TF2Maps.net Mapping Contest #5: The Art Pass Contest

DrIndianaJones

L1: Registered
Jul 17, 2010
1
0
Hello all,

Just signed up today to start working on this.


Good luck to everyone! :)


~ Indy
 
Feb 17, 2009
1,165
376
I have decided that I will not compete with you guys. Good luck everyone who is entering.
victory.png
 

Mr. Happy

L6: Sharp Member
Jul 16, 2008
320
158
Seems I'm going to have to create an entirely new environment theme, been wanting to bring TF2 action to the hills and valley's of <deleted> for years now.

And about this whole "layout sucks thing" I have noticed that the vast majority of mappers spend too much time in Hammer or at things like "school" or "work" or "life" or whatever and consequently have absolutely no in-game skill and wouldn't recognize a fun and balanced map if it slapped them over the head with a rainbow trout.
 
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Jimmy

L420: High Member
Jul 6, 2009
421
228
Seems I'm going to have to create an entirely new environment theme, been wanting to bring TF2 action to the hills and valley's of <deleted> for years now.

And about this whole "layout sucks thing" I have noticed that the vast majority of mappers spend too much time in Hammer or at things like "school" or "work" or "life" or whatever and consequently have absolutely no in-game skill and wouldn't recognize a fun and balanced map if it slapped them over the head with a rainbow trout.

I so want to just reply saying: "umad" but I wont. Many of us mappers are great tf2 players, take flame and nineaxis for example, just 2 of the many great players here. Im one of the better If I do say so myself but I take offense at that. Just because we map and you've played on our server with us for at most a few hours probably with many people not from our community that you make these assumptions.
 

Mr. Happy

L6: Sharp Member
Jul 16, 2008
320
158
just kidding jimmy, thought the silly mirc reference would make that clear, guess not
 

Chilly

L6: Sharp Member
May 3, 2008
326
127
So I played the map through once as each class each direction. There are a few things that could be better, but overall I think it'll play better than most people are expecting. A few things I noted:

1. As it is right now if blue gets out of their spawn they should be able to roll the rest of the map pretty easily. A few detail/LOS changes can help this. For helping blue exit spawn easier...

a. For the sniper windows overlooking the blue spawn, don't open up the one that Valve currently has blocked. If you get multiple snipers looking at the spawn it could be a mess.

b. Try protecting that side entrance as much as possible. If you can block red out of that entire side building and back area, do so. Would check the rules on this, since it's not a major route change but goes a bit beyond detailing.

c. I think having the blue spawn elevated should help them push out a bit easier, so keep that in mind when adding your displacements. Make sure nades will roll downhill toward the key enemy locations here.

3. A is set up decent. There's a big advantage for blue once they get here, since most of the sentry areas are exposed. The high ledge is the only X factor, since that type of height overlooking a CP isn't common on other maps. If it doesn't play well you can always add a tall prop like a tree to help cover the CP. Overall this point SHOULD be easiest to capture for blue.

4. If blue captures A, they should quickly cap B because of the distance. Also, since red would have most of their stuff set up on A from setup, it's likely most of their team and sentries are wiped out after A is capped. Do everything possible to help B here...

a. Leave that long sniper view from the C paths. Other than the large amount of metal it's the best thing to help the defense here.

b. If you can make the health and metal more easily accessible or even just more visible from red's side, it should help. Just a prop on the the blue side of the health/metal should be enough.

c. If it still doesn't balance well, an option is adding cover from the high area between A and B, as suggested for A.

d. Try making some protected sentry locations in that area. Some creative displacements that roll nades away from protected spots could help, as could a prop that overhangs and makes it harder to drop in stickies.

5. C is interesting. I don't like the death pit, but it should make capturing a lot more difficult which is a good thing on the final CP on a map. Since C's spawn is so close and because of that death pit, the area should be heavily balanced towards C anyway. Try keeping it that way. If you need to switch it around, consider changing the death pit to water (if allowed) or add a railing around to help prevent airblast deaths.

6. Be mindful of certain double jump locations. There's a few really fun ones (high roof of B to the ledge) and they make for some really unique paths through the map.

7. The red spawn is easily camped by a single demoman. You might want to protect one of the doorways with more cover if possible.

I personally think this map will be a lot of fun. Only playtesting will show for sure, but I can see this being used for 6v6 competitive teams or fun highlander games. I definitely think it'll fail for 32 man instant respawn servers, but overall it's a good enough layout that people will play it if it looks nice.

Hope this helps someone. :)
 
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StarvinCannibal

L1: Registered
Jul 16, 2010
14
0
So, when they say we need to ask creators of custom content if we can use their stuff in our map, does that custom content include textures, sounds and models from a (now official) community map like Hightower or Hoodoo? Or only custom content that's been made by a community designer who HAS NOT gone official in any way.

I'd rather not use custom stuff that I need to ask permission for, because I don't know who made what, so it would be a big hassle. Please help me out here!
 

Mr. Happy

L6: Sharp Member
Jul 16, 2008
320
158
Hightower was a custom map?

So many...overlapping brushes...misused grids...offgrid buildings...brushes extending meaninglessly...might have to rebuild nearly the entire shell to get a nice clean template
 

fubarFX

The "raw" in "nodraw"
aa
Jun 1, 2009
1,720
1,978
So many...overlapping brushes...misused grids...offgrid buildings...brushes extending meaninglessly...might have to rebuild nearly the entire shell to get a nice clean template
cleaning the .vmf took me about 8 hours T_T
 

Retroid

L5: Dapper Member
Aug 25, 2009
206
22
I think I'm just glad this is an official contest, I much prefer the idea doing something official and not having to slap on all those advertising stuff (as well as they were made).

Edit: it also looks a bit like the first map I blocked out lol (Although more finished.)
 

sniprpenguin

L6: Sharp Member
Mar 14, 2008
266
258
So my big question is:

I was not liking how close Blu's spawns where to the exits, so I made a shell of a room behind the building and was hoping to place the spawns in there. Too much of a change?