[IDEAS] The TF2 Mapping Idea's Thread

Pale Drake

L1: Registered
May 27, 2015
3
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Power Plant

Redmond and Bluetrach both own electric power plants.

A attack-n-defend and control point map.

Area Hazards include: Electricity and minor explosions.

When the final control point is captured; everyone on the losing team that are still in their spawn are electrocuted(cowmangler death animation) and everyone on the winning team that's alive receives credit for the kills.
 

Clone5184

L2: Junior Member
Aug 11, 2014
59
26
I had an idea for a public pool themed map that would be either Arena or KOTH. Plans fell through when I found out about TF2 simplified physics.
The idea was that the central point would be on this floating platform in the water. Having too many people on one side would cause the point to flip over. The point could also be pushed around the pool, making a somewhat mobile point. Early playtests in a pre-pre-alpha version showed that the platform would react correctly with bullets, but players would find themselves getting stuck in the platform and falling through it.
 

Zed

Certified Most Crunk™
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Aug 7, 2014
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A payload map where BLU needs to push a bomb to the correct point so that a train coming in soon after can blow it up.

A payload map where BLU tries to blow up a lake that RED is using as a water supply.

An underground payload race map where one team tries to destroy the other team's drill using their drill. Uses plr_orbit's gamemode logic and custom carts.

Might actually make that last one.
 
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Lain

lobotomy success story
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Jan 8, 2015
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medieval plr map where you push a ram towards the other teams castle gate

I thought about something like this last night, and I was thinking that each team would push a Trojan Horse (maybe not a horse because WACKY TF2 GUYS) through the enemy's castle gate.
When the base Is reached, each team is sent back to their spawns and the game turns into a single point CP defense for the defending team. All players from the attacking team spawn inside of the horse and attack the base, and they have 2 minutes (maybe 1 life only?) to capture the CP.
 

Crash

func_nerd
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Mar 1, 2010
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I had a silly idea a long time ago that probably wouldn't work with the HUD, but a medieval payload map where you push a massive trojan horse into the defenders base, into the courtyard of a castle. Once it's inside, it acts as a forward spawn. I figured a CP objective somewhere in the castle after that, but alas, HUD.
 

Lain

lobotomy success story
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Jan 8, 2015
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So i'm guessing you wrote that before you saw my post :p
 

Crash

func_nerd
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Mar 1, 2010
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So i'm guessing you wrote that before you saw my post :p

Holy shit, yeah that's crazy. That wasn't there when I wrote my post. I had this idea back when I made this crappy medieval map but didn't even remotely know how to do something like that.
 

Lain

lobotomy success story
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Jan 8, 2015
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Holy shit, yeah that's crazy. That wasn't there when I wrote my post. I had this idea back when I made this crappy medieval map but didn't even remotely know how to do something like that.

I might do something with the idea then, probably gonna have to get someone who isn't shit at entity work to help me though.

Also I think the hud problem could be fixed by just making the horses CPs that only stay capped when players are inside the triggers bounds, and neutral otherwise. This also might make it cool if the enemy could cap and push it backwards.
 
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14bit

L14: Bit Member
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Oct 5, 2014
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An underground payload race map where one team tries to destroy the other team's drill using their drill. Uses plr_orbit's gamemode logic and custom carts.

The original concept for plr_orbit was to have saw blades on the fronts of the carts and for the carts to split like in plr_split, but I decided that the wonky explosion physics were more fun for a joke map. Also, I do plan on updating the prefab soon now that I know a lot more about the I/O system.

Another completely unrelated idea: why not a ctf map that makes use of the shotclock mode on the flag? If the map was quite open it could lead to some intense fighting over the flags. Maybe add in some healing for the defending team while they're on the dropped flag? *cough*i'm doing it for the 72h contest *cough*
 
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Moonfixer

L5: Dapper Member
Aug 23, 2014
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What about a 90 degree 5cp map.
 

ReachForASkybox

L1: Registered
Jun 3, 2015
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I have considered a snowplow-esque A/D map featuring a drill instead of a train.

