Minor Contest #2: Guardian Dynamica [VOTING THREAD]

Startacker! · Jan 15, 2021

Deadline

Voting ends on February 3rd, 2021, at 11:59PM UTC.
- Voting will be extended if turnout is low.
The MvM servers are set up on a rotation for the contest maps.
- If you run into any issues with the servers, please alert a staff member.

Voting Format

Voting is based on a 0-100 scale, with the final scores being an average of those. Please rate each map in the following categories:

Gameplay
Detailing
Contest Theme (Dynamic Elements)

All of the maps and their assets can be downloaded here.

You are encouraged to leave feedback with your ratings, but it is not required.

You may not vote for your own map. Votes may be thrown out at the discretion of staff*.

NOTE:
The following missions are template missions and are voided from judging, they are:

Code:

gd_flow_a1_star1
mvm_gd_fastener_b2_crin2
mvm_gd_fastener_b2_star1
mvm_gd_fastener_b2_star2

Use this table to cast your votes:

Code:

[table=head]
MAP | GAMEPLAY | DETAILING | CONTEST THEME
Caster | | |
Crossing | | |
Fastener | | |
Flow | | |
Frostine | | |
Golf With A Friend | | |
Lion | | |
Summer | | |
[/table]

*In the interest of transparency, there will be a public record of what votes were thrown out at the end of public voting, if there are any.

Mushu · Jan 15, 2021

A few questions regarding the voting system.
1) Is it expected to have played each map to be able to accurately cast a vote?
2) What about checking each wave, on each map, for gameplay testing?
3) Wouldn't a small amount of votes, be subject to heavy bias? Example: Friends of a mapmaker rating.
4) What about people testing one map extensively, and only briefly doing so with another?

With the heavy effort required to test even one map as a casual passer by, it seems like there will not be enough votes to offset bias. Especially as the people voting are likely creators or friends of a mapmaker.

I'll edit this table to vote, after I've played other maps in more detail.

MAP | GAMEPLAY | DETAILING | CONTEST THEME
Caster| 45| 75| 60
Crossing |40| 65| 60
Fastener| 45| 75| 60
Flow| N/A| 50| 20
Frostine| 50| 50| 10
Golf With A Friend |30 |40 |10
Lion |100| 40| 90
Summer |85| 95| 90

Quick Note
First, just want to say that the amount of effort put into each map is truly inspiring. Well done to all creators, I think effort alone deserves to be recognised. Most of the problems noticed just seem to be from a lack of time and polish, rather than glaring design problems.

Caster
The dynamic element has a lot of promise, however often is used at the start of a wave, just cutting the map in half and simplifying the game. While the walkways are a cool idea, they definitely need to be made wider to facilitate gameplay better.

Crossing
Having multiple power ups is interesting, though more time was needed to fully flesh each one out. The waves are very long, and have a constant trickle which ruins the pacing. Detailing is mediocre, but the skybox feels mismatched.

Fastener
The detailing is really nice, felt like a trainyard. That being said, the traintracks and dynamic element lead to a rather chaotic gameplay experience that did not feel like MvM to me. This is a fairly subjective opinion however, and I get why people enjoy it.

Flow
Can't comment on gameplay, since the provided waves are so bad. Dynamic element is nice effect but doesn't have a massive gameplay effect. Map detailing is a bit barren, and there's a lack of general cover and props.

Frostline
Frostline was just super solid and average. My only complaints being that the dynamic element had no impact on the game, and the forward upgrade booth can be accidently walked into rather easily.

Golf With a Friend
Hard to rate this one. Making golf in TF2 is impressive, but not related to the competition. I consider a dynamic element to be something that impacts the gameplay of MvM, but there's no MvM gameplay.

Lion
I really, really enjoyed the expert mission for this map. The layout is really nice, with rotation options. The MoM works well, and shakes up the gameplay. The expert wave I played had excellent pacing, encouraged teamwork and tactical play.
Shame there wasn't enough time to finish the detailing and replace dev textures.

Summer
Summer has the most polish to the map and it shows. On the gameplay side the HOGs work well and encourage a range of playstyles. While the courtyard was great to defend, the tunnel to the final point felt a bit tight when retreating.

Box Of Paper · Jan 15, 2021

Apparently my map Pelago happens to crash when too many scraps are picked up at the same time, I crashed the server and I'm really sorry for that, if possible I'd like the map removed from the map rotation.

Startacker! · Jan 15, 2021

Mushu said:
1) Is it expected to have played each map to be able to accurately cast a vote?
2) What about checking each wave, on each map, for gameplay testing?
3) Wouldn't a small amount of votes, be subject to heavy bias? Example: Friends of a mapmaker rating.
4) What about people testing one map extensively, and only briefly doing so with another?

You're at the very least expected to have played a map once or twice to make your own call. If you want to get meticulous you can, but it's not necessary.

I don't think 3 and 4 are issues that realistically happen or are ones I need to worry about. Voting sets that have only 1 or 2 maps filled out will more than likely be thrown out, something in the "We can throw out your votes for any reason" clause.

Box Of Paper said:
Apparently my map Pelago happens to crash when too many scraps are picked up at the same time, I crashed the server and I'm really sorry for that, if possible I'd like the map removed from the map rotation.

If that's your decision, that'll be done then.

Jakapoa · Jan 15, 2021

Will update as I replay the maps.
Scores:

MAP | GAMEPLAY | DETAILING | CONTEST THEME
Caster* |50|55|40
Crossing | Nope | Nada | Nothing
Fastener |35|90|80
Flow |15|25|5
Frostine |50|65|5
Golf With A Friend |50|40|80
Lion |80|50|80
Summer |80|95|85

Notes:

Caster:

GAMEPLAY
Mission:
Every advanced mission here (and the ints to some extent) are entirely balanced around having an engineer and typically a soldier. We had to use tryhard strats to even try this w/o an engie. The lack of dropped cash in all the missions also detracts from the gameplay, as you can't buy upgrades, use buybacks, or reliably play scout.

Adv: A lot of the missions just end up being an endless stream of robots for the majority of the wave. The problem with this is that it makes holding the first point almost impossible when you're given no time to let the capture progress lower. Some points in the missions are also bullshitingly hard, and no team I've seen play this map has even beaten it without cheating yet. This was a problem throughout testing, and I don't know why it was never solved.

Both ints:
Both ints are much more enjoyable, as the decreased amount of bots and better balancing removes the need for the engineer meta.

Map:
This map is extremely tight, and I think it hampers the map in a variaty of ways. Rocket jumping/jetpacking around feels like I'm half a second away from bashing into something (actually, a non crouch rocket jump can bonk my head on the upper platforms). Trying to land on said platforms is slightly annoying as I have to avoid other platforms while clearing the railing.
With the upstairs platforms, they're incredibly tight. There's no room to strafe, cover is limited, and with the scattershot pathmarkers it's almost always impossible to tell which path the robots would even take. Then again when robots to take the upper route, they often get stuck just because of how small the walkable space is. It's almost exactly two characters wide, which it too small for areas designed for combat.
The hatch area is incredibly cramped, and you can easily be spawncamped if a robot like a demo or pyro is present.

While there's a good ammout of health and ammo kits around the first point, the second point needs more kits. Every time I hold on last I'm fighting with my teammate for the ammo.

Sometimes when the gate opens, the PauseBotSpawning output is not sent to the population interface, leading to bots running out while the stun is active and running to the hatch.

DETAILING
Sounds: Has sounds.
Looks: It fits the theme, but you go overboard in the detailing in some areas. Why would a factory have a "mapping lounge"?
Theme: It's a refinery or factory or something close to that.
Textures: Half life 2 textures. And they're pretty obvious ones.

Props: Some props you use are questionable as to why they're in a factory (a war table?)
Lighting: Good.
Path Markers: "This is where the advanced difficulty comes in from, where you don't know where the robots are comming from"
ALL the path markers. When waves start with every marker added, it gives players the same amount of information as if there had been none. Either limit yourself, or make smarter paths.
VO: It's nice at first, but it gets annoying after a while. And having it go off randomly does not help, as it's the same anouncer used for hazards, which can confuse the player when you can't hear it over the sound of gunfire. After a while I just started manually disabling the VO timer.
I would not have known what looks like a cafe/cafiteria was actually a "mapping lounge" if your announcer didn't come over the loudspeaker and directly say it.
Visible dev sign. Is this a trade map?

DYNAMIC ELEMENT
Well, apparently you went with the idea that "more = better", which isn't always the best idea.
Smoke:
The smoke hazard is almost never a problem, as just staying on the ground is 9 times out of 10 easier for waves, and doesn't change how players play on the map. It's simply easy enough to just wait for the robots to come down. The only times people would actually fall victem to it were when they forgot it existed, or got knocked into it.

Molten metal (aka Lava):
The lava on the other hand makes moving and attacking a nightmare for most classes. Scout/pyro/spy can't do much damage if any from long range, heavy/engie have troble moving away from it. Basically when the lava happens, your best plan is to hold the point for as long as you can, and then hold all the way back at the hatch. Trying to hold out on the open and narrow platforms is just a nightmare if you're not soldier, as the narrow pathways and railings make aiming down a pain.
This element (and this map) feels like it's tailored to projectile classes who are uneffected by range.

Grenade Tank (and tanks):
Having tanks alone is rather unique for a gd map, and making it a grenade tank is unique to mvm. It's a very cool concept, but I just don't know how it plays when all the tanks on this map are paper thin, and it's rare to see a tank get anywhere close to the hatch. The other issue with tanks is that the tank baricade at the front is a major point of cover, and having a tank smash through it at the start of the wave leaves the entire A point area wide open. Also, grenade spam in a map this small is not the best idea.

