives :3
Bug! When I was facing the RED Engineer as the Pyro I got him down to 0 health, he made his dying noise, but then kept running around invincible. Wasn’t anything I could do after that.
This has been fixed and will be in the next build to go live. Thanks for the report!
k wtf pikigeek sucks.. download link = broken. says access denied. i CAN’T make an account because pikigeek is being retarded and WON’T send me the confirmation e-mail. i made SURE that ALL the information was correct. it is DEFINITELY a fault on pikigeek’s side.
Yep, we sure do suck big time.
Another bug: managed to fall off the train during the boss-fight against the Medic and his robo-buddy. Bottom-right corner (or maybe just the bottom), was playing Heavy, may have been hit mid-jump (not sure). (Level select wouldn’t go amiss, given this got me stuck, since I could take or deal damage from my position below the map).
Marvellous game though. Going to play with Xpadder so I can play this with 360 controllers
Already one step ahead of you: I’m using Xpadder so I can play this with my arcade stick!
As am I =)
I also posted links for Xpadder-ready config files for both the standard 360 controller and the Hori Real Arcade Pro VX-SA Arcade Stick (will probably work with other Xbox360 Arcade Sticks as well) further down in the comments.
Hey,
When I was fighting the medic as the Scout I ran into him, hit him with my bat then he froze.
The medic was still displaying the walking animation but he wasn’t moving or healing,
Anyway, the game is amazing (unfortunately for my English grade) I’ve already played it through twice and I’m about to try a Spy only run.
OMG! Just added this to my MAME cabinet i made. SO MUCH FUN I LOVE YOU!
Why does my game run in slow motion? It’s not laggy or choppy or anything, it’s just running super super super slow!
android app pleaseeee
Hello,
Just a little feedback.
Really good game, it reminds me streets of rage. I think some classes are really overpowered ; and pro tip : dont pick medic if you play alone… lol
Anyway, just to say i had a bug on the last level (9)
I was playing with scout, and i though i was arrived to the end of the level or final boss cause the road was ending, and then… nothing happenned. No ennemy spawning, and i could’nt move, the scrolling was freezed. How annoying to be stuck in such an epic moment, the last boss ! Graaaah.
This bug has been addressed. Please redownload.
Medic boss made me quit this game, format my hard drive and throw computer out of the window. I played as Scout.
Very Awesome!
Did you need permission from Valve to create the game? I wanted to do some fan work too, but wasn’t sure if allowed to use images/sounds. If not, do you ever plan on charging/ putting in ads?
So I’m guessing it’s unsanctioned by valve, but allowed? They could sue if you made money off of it, which is why you released it completely free?
Either way it’s a really good tribute-
You definitely need to add some way of telling the medic’s robot’s health. When you first enter the level and try to attack it, it appears as if the boss is not getting any damage (because surprise, this is not the boss).
good job on this game but u need to have a option that u can switch keys so when ur playing with more the 1 person it won’t be 2 cramped playing.
use a joypad/arcade sticks or an Xbox controller.
My sound doesn’t work. What do i do?
I think you have to play the game in a folder which has the sounds folder in it.
This is awesome. Just finished playing it with my brother. Keep up the good work!
I put together a xpadder profile for the 360 controller if anyone is interested, the game works flawlessly with it.
Controls for P1 only
Controls: A – Jump; X – Attack, R1/B – Melee Attack, Start – Pause, Both analog and d-pad can be used for movement.
Link: http://www.2shared.com/file/dyJg4O7n/TeamFortressArcade.html
copy to your xpadder folder and just open it in the program and you’re set =) enjoy
Alternatively, anyone lucky enough to have a VX-SA Arcade stick or equivalent can use this profile for xpadder: http://www.2shared.com/file/-9CnntnZ/TeamFortressArcadeVX-SA.html
Again, this is for player 1 control only, and this is the best possible way to control the game. (or any side scrolling beat-em-up for that matter ^_^)
Controls: Stick – Movement; Button 1 (B) – Attack; Button 2 (X) – Jump; Button 3 (Y) – Melee; Start – Pause
Can’t wait for online multiplayer for this, already having a blast playing through with the different classes in single player. Kudos to the devs for making such an awesome retro-fest out of TF2!!
Please offer some config-screen to change Shoot for Player 2 to Y for non-QWERTY-keyboards.
Hey, I tried running the game, but it wouldn’t load past the “In conjunction with Pikimal” screen. What gives?
I think the bosses at the end of the first nine stages should be random. That would make the game have such higher replay-ability. I guess the only stage that could be an exception would be stage 3 because of how small it is, but maybe there could be a drop-off platform in that stage or something.
Am i the only one having difficulty with melee attacking? it takes 3/4 times just to use it without accidentally using my aerial move.. any plans to make it a separate button?
This TF2 fan made game is awesome!
Make me remember many sega games such as gunstarheroes too.
Please make the bosses from every level random,maybe you can make duo,trio,or even quad bosses on each level.
If there is multiplayer mode such as 4 vs 4 battle,seriously i’ll send paypal balance for you
genius i tell you genious!!!
한국인입니다-im korean
I would play this and have a real blast lolol!
It would be nice to be able to change the keyboard controls. It’s quite uncomfortable.
it should have online play and u should be able to pick level ones u have done them and apart from that it is a good game
There’s a problem, i was playing the train level, and when i was playing the boss i got knocked off while playing as heavy I does stuck there the whole time. so i had to quit.
I was rofoling when i saw the ending. NOICE!
For you n00bs, the easiest way to complete the game is to use soldier and use rocket jump.
It’s awesome indeed, but one problem…
At first, the game ran at nice, stable FPS, but at 5th level, it started to be SLOW AS HELL!
Even after restarting the game. It was happening few times, but normally all I had to do is to pause the game – now it doesn’t help at all…
Is it a bug?…
An awesome title. My only complaint is not being able to use the Eyelander as BLU Demoman. Maybe in a future patch? *subtle hint like a boss*
Also, a game-breaking glitch that a friend of mine discovered today:
When playing as the Heavy and fighting the Medic boss, it is possible to fall off of the side of the train and get stuck there, thus making the fight unwinnable.
When I try to play the screen stuck at PikiGeek and won’t move any further…
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It be supposed to have online play and u be supposed to be able to pick level ones u have done them and separately from that it is a high-quality game <a rel="dofollow" rel="nofollow"calendar printing
It must have connected production and u must be able to choice equal ones u have complete them and apart from that it is a good game the master cleanse
That’s an amazing game, no doubts. But i am still a big fan of counter strike and never get tired playing CS for hours.
printing stickers
THAT AWESOME!!!!!
release it at steam! make it ONLINE MULTIPLAYER!!!!!
i dont mind throw several bucks to you bank account!
i sure Valve also love it! they good game maker! just share some profit, i sure they dont mind!
please make it ONLINE MULTIPLAYER!!!!
THAT AWESOME!!!!!
release it at steam! make it ONLINE MULTIPLAYER!!!!!
i dont mind throw several bucks to you bank account!
i sure Valve also love it! they good game maker! just share some profit, i sure they dont mind!
please make it ONLINE MULTIPLAYER!!!!
its awsome but i wanna know how to use the frickn sounds
There’s a problematic, i was singing the train level, and when i was playing the boss i got knocked off while playing as heavy I does wedged there the whole time. so i had to quit. Fashion Coupon Codes