History VideoGame / FortressForever

''Fortress Forever'' is a 2007 ''Team Fortress'' game created by a small team of developers known collectively as the "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Fortress Forever Development Team]]" in the early 2000s, during [[DevelopmentHell the long time period when it seemed that]] VideoGame/TeamFortress2 [[VaporWare was never going to be released]]. Intending to please fans of VideoGame/TeamFortressClassic while also providing a product enjoyable enough to players new to ''Team Fortress''-styled games, it was already in a planning phase before the Source engine's SDK was released in 2004, and development began from there. Classes were balanced, tons of new assets were designed, and code was written from the ground up, all based around VideoGame/HalfLife2 and its gameplay. It was highly anticipated, and when it was finally released in 2007, it received a lot of positive attention from the ''Team Fortress'' community. It was all set in stone, and Fortress Forever was set to become the new standard for ''Team Fortress'' games.

* NiceHat: Each class has one - the Scout has a peaked cap, the Sniper has a slouch hat, the Soldier has a military beret, the Demoman has a wool cap, the Medic has a surgical cap, the Heavy has a reinforced helmet, the Pyro has a fireman's helmet, the Spy has a balaclava, the Engineer has a hard hat and the Civillian has a bowler hat.

[[caption-width-right:350:Why not put your [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 hats]] down sometime and [[SugarWiki/NeedsMoreLove come give us a go]]?]]

There was just one problem - and that was ''Team Fortress 2'' actually coming out, ''less than a month after Fortress Forever was completed''. [[OvershadowedByAwesome Pretty much dead on arrival]], ''Fortress Forever'' managed to hang onto some of its playerbase for a while before ultimately becoming abandoned, as though nobody had ever played it. Nowadays, it's still playable, but you'll be damn lucky if you happen to come across a single other player playing this game. '''Desperately''' SugarWiki/NeedsMoreLove, so if you want, you may [[https://store.steampowered.com/app/253530/Fortress_Forever/ download the game for free on Steam]] [[https://www.moddb.com/mods/fortress-forever or from ModDB]], and see what it's about and what could have been.

* NewWorkRecycledGraphics: Noticeably downplayed. Even though the game is a total conversion mod for VideoGame/HalfLife2, all of the assets and models in the game are entirely original aside from a few props and textures.

* VideoGameFlamethrowersSuck: Averted with the Pyro's Flamethrower - it has a short range, but if you catch a enemy in it, they'll suffer both heavy damage and strong afterburn.

* FrickinLaserBeams: The Soldier's Laser Grenades.

* NewWorkRecycledGraphics: Noticeably downplayed. Even though the game is a total conversion mod for VideoGame/HalfLife2, all of the assets and models in the game are entirely original aside from a few props and textures.

* BottomlessMagazines: Generally averted, unlike in the original ''Team Fortress Classic'' - the only guns that play this straight are the Nailgun, Automatic Rifle, Assault Cannon, Flamethrower and Railgun.

''Fortress Forever'' is a 2007 ''Team Fortress'' game created by a small team of developers known collectively as the "Fortress Forever Development Team" in the early 2000s, during [[DevelopmentHell the long time period when it seemed that]] VideoGame/TeamFortress2 [[VaporWare was never going to be released]]. Intending to please fans of VideoGame/TeamFortressClassic while also providing a product enjoyable enough to players new to ''Team Fortress''-styled games, it was already in a planning phase before the Source engine's SDK was released in 2004, and development began from there. Classes were balanced, tons of new assets were designed, and code was written from the ground up, all based around VideoGame/HalfLife2 and its gameplay. It was highly anticipated, and when it was finally released in 2007, it received a lot of positive attention from the ''Team Fortress'' community. It was all set in stone, and Fortress Forever was set to become the new standard for ''Team Fortress'' games.

* Awesome, but Impractical:
** The SniperRifle, just like in the original game, can't fire unless charged and has such a slow charge rate and firing speed that it usually isn't worth it to fire a insta-kill shot at a enemy that will likely dodge it or just kill you before you can fire. It really says something when you realise that the Automatic Rifle, meant to be a RangedEmergeancyWeapon, is ironically much more viable when fighting at all but extreme ranges.

* BritishAccents: The classes all speak with the same Cockney accent.

** The SniperRifle, just like in the original game, can't fire unless charged and has such a slow charge rate and firing speed that it usually isn't worth it to fire a insta-kill shot at a enemy that will likely dodge it or just kill you before you can fire. It really says something when you realise that the Automatic Rifle, meant to be a RangedEmergancyWeapon, is ironically much more viable when fighting at all but extreme ranges.