Sentries:
Well this is the only gd map with sentries, so it basically counts as a dynamic element. And it's confusing as to why you would add them, when a single sentry can cover a third of the entire map. They also don't get stunned on gate capture.

Gate Force Capture:
I don't know why you felt the need to add this in. In the two missions that used it, neither time it felt really impactful. It just played out like A was lost. One time it even forced the capture in the middle of the wave, with two equaly bizzare explinations:
1. The gate was automatically captured because the active lava hazard would make holding it impossible. This speaks to just how poorly balanced the lava hazard actually is when it's use it seen as an automatic gate loss.
2. You specifically told the mission creator to add more forced gate captures into their missions. And this statement really explained the gimmicks in the map in a nutshell: you added the gimmicks for the sake of having them, and considered the gameplay second.

Fastener:

Writing things off of b2 since that's what everyone is telling me, so I guess you may have fixed some things already. (I reran this on b3a, opinion worsened because the issues were not fixed/became worse).

GAMEPLAY
Mission:
The missions apparently aren't void, so I guess it factors in. Quite honestly I don't know how the map itself is supposed to play because it doesn't feel like the missions you use actually incorporate the dynamic element. Only the support bots added into the template are the ones that attempt to capture the point. And when that only happens to be 1-3 melee scouts, the wave itself becomes laughably easy. Once you put a sentry on the capture car, you have essentially won the entire wave, because nothing else the wave throws at the capture car is enough to overwhelm a sentry. Every main wave bot goes off to the opposite side of the map, and poses no threat to anyone holding the capture car. Even while playing this w/o engineer, all we had to do was wack the support off the capture car every once in a while while we slowly whittled away at the main wave bots. Waves then end up turning into a slog as we throw ourselves at the main wave bots until they die.

Missions are missing sentrybusters.

Trying to move around the train is a pain in the neck when it's always creeping forward, and touching it is almost guaranteed to get you stuck.

I have no idea where you're supposed to build/hold in the front other than the broken spots. You can't use the hanging crate for cover whatsoever, because bots are able to shoot you from underneath while you can't see them.

Bots & The Nav:
Bots can't handle the train moving through the play area. They will constantly try to path through areas where they can't actually move and get stuck. Many times this includes the capture bots, but can also effects sentrybusters as well. The main wave bots will just walk off to the middle of the map, away from the train until it gets close enough to the end, at which point they run straight into the front of the train and get stuck. There are also areas where sentrybusters can't path/fit to the offending sentry (this also applies to giants if they were to path there).
Forgot, bots can also open spawn doors.
Money gets stuck under the train and can't be collected.
Uber meds using the QF icon.

Health and Ammo:
There is not enough ammo and health kits spread around the map, or really, in the important areas. While you have the large kits placed around the main track, fighting often takes place on the other side of the map where the bots run to. Even just a few scattered small kits would be much appreciated, as it feels like I'm fighting with my other teammate for the one kit in our current area.

DETAILING
I'm not a detailing guy, so I'm going to just going to go down my checklist:
Sounds: Has sounds. Sounds like a trainyard.
Looks: Looks like a trainyard.
Theme: Trainyard. Is trainyard.
Textures: Match theme.
Props: Match theme, no overbearing spam of props.
Lighting: Is good.
Path Markers: Has them. Also has the finish indicator.
My only gripe is the outside upgradestation. I legitimately had no clue it existed until looking through at detailing. Feels pretty out of the way for being what I assume is a forward upgradestation. It could easily fit behind that closed bay door at the front.

CONTEST THEME
Capture Train Gimmick:
I will give the train gimmick the benefit of the doubt and say with a good mission it could work well if defending the train wasn't so easy.

However, there are issues with it that you failed to account for. Waves can start as soon as ~11 seconds after the previous has started. Your capture train unfortunately takes much longer to get all the way back to the robot spawn. Any wave that starts while the train is moving back will work, but it will stop once the bots reach it.

Side train Gimmick:
The train that moves some bots in is a cute idea, but it also falls victim to the nav issues as well. Some busters that get trained in will blow up the second they leave the train, since they can't path correctly (or because the sentry isn't in a walkable area). More critically, some robots can either fall off or get hit by the train and wedge themselfs into geometry, permanently locking them in spawn and bricking the wave.

Flow:

GAMEPLAY
Map:
While guardian maps are meant to be small, this map however is way too small. Once bots leave spawn, they only need to travel 3-5 seconds to reach point A. Trying to hold at the choke points near the spawn feel pointless, as it's easier to just hold point A and wait the extra few seconds. Also, with how small the map is, there are sightlines that easily cover almost the entire map (or the entire map if you get a jump height upgrade).

The player cover is something else I don't like. Players are given plenty of cover at point A (to the point where I was able to +attack most waves), but point B is incredibly sparse. Aside from the one large rock in front of point B, there is no reasonable cover for players. The small raised area to the right of the point is way to open to bots coming from the watermill, and it's incredibly awkward to try to hold out in the small but decently covered stair ramp. It's so hard to attack bots until they are right onto of the point, which can be said for both points given how small the map is.

The only upgrade station being outside the spawn and locked is not fun, as you can't buy anything midwave (were credits ever to be given mid-wave).

Nav:
Broken. Giants attempt to walk through doorways too small for them. Bots can go around the back of a point, which would be cool if it was set up as a flank tag, but I know for a fact it's just a fluke of the ai. Players can build in areas where sentrybusters can't reach. Avoids don't cover critical areas.

DETAILING
Sounds: Has sounds. I do wish the waterwheel splashes were a bit louder, I have to get inside it to hear anything.
Looks: Very basic in areas. Maps only needed to be detailed enough to understand the theme, which...
Theme: I think it's a watermill next to a secret base? The detailing and layout isn't complete enough for me to tell.
Textures: The textures that are present match the theme. Heavy dev textures.
Props: The computers and missile stick out way to much from the natural look of the map. I think they were meant to be indoor areas, but the detailing is too incomplete to tell.
Lighting: Okay. Point A area gets too bright if looked at from the right angle.
Path Markers: No path markers.
Hud breaks because there is no item_teamflag placed in the map.
The waterwheel will break if a player stands in it.

CONTEST THEME
Gate Element:
The dynamic element here is the gate path that opens up when bots take point A. It's very similar to other maps, so it's not to terribly unique.
What makes it worse is the fact that the gate path doesn't reset on wave finish. The wall remains lowered, but the points reset. Except for the issue that your avoids don't fully cover the gate area. We had multiple instances of bots trying to capture B while A was still active, even though B was locked. While it doesn't brick the wave, it obviously shouldn't be happening.

Frostine:

GAMEPLAY
Missions:
One common theme across all the missions tends to be that you have a lot of bots active at once, which is where a majority of the difficulty comes from. Couple that with using blast and fire robots in small spaces, and things can get hard fast.
Your intermediate mission is fine save for the final boss being a bit to tanky.
Adv1 was going fine until wave 6, where things started to get pretty chaotic with the high amount of active bots.
Adv2 sufferes from these problems the most, as blast type robots make up the majority of the waves. Most waves have either soldiers or giant pyros, sometimes both.
Challange: No. Just no. Why did you add this to you submission.
666: 666 on a map this small is just a pain.
Side note, you use the festive version of the GRU, which is different from the MvM specific version. It does tend to make waves with these bots slightly easier.
Giants get stunned from point captures, but medics do not apparently. It looks like you forgot to add tags to bots, or forgot to even add tags to the entities.
Capture stun time on this map is only 11 seconds which isn't nearly enough.

Map:
Let's say the map has three main areas: front, middle, and hatch. Both the front and hatch are very open, and tends to make gameplay harder. With the front, holding anywhere past the fence baracade is very hard, as it's incredibly open. Thie means you've already lost about 1/5th of the entire map.
With the middle, the enclosed space makes in incredibly hard to get robots off the point when they get up there. It becomes even worse when blast and fire robots get involved, as the whole space becomes a death zone.
With the hatch, past the truck the area is wide open. Trying to deal with robots as the stom the point is hard, and even worse once they get on the point.

Nav:
A couple of areas are missing nobuild.
Missing avoids on the doorways that bots shouldn't be going through.

DETAILING
Sounds: Has sounds.
Looks: It looks good, however the snow fog used in the outside areas is too dense. While the map does have some minor height variation, it almost always works against the player, or goes unused.
Theme: I don't know what this is supposed to be. It looks nice, but what is it meant to be?
Textures: The textures that are present all match.
Props: All match the map style. I will say you rely way too much on the cargo container prop (counted 16). Could deminetly swap out some for other props.
Lighting: Okay, the snow fog makes things a bit too bright outside.
Path Markers: No path markers.
Found areaportal leaks.
A lot of wall cross beams have collision, which is a bit annoying to run into when running around.

CONTEST THEME
Upgrade Stations:
I thought the dynamic element was a bug at first. First was the odd choice to disable the upgrade station in spawn. When robots are already dropping cash throughout the wave, it's a pain to not be able to buy upgrades or canteens when you respawn. Instead, the forward station was enabled, which is something that is considered a bug 99% of the time in other mvm maps. It wasn't until it closed after the point was capped that I realized that it was the dynamic element.
I don't like it. It's pretty annoying to be forced to buy upgrades up front where you end up getting shot sometimes. And then once the point caps, you just loose the ability to buy upgrades and canteens outright.

Golf With A Friend:-

How the F do I rate golf?

Greenland:

GAMEPLAY
Mission:
Actually played trough the full mission. Is very unbalanced, sometimes being too easy while other times incredibly hard. Too many robots come out too fast, and it's impossible to keep the point clear most of the time. Being able to block the capture was the one saving grace, as it stalled out the point long enough a few times.
Wave 4 also drops 0 credits, in a mission that's already very sparse on credits.