The Drill moves towards REDs underground base vertically and BLU spawns at the top of the drill. There is an open point on the drill that is where the capture point is located. Once BLU caps, the drill moves downward until it stops and blue has to recapture the point. After the third point the drill hits the RED base and demolishes it.

There are a multitude of problems, but I figure some elements are salvageable.
 

Lain

lobotomy success story
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Jan 8, 2015
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Random maps i have thought of at my 9-5

pl_haleriver
Blu is escorting equipment to the Thunder Mountains via the Hale River, Red won't let that happen without a fight.
A payload map with a layout similar to Upward, but with the detailing of something like pl_Manngrove, reds payload is a medium sized boat, the combat will be stopped at certain points and Blu will have to wait for a tree to be moved from the river or something.

rd_standoff
Two brothers are having a fight over who can build the most brilliant robots. The solution to this? Hire mercenaries to destroy the each other, of course!
Robot Destruction, when you reach the core limit you spawn a massive robot that you have to push like a payload cart to the enemies base. The bot then punches something important, destroying their base. The enemy can either deal damage to destroy the bot or Prevent it from getting to the core in time for it to run out of time and blows up, idk whatever is easier to implement.

ctf_industry
Well.. these Steam engines aren't going to power themselves!
Working off the firewood idea. two teams have to take ever respawning firewood from the middle of the map and take it to their steam engines in their base. Each piece of firewood increases burn time by 45 seconds, but the firewood in the middle of the map spawns in 30 seconds, and procedurally takes longer to do so, all the way up to 2 minutes. This means you must steal the enemies firewood from their base as well, reducing their burn time by 45. If you take this to your base and capture you only get 20 seconds of burn.
Will most likely fail depending on how easy it is to defend the engines / firewood.
 
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SnickerPuffs

(*single chuckle*)
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Apr 10, 2014
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Bumping this with a spawl of concepts I've had over the years that I either dropped pre-alpha or never even started on. Might pick one or two of these up eventually, but for now if you want to steal any of these ideas go ahead.

koth_indevelopment
A joke map that gets less "developed" as you get closer to mid. Spawn and it's courtyard would be fully detailed, the paths to mid would slowly shift from fully detailed to dev textures, and mid itself would look like a screenshot of Hammer, pseudo black void and all.

mvm_goldturkey
As opposed to Bigrock, the largest MvM map in-game, Goldturkey is an attempt to make the smallest MvM map while still having it be playable. Map is shaped like a question mark, with a large building in the center that RED can use for defending. Name was based on a Nation Lampoon LP my father was listening to when I came up with this idea, so it was by no means going to be the final name.

tw_biodome

Using UltimentM's "Turf Wars" experimental gamemode, Biodome has the teams fighting over 5/7 neutral points in a pair of biodomes. BLU's base would be set up in an arctic biodome, while RED's would be in a desert. The basic layout of each area would be symmetrical, but the theming of each area would add some asymmetricality. Where the arctic biodome has a lake with floating chunks of ice, the desert biodome has a cracked, dry riverbed. Since this gamemode has an odd number of points, a generic factory/lab-themed area in-between biodomes will hold 1 point, giving each biodome an equal number of points.

cp_snowpass
A modified version of artpass_valvebase. Features both a snowy urban theme, and a layout overhaul to make the map feel a bit fresher. Some changes I had planned were:
  • Opening up the high ground between A and B, giving it view of BLU spawn and giving RED a new spot to defend from
  • Moving B to above the RED base entrance. It's original location would be converted into a forward spawn for RED (pre A capture) and BLU (post B capture), as well as an Engineer cubby.
  • C would be outside. I don't remember how I planned to accomplish this, but I have it in my notes.
ctf_kraftwerk
A CTF map with a theme somewhere between Turbine and Hydro, the main path is mostly underwater, though the pipes connecting each team's water purification systems to the river at mid. Little side rooms would offer air pockets, pickups, and places to defend. The side paths are designed more like standard CTF levels. Name was a placeholder.