* The Soldier can immediately switch between his Rocket Launcher and Double-Barrel Shotgun via the right mouse button, his Rocket Launcher does more damage and reloads faster, his Double-Barrel Shotgun does more damage, his Single-Barrel Shotgun has almost instant fire and is more accurate and his Laser Grenades sacrifice range in exchange for a constant, heavy stream of damage.
* The Demoman has a faster and more accurate Single-Barrel Shotgun, stronger Grenades and Pipebombs, a easier time using the Detpack and a better area control ability, since he has more ease aiming a Pipebomb precisely and can detonate his traps faster. He can also bounce grenades off walls better and can even set his Detpack to go off at a exact moment via the left click key and time selection.
* The Medic's health regeneration is buffed, his Concussion Jumps are stronger and easier to pull off, his Double-Barrel Shotgun does more damage and he finally has a long-range healing ability via the right click, which, regardless of weapon he has equipped, uses a limited but self-regenerating ammo supply to toss a Medkit onto the ground, which sticks around for a while until someone picks it up and gets a 50% heal.
* The Heavy has a unique secondary grenade in the form of the Slowfield Grenade, which slows anyone who enters its path to a crawl, has the power to momentarily stop all movement near him via the Overpressure ability, has a faster and stronger Minigun with better tracking of enemies and increased accuracy over distances, and even a stronger Double-Barrel Shotgun for instances where he needs mobility.
* The Pyro has a new afterburn mechanic that enables him to maximize the amount of damage he does depending on how much fire he throws out (it stacks up to three times), an actually functional Flamethrower, a faster and more accurate Single-Barrel Shotgun, an upgraded Molotov Cocktail that causes a noticeble explosion, and even a DifficultButAwesome motion-based jetpack ability that lets him double-jump, glide and if used properly even fly short distances.
* The Spy disguises faster, doesn't make footstep sounds, and can "sabotage" enemy Sentries and Dispensors to make them work for him and his team. In addition to this, his useless Feign Death ability is replaced by an actually practical Smart Cloak ability (and if used at the right time, he'll automatically drop a fake body anyway), his Double-Barrel Shotgun does more damage and his Tranquiliser Gun has more ammo and is more useful, inducing Interface Screw on anyone it manages to hit and pratically blinding them for a backstab.
* The Engineer can regenerate his armour in the same way a Medic regenerates health, naturally create all types of ammo through tossing a backpack, his Railgun does more damage, fires faster, is more accurate and has a charged shot that he can even use as a pseudo-Rocket Jump, his Double-Barrel Shotgun does more damage, and while he can't build teleporters, his Dispensor generates ammo and metal faster and his Sentry does more damage and even has a subtle Spy-checking mechanic where you can detect a nearby cloaked or disguised Spy by your Sentry's beeping.
* While still a JokeCharacter on most maps, the Civillian can be a LethalJokeCharacter on certain soccer-themed maps, where he's assigned the role of goalie. So long as he stays in the goal area, he [[LightningBruiser moves as fast as Scout, is invulnerable to damage and CAN KILL ANYONE IN A SINGLE HIT FROM HIS UMBRELLA!]] (If he leaves the goal area, though, he'll die in one hit to anything)
* AdaptedOut: The Teleporter, Caltrops and Hallucination Grenades don't reappear in ''Fortress Forever''. Experiments into the game's code reveals unused code for the Hallucination Grenade, but there's nothing for the Teleporter and Caltrops.

* Abandoned Area: Every single map.
* Adaptational Badass: All of the classes.

* AdaptatedOut: The Teleporter, Caltrops and Hallucination Grenades don't reappear in ''Fortress Forever''. Experiments into the game's code reveals unused code for the Hallucination Grenade, but there's nothing for the Teleporter and Caltrops.

There was just one problem - and that was ''Team Fortress 2'' actually coming out, ''less than a month after Fortress Forever was completed''. [[OvershadowedByAwesome Pretty much dead on arrival]], ''Fortress Forever'' managed to hang onto some of its playerbase for a while before ultimately becoming abandoned, as though nobody had ever played it. Nowadays, it's still playable, but you'll be damn lucky if you happen to come across a single other player playing this game. '''Desperately''' SugarWiki/NeedsMoreLove, so if you want, you may [[https://store.steampowered.com/app/253530/Fortress_Forever/ download the game for free on Steam]] [[https://www.moddb.com/mods/fortress-forever or from ModDB]], and see what it's about and what could have been.