Spawnroom & Intel Room Detailing Mini-Contest - Q1 2016 **Voting Thread**

Freyja

aa
Jul 31, 2009
2,994
5,813
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Spawnroom & Intel Room Detailing Mini-Contest Q1 2016

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Rules and Information | Upload Thread | Voting Thread

This thread is for voting only. Any unrelated posts will be deleted. Questions should go in the Rules and Information thread.



Voting Instructions:

To vote on the maps, please list your 3 favorite entries.
The order is irrelevant, just your top 3. Please make it very clear the three maps you are voting for.

  • You have 1 week from the time of this post to vote.
  • You can only vote for a max of 3 maps but may vote for less if you wish.
  • Please don't vote off the screenshots, run around the maps (preferably as a class, not spectator)

Voting Tips: (You may vote with any criteria you choose but this is suggested)

  • Is the map aesthetically pleasing?
    • Do the textures and props used make sense in the map?
    • Is the detailing level consistent?
  • Does the map fit within TF2?
    • Does it feel like it would be part of a larger map?
    • If not; does it feel to be enough of a unique environment to stand on it's own?
    • Does the artstyle feel like something that could foreseeable be within tf2? (TF2 is not just desert though guys)
    • Does it adhere to the physical laws in the TF2 universe?
  • Does the map fulfill your suspension of disbelief?
    • Are there any out of place props, things that don't make sense if the area was a real, used area?
  • Are the gameplay elements well used?
    • Is the intel a focus?
    • Can the player easily find the resupply cabinet, and respawn exits?

Entry list:

Please download the map pack here

 

Yrr

An Actual Deer
aa
Sep 20, 2015
1,308
2,743
room2016_void
room2016_idolon
room2016_Lotso
room2016_earkham

Reconsidering on Lotso upon loading it up again since i forgot about the fullbright thing + unpacked content + it crashed my game
 
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Mar 23, 2013
1,013
347
room2016_iti
room2016_yrr
room2016_sil

I don't think only 3 votes are enough. I'm ignoring the three best maps to give other nice maps attention and I still want to vote for more. Like Lotso and The Siphon who would be on my list, but you guys didn't pack correctly and no HDR cubemaps :/
 
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Aug 30, 2015
359
451
Room2016_Tierra-Verde
Room2016_The Siphon
Room2016_iTi


Only voting for three folks? But you're aaaaaaall winners. D'ah well, such is life
 

RodionJenga

L5: Dapper Member
Oct 24, 2015
236
256
Actual Votes:
room2016_void -nostalgic as hell, and intricately detailed visually and audibly.
room2016_oatmeal -almost as relaxing as actual tranquilizers or variousartists
room2016_exactol -i approve of this new underwater base trend. Also I don't want to buy keys.

Runners Up:
room2016_yrrzy -interesting spin on spytech
room2016_sil -spwaned inside the train car, but the "story" of the spawn made good sense
room2016_skullio -need a bit of texture work and skybox alignment but like the setting and the hot tub
room2016_cytosolic -good classic wholesome tf2 styling done well
 

Ida

deer
aa
Jan 6, 2008
2,289
1,372
As I've said before, I think it should be a requirement to say why you voted for something in these contests, but since it's not I'm giving everybody a little paragraph of a review, just so you get something said about your entries I guess.

oatmeal: Very good take on a forest theme. The waterfall and pond are a great setpiece and the house itself looks very nice. The cutoff directly into the sky is a bit disappointing, and the skybox texture somewhat glaring (even if the colors are nice), but this is generally super solid.

flowershopguy: Really nice take on a moon base, overall. Good skybox, a lot of attention brought to the intel. Something to be desired in terms of palette - I had to look for the BLU logo to make sure I was in a BLU base, it's very dominantly grey. There are even some red decals and props used. I'm also a bit confused about the plants growing straight out of the floor and the seemingly random numbers on the walls, but besides those things this is well executed.

inqwel: The switch between the clean BLU base and the industrial facade is very abrupt, especially so in the room where you spawn; combining these two themes in one room rarely turns out good, imo. Still, piece by piece they're well detailed and interesting to look at, and I like the tunnel the cart exits through. The outside is decent, but kind of let down by the skybox. The way it's walled off, and the general emptiness, makes it appear rushed. Still, with the majority of the focus being on the indoors, it doesn't harm it too much.

jones: Good spawn room, it looks kind of wrecked and under construction without being too heavy on it. The missile area is nice enough, if maybe a little uninspired. I'm not won over by the palette used, which has far too many different shades of blue/purple in a small area to look consistent.

yrrzy: Very good execution in a pretty small space. This style of spytech room has been sort of done before, but the surprisingly clean-looking wood and black metal on the walls make it look really unique, and kind of vaguely modern. The long shadows really help too, and the dish in the skybox looks great.