Map:
Bots do not get stunned on point capture, which makes setting back up after loosing the point near impossible.
Missing clipping at player spawn, can get out of map.
Big trigger_hurt located in the playable area up front.
Two player spawns are not good in mvm, as it makes it harder to use teleporters.

Nav:
Missing avoid on side paths to player spawn.
Bots can get stuck in the hallways outside of player spawn.

DETAILING
Sounds: Has no sounds.
Looks: Basic in areas, but as maps only needed to be lightly detailed for the contest, it's passable.
Theme: I get that it's an envirodome in greenland.
Textures: Decent, ice texture looks almost alien-like. Dev textures.
Props: Match theme.
Lighting: Okay, a bunch of areas do get way too dark.
Path Markers: No path markers.
Big problems with the broken area portals though.

CONTEST THEME
So the contest is about special game play mechanics. The only mechanic I see is the gate shortcut. Though it's not really anything special when most mvm maps out there already have this.

Lion:-

todo

Summer:-

todo

1/15: fastener notes added
1/16: greenland, flow, frostine notes added
1/25: caster notes added

Wilson · Jan 15, 2021

MAP | GAMEPLAY | DETAILING | CONTEST THEME
Caster | 40 | 25 | 50
Crossing | 65 | 20 | 70
Fastener | 80 | 70 | 85
Flow | 30 | 15 | 20
Frostine | 20 | 20 | 1
Golf With A Friend | - | - | -
Lion | 55 |40 | 55
Summer |100 |100 | 100

Caster: This map feels like it set out to do a wide variety of dynamic elements and interesting ideas but none of them have been realized in a very fun or good manner. All the verticality seems cool on paper but the upper area is extremely awkward to move around and it is way too easy to fall off when trying to jump around all the railings. All the area of denial events seem neat but in reality they just get in the way of gameplay and force you to play in a very small section of the map, which is not fun.

Also there are no breaks what so ever in the waves, robots keep coming in a steady flow and flooding onto a point, this is not fun for gameplay and makes the first point impossible to defend on harder difficulties because there is no way to revert the cap progress which the robots continue to gain over time. There are also some very questionable waves in the harder missions, missions where the difficulty comes more from spam of same obnoxious enemies and poor map design rather than any fair and fun challenge. There was nothing interesting or dynamic about the wave designs. At one point I was greeted by dozens of SMG snipers whom proceeded to mow both players down in seconds because SMG damage is no joke when it is being spammed like that.

Detailing on this map is very busy, often times totally random and nonsensical (Why is there a fine dining restaurant next to an iron cast, inside an industrial facility?) with a lot of Frontline assets thrown in there to bloat the filesize and drag the performance down for no good reason. Lots of Half-Life 2 textures too. Everything also looks very busy, my eyes struggled to focus or know where to look half the time. The custom announcer was also very grating on the ears and often yelled over the actual announcer or provided information in the most long winded way possible.

Crossing: Idea of the power ups is really cool but feels somewhat half baked, you are allowed to have two power ups at the same time but most of the power ups lack any sort of interesting synergy with each other. Their location on the map is kinda awkward too considering you can only turn them on after the round has started, I feel like they should be somewhere in the frontline like a upgrade station and close once the two power ups have been taken.

Also because the money auto pick up and mad milk powerups are so strong, you never really use any other power ups and even if you do, you always want the money power up to be one of them. I would personally remove the auto pick up as power up and just make it a regular thing like a lot of other guardian maps. Waves were fun and enjoyable but whenever bots decided to attack B by just going up the ramp to upper A, they turned into a mindless slog because they were bottlenecked so hard. This is a solid base to work from and I look forward to seeing it evolve in the future.

Fastener: This is my second favorite map in the contest, when the bots don't totally lose their minds. Bots pushing the train makes this really unique and it is the only other map besides Summer that really stands out from the crowd in a good way. You don't notice at first but the train really changes the gamestate constantly, the frontline changes, routes get blocked, cover is altered. Where the train is can dramatically alter how you can approach an incoming wave, where the bots go or try to stop the robots pushing the train itself.

Detailing on this map is very basic and sometimes quite sparse but in this case it works in it's favor, less is more sometimes and it really shows here. I really like it. Another train bringing in the special robots was a really cool and unique detail too, good job. My main complaints really stem from the bugs (Which I am sure you are aware of by now) and how inconsistent the difficulty feels sometimes. Sometimes waves never get the train past the first boxcar, sometimes the first room seems to get totally overwhelmed, but at least the waves are still fun. Sniper bots can also be really painful to deal with when defending the very last stretch, they are usually so far away that you would have to stop defending entirely to go deal with them.

I also wish there was more ammo and health overall, Engineer feels almost too required on this map sometimes and I feel like if you can make more class pairings work with this dynamic element, you got solid gold in your hands here.

Flow: This map is really small and A lacks any decent spot to defend the point from, every wave basically just had us sack A and defend B because the dynamic route that opens after A is capped makes the map incredibly easy to defend. Detailing is clearly not there but the little set pieces there are pretty neat I guess.

Frostine: This map is very tiny and flat, you can walk from your spawn to the very end of the map in few seconds. Because of this, there is nothing interesting to do or different starts to try, you just sit in the same corners because everything is just flat. Missions on this map are either too easy or too hard because the the waves on this map just seem to spam explosive classes while giving you absolutely no money to work with. It might make things difficult but in no way fun or interesting way.

Detailing is okay-ish? It has nice atmosphere but the cliff textures are horrendous and the fog starts far too early. Dynamic element on this is barely a dynamic element, it exists but it has zero impact on anything, it might as well not be a dynamic element.

Golf With A Friend: Could not get the map to work properly before the contest time ran out.

Greenland: I am not sure what to say about this one, it feels like it was rushed out in a very unfinished state and without being tested even slightly. All of the areas on this map are huge and open, there are no places to stand besides right on top of the control point itself, which you would have to do anyway because the points cap so fast that you have to stand on top of them at all times unless you want to lose.
All of the waves have something clearly broken and some of them are outright impossible to beat without cheating. (20 Giant Shortstop Scouts for example.)

There is very little detailing here to speak of and I am not sure the dynamic element really affected anything, I honestly forgot what it was after I played the map and had to ask someone to remind me.

Lion: This is good fun, although there are a lot weird prop sentry spots you can build in that seem to confuse the bots, especially sentry busters and it was bit weird to sometimes get shot by the bots through the "shortcut" next to the A point. I wish A had more cover near it because it can be very painful to try to block a cap when there is a lot of spam coming in, Overall it's solid but the waves felt a tad boring and samey at times and it was very easy to miss the "mom" the first time around. Detailing was pretty nice for something still very clearly in alpha, the lighting and skybox really carries it and I can't wait to see it fully detailed.

EDIT: After playing it more, I have decided to lower my ratings for this map. When I first made my ratings, we did the missions with only one class combo at the time but after trying out other class combos and classes, the enjoyment tanked like a rock sinking into an ocean. These waves and the map doesn't seem to be designed for many playstyles outside very specific ones, which is a shame because I was looking forward to playing more of this earlier. Too much spam of beefy enemies, the difficulty curve felt like it assumed you have been able to collect all of the money to keep up with the opposition but that is just not possible with the way the chokes are set up on this map and how constant the waves are.

Summer: I am in awe of this map, it looks incredible, it plays well, the waves feel dynamic and it's a ton of fun to play. All the dynamics elements also create a lot of variety in strats, how the rounds play out and allows you to play without an engineer. This is now the definitive Guardian map in my eyes and it will be hard to surpass it. Fantastic job.

Suna · Jan 15, 2021

MAP | GAMEPLAY | DETAILING | CONTEST THEME
Caster | 50 | 45 | 40
Crossing | 45 | 30 | 60
Fastener | 70 | 80 | 75
Flow | 25 | 15 | 10
Frostine | 30 | 30 | 5
Golf With A Friend | 10 | 20 | 50
Lion | 60 | 30 | 50
Summer | 100 | 100 | 100

Caster: I do like a lot of what this map is trying to do, but it unfortunately doesn't do a lot of it well. The detailing is cluttered and noisy, but you can tell there was effort put in. It's suffering from a problem where a lot of assets just don't mix well with others. For gameplay, it's.. okay. The catwalks are far too narrow to be of any use, and since robots spawn up there too, I don't know why you'd ever choose to defend on them. The normal mission was pretty decent, but the advanced mission is far too difficult. You frequently throw combinations and quantities of bots at players which are often reserved for standard 6-man missions. The dynamic elements are cool, but very annoying. Restricting player space during a wave generally isn't a good idea, and the map is already very small.

Crossing: This feels very.. 'dull', overall. The gameplay is okay, but the layout isn't that great and the missions aren't super well designed either. Sentry busters spawn constantly and there's pretty much 0 downtime in each wave. There's also a few balancing issues. I can see you tried to do some basic detailing but you definitely could have worked a bit harder on that, like actually making displacements which would have made the map look a lot nicer. It's also quite a dim map, which made some things hard to see clearly. The custom upgrades/powerups are cool but not very useful. It was easy to forget they were there, and become practically useless after A is capped since you will have trouble going to activate them. The cars are also neat, but never come into gameplay which makes me wonder why they're there at all.

Fastener: Very cool! Which is why it's a shame that is barely works. I was hoping that once you got into beta you'd have fixed most of the navigation issues but a lot of them are still present. I realise a lot of them are caused by the train, which you can't really fix, but still. You have a system set up where support robots go and capture the train, while others go to the train-refueling-thing and defend there. This isn't very fun. You usually get pushed back to one position in particular and just hold there, chipping away at the refueler robots. It's very difficult to actually lose, and just boring when it gets to that point. The detailing is good.

