The History of TF 2 Weapon Creation

TF2 Weapons

Everyone knows that the appearance of TF2 characters has changed numerous times. But along with their appearance, their weapons have also taken on different forms. In this article, I want to explore how weapons evolved during three stages of game development: concept art, beta version, and final version.

Let's start with the Scout:

Initially, there was no depiction of weapons in the early concept art!

In the final art, the Scout wielded something akin to a submachine gun.

Melee weapons and secondary weapons were not mentioned in the concept art.

In the beta version, the Scout ran around with an impressively large nail gun.

However, he was soon given a submachine gun, which was later given to the Sniper as a secondary weapon.

In beta, a baseball bat appeared as the Scout's melee weapon.

In the final version, instead of the submachine gun, the Scout got the "Scattergun" - a six-chambered sawed-off shotgun.

For the secondary weapon, he was given a pistol.

And the bat remained from the beta version of the game.

Next, let's talk about the Heavy:

The initial concept art of the Heavy was completely different from the final character, and his weapon was equally dissimilar. At that time, the Heavy used a six-barreled modification of the German MG 42 machine gun.

Honestly, it looked ridiculous.

Fortunately, in subsequent arts, the design of the Heavy (and his weapon) was changed to a more familiar one.

No mention was made of melee weapons either in early or final art.

In the beta version, the Heavy and his minigun took on a more standard look, but there was no mention of secondary or melee weapons.

In the final version, the minigun remained as it was in the beta version.

For the secondary weapon, he was given a shotgun.

And with melee weapons, the developers opted to have the Heavy throw punches.

The Demoman's weapons also underwent multiple changes:

On almost all concept arts of the Demoman, there was some weapon depicted, and it varied as well.

There were bombs:

And detonators:

In some arts, the Demoman is depicted with dynamite sticks, and in one case, he even had a unique weapon, presumably a single-shot grenade launcher:

In the beta version, the main weapon was a familiar drum-fed grenade launcher.

For the secondary weapon, there was a bundle of timed dynamite sticks.

As for the melee weapon, both in the art stage and the beta version, everything remains shrouded in mystery.

In the final version, the main weapon was indeed the Drum Grenade Launcher. However, the dynamite was replaced with the Stickybomb Launcher.

And since the Demoman didn't shy away from drinking, the melee weapon turned out to be a Bottle of Ale (Rum).

For the Engineer compared to the other classes in the art stage, everything was the opposite:

In the concept art, there was no firearm, but there were two (!) melee weapons.

In the beta version of the game, the Engineer was almost identical to the final version.

What do we find in the finale? The Engineer is the only class that has practically not changed throughout development.

Next is the Pyro:

In the concept art, the Pyro's flamethrower looks much more impressive than in the final version! Unfortunately, that's all we can extract from it!

The beta version of the weapon differed radically from the concept art.

However, they shared one similarity; there was no information on secondary or melee weapons.

In the finale we have the flamethrower that appeared in the beta version.

For the secondary weapon, the Pyro was given a shotgun.

No one could think that the Pyro's melee weapon would be a Fire Axe, but that's exactly what happened.

The Spy changed more in appearance than in equipment:

The concept art of the Spy does not show any melee weapons (presumably at that time the idea was being considered to give an intelligent Spy) but we could see a pistol with a silencer.

In the beta version, the silenced pistol was replaced by a more humane tranquilizer.

At the same time, the famous butterfly knife of the Spy made its appearance.

Balance dictates its rules, which is why in the finale, the tranquilizer was replaced by a Revolver.

And only the butterfly knife remained unchanged since the beta version.

Since I haven't seen any concept arts for the Medic (and I think no one outside Valve has seen them yet), I'll start directly from the beta version:

For some time when the Scout was running with a SMG, the Medic carried his nail gun, and the role of melee weapon went to a syringe.

Overall, the gameplay aspects of the weapons were not changed in the finale; they only replaced the weapon skins. Thus, the nail gun was replaced by a more fitting Syringun, and instead of a syringe, we got a Bone Saw.

Next is the Soldier:

In the concept, it is seen that the secondary weapon will be a shotgun (although I allow the possibility that the Soldier was equipped with a shotgun as the primary weapon); there is nothing more on the weapon there.

In beta, the Soldier's armament was essentially the same as in the finale.

And in the finale, the Soldier had:

A four-barreled Bazooka as the primary weapon. A shotgun as a secondary weapon. And a Shovel as a melee weapon.

I can’t say much about the Sniper because:

We have no concept art, and in the beta, he didn’t differ much from the finale.

Whereas in the finale, the Sniper had:

A Sniper rifle as the primary weapon. A SMG as the secondary. And a Kukri as a melee weapon.

So, that's everything I can say on this topic. If anyone can add something, feel free to write in this thread. And if possible, give it a thumbs up =)