sil: Well, I spawned inside of the train thingy, and I can also exit through the door into nothingness, so something tells me you didn't plan for this to be explored. It's a pretty good attempt at a subway, though. Color choice is nice enough, and it feels realistic without breaking too far from the TF2 norm.

rayeress: This entry seems broken. The lighting is absurdly bright, the floors a pure white, and some overlays missing. It's a nice enough base in itself, with some ideas I like, but overall I don't think it's in a state where I can judge it too well.

wilfire: I love the idea of this! The skybox is super cool, with the buildings in the distance, although unfortunately it's really let down by some poor lighting on the water. The indoors are really solid, but missing models and textures let it down... I'm also not sure what's going on with the sounds, it kind of sounds like there is a ghost in the map or something... Uh, anyway, really solid but unfortunately flawed entry.

thesiphon: Totally broken cubemaps make it impossible to see what's going on at any place in the map, unfortunately. It's a damn shame, it looks pretty good besides.

exactol: This is great! Thoroughly good use of palette, the underwater effect is really well exectuded both visually and by the creaking and dripping sounds. Very very convincing BLU spytech base.

aeix: The mix of "nice" RED base walls and rough concrete is jarring, there is no way the missiles could move on those tracks. Overall feels slightly small and bare, but could be a decent fit in a map. Would've loved to see more of an implication of what's outside besides the snow underneath the door.

void: This is so gorgeous. It's a joy to explore, and incredibly well made. The natural areas look so organic, all the buildings fit perfectly into your theme, and the skybox is beautiful. The color palette is great - the intense orange would've probably had to be toned down in an actual map, though. Now, it does feel a little unfocused, as much more attention seems to have been paid to making an interesting area rather than an interesting intel room, but all things considered I can still imagine an actual match of TF2 taking place in this area, so it doesn't take me out of it. Overall an outstanding entry.

UDI: A pretty neat building, though I didn't actually spawn in the spawn room and I even had to noclip to get in there, which is a bit annoying. Would've also liked to see an implication that the area leads off to somewhere else, rather than just being an empty lot; as it stands it doesn't feel like it'd fit in the game very well.

idolon: Overall really well put-together base. I like the creative use of pretty basic props and shapes, the overhanging rock ceiling is well done, and the lighting is excellent around the capture point! My biggest gripe is the absence of color, to the point where it almost startled me when I ran past a little decal that was red. I would've loved to see some more use of the very rare, strong reds that you already have in this entry, especially in the spawn. Without them it's sadly a bit drab. Some sound would've also helped seal the deal.

nicktf: Pretty solid idea, I like the verticality of it a lot. However, some parts of the detailing makes little to no sense; I can't figure out whether this train station is meant to be a facade or a blatantly obvious RED base, and some smaller details like certain signage or the transition from spawn to intel room seem a bit off to me.

rtk: This feels mostly like a showcase of random joke ideas. There's no intel, so I assume it's meant to be a spawn room entry, but it there's not much focus on that part of it. I think it misses the point of the contest a bit, sorry.

skullio: Plenty of nice ideas here, especially with the hot tub and the associated vista. The sense of height is awesome. My main issue is I can't quite figure out if the cabin is meant to be incredibly fancy or kind of shabby, so I'm not sold on the believability, unfortunately.

davekillerish1: I'm happy to see good use of strong colors and contrasts, but the general gist of the environment feels a little haphazardly put together, like a display gallery of so, so many items. Stuff not normally found as map details (blood, player items, bread) take me out of it too. There's a bunch of nice ideas here, but not much logic holding it together.

cytosolic: Some strange texture choices (the bright yellow is very jarring, "fancy" tiles in such a worn-down building don't make sense), and I think you could've improved the palette of the building to be less thoroughly brown. However, I really like the details in it, the "subtle" spytech and the implications of what's outside. Good, simple use of skybox. Would've loved to see some small implication of where this spawn might lead to, however.

rodionjenga: That's a really nice village outside! Cool idea, with a decent execution overall. The indoors feel a little sparse once you try to go out into the hallway, and some of the decoration in the intel room is a bit odd. Also a pretty blatant nodraw.

lampenpam: Lovely use of the swamp theme. I love how far you took the flooding idea! A lot of attention was clearly given to the destroyed roof too, it's a very nice effect. I was disappointed I couldn't go out through what looked like an obvious exit, though. Unfortunately, the skybox texture and the heavy use of that wall texture give the map a grainy, dirty look that isn't the best for TF2. I also wish there was more of a solid indication of whose base this is.

earkham: Great use of the Japan set! It feels really well put together, I could absolutely see this as an ingame area too. Would've loved to see a skybox to seal the deal, but there's a decent implication of the "outside" anyway, with the trees. My main complaint is the red wood used throughout the map feels a bit overused, maybe even tacky. Still, really nice overall.

