tiftid

I'm generally hesitant to write about topics that others have already covered. But it seems that I continually see maps get the same things wrong, especially in regard to optimisation. So this guide will aim to provide a wide breadth of knowledge about intermediate-advanced level optimisation...

This is something that hasn't ever been enough to warrant putting in a guide, but still irritates me whenever I see a map get it wrong, so it's time to talk about it. Here's a tile floor, connecting to a 45-degree tile floor. This looks strange - no one would build tile floors like this in...

While thinking back on instance5 earlier today, I was reminded of how poor of a way it was to extend the Roundhouse system. In a flash of inspiration, I was struck with the idea that you could add doorways, and then passages up or down, and those would fit perfectly with larger, outer rings of...

I developed this set of instances on 03/Aug/2023 primarily as a party trick to impress @Brokkhouse . The Roundhouse method of building geometry is by now rather well-known, and well-described in its original thread. I was thinking about interesting ways to extend the system, and what I realised...

I'm uploading this primarily to insure against it being lost forever by hard drive failure. This was a project I started (and finished) in mid 2023, but never uploaded. It was to be a set of modular func_instance pieces that you could drag and drop into your map to quickly assemble TF2-style...

A Delivery CTF map with an all-around gothic theme mixed with some (not-so-well) hidden SpyTech. Deliver your team's flag to the enemy vault to open it and find out what lies inside. Do this 3 times to win. Your flag is disabled for 30 seconds after the round starts, and for 30 seconds after...

I built the bulk of this map way back in 2022. Since it was unfinished, I listed it on my Sketchbook thread, and... nobody cared. Now it's 2024 (a highly auspicious year), I'm 20 years old, and the original problem of adding arena_graveyard logic to a multi-stage arena map was trivial, once...

Those who know me well know that for the past couple of years or so, I've been obsessed with light and shadow. You can't be obsessed with something and not gain at least a little knowledge about it, so I'm going to share that knowledge with future generations, who will definitely be attentive to...

A pair of beautiful sky textures. Don't they make you just wanna roll over and go back to sleep? But you have to get up - you have work! sky_boatload_02 has an implied sun direction, whereas sky_boatload_01 is more ambiguous. pl_boatload uses sky_boatload_01 with an env_sun for finer control...

On 15/09/2023, I was suddenly struck with inspiration for the idea of an intel room which was a "house on a hill" with a one-way sniper perch surrounding it. I quickly expanded and iterated on the idea until I got... whatever this is. The idea is that it'll be more back-and-forth than your...

Now on the Steam Workshop! A map very loosely based on the CoD map Slums. The ultimate goal of the visual design was to make it feel like BOTH CoD and TF2 by having an abnormally high level of surface detail, but otherwise using assets, colours and visual design principles which are faithful to...

On this fine day, 28/08/2023, I do declare that I have artpassed the following six maps: Map Image Version B1 release Steam Workshop release pl_roofrack 15/08/2021 N/A cp_bruhstbowl 15/05/2022 23/10/2022 (5 months after B1) sd_offload 09/12/2022 04/03/2023 (3 months after B1)...

As you may have noticed, tf2maps.net proudly advertises five content packs at the bottom of the homepage. These content packs each promise a distinct map theme, and the textures and models you need to create it. In fact, one of these - the Swamp pack - was even bought by Valve and officially...

A Gravelpit map with no C point. Rotates for RED are relatively speedy. There's water, and early morning sunlight. It makes me happy. I'm much more proud of B than A.

These gravelpit shacks have been a perfect gameplay prop for me for the past 2 years. With a height of 256 and a sloped roof, they're something I can place next to a 128-tall surface with a guarantee that it'll act both as cover and something the players can crouch-jump onto. Plus, the shack...

These sky textures are intended to be versatile; equally useful on overcast days or nights, with or without rain. Only three full skyboxes are included currently. More skyboxes and assorted bonus textures are planned. sky_dystopia_01 is a dark grey skybox with an implied sun location and lots...

This guide talks about how to make your map better over time, when to call it done and how to give better feedback to other people's maps. I didn't go too much into the "how do we know what changes to make that will solve our equation" part, because that's really what my other guides are for -...

You don't need to credit me if you use prefab_tfconnect_tree.vmf, pl_point003.vmf, pl_point006.vmf, pl_point009b.vmf, tfconnect_tree_red.vmf or tfconnect_tree_blu.vmf, but you do if you use any of the other VMFs. The reason why the spikyhats logic prefab might be interesting to you despite the...

This isn't the first map I made for TF2, nor is it the first map I made in Hammer - those titles both go to random unfinished VMFs from 2016. But this is the TF2 map I developed furthest and liked most before I joined these forums. That gives it the "first map" trophy in my eyes. The original...

Lately I've been thinking of writing another guide, since it's been the traditional 8 months since my last one. I have a kind of pipe-dream agenda of eventually writing a guide for every gamemode, even some unofficial ones. I think that would take around 7 years? But I've already covered the...