Here’s a quick piece of “Industrial Design” developed to advertise an EDGEGAMERS ORGANIZATION Team Fortress 2 clan event staring the TF2 map “Turbine.”  The picture was taken ingame, and then the rest of the design was developed in GIMP.

The EDGEGAMERS ORGANIZATION clan has a forum as their CMS.  Every member has a “Signature” area… and for a while it was fashionable to have a custom-made image reflecting your personality.  Here are a few of the “Sig images” I’ve developed for myself and for other clan members.

“Sigs” usually follow the format of some kind of joke caption, a picture, the name of the member, followed by an “action phrase”… for example:  “=(eGO)= eachdraidh[S|R] eats fresh.”

All images were composed in GIMP.

Custom art with various text bits that all make sense in the clan, I swear.

The Heavy Weapons Guy in Team Fortress 2 has a “weapon” known as the Sandvich.  This Sandvich gives you health, and a member wanted a sig based on the popular Five Dollar Footlong advertising campaign by Subway.  The game graphics pose was developed in Valve’s Model Viewer.

Nero wanted a sig but wasn’t sure what he wanted.  What is Nero known for?  A Garry’s Mod whiz in the clan named Mr. Algebra developed the background image, and the rest of the composition was developed by myself.

“Crit” stands for “Critical Hit”… but sounds like the word $#!+, leading to the caption above.  The image is taken from a frame of the “Meet the Soldier” video from Valve software.

The “Pyro” character from Team Fortress 2 carries a flamethrower, pictured above.  With infinite cheek, Valve made an “advertisement” for personal flamethrowers… perfect for home barbeques!  I used the image to produce the sig above for a clan member.  The joke comes from the term “Spy Checking,” a procedure where a Pyro uses his flamethrower to light up cloaked enemy spies before they can destroy Engineer buildables.

This tableau was developed by Mr. Algebra.  The requirement was to make something “funny” with Engineers, Pyros, and Spies.  So we’ve got a multitasking spy, a confused Engineer, and a Pyro who can’t be heard through his muffling facemask.

Nonsensical song caught in my head:

We can dance if we want to!

I’ve recently gotten my G in the eGO clan, which means I’m an admin now! w00t! As eGO is dedicated to running clean, fun, lets-play-the-freaking-game-and-leave-the-crap-out servers, I added them to my server list, and played there exclusively (except for crazy game modes, or something silly… exclusive for serious play, let’s say). I’ve had tons of time playing TF2, and I see new people making the same mistakes over and over and over again. I’ve been planning to write a set of tips for every class, to give a boost to the n00b just starting out, so they don’t have to make so many painful mistakes.

Mistakes are a good way to learn a game; however, in a team based game, making SOME types of mistakes can pitch the whole team into painful oblivion.

So, to start out, here’s a few generic hints that will work for all classes:

Don’t Nudge Engies, Snipers, or Spies

Snipers have to hold their ground and try to keep perfectly still; only a fully charged headshot will kill for sure, and those ain’t easy to pull off. Running through a sniper will cause them to scoot, perhaps screwing around with his aim. And if he had a headshot lined up, he will hate you. Forever.

Engies who are building/repairing/turtling need to stay within wrench range of the building they are working on. When two characters occupy the same space, the game “shoves” both out of the way. More than once I’ve been “shoved” away from my equipment, causing me to miss a critical whack to keep my sentry alive. This also causes forever hate. The worst example was a sniper who wanted to camp a crack between two crates. I had already set up a level 3 sentry gun and a dispenser in optimal positions to use the crates as cover, but still be effective. The sniper charged into his camping hole anyway, shoving my character out of whack range, and into the open. My Engie was sniped, my equipment was slowly blasted apart while I watched… and Mr. Jerkface sniper didn’t even get a single kill through his crack. Thanks alot!

Spies actually deserve their own tip:

Don’t Take a Spy’s Hiding Spot

Spies have limited amount of Cloak; once it’s empty, they have to wait forever for it to recharge. I’ve had it happen many times that a fellow teammate runs up and tries to “share” a hiding spot with a poor spy.

First off, two characters are more obvious than one.

Second off, it’s totally obvious when a RED sniper is sharing a hidey-hole with a BLU pyro that something is amiss.

All this can get Mr. Spy killed. Please be considerate!

Don’t Bunch Up The Defense

Wow, too many times I’ve been on a team that places two sentry guns, three heavies, and four pyros all in one spot, all firing one way. While this can work for a while, it leaves your flanks and back undefended. When guarding the Intelligence, it’s important to cover all angles of attack.

But, also, this ruins one of the best defenses: multiple angles of fire. When bunched up, you can only make one cone of damage, and if a uber comes in, you’re all easy pickin’s.

If, however, you spread your defense around and fire INTO the defended position, not only does the incoming team have to make multiple targets, but they’re also taking fire from all directions.

Well, this is perhaps my fourth attempt at starting a personal blog. I’m pretty good at writing for other people’s blogs and forums, but for some reason, I get lost in the haze when I try to write my own content. But no more! It’s time that I dump all my thoughts in a central place, for while I’m not prone to learned exhalations, occasionally I write something of wit and wisdom, only to find it’s been lost to the sands of time.

Just for a bit of background, I’m a professional->hobby programmer living in a little town called Kemp, my home town for 12 years previous and my favorite place on Earth. You’ll hear me expound on the Kemp High School band, of which I am an alumnus (Bass!) along with other stories of wonder about my favorite small town.

The area around here is growing up so fast; it’s the sub-suburbs, the place where the gas-price-unchallenged make their home to escape the hustle and bustle of the suburbs, where 50% of the land has churches on top and therefore do not produce taxes, where you can’t stay on the side of the road with your hood up for 10 minutes before you have 3 cowboy hats (with people under them) tryin’ to help out. This is a place where ain’t is a word, and you’re welcome to say it whenever you wish.

I also dabble in voice acting; my move, regrettably, has moved me away from the awesome group in Dallas I was working with to improve my skills, but I’m open to work requests. I’ll have a portfolio up presently, I hope.

My other great vice is Team Fortress 2. I originally played the game when I saw my roommate playing with it and thought it would be an awesome game to review for my game review website, Gamium.org. However, little did I know how it would suck me in; the game is addictive and fun. I play mostly as Engineer, but dabble in Medic, Heavy, and Spy. And I’ve only ever gotten one facestab, a game glitch which I call a back-backstab as Spy. FEAR MY SENTRY GUNS. I play with the EdgeGamers Organization guild, a group of fine chaps who run the best gameservers for TF2 ever. I plan to put together a few “newbie guides” for Team Fortress 2, as I see waves of newbies doing the same things I did when I was a newb; things which cause you much pain and grief.

In any case, it’s way past my bedtime, so I’ll shut down here. Soon I’ll discuss the Kemp Mabank Rivalry game, and Tropical Depression Ike’s effects on my sleepy old town… but for now, GG!