captainclam: Elevator spawn is a good idea, execution is ok. It's far too small for a full team however, and the use of textures in it is a bit of a mishmash. Lighting is far too strong in some places. General lack of polish (door floating off the wall, elevator going to nowhere, big brick wall outside of the doors is kind of jarring).

iti: Super cool idea! The architecture of the building looks great, I love the pieces of ruination that are present, and the skybox is quite good. It's a shame it feels rather empty - like, I would've imagined this having more furniture in it, where did it go? At least I think the intel should've had more of a marked location, like a podium or table or something.

tierraverde: ...are these buildings made of dirt? Huh? I'm really puzzled by that, and I don't think it's a great look, but the general idea is nice and I love the view of the river. Would've loved to see a bit more detail here though, maybe some buildings in the distance or some shrubbery on the cliffs above.
Edit: It was brought to my attention that the "dirt" it was supposed to be adobe, which I'm inclined to say was a clever idea, but I don't think it fully worked. The texture is just so recognizable as a default dirt texture, and it blends into the environment. Would've been really cool with a custom adobe texture!

Lotso: Super awesome take on the arctic idea, maybe the best I've ever seen in TF2. I love the tunnel, the patched together look of the base, the skybox... It's a damn shame something seems to have gone wrong with the cubemaps, but it doesn't detract TOO much.
(Click the spoiler tag to see them)

My votes:
1. void
2. Lotso
3. exactol

Honorable mentions (in no order):
idolon, yrrzy, lampenpam, iti, earkham, flowershopguy
 
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radarhead

Basically? Kind of a Huge Mess
aa
Mar 6, 2013
1,045
625
TOP VOTES:
room_2016_flowershopguy ---Beautiful visuals, soundscapes, and use of particles!
room2016_void ---Awesome (in the classic sense) execution of a brand new theme... I want to see a whole map that looks like this!
room2016_yrrzy ---So warm and pretty. Clever use of the radar dish in the skybox, too.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
room2016_exactol, room2016_lampenpam, room2016_lotso, room2016_cytosolic, room2016_rodionjenga
 

Egan

aa
Feb 14, 2010
1,375
1,720
Votes:
room2016_idolon
room2016_flowershopguy
room2016_void

Feedback

You guys should post your maps onto the SFM workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/browse/?appid=1840&p=1
Also if the videos are cool pls thank my post because that took 8 hours
 
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Moonrat

nothing left
aa
Jul 30, 2014
932
585
Votes:

Oatmeal
Void
Lotso

Oatmeal's entry is my favorite. It looks fantastic, and is very immersive. This is a location I'd LOVE to see in a finished map. The great use of Bulletcrops assets and the Dawn skybox only make it better.

Void's entry is amazing as well. A ton of custom models and such come and make it stand out more than any other entry here. The little things you can find around the map are also great. I love the exploration here as well.

Lotso's entry is cool. hehehehehehehheheheheheheheheheheheheheheehheh. Though really, it's very pretty and the spawn area cave is unique and very cool to look at. I like your use of the wooden supports in them as well.
 

EArkham

Necromancer
aa
Aug 14, 2009
1,625
2,773
room2016_void
room2016_exactol
room2016_yrrzy

No detailed explanations sorry I have my reasons they just speak to me okay don't question it I love them okay shut up I said it fine.
 

SierraStorms

L1: Registered
Oct 23, 2015
46
198
My Favorites:
room2016_oatmeal
room2016_Lotso
room2016_earkham
--
Honorable Mentions: room2016_inquel, room2016_iti, room2016_sil, room2016_void, room2016_yrrzy, room2016_flowershopguy.
 

Freyja

aa
Jul 31, 2009
2,994
5,813
I'm going to leave the voting open for a little while as a few people have said to me they haven't had time to go through all the entries yet. Voting will not close on Tuesday (Australia's tuesday, america's monday)
 

hutty

aa
Mar 30, 2014
538
444
room2016_void
room2016_flowershopguy

There were a lot of nice maps, although I am biased towards the larger ones I can walk around a bit in.
_void is by far the best in my opinion, it feels so natural and has a great use of color. I was also impressed by the large amount of little places to explore in it, as well as the good framerate it had.

_flowershopguy Is another one I really like, even though it has several flaws. I like the way the clean space station contrasts with the foliage that is placed plentifully around. The large scale and geometry of it reminds me of something from borderlands. Flaws wise, this one has quite a few invisible walls, framerate issues, and the giant thing above the cap point looks kinda dumb. (but then, I don't like the one in glassworks either). Regardless, despite its flaws, I was really impressed with this one.
 
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