Flow: This map is small. Very small. And even with its size, there's not a lot in it. It's all very open and exposed, I really have a hard time positioning myself well. A is decent but B is just not fun whatsoever. I can't comment much on the mission since it's a template mission, but it works well enough with the map I suppose. There's also barely any detailing, although the brushwork looks nice I suppose. The dynamic element of the bridge being destroyed and the wall of the mill collapsing is cool, but doesn't really change things up very much.

Frostine: This layout is extremely basic, and while it works, it isn't exactly interesting. There's barely any height variation, and there's pretty much only one route through the entire map. B point is very hard to defend, and A is awkward to fight in. The detailing is decent, but minimal. What is there looks nice, but there's not much of it. Lastly, where is the dynamic element? If it's that robots are stunned on cap, that's not a very good element.

Golf With A Friend: This doesn't work. Both in a literal and figurative sense. The courses are boring, and often frustrating. I don't know why you chose to use a custom upgrades file for this when everything could have been solved with just giving players more money, or using map entities. But you did choose to use an upgrades file, and so it doesn't work. You've certainly tried to think outside the box with the contest theme, so good on you for that, but the execution could have been done a lot better.

Greenland: I'd like to say that you tested this but it's hard to believe that's the case. It's barely functional. The popfiles are littered with errors and horribly unbalanced, the map is missing clipping in certain areas, and has several other pretty obvious issues. The detailing.. exists. It's not very good, but at least it's there.

Lion: The layout of this map is pretty good, all things considered. The advanced mission is a bit too difficult though. The map is entirely dev textures, but the brushwork is clean and nice to look at, and the few bits of detail that are present look really nice (the lighthouse, etc). The M.O.M. is cool, but seems to work inconsistently when it comes to collecting money. It think this could have been really good if only a bit more time was put into it, but as of right now it feels like it's been taken out of the oven far too early.

Summer: This is the map I was hoping would come out of this contest. You've made several custom missions, all well-balanced and enjoyable. The layout works well for the mode, and is easy to navigate. The detailing is phenomenal, I really love the look of the map. The custom content made for it is also great. The dynamic elements play into the map excellently. Many maps just opt for 'a door opens on cap' or something else simple like that. But you've made sure that the dynamic elements are meaningful and have purpose within the map. The dispensers don't make engineer as necessary, opening up class combination opportunities, and the tripwires help prevent rolls, which is a huge relief in a 2-player gamemode. This map is a hell of a lot of fun, and writing this only makes me want to play some more of it.
.

Emil_Rusboi · Jan 16, 2021

MAP | GAMEPLAY | DETAILING | CONTEST THEME
Caster | |25 |
Crossing | |20 |
Fastener |70 |80 |90
Flow | | |
Frostine |25 |50 |10
Golf With A Friend | | |
Lion | | |
Summer |100 |100 |100

PDA Expert · Jan 16, 2021

I will edit this table the more I play the maps.

MAP | GAMEPLAY | DETAILING | CONTEST THEME
Caster | i | cant | judge this
Crossing | 70 | 70 | 60
Fastener | 45 | 70 | 50
Flow | 6 | 40 | 10
Frostine | 20 | 70 | 20
Golf With A Friend | 90 | 60 | 30
Lion | 10 | 35 | 10
Summer | 31 | 90 | 50

Something of note :
I am an older mvm (as in game time) player than the regular tf2maps audience, due to this. My opinion will be vastly diffrent compared to yours.
You are always entitled to your opinion, I will attempt to not make too much of a fuss about these things.

Crossing :
Crossing despite only having one mission (or atleast I only played one), is good, the powerup shop is really interesting, as it can free up class slots.
The boss also felt very unqiue, fairly fun to fight against

Fastener :
it made me feel like nothing, not a bad map. But not a good one ethier.
The mission doesn't help ethier, as the only thing that attacks the train is bat scouts.
Wave 3 is also extremely unfun to play, due to the scorch shot support

Frostine :
Frostine is a simple map, too simple. The detailing is nice.
The missions on the map however. Give little to no cash, causing a slog of gameplay.

Flow :
uses a prefab mission so i can't say much about it (expect that the prefab mission isn't the best).
its basicly frostine but more sloggy.
also map jank lol.

it sucks, all has been said about this map.

Golf With a Friend :
Golf with a friend was a very risky move from Bazooks, but damn is it fun.
Its minigolf, but with robots. Not much replay-abillity though, but its still good for what it is.

Lion :
Oh god its this one, the missions are unbalanced, ethier being too easy or outright bullshit.
Giant health keeps bouncing up and down(something that I forgot to mention in frostine.)
And sometimes even boss health bars on giants with 1500 hp!
And the mom is a portable dispenser, meaning heavy is even more powerful than he should be.

waves should have less blast soldiers
giants with increased health should have health bars (minum of 2000 extra hp)
find a way to nerf the M.O.M. just by a bit.

Alright, after playing this map, I can safely say that I did not like it.

The layout and detailing is fine, got no problems with that. But the missions really make it worse.
Before we get to that though, I will say what I think of the HOGs.

They are overpowered in my opinion allowing splash damage classes to basicly become a sentry but even more powerful, and they even stun robots. Including giants! Even bosses aren't safe from its wrath.
Gates also tend to stun the giants and bosses, and a HOG can ruin the gate stun!

The missions are easy, that would be okay on its own if the HOGs didn't water it down even more.
Stunning basicly any threat.
Oh and did I mention the laser gates that stun? They stun for a loooong time, allowing you to cheese giants within seconds. Sure there is only two of them per path. But with good players. Bosses become trivial and get annhilated.

And one of the missions is straight up a neutered version of Coaltown's Cataclysm.
Not to mention the other expert has a fairly bad joke. But depends on the players I suppose.

r0nii · Jan 16, 2021

MAP | GAMEPLAY | DETAILING | CONTEST THEME Caster | 85 | 90 | 78
Crossing | 55 | 40 | 45
Fastener | 80 | 60 | 69
Flow | 15 | 40 | 50
Frostine | its cold! | Over Nine Thousand | can't judge this
Golf with a Friend | 95 | 50 | 50
Lion | 60 | 30 | 50
Pelago | | |
Summer | 75 | 70 | 65

Idolon · Jan 16, 2021

MAP | GAMEPLAY | DETAILING | CONTEST THEME
Caster | - | 65 | 50
Crossing | 60 | 40 | 65
Fastener | - | 75 | -
Flow | 15 | 15 | 35
Frostine | - | 50 | 25
Golf With A Friend | 20 | 30 | 80
Lion | - | 35 | 65
Summer | - | 90 | 90

General notes:

I like to use the full range of scores. If a 60/100 feels harsh, try and think of it as 3 out of 5 stars.

I tend to focus more on layout and overall design than wave design, because that's what I'm good at. I have some MvM chops, but I'm far from great, and expert-tier missions will likely frustrate me.

While I did take novelty / creativity into account (because I always like to see maps tread new ground), the most important factor in my dynamic element scoring was how much the dynamic element enhanced gameplay. I would rather see clean execution of an old idea than sloppy execution of something new. I did not account for technical difficulty at all.

Caster
I have yet to play this. From watching others, I think this map has neat ideas, but falls short in execution. Having temporary environmental hazards is a great idea, but the map doesn't seem designed around them particularly well. When the floor is lava, shooting down onto robots from the catwalks above is not the most engaging since its an awkward angle, plus the lava doesn't really pose an interesting challenge to players. Gas on the upper floor is even less fun because it basically just lets robots on the catwalks walk all the way to the hatch for free. I think there's a really good MVM map to be made with this "floor is lava" mechanic, but this isn't it.

Crossing
This map is alright! The layout in some areas is really flat, but it still managed to be engaging despite that. Could be better, could be worse.

The main gimmick was a bit confusing at first, as there are two "A" points, and the points don't lock or unlock to help communicate what is happening. However, once I understood how the first control point worked (and how the bot path determined which point the bots would attack), it was fairly smooth sailing from there. Despite one point being on high ground and the other on low ground, the two routes felt relatively balanced with each other. The fact that the bot spawn is just one train that moves between two places is a simple idea, but executed very well - it doesn't bring any new gameplay ideas to the table over what Mannhattan did, but it doesn't get in the way either.

Not being able to block the capture by standing in the capture zone was kind of annoying.

I never used the in-map upgrades. My partner used them on occasion. Most of the time I just forgot they existed.

The waves were pretty good. I like that Guardian can force different playstyles and class picks out of players, and I had to change class from Heavy to Demo at some point to deal with the explosive spam... which later bit me in the ass when the giant deflector heavy came and shut me down. The only rough patch I ran into was the giant 8k burst-fire soldiers at the end of wave 3, where it felt like we did not have enough runway to deal with them. Later waves gave us downtime to reestablish a front line at the train, but that wave felt like it was missing that breathing room.

The detailing feels underdeveloped, and the lighting is drab. If you want an evening theme, you'll need a lot more artificial lighting to brighten up the area and create visual interest. I'm notorious for having a monitor with lots of glare, and this map caused a lot of visibility issues for me since everything is in shadow.

Last note: The road hazard didn't really seem to add much to the gameplay. Crossing it near the bot path end is really risky because you can't see into the tunnel very far to anticipate cars coming at you, which just doesn't feel fair. I never used the tunnel during gameplay, but I can see where it might come in handy, like running behind the enemy to get an early sticky trap pick on the oncoming giant/medic pairs.

Fastener
Not played.

Flow
The waves are a default template wave, which is already broken in itself, and also just not fun to play, especially on this map. It is difficult to judge gameplay without waves that are properly balanced for this map because it is so small.

I found the layout at the opening area to be at least somewhat interesting, trying different strategies as engineer before settling on putting my sentry in the waterwheel building (which seemed to be the only sentry spot that was not easily outranged by the bot spawns. The B point is really bad, with little cover for players and absolutely no time to set up.

Frostine
Not played.

Golf With A Friend
This map had a lot of technical issues, but I think that's just a consequence of server setup, so I wont hold that against the map too much.

