The 2016 Winter 72hr TF2 Jam - The Showcase!

LeSwordfish

semi-trained quasi-professional
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Aug 8, 2010
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The TF2maps 72hr Winter Jam - The Showcase

The first thing we want to do is congratulate everyone involved. There's not a single entry that hasn't impressed us all in some way or another. The final tally is a little more than a hundred entries submitted or showcased, making this the biggest event that tf2maps has ever run! And thank you all for being a part of it.

Overall there were: fifty-six maps, nineteen SFM images, eleven textures, seven pieces of art, five videos, four particle effects, three models, two taunts, two MVM missions, one piece of music and one fanfiction. Check out the showcase below for some of our favourites, but first I want to thank the people who made this possible.

Thanks and Credits
Fr0z3nR and Crash came up with the original idea for the jam, and Geit has been absolutely invaluable on the technical side of things (including making this post look so nice). Fantasma's chat bot made the playtesting process run like a charm, and Woozles and Hydrogen went to great lengths to set up their server over at the Potato MVM Servers group for an idiot like me to use for MVM testing. Muddy, Killohurtz, theatreTECHIE, Tekku, Egan, Phi, and 14bit all ran playtests for us, an invaluable part of making the maps made as good as they can be; and while I can't mention you by name I want to thank everyone who joined our playtests and gave feedback - you folks know who you are, and the community wouldn't be the same without your help.

The Showcase!
Enough mushy stuff! On to the showcase. Bold Underlined text is links, which you can click for more information and a download.

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First up, one of the more impressive maps made and an obvious inclusion: pd_tribute by Crash. It's a great, goofy player destruction map, bringing hats to the hat lord, and every one of the many hours of work put into it shows. Particular credit has to go to Jukebox though, for his great Egypt assets - if they get released, they'll spice up a limited theme nicely.

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Of the artworks submitted, my favorite is this stylish purple number of the ladies of TF2, by Ixy. Apparently it was destined for the workshop as a t-shirt - let us know when it happens @Ixy because I want to wear it. Similarly stylish is RayereSS's pulsey electronic remix of the TF2 Theme, which you can find here. Check out her other work if you like that.
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This cartoon is by the excellent TierraVerde. It's simple, but very characterful, and I love the classic cartoon influences you can see on it. If you like this, you'll also love this work by DynamicRobo and this by Duplox - both do a great job of capturing character.

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One of my favourite maps submitted is Dawn's Vigil, by theatreTECHIE. It's an upward-like payload, winding its way towards an observatory, with some great combat spaces - I had a ton of fun as an airblasting pyro. Make sure to check out the brushwork on the telescope - that sort of thing isn't easy to do. If you like the upward style, check out Anhydrous by Cytostolic as well.

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Another great artwork is this and its companion piece by medli20. She's done a great job recreating a tf2 space in the classic styles it was inspired by, a beautiful painterly rockwell-esque drawing. She can't decide whether it's better with or without the characters - I like the version with, for the sniper's placidity compared to the scout's desperate scramble.

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Chaofanatic and Logan McCloud have teamed up to bring us this icy medi-beam effect. It's some top-notch particle work; you can almost feel the cold at the end of your medigun. Logan has also contributed a beautiful night-time skybox - great texturing work from an up-and-coming creator.

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A lot of beautiful maps were submitted, but this is one of the largest and most fun to play as well: Okinawa, a gorge-like 2cp map in the japan and jungle themes by Bakscratch and Exactol. There's not enough space to show off all of the great ones, but click through to see Phi's icy detail area, and Killohurtz's mars-scape, a brand-new unique theme reminiscent of Futurama and classic sci-fi.

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One thing that stood out was the quality and quantity of SFM images. It was hard to pick just one to showcase from either Joshenkstone's collection or iiboharz's album, but I love the implied cameraderie between this engineer and his sentry. Jos is taking commissions- be sure to drop by his steam account. There were also a few, universally surreal, SFM films submitted, of which my favourite is "Ah, Please Mama" by Ronald_D_D. There's a lot of drama there, and a lot of... well, yes.

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Plenty of KOTH and Arena maps were submitted - a favourite of mine gameplay-wise is the excellently-named Preposterous by HQDefault, but there are several fantastic others too, including ibex's journey-inspired Chime and Citroos' space koth Nebula. Also of note is FrostHoneyJuice's Undercicle which has perhaps the greatest sawblade-per-square-meter ratio of any map around.