koth_neogreece
Inspired by TF2's depiction of a retro-futuristic Australia, Neogreece features Greco-Roman architecture with a diesel-punk twist. Mid is based on the Roman Pantheon, with a massive rotating satellite dish on top.

ctf_dorange
An A/D CTF map where BLU blows up a RED-owned bridge. Last is a fight through a dried-up riverbed, and at the end (taking cues from sd_doomsday) BLU has to ride a lift up to the center of RED's bridge to plant the bomb. Theme is in between Goldrush and Upward. Map idea and name come from Dr. Orange's self-titled map from a few years back. He removed a bridge in one of the updates and a couple people got really upset as a joke, myself included.

pl_driftwood
A swamp or maritime themed map I sketched up a few years ago, but didn't get very far into. I don't have any notes on this, only a 3-year old vmf with a satellite dish coming out of a fake lighthouse. I think that was supposed to be one of the capture points, or a detail bit on RED's base.

ctf_bollocks
An autumnal Mannpower map. The flag sits on top of a watertower surrounded by platforms in the middle of a deathpit. Each side has a handful of large, open barn-like buildings to set up defenses in, with mid being watertower-like buildings in a small forest. Name was, once again, a placeholder.

cp_maschinen
Medieval A/D, but with a stormy Frontline theme. The lore is that while the mercenaries arrived to the battlefield on one train/plane, their supplies and weapons were arriving on another, which was shot down. BLU makes their way through a muddy trench, past a trench-side base, to a RED-controlled gun manufacturing plant (which is out of metal anyway but REDs still defending it because once they get metal they can use the weapons it makes to wipe the floor with BLU's corpses).

ctf_avalanche
RED and BLU fight over a ski lodge in the Siberian mountains. Asymetrical gameplay, with RED being in a research facility higher up in the mountains and BLU owning the ski-lodge. The map takes place just after an avalanche. This caused damage to the RED lab (holes punched in walls, power off in some rooms, other rooms entirely disconnected from the rest) and buried much of the ski lodge under snow (main path out of BLU side is through a hole in the ceiling, interior area is largely unaffected).

xx_timerift
A non-symmetrical map for a symmetrical gamemode (I didn't decide on one), Timerift had each team set in a different "time period". BLU has their half of the base nearing the end of construction, while RED has the building completed, yet abandoned and falling apart. The detailing and layout changes to each side reflect each time period. RED's side has paths missing or created by rubble that are entirely absent on BLU's side. The middle area has some form of time machine creating the "time rift", which is visibly conveyed as glowing white cracks separating the clean and bright BLU base from it's dingy and dilapidated version on the RED side.

It's 5 a.m. I wrote this in over 2 hours instead of going to sleep, why am I such a fool. Hopefully there aren't any big grammatical or spelling errors.
 

TheFluffycart

L3: Member
Jul 6, 2019
142
41
I've had too many ideas that I can't give justice, so here are a few map ideas I've had

Pl_Exhibit:
Payload Exhibit would be similar to Enclosure, but focus more on the park theme instead of back areas and storage facilities. There would be 3 stages, starting with passive animals (cow cutouts, etc.), and be pretty much hazard free. The second stage would start getting a little dangerous, with animals like crocs popping in to add hazards to the level, while still being intact. Finally, the yeti exhibit would be torn apart. Cages would be open to the players and act as routes, but have hazards like electric fences and toxic gas from fuel lines. No idea what to end the map on (Maybe the cart is a battery, and reboots the park?)

KoTH_Artifact:
KoTH Artifact would be set in a research lab deep underground, where Blutarch and Redmond are trying to gain access to an ancient artifact with immense power. Capturing the point would activate the artifact, and either give the capping team an advantage (health/ammo kits upgrade for 10 seconds, enemy's kits lower in size), or give them the disadvantage (their kits lower in size, enemies upgrade). Other theme ideas for it include Invasion (The artifact being a piece of alien tech instead), or a testing facility in which the artifact is instead a rogue AI (Totally not anything like Portal, no reference whatsoever).

