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It's that time once again, the end of the year is here! It's been a rather weird one all things considered for the collection, but I think we still made it out pretty okay. This is actually a bit of a sequel post to my last year-end wrapup, which was... wow, a year ago. Amazing. In the time since, I've somehow managed to convince my way into making three maps with @Cass, held an entire unofficial contest, started working in hammer on my own... and yet somehow still had the time to get another thousand maps into the sheet! Truly, a busy year. And amidst it all I've felt strange, myself. This year was with a lot more strong lapses in wanting to collect, which... a bit worrying, but I'm sure it's nothing. Anywho, let's get into what you're actually here for: The 2024 Collection Wrap-Up!
So like I said, not the biggest year, but still not something to scoff at. I think I'm still proud of it though, a lot happened this year and I think it was overall okay to have a bit of a slower year this time around. How about we get into the map additions now?
Holy fuck, 8,400.
I look at this number and I just stare in confusion in how it's actually possible. By all accounts, it should not be, but it is. Reaching over 1,000 King of the Hill maps was a bit of an experience on its own, but this? To me this feels like a completely different level of insanity. It's kind of scary in a way, but I think I like this brand of scary. Seeing I did only like 130 less than the year I felt I was most active (2023) when I genuinely felt like this year was a bit of a slum is... I don't even know how to feel.
I felt like spotlighting some of the non-major gamemodes this year too, since there's a good amount of modes that didn't really get much love last year just due to how I formatted things. Every gamemode here has 20 or more custom maps to its name, so how about we get counting?
Okay... recovered from that, so... how about I show you what exactly was going on in 2024? There's a few interesting things that I had been working on, but for one reason or another, just never really panned out for the sheet. There were also some major improvements, which I was quite happy about, but you know: Drama first lol.
The Catabase was a major project I worked on from mid-ish February this year to the beginning of August. It was an incredibly massive-scale project (as you're able to see in the image) that just... well, was too big for me man. I think it had a great concept behind it, and honestly it really was pushing sheets to its limits in terms of pure web design via a bunch of internal coding inside the cells. You could get info on basically any map available via a dropdown list. There were a few pretty major problems with the project though, and that ultimately led to its downfall. The major one honestly just being that dealing with such an insane amount of data, as a single person, was... incredibly stressful ngl. I remember looking at the amount of versions of Snowplow and going "how the fuck am I going to do this," and while I eventually did the major toll that hunkering down on just the official maps alone told me that this was a pretty infeasible concept while I'm alone. Maybe if I had a team it'd be achievable, but I realized this year that what I do will only really be worked on by me. So that got shelved.
The Notable Maps Page was a semi-major project I had in the works around the beginning of the year, and it kind of changed focus and designs a few times but the goal maintained relatively the same: just provide an easy-ish way to view maps that are "notable" in some way, like being played competitive, or maybe shown in a famous youtube video, or being a contest winner or something. I think it was an okay idea but the main problem it really had is just that it wasn't very fun to work on, honestly it was pretty actively boring. I think I kinda mentally shelved the idea in March, since it just wasn't really that enjoyable and to be frank I think that's something that only I would have wanted around anywhere since I like looking at maps, lol.
The Gamemode Sheets Revamp was a major project I started towards the last third or so of the year, and it died pretty quickly. It wasn't really a bad idea to be honest, but I think it was just more effort than it was really worth. The idea was a bit of a random thought, and I found it strange when I tested a TF2Maps audience with the change and they actually kinda liked it? The problem is that I would've needed to go really, really long swaths of time without actually working on the map sheet, which at the end of the year I was already feeling awful about how I had "not done much this year" and would also just been clunky to work with given I always have a to-do list going alongside the gamemode pages. The failure of this ultimate resulted in one of my more recent projects though, which while it's not quite ready for the public yet, I think it will be exciting to see once it's close enough to completion for it to be released.
