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Grab a friend, it's time to make another connection! For a second year in a row, we're partnering with TFConnect for another contest, and this year it's going to be twice as good. How do we know that? It's because we're doubling up, and there's two of everything this time! Double the winners, double the prizes, and over double the time to work compared to last year! And did I mention all the maps need two have both two mappers and two objectives in them? It's almost too (two?) much for one person to handle!
Like last year, TFConnect is supporting SpecialEffect! check out the TFConnect site for more info:
TFConnect 2024
A byte-sized weekend packed-full of fun, benefitting SpecialEffect's cause to aid & empower gamers with disabilities!
www.tfconnect.org
Start date: October 11th, 2023 (Right Now!)
End date: December 10th, 2023, 1:00pm EST (18:00 UTC)
Prompt:
You must make a map for Team Fortress 2 that fulfills the following two requirements:
- Your map must contain exactly two objectives
- Your map must be a collaboration between exactly two people
What modes count as having two objectives?
Here are some examples of maps/modes with two objectives that would be valid for this contest:
What counts as a collaboration? How is that scored?
How you split the work between you and your collaborator is entirely up to you, as long as both people meaningfully contribute to the map. When submitting your entry, you will be required to list who did what, and a portion of the map's scores will be judged on how well those contributions work together in the final map.
Here's some examples of how the workload might be split:
Can I use existing custom content? Are the creators of custom content counted as collaborators?
The creators of any custom content used in your map do not count as collaborators, provided the custom content is publicly released at least two weeks prior to the end of the contest. If custom content is released after that deadline, or is custom made for the map, the creator of the content must be counted as one of the two collaborators.
Here are some examples of maps/modes with two objectives that would be valid for this contest:
- Standard CTF (two flags, one per team)
- Mannpower (two flags, one per team)
- PASS Time (two goals, one per team -OR- two goals per team, for a total of 4)
- Payload Race (two carts, one per team)
- 2cp Payload (any single stage of Hoodoo, stages 1 and 2 of Goldrush)
- 2cp Arena (Byre)
- 2cp A/D (Gorge)
- PD with 2 drop sites (Scarab, Waterlog)
- Any mode with two stages (Snowplow, Mojave, Snowbase)
- MvM (if there are two bombs in play at all times, both a bomb and gatebots in play at all times, or there are two bomb hatches)
What counts as a collaboration? How is that scored?
How you split the work between you and your collaborator is entirely up to you, as long as both people meaningfully contribute to the map. When submitting your entry, you will be required to list who did what, and a portion of the map's scores will be judged on how well those contributions work together in the final map.
Here's some examples of how the workload might be split:
- One person does layout, the other does detailing
- Each person builds half of the map
- One person makes A1, the other person does all further iterations
- One person makes the game mode, the other makes the map
- One person makes an MvM map, the other person makes a mission for it
- Both collaborators take turns placing one brush at a time
Can I use existing custom content? Are the creators of custom content counted as collaborators?
The creators of any custom content used in your map do not count as collaborators, provided the custom content is publicly released at least two weeks prior to the end of the contest. If custom content is released after that deadline, or is custom made for the map, the creator of the content must be counted as one of the two collaborators.
Other Rules:
- Maps started before the contest, and/or modifications of existing maps are not allowed
- Judges, contest organizers, and those otherwise involved directly in judging cannot win any prizes
- Maps must be able to run on our standard 24 player servers, without server modifications or plugins
- MvM maps are allowed, but may be judged separately
- Limit one entry per person
- Collaborations are required, maps with more or less than two collaborators will be disqualified
Maps will be scored by both a panel of judges and limited public voting. All entries will be played in at least two full gamedays of at least two rounds each during the judging process the week of December 11th; Exact times and dates will be revealed closer to the deadline. All judges will be in attendance for these tests. If there are too many entries, there is small chance each map will only get tested once (for two rounds each) during judging.
For the public voting, only ballots that have scored at least 3/4 of the maps will be valid. All public votes will be averaged into one composite score, and treated as if they were an extra judge for the final calculations.
Maps will be judged via these categories:
| Category | Possible Points | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Gameplay | 20 | How well does the map play? Is it balanced? |
| Visuals | 20 | Does it look nice? Is the theme creative? |
| Collaboration | 5 | How well did the mappers work together? How even was the workload split? |
Maps will have two final scores, each out of 25; one for Gameplay and one for Visuals. Collaboration will be factored into both scores; the Final Gameplay score will be an average of each judge's Gameplay + Collaboration scores, and the Final Visuals score will be an average of each judge's Visuals + Collaboration scores.
There will be two winners; one for Final Gameplay, and one for Final Visuals. In the event that one map wins both categories, the next highest scoring map of either category will be declared the second winner.
All entries will be showcased and briefly discussed on the TFConnect livestream. If we get too many to show them all, only the top 10 maps will be shown. The dates and times of the TFConnect 2023 event have yet to be announced, so stay tuned for updates!
The Judges:
| 14bit | TF2Maps | Senior Staff |
| Sonoma | TF2Maps | Server Mod |
| Brokk | TF2Maps | Server Mod |
| Polybrow | TFConnect | Music & SFX Lead |
Prizes:
Both winning teams will receive:
- A pair of TFConnect posters (one for each collaborator), signed by the TF2 voice actors!
- Map Maker's Medallions
There are two of each poster, so each winning team will get one of each to distribute among themselves. The first one features art by Flapjack, and the second features artwork from Py-bun. In the event the posters cannot be shipped to your country, we will come up with an alternative prize.
Submission Procedure:
- Create a download for your map in the downloads section of the site
- Post a link to your map's thread in the Upload Thread before the deadline, along with a description of what parts of the map each collaborator worked on
- The Submission Thread will be posted a week before the deadline
- You will have up until the first gameday begins to make any emergency bugfixes
- You may request a rollback to a previous version if the version played in the gameday is broken
Special thanks to cheddZy, shork, and everyone else at TFConnect once again for helping us to put this together. See you at the event!
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