MVM_RoboHell
"Do you know where bad bots go when they die? Robot Hell of course!". RoboHell takes place in the pits of Robot Hell, where the robots are trying to blast open the gates to escape the robot devil. You and the mercs have to fight to stop this from happening and send them back to where they belong! (This one isn't as thought through. Sorry if it's been done).

Not sure if any of these are good, but worth throwing them out just in case anyone wants them ^^"
 

AndreyRog

L1: Registered
Jun 8, 2020
3
0
Today I came up with this: make a card in mode tower defence where one team moves to the enemy’s base along a path surrounded by walls on the right and left. At the top, opponents will be up and shoot. It will be possible to set turrets, distributors, teleporters. When a player of an attacking team reaches the base, it loses a health point. The player is teleported to his base. To win, you need to destroy the base, damaging it several times.
Here's an example of such a card according to the rules of games like tower defense.
It is also desirable that the players in defense are evenly distributed along the entire length of the track to the base.
 

Dispenser

L1: Registered
Jul 27, 2019
28
2
Today I came up with this: make a card in mode tower defence where one team moves to the enemy’s base along a path surrounded by walls on the right and left. At the top, opponents will be up and shoot. It will be possible to set turrets, distributors, teleporters. When a player of an attacking team reaches the base, it loses a health point. The player is teleported to his base. To win, you need to destroy the base, damaging it several times.
Here's an example of such a card according to the rules of games like tower defense.
It is also desirable that the players in defense are evenly distributed along the entire length of the track to the base.
So, MVM with playable robots?
 

TFBotEnthusiast

L1: Registered
Apr 30, 2020
13
0
pl_cascade:
A map where in some portions, the cart goes into a river and is pushed by the river's current. Players are also pushed too.
BLU's goal is to push the cart off a dam to explode it.
Would be set in either a hydroelectric power plant or the mountains.

ctf_hydroplane:
A Capture the Flag map with water as a main focus and have a flooded basement similar to 2fort sewers and Sawmill intel but with more options for movement, and a upper vent layer.

koth_hydroplane:
An edit of ctf_hydroplane for King of the Hill.

trade_notminecraft:
A joke map.
 

Tiftid

the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
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Sep 10, 2016
518
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Woohoo, a place to drop my crackhead gamemode ideas!

rd_reel (named for the action of "reeling your core in"):
Each team's core starts close to mid and easy enough to steal, but as they gain more points or contest some neutral objective their core physically moves further in their base, thus becoming hard to steal. The most fleshed-out and decent-sounding version of the idea was to name the core position closer to mid "A" and the core position further from mid and more in your base "B", have a neutral capture point and have it so that said point is easier to push than hold, your core moves from A to B when you capture it and moves from B to A (unless already at A) when the enemy team captures it. This would make it easier to steal enemy cores if they had less of a mid presence, which would make farming for points and camping all game much worse, because the enemy team could capture the control point, making it easier to steal all of your points. This means that it works better as a symmetrical mode because it facilitates a changing front line, and it solves the boredom of RD (and to an extent CTF, because this could be applied there, because RD is so similar) by making farming worse and making prolonged Engineer camping far harder. It also works differently to "KOTH with extra steps", because the points have to come from somewhere, so some farming has to go on, so teams have to choose between farming robots in their base or going for the enemy core, but if your farming strategy isn't as effective as the enemy team's because your teammates suck, you can go play around the point, which the enemy team isn't doing because they're using their effective farming strategy. You also have the added depth that owning the point doesn't necessarily mean stealing the enemy core - since both cores start at A and capping the point moves the enemy core to A, you could have an enemy team which attempts to hold A and farm, even if your team is playing around the point, turning it more into A/D than RD.
I should also mention that the ideal implementation for the moving point would not be two core locations which you enable and disable, but instead the core being on a moving platform which physically moves between A and B, so players who are on it aren't robbed by an event which occurred without their input.