The TF2c Map Database was, essentially, a Team Fortress 2 Classic version of my map database that I made in March. This was during the period where I was trying to maximize my output, and while I do think the TF2C edition came out incredibly well (it feels a lot cleaner to me), it ultimately was the victim of "A parent who doesn't want it's child," so to speak. I've never really been into Team Fortress 2 Classic, or PF2, or really any of those mod games (tho they are cool), and this was more of just... wanting to provide an opportunity for people. I put a lot of my effort into making the TF2C edition of the sheet, and I ultimately failed to realize that I'm really the only person who wants to make this shit with spreadsheets of all things. Trying and failing to get this into someone else's more capable/passionate hands honestly kinda killed me inside, and I think in retrospect is what was the final swing to the face that resulted in me burning out massively of collecting maps for a while. It's still up if anyone would like to adopt the project (I'm open to being pretty hands-off with the project), so feel free to message me I guess.
The Themes Page Revamp is probably the one thing I could genuinely say I did right this year, in terms of major infrastructure for the collection. I had been working on it since around mid-2023, but I was so burnt out from focusing on the Catabase and the TF2c stuff, alongside just the regular work on the collection that I already did that it took an entire year to actually release. Once it did though, I could not tell you how happy I was with it. It's just so smooth, so crisp, and shows off exactly what it needs do.
As a little teaser for what I'm working on next... well, let's just say that the end of the year means the beginning of a new one.
It's that time once again, the end of the year is here! It's been a rather weird one all things considered for the collection, but I think we still made it out pretty okay. This is actually a bit of a sequel post to my last year-end wrapup, which was... wow, a year ago. Amazing. In the time since, I've somehow managed to convince my way into making three maps with @Cass, held an entire unofficial contest, started working in hammer on my own... and yet somehow still had the time to get another thousand maps into the sheet! Truly, a busy year. And amidst it all I've felt strange, myself. This year was with a lot more strong lapses in wanting to collect, which... a bit worrying, but I'm sure it's nothing. Anywho, let's get into what you're actually here for: The 2024 Collection Wrap-Up!
GENERAL STATISTICS
Category | 2023 | 2024 | Increase/Decrease |
|---|---|---|---|
| # of Gamemodes (Total) | 422 Gamemodes | 466 Gamemodes | +44 Gamemodes |
| # of Gamemodes (Main Only) | 217 Main Gamemodes | 242 Main Gamemodes | +25 Main Gamemodes |
| # of Mappers | 2,095 Mappers | 2,704 Mappers | +609 (lmao) Mappers |
| # of Seals (Total) | 184 Seals | 197 Seals | +13 Seals |
| # of Seals (Non-Contest Only) | 42 Primary Seals | 42 Primary Seals | +0 Primary Seals |
| # of entries in WKS | 1,234 Entries | 1,695 Entries | +461 Entries in WKS |
| # of entries in The Name Index | 8,126 Entries | 10,566 Entries | +2,440 Entries in The Name Index |
| # of entries in The Chronicle | 3,370 Entries | 4,690 Entries | +1,320 Entries in The Chronicle |
| # of entries in "The Lost" | 45 Entries | 87 Entries | +42 Entries in The Lost  |
| # of recorded Updates | 23 Updates | 43 Updates | +20 Recorded Updates |
| # of Credits | 63 Credited People | 79 Credited People | +16 Credited People |
| # of Opening Pages | 18 Pages | 18 Pages | +0 Opening Pages |
| # of Skyboxes Listed | 261 Skyboxes | 264 Skyboxes | +3 Skyboxes Listed |
| # of Official Maps | 183 Official Maps | 205 Official Maps | +22 Official Maps |
So like I said, not the biggest year, but still not something to scoff at. I think I'm still proud of it though, a lot happened this year and I think it was overall okay to have a bit of a slower year this time around. How about we get into the map additions now?