What I will hold against the map is that I just don't find it particularly fun. The idea is interesting, and learning how to hit the "ball" correctly was interesting, but actually playing the map was just not a fun experience. Some of the course designs were good, but a lot of them felt kind of half-assed. The lack of checkpoints was a bit punishing, but I might not mind that if not for my last problem:

There's just so much walking. Walking between shots takes a fair amount of time. Walking all the way back to the start every time I mess up a shot takes a fair amount of time. The map tells you to scout out holes ahead of time, but I rarely did because it takes such a long time. This might sound like a small grievance, but it really does drag the experience down a lot to spend so much time effectively watching paint dry. This would have been a better experience if movement speed was working on our servers, but I don't know how much.

I'm giving this map a good dynamic element score because I feel its the map letting down the idea rather than the other way around. The element was the fun part of this map, but the trappings around it are what let it down.

Greenland
This map feels untested, with some waves seemingly impossible (60 mini-giant shortstop scouts??), broken areaportals, clipping exploits, and rushed detailing. The layout is largely flat and overscaled. I really only found myself fighting robots at the front of the map and at the hatch, never in the middle.

The idea of having two control points on opposite sides of a spawn was interesting, since teleporters were less useful for getting to the front line and more useful for retreat. Figuring this strategy out made me feel pretty smart! However, splitting into two spawns adds an element of random chance that I'm not fond of, and one of those spawns actually blocks the path between points, preventing engineer from carrying buildings between points only on that half of the map. The other spawn is fine in this regard, so it feels poorly considered rather than intentional.

Lion
Not played.

Summer
I have yet to play this, but just from watching others play it, this feels like the new standard map for Guardian. Every dynamic element is simple, easy to understand, and is well-suited for the mode. Scaling feels correct, and the detailing is great.

randomguy 2 · Jan 16, 2021

some people not involved with the contest have made caster missions and uploaded them to potato, they should not be considered, the only official caster missions are these:

normal (boring don't play this one pls)
normal_paycheck_paradise
int_magma_madness
int_molten_mass
int_policy_violation
adv_blast_pit
adv_breaking_meltdown

MAP | GAMEPLAY | DETAILING | CONTEST THEME
Bigrock |15 |80 |0
Crossing |60 |40 |55
Fastener |50 |75 |75
Flow |20 |30 |7.5
Frostine |40 |30 |10
Golf With A Friend |90 |40 |95
Lion |40 |20 |25
Summer |60 |95 |75

2man mvm is a flawed concept in the idea of the whole thing. Mvm was not designed for two people to juggle all the tasks of a 6man team, and neither was anything balanced for it (which is likely why some maps nerfed giants and standard bots). 2man is fundamentally unbalanced and encourages engineer + soldier/demo almost always unless a map tries really hard to either make engineer obsolete, or make other classes better generalists.

yes i know i contributed to this and am therefore probably biased, but just listen to this

the grenade tank (used in only two missions) is unique but boring to fight. especially without support (which is what happens both times it's used)

the hazards (magma and smoke) could've certainly be used better, but are pretty much the definition of a dynamic effect from a map.

some waves have this A "hazard" that automatically caps a at some point of the wave (only used either at the very start or right before a boss.)

the map layout is certainly not the best, it doesn't get bots stuck but that shouldn't be anything to brag about (especially when it requires shrinking giants)

the top section is especially bad, with bots either being basically split between top and bottom (bots on the top usually have a huge advantage vs red) or rarely used at all depending on the mission (and depending on whether you lost the gate)

epic i replayed the missions and now i realise why people think the missions are too hard (note: they are and i somehow didn't mention it in testing wtf you soaked sandwich idiot bread)

i regret not telling jack5 to make the other normal the default mission. mine (the one used) is super boring and only shows one special thing about the map, while the other one IS ACTUALLY INTERESTING AND SHOWS OFF THINGS FROM THE MAP.

oh and mat_phong 0 makes you crash because of a certain prop. RIP.

pros: extremely unique, fun to play for the first few times, does not have map breaking issues.

cons: requires a custom upgrade hud that clearly most people either forgot to download or didn't know they needed to download, or didn't know it existed. given what the upgrades are, it could've certainly made do with resupply accross the whole map and stock upgrades (with more money ofc)

map pros: extremely good looking, especially for the short timeframe the map had. tries hard to encourage non-engineer centric playstyles with the dispenser spots and teleporter. all the stun mechanics make the missions reasonable (unlike the same missions on lion which are a total nightmare)

map cons: due to all the stunner gimmicks, it would be extremely hard to make a difficult mission on this map, especially due to a lack of tank and engineer support. the inclusion of the dispenser pads also means that a team comp of soldier/demo/heavy is extremely powerful compared to everything else, this is made worse because of the missions having constant commons out at all times, meaning that atleast 1 CC class is pretty much required.

mission pros: the missions feel like the creator tried to make a fun experience and in a way i can see how it can be fun, but it isn't fun for me (i seem to be in the minority tho)

mission cons: both of the expert missions are just modified versions of other missions. i also personally would've ported mannslaughter (and nerfed it) since this map has no tank support since cataclysm is extremely reliant on them (but it is still the hardest mission in my experience). the missions that aren't the cataclysm port also seem to use crits way too much in the later waves.

lion: uses summer's missions (and one of its own). expert is quite difficult and feels unfair with how many DPS tests is in it them, me and a friend could only pass expert past w3 with 2 beggars soldiers, i do like the idea of the MOM though (btw it doesn't work on money that was dropped before the MOM was dropped)

fastener: nice idea, looks nice (other than some trains having the front looking the wrong way??? nobody's mentioned this so i guess it's just me?) mission that is made for the map felt fine to me (but it was played with beggars + engi so it's likely a bit hard) the map's gimmick (the train) is a good idea but would likely do much better in a map that isn't as cramped (since the bots would likely get stuck on the train less)

flow: extremely hard to defend on, me and a friend weren't able to defend a single wave of the mission without losing A, but this is mainly down to map design, also the bridge staying collapsed and the shortcut remaining open after the wave ends is just sloppy.

oh and also startacker wtf that prefab mission is way too hard and why does the 2x damage rapid burst boss have 10 uber medics wtf

frostine: map is a bit cramped, and some waves are a bit unreasonable for their difficulty (final wave int is the worst offender because of the boss basically forcing heavy due to his damage boost and hp) however, all the bots using christmas weapons (not festivised weapons, the ACTUAL CHRISTMAS WEAPONS) is an extremely nice touch, missions also felt well balanced in general (challenge and 666 are dumb tho)

crossing: felt fine. cars that are in the same area of the tank path does scare me though (unless they're disabled when the tank spawns), mission just feels fine. i DO like the ability to choose powerups though (although most are severely outclassed by mobile dispenser and auto collect cash)

That advanced mission is completely insane, how the hell are you supposed to do it without beggars and heatmaker? i was only able to do it with a sweaty sniper tryhard.

Jack5 · Jan 16, 2021

Caster appears to have a crash if you have mat_phong set to 0. Please try setting it to 1 so that you are able to judge the map.

Jack5 · Jan 16, 2021

MAP | GAMEPLAY | DETAILING | CONTEST THEME (DYNAMIC ELEMENTS)
Caster | N/A | N/A | N/A
Crossing | 20 | 20 | 20
Fastener | 80 | 100 | 60
Flow | 20 | 40 | 40
Frostine | 60 | 80 | 20
Golf With A Friend | 60 | 60 | 40
Lion | 40 | 40 | 40
Summer | 60 | 100 | 80

catfish · Jan 17, 2021

MAP | GAMEPLAY | DETAILING | CONTEST THEME
Caster | 40 | 50 | 60
Crossing | 30 | 70 | 80
Fastener | 80 | 90 | 100
Flow | 20 | 20 | 60
Frostine | 10 | 10 | 10
Golf With A Friend | 10 | 10 | 10
Lion | 30 | 60 | 60
Summer | 100 | 100 | 90

Bazooks · Jan 17, 2021

MAP | GAMEPLAY | DETAILING | CONTEST THEME
Caster | 65 | 85 | 100
Crossing | 45 | 15 | 85
Fastener | 50 | 95 | 95
Flow | 0 | 15 | 20
Frostine | 20 | 60 | 0
Lion | 55 | 15 | 50
Summer | 65 | 100 | 60

Missions rely on engi too much. Not for his dispenser or teleporter, but the mission design just lets a lvl 3 sentry reign over with little effort. I will translate "contest theme" to "dynamic-ness". I have only played advanced missions for each map.

Top path is very unfun to fight in. Ammo packs need to be a bit more generous. Hazards are a big middle finger to close range classes, but i suppose that's more of mission problem if they send bots + hazards at the same place at the same time. Map is generally very tight. Mission's tanks are too weak, but bonus points for being the only map with it. Other than that, they are ok. Autocollect money hurts scout players. Hazards force you to move like it or not and i think that is the most dynamic element in this contest.

Feels like a very unfinished map. Ledges are generally too high and uncomfortable to fight on. Lack of cover past front area. Missions are too long. Does not use displacements for ground. Powerup room takes a bit while to find for players playing the map for the first time. Certain powerups dropping on death feels a bit too punishing. Random cars crossing just feels so bad when you die to it.

Bots get stuck often. Map is generally too open with not many covers. Top path is unpleasant to fight on. Very cheap with ammo packs. Not enough things rush to the train, put 1 sentry on train on you've already won. Hunting for bots instead of having them come to you is not fun. Train is very unpleasant to maneuver around. On last ditch defense having one scout touch the point for 0.1 second is a death sentence. Detailing is great but i dislike the theme a bit personally(feels too bland). Moving capture point like payload is very dynamic, I'll give it that. But the map is too short for me to really feel it.