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And to finish us off, some other things that definitely deserve a mention, even if they don't fit neatly with any of the things above. Pictured is Makzutheamazing's Poker Night artwork, which I love - it brims with character and personal style. Mappers should check out Yrr's handy Locked Door texture and HUD Icons, while also watching Bogdy's guide to what trade maps have to teach us. And last but not least, I'd like to tip the hat to Adam Wolfe's powerhouse-style map cp_bronco - it's excellent for an early effort and i'll be watching Adam's career with interest.


A big list of everything submitted can be found here - there was no way I could showcase everything specifically above, unfortunately, but there's nothing there that isn't worth checking out.

What Next?
Next up is the Exhibition Game - be sure to check out that link and tune in to Crash's channel next Saturday.

If you took part in the 72hr Jam, we'd love you to quickly fill in this survey so we can make the next one even better, and if you're new to tf2maps.net keep watching this space. Very soon we've got the end of the Dynamic CP contest coming up, soon to be followed by a Detailing contest, and other events yet to be revealed - we're going to make this a big year.
 
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14bit

L14: Bit Member
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Oct 5, 2014
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Congratulations to all of those who got their creations into the showcase, and to those who didn't make it this time! (darn, I though I had this one!)

It's really quite amazing to see what the community can create together in so little time, and it was fun to participate as well. Shout out to all of the other streamers, and to all of those that were inspired to pick up mapping/modeling/drawing/writing fan fiction/SFM-ing as a result of the amazing work this weekend!

Question time! Because of this being a jam and not a contest this time, are we free to resume work on our entries immediately? If so, what about those who have things in the showcase? Should they wait until after the exhibition game?

One more question, will the maps go into rotation on the servers like last time? If they do, will it be all of those entered or just the showcased ones? Will that be skipped in favor of the DynCP contest? I only ask because some people want to be able to show their creations to their friends, and sometimes screenshots just aren't enough when it come to a map.
 

Bakscratch

Finisher of Maps
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Oct 29, 2010
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Question time! Because of this being a jam and not a contest this time, are we free to resume work on our entries immediately? If so, what about those who have things in the showcase? Should they wait until after the exhibition game?

As you said there is an exhibition game, I think Sword want to use the 72hour ones, but I guess if you want to work on it out side its fine, Just don't submit.
 

Fruity Snacks

Creator of blackholes & memes. Destroyer of forums
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Sep 5, 2010
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Good job everyone who took part, even if you didn't get to finish your project in the end. *lonely yay*

I'm still a tad miffed I wasn't able to take part in the jam myself, but I'm happy I still got to help out!

I didn't finish mine. You're in good company (or bad company, depending on who you ask).
 

Bogdy

L4: Comfortable Member
Aug 13, 2014
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nickybakes

You should've played Rumbleverse
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Jul 28, 2015
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It's very fun to drop into other people's stream to see how insanely sleep deprived they are, while you are going crazy yourself.
 

SnickerPuffs

(*single chuckle*)
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Apr 10, 2014
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I'm a little sad that neither my nor BlazingDiancie's MvM mission made the showcase.
 

Ixy

L2: Junior Member
Jan 29, 2016
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I'm very grateful for this event. I always have TF2 ideas swirling about in my head (this game is just so damn inspiring), but I never commit to making those ideas happen. This jam was a propitious kick in the ass and the open format meant I could tackle icons, banners, SFM, editing, animations, templating and art all in one weekend. My creative ADD thanks you for that.

Congratulations and high fives to everyone who entered, whether you were able to finish or not (I fell flat on my face with my first project, so I empathize). Thanks for the showcase post and all the kind words. Can't wait for the exhibition game!

//Edit to add: I also really appreciate how you guys, as a mapping community, wholeheartedly embraced and encouraged other art forms. That's pretty awesome. I love TF2 community building exercises.
 

DannyRand

L2: Junior Member
Jun 8, 2013
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24
Well I worked on a map/streamed on Friday night. Unfortunately Gears of War shit the bed on Saturday so I worked the rest of the contest. So add me to the "didn't finish but still cool" list. Got a decent layout made that I may pursue in future though, so that's gouda.
 

Rummy

L1: Registered
Nov 2, 2014
26
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It was fun working on this jam.

Offtopic: I might finish the taunt and put it on the workshop if anyone likes that.
 

HQDefault

...what
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Aug 6, 2014
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a favourite of mine gameplay-wise is the excellently-named Preposterous by HQDefault
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EDIT: But seriously, thanks a million for having me in the showcase! I would've never seen it coming :)

If you weren't in the showcase, don't feel bad, you were all awesome for trying!
 
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