Category | 2023 | 2024 | Increase/Decrease |
|---|---|---|---|
| TOTAL MAPS | 7,027 Maps | 8,411 Maps | +1,384 Total Maps |
| Attack / Defense Only | 660 | 848 | +188 A/D Maps |
| Control Points Only | 662 | 775 | +113 CP Maps |
| King of the Hill Only | 897 | 1,187 | +290 KOTH Maps |
| Capture the Flag Only | 538 | 637 | +99 CTF Maps |
| Payload Only | 626 | 766 | +140 PL Maps |
| Payload Race Only | 109 | 123 | +14 PLR Maps |
| Arena Only | 246 | 312 | +66 Arena Maps |
| Mann vs. Machine Only | 204 | 280 | +76 MVM Maps |
| PASS Time Only | 30 | 40 | +10 PASS Maps |
| Player Destruction Only | 63 | 84 | +21 PD Maps |
I look at this number and I just stare in confusion in how it's actually possible. By all accounts, it should not be, but it is. Reaching over 1,000 King of the Hill maps was a bit of an experience on its own, but this? To me this feels like a completely different level of insanity. It's kind of scary in a way, but I think I like this brand of scary. Seeing I did only like 130 less than the year I felt I was most active (2023) when I genuinely felt like this year was a bit of a slum is... I don't even know how to feel.
I felt like spotlighting some of the non-major gamemodes this year too, since there's a good amount of modes that didn't really get much love last year just due to how I formatted things. Every gamemode here has 20 or more custom maps to its name, so how about we get counting?
Achievement 38 Maps | Attack / Defense CTF 51 Maps | Basketball 32 Maps | Bunny Hop 23 Maps |
Cloaktype 35 Maps | Control Point Domination 37 Maps | Death Run 65 Maps | Deathmatch 89 Maps |
Deathmatch Lite 25 Maps | Detail Maps 287 Maps | Dodgeball 88 Maps | Domination 44 Maps |
Engineer Fortress 30 Maps | Fort Wars 48 Maps | Four-vs.-Four PASS Time 25 Maps | Gun Game 28 Maps |
Invade Capture the Flag 53 Maps | Jailbreak 45 Maps | Jump 166 Maps | King of the Flag 31 Maps |
Minigame Maps 21 Maps | Murder Mod 24 Maps | Parkour Fortress 64 Maps | Prop Hunt 51 Maps |
Reverse Capture the Flag 20 Maps | Robot Destruction 22 Maps | Slender Fortress 36 Maps | Smash Fortress 27 Maps |
Sniper Wars 37 Maps | Special Delivery 34 Maps | Super Zombie Fortress 42 Maps | Surf 24 Maps |
Team Deathmatch 22 Maps | Technical Maps 31 Maps | Territory Control 35 Maps | Trade 71 Maps |
Training Mode 33 Maps | Tug of War 28 Maps | Ultiduo 73 Maps | Variant Capture the Flag 33 Maps |
Variant Control Points 41 Maps | Versus Saxton Hale 148 Maps | Zombie Escape 27 Maps | Zombie Fortress 52 Maps |
Zombie Mod 39 Maps | Zombie Survival 43 Maps |
Looking Back
May I level with you guys for a minute? 2024 was... to be honest, really not a great year for me. There was a lot of failure that came out of this year with the collection; I did a lot, and yet not really much came of it because they were failed ventures. I wanna take a moment to just, thank my friends over on my server. I don't think I would have managed to make a comeback from this year if I didn't have you guys around, just being the cool people you are and helping me remember that there really are people out there willing to help, willing to learn, willing to just... be there and hang out, y'know? I love you guys, cheers to 2024.Okay... recovered from that, so... how about I show you what exactly was going on in 2024? There's a few interesting things that I had been working on, but for one reason or another, just never really panned out for the sheet. There were also some major improvements, which I was quite happy about, but you know: Drama first lol.
The Catabase was a major project I worked on from mid-ish February this year to the beginning of August. It was an incredibly massive-scale project (as you're able to see in the image) that just... well, was too big for me man. I think it had a great concept behind it, and honestly it really was pushing sheets to its limits in terms of pure web design via a bunch of internal coding inside the cells. You could get info on basically any map available via a dropdown list. There were a few pretty major problems with the project though, and that ultimately led to its downfall. The major one honestly just being that dealing with such an insane amount of data, as a single person, was... incredibly stressful ngl. I remember looking at the amount of versions of Snowplow and going "how the fuck am I going to do this," and while I eventually did the major toll that hunkering down on just the official maps alone told me that this was a pretty infeasible concept while I'm alone. Maybe if I had a team it'd be achievable, but I realized this year that what I do will only really be worked on by me. So that got shelved.