Also feels like a very unfinished map. Barely any cover, barely any space to hold after point A is capped. Also mechanically broken with windmill/bridge not resetting after wave completion. No proper mission doesn't help it either.

Map is incredibly tight beyond belief, there's no room to dodge anything. Capture stun stunning giants makes the missions too easy. Not very generous with ammo packs. Not hard to accidentally see an upgrade menu instead when trying to defend A. Missions are a bit too repetitive but honestly they're probably the best in the contest, next to caster. Detailing is minimalist, nothing wow but nothing unpleasant to look at.

This does not only feel unfinished, it's extremely unfinished. And bad.

Certain areas are just too tight. Combined with blast soldiers in the mission, it's hell for anyone not running engi/medic. MoM money collection feature is near useless and does not pick up money already on the ground. MoM ammo is incredibly powerful with heavy/engi/any other weapon that has fast ammo drain as their main downside. A big problem with this is that weapons that chew ammo fast are already very powerful MvM weapons, so you're basically buffing what's already meta. MoM by itself is not very dynamic but It's not bad.

Its gimmicks are way too overpowered for red, even in a 2-player gamemode. First of all HoG, like lion's MoM, makes weapons that have fast ammo drain as their main downside have their main weakness nullified. Again, these weapons are already the meta in MvM. HoG stunning bots upon destruction feels very unnecessary and just makes it very easy to deal with giants. Likewise, the tripwires makes it incredibly easy to deal with giants. For example, in the final subwave with two giant heavies and 3 ubermeds each all you need to do is let them walk to tripwire and freely fire them with no risk. Tripwires do not solve the original intention of "lifting engineer's burden" either; they do not kill little bots that get past. Disregarding these two gimmicks, summer map design is good if you pretend the robot spawn area does not exist as they are very uncomfortable to fight in.

Mission-wise(reminder, i have only played both advanced missions) i really don't like how giant hp are reduced or even in some cases arbitrarily increased. While I get that it's a 2-player gamemode you're doubling down on classes that have giant killing as their specialty such as scout, heavy and spy. Arbitrary increases throws you off expectations from the wavebar and just end up feeling like you get a completely undeserved roll because surprise the giant demoman at the end has double hp because screw you. Map detailing is amazing and without a doubt the best in the contest. HoG, tripwires and free teleporters aren't the most dynamic elements but it's still something unique.

pont · Jan 17, 2021

MAP | GAMEPLAY | DETAILING | CONTEST THEME
Caster |40|35|15
Crossing |70|50|65
Fastener | Robot's getting | stuck with | worldspawn!
Flow |15|15|10
Frostine |55|80|0
Golf With A Friend |20|10|70
Lion |60|40|60
Summer |100|100|100

Fastener:
I might as well use this space to talk about the development of this map. I made most of the layout at the start of the contest, SAD kicked my ass for a few weeks, and I kinda rushed the rest. Turns out the reason nobody's done something like this over the last eight years is because it's a terrible idea! Tracktrains will happily lodge anything and everything in walls, and nextbots struggle to an extreme degree with anything that moves. Robot nav objectives also get difficult when you have a gradually moving objective and have to tell robots to go to discrete zones. For a first try at MvM in general, as janky as it is, I'm proud of what I've managed to create, and look forward to refining it without a time limit looming over me. Not bad for a rushed artpass, either.

Caster (Playtested Jan 15th):
Gameplay:
I did not have a nice time on Caster. We played half of a normal mission, switched to and completed an advanced mission, and played one wave of the other advanced before calling it quits. Capture cannot be blocked and robots constantly trickle in with no downtime, meaning that every time A gets captured it's a frustrating inevitability. The high ground is uncomfortably elevated - is it taller than Badwater last? - and lets robots up top be unreasonably powerful harrassing down, to the point where it's useless playing on the lower half of the map aside from one blind spot beside the ramp next to the forward upgrade station. B isn't much fun, either, because there's hardly any room to fight at all - it's so cramped! The upper areas have too many railings, making it way too difficult to navigate while trying to focus on combat.
The robots have some interesting ideas, but there are too many at one time or they're just too overtuned to be fun. SMG snipers that do burst damage are unexpected and could be fun, if there weren't a dozen of them and they didn't shred the entire team in a second because we've been dumping money into dps and respawns over resistances just to stem the constant steel tide.
Cow mangler soldiers with piercing projectiles also could be fun, if they didn't do crits and wipe us out in teams of half a dozen. Some staff watching us in spectator had to command kill entire dozen-strong groups of super-fast revved heavies and kritzed soldiers several times at one point - how the hell do you fight that with two people?!
What's the point in the split spawn? What's the point in the (unrecognisable) custom upgrade stations? Does this *really need* 30MB of Frontline assets?
Keep your custom announcer lines short and clear, to properly announce what's happening. The dialogue is so fast and muddled with other game noise it's difficult to discern what's going on - is this a gameplay event, or another wisecrack?
There are cool ideas here, but they need to be explored with much more restraint.
Detailing:
The idea of the setting seems cool but the execution falls flat. Why are random areas of this made of clean concrete and others dirtied breezeblocks? Why is there a restaurant at the back? Why are there a bunch of Frontline props scattered around? Why is a knockoff GLaDOS cracking jokes at me? Why are there HL2 textures? Why is there a gamebanana advert? Did you just plaster a bunch of old WAR! propaganda contest entries on the walls? This is a noisy mess.
Like the gameplay, there are interesting ideas here, but they need to be revisited with far more restraint.
Dynamic Element:
It's there, though it feels cheap because it lets robots that traverse through it for free reach points basically uncontested. On multiple occasions we were forced to hold *on* B point because robots could cross the entire upper half of the map without us being able to go there at all. I feel like it could have been done better, like by letting players still traverse the affected areas but with more risk, or if the lava made platforms float up to create new paths.

Summer (Playtested Jan 15th):
Gameplay:
Fantastic. The custom mechanics are an exceptionally creative way of lending a two-player team a hand and allow far more freedom and creativity with waves without worrying about overwhelming the defense. I played the advanced and hell missions, and both were a very comfortable difficulty for what I'd expect - every wave was engaging and fresh without falling back on cheap oneshots. The robots were just as creative as the map's mechanics and are a blast to fight.
Using the holo-dispenser's stun in combination with sentry busters is an extremely fun bit of emergent gameplay! I actively want to go back and play more.
Detailing:
This map is pretty, and I'm shocked it was done within the short contest period. Like, holy shit, you even did bespoke particles!
The only other comment I have here is to switch the metalchrome stair trims to a version with toned-down cubemaps, as they're hella shiny.
Dynamic Element:
Holo-dispensers provide a defensive edge while you hold their ground, and go out with a bang when you get pushed back. Stun gates help get an edge against giants in the latter half of the map where you really need it. The capture zone mechanic being every bot's objective is offset by being able to block capture. The custom elements being used-and-gone as robots take ground helps to stop the defense being able to overextend and regain ground too easily. They're simple, effective, easy to understand - perfect. As cliché as it sounds, I strongly doubt even Valve's level designers could best this. It makes me wish Guardian MvM had any chance of becoming official.

Crossing (Playtested Jan 16th):
Gameplay:
This is alright. Some waves get unreasonably punishing - like wave two, where two giant burst soldiers arrive at the end of an already rough wave to spawncamp as they sit on B with a combined 8000 health. Calling both first points "A" leads to confusion and is hard to make callouts. No points seem to lock, either? On occasion a robot would run behind us and start capturing B even though neither A points had been taken. Locking B and the unused A point would help. A lot of the time we lost points was from a constant trickle of robots eking out an uncontestable capture, with no downtime to let the capture progress reset.
Some tall rock props are missing nobuild. The railing around the raised section by lower A is just tall enough to block sentry line of sight, but short enough to feel like it shouldn't.
Sentry Busters and Spies arrive constantly! The standard is about forty seconds between buster spawns, please adhere to it.
Spies can enter the forward upgrade building.
The long way around from lower A to B could use a shortcut up, as rotating from it is a LONG walk.
Some areas are pretty flat.
Detailing:
It's fine. Rough, clearly unfinished. Missing some pickup patches. Lighting is generally somewhat dim - see plr_pipeline for good nighttime lighting.
Dynamic Element:
Interesting and impactful! Kind of fire-and-forget, though, and you can't really access them after losing (either) A point. Money collection is a huge boon that makes things so much easier it kind of overshadows everything else.

Flow (Playtested Jan 16th):
Gameplay:
Oof. B is an open field, and the highground area can get sniped out from the robot spawn. Sixty gun scouts on wave one is HARSH - are they meant to be melee only? Some waves are really overtuned. No open upgrade station mid-wave really sucks for when you need canteens - couldn't you have put one in spawn?
Detailing:
This is barely detailed. The waterwheel is nice.
Dynamic Element:
Well, I didn't expect that, though it's pretty one-trick. It doesn't reset after you finish a round, only on loss.

Golf with Friends (Playtested Jan 16th):
Gameplay:
The custom upgrades file did not work properly, so we were only able to buy maxxed knockback rage and one crit canteen. Could you have just given people 10k to buy default upgrades instead, and covered the whole thing in a respawnroom or parented ammo kits to players? The gameplay is frustrating more often than not, and putting is extremely difficult. The robot reset is a painfully slow trudge back to the start.
Hole 6 is so punishing - why? Hole 7 is where things start getting interesting, but it's a shame there's nothing afterwards - I feel like it should've been stage one, and the rest of the map should have built on from there.
The teleporting logic ended up mixing people up a lot when they tried to join. Could the player teleporting logic be restructured to teleport one player into one course by default, then a trigger over that player's course enables a separate teleport to the second course?
Detailing:
Very bare. Each hole has its own theme, which is nice.
Dynamic Element:
Very unique, but a lot of unrealised potential. I feel like this map would have been a lot more enjoyable if it was in a co-operative format and/or leaned more into crazy golf. The golfball hats are a cute touch.