sd_ (I haven't come up with a name yet):
This came to be as an idea about 3-4 months ago, when I thought "I want to make SD but it's good", and didn't stop thinking that until the present day.
There are three flags, all of which are neutral - one is close to your spawn, one is close to the enemy spawn and one is to the side of the delivery zone. This requires mirrored symmetry. I also made the adjustments of making it play to 5 captures and turning the delivery zone into a neutral control point which, upon being captured, spawns a func_capturezone for your team on it for 8 seconds, resets itself to neutral and locks itself for 20 seconds. If, somehow, you're interested in developing a map of this variety, I have a gamemode prefab I can upload, featuring logic for the control point, visuals and sounds as well as training annotations for every event. Though, I'm no HUD wizard, so I haven't made anything that can constantly track how many captures each team has, though you can kinda use the scoreboard for that, but players won't.
My vision for the gameplay is: Teams roll out to mid, whoever wins the mid fight gets to capture their flag and the enemy team's flag at least. The one who wins mid is less likely to have ownership over the neutral flag, since sending players to the neutral flag weakens your mid presence, so you don't win mid. This means that a team which captures mid is left with no flags and the enemy team owns the neutral flag and their own flag, while the team which capped mid has to wait for a respawning teammate or enemy to bring a flag to them, and has a hard limit of 20 seconds before they can cap again. This means that the team which first wins mid has 2/5 points and has to forward hold for ~30 seconds if they want to cap any flags at all, and if successful can cap 1-3 flags. This has the problem of requiring them to return to the point to capture, though. Then, if the team loses mid, the enemy team gets to capture at the very least their flag which they brought from their spawn. I predict that at this point, the score will commonly sit at 2-1, and the cycle begins to repeat. It's worth noting that any team can, at any time, go for the neutral flag to introduce some spice into this cycle, and it's easiest for a team trying to break a forward hold to try to do so. So, the neutral flag is a special comeback mechanic for a team that's losing (if used right), while it can also benefit a team that's winning if they're good enough to hold for a long enough time.

koth_ (again, no idea about the name):
Halloween map. Has an underworld, but the novel thing is that each team gets their own, always open, underworld (probably without constant damage) which enemy players can't access, and it has a boss in it. There are portals everywhere in the underworld which let you leave. When you kill your team's boss, your team gets full crits for 10 seconds or so, then the boss respawns. The boss could be anything really, so long as a suitable arena was made for it. You go to the underworld through a portal that's inside your spawn, and when you leave it you're teleported back inside your spawn. Right outside your spawn, there are powerups known as "sugar rushes" which give you brief minicrits and a brief speed boost. These mechanics allow you to choose between coop PvE or team-based PvP. The sugar rushes let you get to the point quickly and notably help against spawncamping - this is deliberate, since you might have a team where most players decide to go to the underworld when the enemy team's mainly playing in the overworld, so the enemy team steamrolls the point and starts to spawncamp you, so the sugar rushes help you to overthrow a spawncamp and reach the point on more even terms, while also allowing players to quickly transition between playing in the underworld and overworld, allowing them to use the crits they earn. The crits also help to break extremely heavy spawncamp situations. So, you can choose to play in the underworld or overworld, it isn't too affected by your team and doing one helps the other. However, I would want an extended KOTH timer, just so a team can hold the point and forward hold for a long time as they naturally would on such a map, without the other team being punished too hard for using the gimmick of the map. You would also want some portals to the underworld in the overworld just generally scattered about the map, so a team which mainly plays in the overworld can steamroll and capture the point, then go to the enemy spawn and realise that nobody's coming out, so they're all in the underworld, which is boring, so the overworld team needs a portal to the underworld (note that you could make overworld portals using two triggers, each of which is filtered to a different team, so either team can use any portal) so they can all leave the overworld and not have to try to spawncamp a team who isn't even there. This also opens up intense mindgames where teams wait for the entire enemy team to get bored and go to their underworld, then rush out of spawn and use the sugar rushes to get the advantage over the point. You might also want to have less ammo than your typical KOTH map would have and no sentry spots anywhere, so Engineers aren't encouraged to just set up on the point.

So, those are the crackhead ideas that I really like and want to make. Sorry that I wrote so much for all of them, I wanted to be comprehensive.
Funny how all 3 are "KOTH with extra steps".
 
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