The Notable Maps Page was a semi-major project I had in the works around the beginning of the year, and it kind of changed focus and designs a few times but the goal maintained relatively the same: just provide an easy-ish way to view maps that are "notable" in some way, like being played competitive, or maybe shown in a famous youtube video, or being a contest winner or something. I think it was an okay idea but the main problem it really had is just that it wasn't very fun to work on, honestly it was pretty actively boring. I think I kinda mentally shelved the idea in March, since it just wasn't really that enjoyable and to be frank I think that's something that only I would have wanted around anywhere since I like looking at maps, lol.
The Gamemode Sheets Revamp was a major project I started towards the last third or so of the year, and it died pretty quickly. It wasn't really a bad idea to be honest, but I think it was just more effort than it was really worth. The idea was a bit of a random thought, and I found it strange when I tested a TF2Maps audience with the change and they actually kinda liked it? The problem is that I would've needed to go really, really long swaths of time without actually working on the map sheet, which at the end of the year I was already feeling awful about how I had "not done much this year" and would also just been clunky to work with given I always have a to-do list going alongside the gamemode pages. The failure of this ultimate resulted in one of my more recent projects though, which while it's not quite ready for the public yet, I think it will be exciting to see once it's close enough to completion for it to be released.
The TF2c Map Database was, essentially, a Team Fortress 2 Classic version of my map database that I made in March. This was during the period where I was trying to maximize my output, and while I do think the TF2C edition came out incredibly well (it feels a lot cleaner to me), it ultimately was the victim of "A parent who doesn't want it's child," so to speak. I've never really been into Team Fortress 2 Classic, or PF2, or really any of those mod games (tho they are cool), and this was more of just... wanting to provide an opportunity for people. I put a lot of my effort into making the TF2C edition of the sheet, and I ultimately failed to realize that I'm really the only person who wants to make this shit with spreadsheets of all things. Trying and failing to get this into someone else's more capable/passionate hands honestly kinda killed me inside, and I think in retrospect is what was the final swing to the face that resulted in me burning out massively of collecting maps for a while. It's still up if anyone would like to adopt the project (I'm open to being pretty hands-off with the project), so feel free to message me I guess.
The Themes Page Revamp is probably the one thing I could genuinely say I did right this year, in terms of major infrastructure for the collection. I had been working on it since around mid-2023, but I was so burnt out from focusing on the Catabase and the TF2c stuff, alongside just the regular work on the collection that I already did that it took an entire year to actually release. Once it did though, I could not tell you how happy I was with it. It's just so smooth, so crisp, and shows off exactly what it needs do.
Epilogue
I think that's everything that really happened this year, aside from contest stuff which this page isn't really for. I wanna say thank you for listening to me ramble so long and let me be a little self-indulgent in talking about the sheet. Mapping, whether it be collecting, ideating, making, it's literally my everything, and I hope my collection is true proof of that. This year taught me a lot, but I think above all is that "I may be alone in making this, but I have so many people who want to support me doing so." To everyone who's contributed in literally any way to the sheet, whether it just be as a passive user or someone who helps pick apart the little problems in it, or even map donators, thank you so much for the support you give. It makes me so happy seeing people be invested in mapping, or even caring to just... come on by, once in a while. <3As a little teaser for what I'm working on next... well, let's just say that the end of the year means the beginning of a new one.
Here's to Ten Thousand maps next year. I'll do my damndest to deliver on that front. See you on the other side, and, like always, thank you so much for your continued use of the collection. <3 <3 <3
- Minty "Katsu! :3 " Aulenrose
- Minty "Katsu! :3 " Aulenrose