Lion (Playtested Jan 17th):
Gameplay:
I played the advanced mission, and called it quits afterwards. The difficulty is what I'd expect of something expert-level or above. It's like every subwave is a DPS check, and it's just frustrating. There's no clever tactics, you just get wrecked.
Bots can capture while ubercharged. Coupled with tiny capture zones, it's extremely difficult to contest a capture. An endless trickle of smaller bots means it's also very hard to let a point's capture reset - please work some downtime into your waves! I had a miserable time with how much raw damage each giant is capable of - we kept getting shredded as soon as they set their sights on us. While crit canteens offset this a bit, I could hardly afford them or resistances because I felt like I should be pumping money into my weapons for raw damage just to keep pace wave after wave. We struggled to get a lot of the money, too, because there were no breaks;
running forward to grab any cash usually meant risking it with a face-full of robot.
A lot of places are uncomfortably tight - the inner wall with the doors that separates most of A and B could do with being its own building, really. The small raised lobby the spawn exits onto is also uncomfortable to fight robots from - weirdly far from the point, weirdly tight to move around in. There aren't any good angles onto A point aside from point-blank by the forward upgrade station. There's no cover or height on B!
The pickups by the forward upgrade station require you to go directly into the line of fire to pick them up - couldn't they be in that little cubby on the left instead?
Why are the sentry busters small? Why don't they predictably follow the bot path?
What difficulty are the spies on? They felt super aggressive compared to how spies usually behave in other maps.
A few tall props and small roof sections that aren't accessible by sentry busters lack nobuild.
Detailing:
Nice atmosphere, and pretty for dev textures.
Dynamic Element:
Interesting, for sure, and having to choose between a much-needed dispenser or a money collection radius to offset the small RED bodycount is a cool mechanic. Unfortunately, it doesn't actually get used much after A falls, because the spawn locations for it are terrible. Before A, you have to run up right to the robot spawns to get it (which is easily missed - I wouldn't have found it if the person I was playing with hadn't had previous experience with the map). After A, the powerup spawns right beside the A point, where nobody will ever reach because it's right by the robot spawn again. Would there be a way to let the dropped pickup stay around forever? It's annoying that it eventually times out unless you refresh it, which means you can't offset the aforementioned difficulty getting to money because you need to reach the powerup instead - same issue.
The powerup using the same sprite and colour as dropped money is a little confusing - maybe recolour it yellow?

Frostine (Playtested Jan 17th)
Gameplay:
Where's the money?! I feel like I'm running around picking up single dollar notes. Waves are pretty repetetive. The layout is interesting, but is so small and segmented it ends up with only really one viable strategy per area. B really doesn't offer much in the way of defending - if A falls, it's almost assuredly over.
Detailing:
It's nice, though a bit rough around the edges. Hard to see health pickup patches on snow. Why are these natural rock formations using the texture of cobblestone walls?
Dynamic Element:
I had to ask people what the dynamic element was. It's just kind of... weird? Why not close the forward upgrade station instead? Why does it happen when the point gets touched instead of captured? Why punish players that are losing A by kicking them when they're down? This feels like an afterthought.

Greenland (Playtested Jan 17th):
Gameplay:
Oh dear.
Was this tested? Was this popfile even loaded up on a local server at all?
The Gas Passer is widely considered extremely busted in MvM. We struggled even with it. What the hell is this? Valve template shortstop scouts and giant FOS heavies act as mini-bosses - they're tough and are usually deployed one or two at a time with smaller bot support. Why are there SIXTY shortstop scouts being thrown at us with seemingly no limit on how many can be alive at once?! How is any two-person team expected to do enough damage to kill so many Steel Gauntlets?! Why are there several times where single small bots spawn in alone, one after the other, with nothing else to accompany them?
Split spawns fucks up teleporters. Both spawns are very far from B, and very close to A - shouldn't it be the other way around? Both of the capture zones are tiny, so trying to contest capture is suicidal. The capture times do not feel balanced for how many robots there are.
Health and ammo is extremely scarce, and in inconvenient places for defending.
B has a bug where robots don't move after leaving the capture zone - try setting the nav prereq to Move To itself instead of Wait.
Area portals are broken.
Detailing:
Neat idea. Unfinished. No pickup patches. You left a displacement axis helper in one of the enclosures.
Dynamic Element:
The gate doesn't actually do anything because it doesn't block any bot paths until they've captured A anyway. It could be open the whole time and nothing would change.

FlipFTW · Jan 19, 2021

All scores in this table are tentative - scores and their subsequent justification are liable to change at anytime prior to a contest judging close date.

MAP | GAMEPLAY | DETAILING | CONTEST THEME
Caster | 60 | 75 | 65
Crossing | 60 | 60 | 70
Fastener | 60 | 100 | 80
Flow | 40 | 45 | 25
Frostine | 40 | 70 | 10
Golf With A Friend | 45 | 50 | 15
Lion |/|/|/
Summer |/|/|/

First: I need to explain my understanding of each of the judging criterion, and how I choose to evaluate my scores based off this understanding. It's worth noting all details of criterion were written PRIOR to my process of assigning scores to any entry, and were used as a reference when struggling to decide. In the perfect world I would write my criterion before experiencing any of the maps, but nothing can be done about that now.

When I hear "Gameplay" I'm thinking of an experience, to me this term encompasses the waves and the map, and specifically how they interact with each-other. I didn't want to place an emphasis on the quality of the waves in a mapping competition, but ultimately it is the wave that serves as the bridge between the players and the map. Not to say you can't have a solid game-play experience carried by the wave or by the map, but a high score to me means that the wave and map satisfyingly work together, highlighting strong suits. It is of note that I may detract points based off if I feel a wave/map have poor compatibility, and I will potentially add points If I believe the the map has potential not appropriately realized by the wave. For a map besides a basic satisfying layout a higher score will representation good attention to gameplay detail: This includes closing of sightlines, consideration of rotations, pack placement, elevation usage, and prop/cover.

Score | Meaning
0-20 | Wave and Map do not display any chemistry. Map layout does not encompass fun gameplay, and has several fatal flaws preventing experiencing/enjoying other aspects of the map.
21-40 | Wave and Map display low levels of chemistry. Map layout is flawed in many ways, but displays interesting aspects. Low level attention of detail applied meaning potentially long sight-lines, barren areas, lack of elevation, or/and bad pack placement.
41-60 | Wave and Map display some cooperation. Map layout has many strengths, but still contains notable unpolish/issues. Some consideration of player experience is applied but some issues persist.
61-80 | Wave and Map display satisfactory cooperation. Layout has many strengths with mostly inconsequential nit-picky flaws.
81-100 | Wave and Map work in conjunction to produce a satisfying experience for the players. Few/No layout or wave issues that caused undesirable game-play. A score in this region means a play-through will result in a very satisfying experience - I'd highly recommend.

When I hear "Detail" I'm thinking of appropriate lighting, prop usage, and signage. Detailing is a crucial aspect that can impact game-play if done poorly, drawing players eyes to areas bots can't come from can have disastrous consequences. I believe game-play and detailing are closely tied, but in the interest of not having double jeopardy, while tempted to remove points for destructive detailing and adding points for constructive detailing, I will attempt to not consider this. (Though If i spot anything, I will be sure to give them a mention). Disclaimer: I'm not a real mapmaker so I'd consider this by far the judging area I know the least about.

Score | Meaning
0-20 | No or uninterpretable theme. Nonsensical prop choice and color pallet. Lighting is not present.
21-40 | Map theme is difficult to grasp. Prop choice is undesirable or not unified. Lighting is not desirable or not present.
41-60 | Map displays some theme, but contradicts self at times. Prop choice is tangentially related. Lighting is present, but not high quality.
61-80 | Map displays a coherent theme. Prop choice and color usage is unified. Lighting contributes to the atmosphere of the map.
81-100 | Map is stunning to look at, theme is clear and coherent. Good prop usage, lighting, and general map atmosphere. Maps in this category are ones I shove my face into walls in to really appreciate the level of detail a mapmaker has put into them.

"Contest Theme" is the odd one out. What does it mean to be appropriately tied to the contest? I'm going to choose to make a bold claim that many may disagree with here, but to me I interpret this category as Startacker's original purpose behind the competition, to me I read this as a "How well does this map contribute to the furthering of Guardian as a game-mode". On this note I'm looking for an IMPACTFUL enjoyable dynamic element, if the element is fun to work around as well as how different the game-mode is because of it.

Score | Meaning
0-20 | Map has no dynamic element, or an element with no significance to game-play.
21-40 | Map has tentative dynamic element. But is implemented in a solely negative way or has minimal impact on gameplay.
41-60 | Map has dynamic element/elements. Significant impact on gameplay, but in a questionably positive or negative way.
61-80 | Map has dynamic elements, which are implemented in a way that enhances game-play.
81-100 | Map has dynamic elements, which are additionally fun to play with, experiment with, or work around. Reserved for well polished professional presentation and implementation.

Caster gameplay is a mixed bag. For a map that has undergone probably the most public playtesting in the competition, there are just some really frustrating sightlines and mechanics added into the map. Starting from the top the dynamic element feels... cheap is the best word I can think to describe it. Some of the missions have effectively half the map cutoff, and that's all there is too it, the ones that have bots travel through the hazards often result in the map giving the bots a free pass onto the point they want to capture, be that first or last. There is precious little ground or method to extending far enough to deal damage.

Points cannot be contested, making holding last an impossible ask when a giant reaches a certain distance, and resulting in some very cheap-feeling victories for the bots. For some reason resupply cabinets sink into the ground, for a last that seems designed in a way that players should immediately enter combat out of spawn and can be spammed by damage as soon as they leave spawn I don't understand this choice, especially when any player with a resub bind can just override this.

