CS-Nation

Covering the future of Counter-Strike
robin walker talks tf2
interview: robin walker talks tf2
Mr. Robin Walker, the ever busy Team Fortress 2 lead developer took time out of his busy schedule to answer the questions that you, the readers of CS-Nation wanted to know answers to. These were sent prior to the massive wave of new news concerning the Pyro unlocks, so some questions may feel a bit redunent now in foresight.

Either way, he was kind enough to answer our questions. So grab your favorite beverage and enjoy reading the interview!

CS-Nation: (From: Kotae) Why are there no female models for the classes (the Pyro and his/her purse not with standing)?

Robin Walker: Unfortunately, we don't have a good reason for this. When we started we wanted to ship male and female versions of each class, since that's obviously the best solution. As production went on, it became clear that we couldn't afford the memory that would be needed to do that, and still maintain the quality we wanted. Looking back, we should have shipped some of the classes as female and some as male. I think the only reason that didn't happen was due to the team hoping that we would still figure out how to do it the "right" way.



CS-Nation: (From: various) What is the next class set to receive new unlocks and achievements?

Walker: The Pyro is the focus on the next pack. We're making some significant changes to the base Pyro class & weaponry, in addition to the three unlockables and thirty-five achievements. We've never been terribly happy with the Pyro, in particular with her shallower skill curve than other combat classes. We really want highly skilled Pyros to be visibly more effective than the average Pyro, and the new features are designed to address that.



CS-Nation: What might those achievements and unlocks be (any hints?)?

Walker: We're still doing lots of playtesting around the unlockables, so we're not ready to start talking about them yet.




CS-Nation: When might we see that update roll out?

Walker: We're pretty bad with dates, so I'm going to avoid giving one.

Currently we're shooting for within June.



CS-Nation: What criteria do you use when selecting what class will be next to earn unlockables?

Walker: So far we've chose classes that were low in popularity (like the Medic), or had significant design problems (the Pyro). There are other classes that have similar popularity & design problems that we'll most likely be looking at next.