Potential Map Themes

hpkomic

L1: Registered
Jun 30, 2009
38
3
I definitely enjoy the various themes Valve and the TF2maps community have developed for maps, and it made me wonder what sort of themes would fit equally well in the game.

Personally, as I live in Southern California, much of the landscape looks like it would fit right into the world of TF2, so I figured I'd post some examples.

http://www.firsttimeorangecounty.com/images/rural-laguna-canyon-view.jpg

Here is a nice shot of the landscape that I am more or less surrounded by these days, even though I live in one of those housing tracts, much of the nearby land is undeveloped giving me access to these sort of vistas.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1064/1465273910_8ae6f262b6.jpg

Oddly enough, I've seen a lot of abandoned and run down houses out here. Can't really explain that phenomena. Granted, this isn't one near me, but there are at least two or three I could easily photograph and show off.

http://idxsca.eneighborhoods.com/large_images/OCR/76/U9003776.jpg

The plant life can go from brown to green rather quickly, and it's interesting to see boulders swimming in a sea of green on the crests of the hills.

http://www.hemetdesertsky.com/images/hemet-diamondvalley.jpg

The reason I feel a theme set in this area would work so well is that it does have some visually interesting elements, and it suits gameplay because many places in Southern California are situated in bowls, or create natural canyons and valleys.

http://www.mountainbikebill.com/blog/wp-content/imagescaler/9c2ab5045ecaab27c6945b8e53533ddc.jpg

Some of this terrain can feel quite rugged and impressive.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/51/128221991_36c42cf24f.jpg?v=0

While at other times feel thoroughly inviting and diverse.

So, that's why I feel like Southern California would make for a natural theme to run with in TF2, as it maintains the rough and tumble atmosphere established in previous environments, but also presents a new pallet and visual interest entirely.

So, what kind of environments would you like to see explored in the game next?
 

Okrag

Wall Staples
aa
Jun 10, 2009
1,029
655
The second one could probably be done through some clever theme mixing. Also, Mediterranean.
 

Timberjaw

L2: Junior Member
Nov 6, 2009
71
19
On the Valve side, I'd love to see their take on a space theme. The TF2 time period and style are ideal for mad space-based hijinks. If they wanted to save some time they could just steal surgeon's CTF Europa style, of course.

Not exactly a theme, but some more advanced water tech from Valve would open up a lot of possibilities.
 

Nutomic

L11: Posh Member
Feb 7, 2009
888
177
IM not sure whether this would require an all new theme, because much of that is already in the dustbowl/2fort themes. Very interesting, though.

Also, mediterran and space would be awesome, as well as underwater.
 

Tinker

aa
Oct 30, 2008
672
334
City! There are only very few town and city maps, with most of them being outside in a relatively wild environment riddled with shacks. I always thought a TF2-themed big city could do great, although you'd need to be watchful not to overdo the amount of, well, stuff, to keep the player focused.
 

Pocket

Half a Lambert is better than one.
aa
Nov 14, 2009
4,694
2,579
As much as I would love to see a TF2-style city (CP Amsterdam is a great example of what could be done with the theme), it would be hard to explain why it's completely uninhabited except for the players.
 

EArkham

Necromancer
aa
Aug 14, 2009
1,625
2,773
As much as I would love to see a TF2-style city (CP Amsterdam is a great example of what could be done with the theme), it would be hard to explain why it's completely uninhabited except for the players.

They're inside, hiding. Would YOU go outside when there's two clearly insane groups of mercenaries in conveniently colour-coded clothing spamming explosives, bullets, and fire in the streets? :D

Kep
 

Tapp

L10: Glamorous Member
Jan 26, 2009
776
215
They're inside, hiding. Would YOU go outside when there's two clearly insane groups of mercenaries in conveniently colour-coded clothing spamming explosives, bullets, and fire in the streets? :D

Kep

Put in a whole lot of barricades, mattresses against windows and spraypaint saying "go away you gun-totting cowboys" could communicate that. May the city pack begin!
 
Mar 23, 2010
1,872
1,696
A city would feel so weird in TF2. I'm trying to make one, a war-torn southern town, and i can just tell it is going to feel very weird.
 

Lockhart

L2: Junior Member
Sep 1, 2009
96
2
Obviously this is my opinion but:

Not done enough:
  • Caverns. Underground.
  • Island/tropic themes look nice.
  • Modern era battlefields work really well, trenches, bunkers and ships.
  • Lakeside themes and desert themes aren't fully developed yet imo.
  • Spytech feels like it has much room to develop (stranger environments, more sci-fi)
  • Underwater, I know it's not very feasible but I think it could be done! Not completely underwater but definitely having a point completely submerged and playable.

Overdone/popular:
  • Country/Shanty town
  • Alpine
  • Train station/railway

I mean obviously I'm being really vague here, but generally I like themes that try to move out of the conventional valve themes. And yes, there are fun shanty, alpine, and railway maps that are still coming out.