If caster gameplay feels positive to players, it may be because I think with all these hazards and difficulties the map plays like a puzzle, what composition or what method can I use to help me beat this wave, prevent a first cap too early etc. This gameplay can have its place, but i don't really enjoy it personally - recognizing I may not be the target audience.

Layout-wise and Detail-wise I think the art past done by Dr. Whoa houses more interesting and more balanced geometry, making holding the upper area feel more welcoming to engineer with wider catwalks and props blocking bot sight-lines. The removal of the catwalk handrails I think also makes the map feel a lot less claustrophobic, and the sealing of the sightline from the top of the stairs near the upgrade booth / first point is really welcome. It's a shame this wasn't the version that development continued on, I assume this was due to time constraints and logic issues.

The detailing that is done in caster is unique, other individuals have pointed out the use of half life assets, but I think the most notable thing about the map was how props were layed out in ways that were often uncomfortable, and the lighting is significantly more dingy (compared to the art pass).

I know there was an issue with mat_phong fixed due to a faulty chair, but I hope the memory error i've been having which i believe is related to the lightmaps gets fixed as well, I crashed 9 times testing both advanced waves, and am using my impression of the normal/intermediate missions from a week prior.

It's a difficult thing trying to measure gameplay without taking into consideration the wave, but I'll do my best to be objective in that regard. Flow is a two bot spawn two lane map for the first point, which turns into a single lane when defending last. For the first point cover is plentiful until the point is reached by the bots, at which point players are either forced onto the high ground or into awkward corners. The problem with the high ground is it often results in bots shooting at the players from across the map, making holding anything but the very front of the map a tall ask. Retaking this space is also fairly difficult, although I'm not sure if this is because of the pace of the waves. Auto money collect is nice, but being unable to contest the point is not.

After the point is capped the map opens up a lot, defending the last is basically hiding behind a rock or peaking and spamming shyly from the spawn stairs. Layout wise I think the map would benefit greatly from having the bots wrap around the platform and also have the spawn turned into a high ground.
https://imgur.com/a/bEyzV4K

Detail wise the map is bright and vibrant, but prop choice doesn't often make sense and the map in general display a lot of block-like characteristics. The dynamic element exists and is a big whoa moment, but doesn't really exist as a positive benefit to gameplay, resulting in dumping bots into an open plane

This map is deceptively simple, while geometrically it is very notably boxy map, the layout from the outside/inside is a very satisfying rotation loop. The metal sheet present at the small door enables engineer to have a lot of control over what is sentry is shooting at, key to having a good control over things you kill (so the money is easy to collect).

Overall I had a pretty satisfying time playing on the map, the gameplay was relatively simplistic revolving around simply spamming chokes, the waves (both advanced) were not particularly challenging, but still provided a decent amount of tense moments with how frequent busters were. Detailing is there, its got a winter theme and it sticks by it, touches like snow filling the truck are neat, I think the cozyness of the shed is a nice contrast to the area more exposed to the elements.

The forward upgrade booth is a little awkward to work around, it not closing mid-wave means sometimes you awkwardly bump into it opening up the upgrade booth menu. If not closing mid wave I'd recommend having it be a little bit more sunken in to prevent any accidents. Dynamic element is non-impactful, I wouldn't really consider it an interesting or engaging mechanic.

I think if you wanted to make it really interesting, have a point mid wave where you're informed that this is the time to buy upgrades, and keep the booth locked between waves, so players feel a bit of time pressure to buy upgrades, and are rather stuck with their cash they didn't manage to urgently spend midwave. It's not a terribly dynamic mechanic, but an interesting spin on things.

Greenland unfortunately doesn't offer much room for sympathy having a popfile in the release version that doesn't work. After some editing of the wave, loading up the map really doesn't give a flattering first impression with a broken area portal perpetually present. Gameplay wise separate spawns, no capture point stun, and a very long rotation to last make the balance of the map difficult to overlook.

The map plays very similar to trust, with a choke being effectively each point, and the geometry between not being of much significance. Detail looks nice, but closer inspections on areas reveal cracks into the void and weird misalignment/clipping issues, at one region you can simply walk out of the map if you so desire. There is even an inexplicable trigger near one of the bot spawns that just straight up kills players that walk into it?

The dynamic element doesn't seem particularly inventive, there is no surprise factor to it either (like flow). A large amount of the map is dead space, I initially thought this would be utilized via some navigation changes with the gate but this doesn't seem to be the case, it really is just never utilized space.

Overall the map gives a rather unfinished vibe, I think that given more time and playtesting the gameplay could evolve into something satisfying, but I think time limitations prevented this map from reaching its true potential. I'd be interested in seeing more effort put into something that forges a new path, greenland gives the impression of being traditional, and very similar to trust in my impression.

I stand by my statement that amongst the contest maps if TF2 was ever to add a dynamic MvM map I could totally see that mechanic or map being fastener. An element of a train that both helps and hinders the players creates interesting geometry to play around. It's a shame the bot navigation ends up souring the experience - it's no secret the bots try to push past the players, often when the objective is left at the front of the map.

Looking past the navigation issues, I think the map would benefit more from something akin to chokes, or a funnel. It's difficult to think of how a choke could be intuitively added to a trainyard, but I found myself strongly desiring one playing through the waves and having bots scatter everywhere.

Detail is remarkable, prop choice was well integrated and intuitive. Very strong showing there. I'd understand if pont isn't interested in continuing to develop the map, but there is a great concept and fun gameplay in fastener if you can overlook the issue

Crossing tries to be exciting with its powerup choice, but I really think the powerups are a case of quantity and not quality. The undeniably best powerup to take is the money magnet making all others, especially temporary powerups, pale in comparison. The wave compositions I found often frustrating or slow: Pyros that reflected me as a soldier, Crit dragon fury pyros literally juggling me as a heavy, and also three spies at a time along with what felt like constant busters making playing engineer a serious pain. The biggest game-play flaw in my note though was that provided players were pushed sufficiently far back the gap in between spawns can be painfully long, I'll chalk this to move-speed and also the length of the map, but it can be off-putting regardless.

The concept is novel, but I don't think well executed, detailing is middling, I think choosing to detail a dark map is probably one of the most difficult things a mapmaker can pursue, and unfortunately in this case I don't think it was executed particularly well. The lighting seems off with the sky and the map doesn't have good detailed focus.

I think the decision to make two A points is interesting, but un-intutive, the three playtests I did with three different players all didn't recognize what the double A points went, and often were confused on where the bots were pathing too or headed. It doesn't help that at times bots would ignore A and go straight to last (B) - which is left uncapped for reasons I'm unsure of.

I think crossing in its current state has polish that needs to be done, but I'm more concerned about the ultimate product when/if the map reaches a more complete state. I've never been a fan of overt gimmicks, and powerups really cross a line that breaks my suspension of disbelief, and more-so it does that with a frustrating "what-now", what do the power-ups realistically add to the gameplay, ignore the auto money collection for a moment, and when would I rotate for a powerup to deal with a wave instead of continuing to fire as whatever class I am, and if you're forcing a powerup usage, is that the core part of the gameplay then? I think that some deeper thought into the direction of this map would be a good idea if jak plans on continuing to develop it in the future. I wouldn't be against the idea of some dynamic powerup needing to be brought and used to deal with specific types of bots or something, but in the current form and potentially the future I can't see the gameplay being satisfying for me on its current trajectory.

The concept is novel, but I don't think well executed, ignoring the hoops required to setup a game, the courses feel.. lacking. I think the only course I enjoyed was the last one, where the map had putting feel more like a race than a slog. I think if more of the courses had the navigation and aspects of design the last hole did it might feel more enjoyable.

I'd be curious if the use of heavys knockback rage specifically was a deliberate design choice, like was there any thought put into the possibility of having other classes able to golf and adjusting something like the bots knockback modifier? I think this would potentially open up the possibility of having class favored holes or even encouraging switching classes like switching golf clubs (driver, putter, etc).

Detail wise nothing is particularly breathtaking, the design fits the gameplay - but has an aspect that reminds me of an unpolished plugin or mod. I think effort hasn't really been put into making this particularly aesthetically pleasing, but the polish of the gamemode would and should take precedence so this is understandable. It makes no sense to have wood beams over brick walls, and brick walls that transition into a different tileset of brick walls with no unity. It's clear that the mapmaker doesn't have much experience here if even I can tell things are out of place.

Dynamic element contest-wise I'm not really sure this was what I expected, but I suppose the map should be praised for being the most out-of-the box amongst those submitted. Besides that, it doesn't fit at all, isn't very inventive nor particularly fun. I think the idea could have worked had the execution been taken more seriously.

fortnite vbuck 420 · Jan 21, 2021

MAP | GAMEPLAY | DETAILING | CONTEST THEME
Caster | 75 | 65 | 100
Crossing |80 |75 | 50
Fastener | 65| 70 | 100
Flow | 20| 65 | 5
Frostine | 75 | 55 | 10
Golf With A Friend | 75 | 20 | 20
Lion | 40 | 20 | 20
Summer | 40 | 100 | 35

imo contest theme = dynamic elements = stuff that makes the gameplay more interesting / or just something happens that should catch people by surprise

edit 1; added flow, crossing, fastener

CreatorForce · Jan 21, 2021

MAP | GAMEPLAY | DETAILING | CONTEST THEME
Caster | 70 | 75 | 100
Crossing | 60 | 65 | 75
Fastener | 55 | 90 | 100
Flow | 5 | 10 | 0
Frostine | 70 | 40 | 10
Golf With A Friend | 90 | 50 | 50
Lion | 20 | 25 | 20
Summer | 30 | 100 | 40

Minor Contest #2: Guardian Dynamica [VOTING THREAD]

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