Team Fortress 2 has been around for just shy of 15 years, and in that time thousands upon thousands of maps have been made. Let's show our appreciation to the earlier community maps, good and bad. Any map from 2012 or earlier is fair game.
It's clearly someone's first-or-second map, and that gives it a sort of charm to me. I almost want to remake it.
Unlike the last map-maker, I was able to do a bit of research on the creator of this map, SpiKe/Mallo. He was active in the Source Engine modding scene between 2001 and 2008, mostly making maps for TFC and Fortress Forever. Goldfinger was his only TF2 map, as well as his last map. After 2009 he completely vanishes, which is a bit sad. I hope he's doing alright, wherever he is.
It seems like Loader is the one-and-only map of it's creator, Swizzle, but it's a really good one! The download has his full name, and a quick googlin' shows that he's still active and around in the game dev scene, with some high-profile work under his belt, although it seems like he hasn't touched level design in years.
Arena Minepit
Not to be confused with the more famous and Minecraft-inspired Payload map of the same name, I stumbled across this map on The Snark Pit, an old Source maps site from the early 2000s. Outside of the fact that it was made in mid-2010 by someone named MightyBanana, plus two "special thanks" credits in the map's readme, there's very little about this map I can find.It's clearly someone's first-or-second map, and that gives it a sort of charm to me. I almost want to remake it.
CP Goldfinger
Another map I found on The Snark Pit, Goldfinger has two neutral points on opposite sides of an asymmetrical map. Capping a point doesn't lock it from the other team, so players need to both attack AND defend, making the map play like Arena Byre but with respawning enabled. First team to capture both points wins. The map is pretty cramped, with a rather confusing layout, but the detailing is phenomenal!Unlike the last map-maker, I was able to do a bit of research on the creator of this map, SpiKe/Mallo. He was active in the Source Engine modding scene between 2001 and 2008, mostly making maps for TFC and Fortress Forever. Goldfinger was his only TF2 map, as well as his last map. After 2009 he completely vanishes, which is a bit sad. I hope he's doing alright, wherever he is.
KoTH Loader
Instead of finding this one on The Snark Pit, it was introduced to me from a twitter post that linked to a Gamebanana page. It's a fantastically-detailed KOTH map, although the geometry and gameplay design feel a bit... ameturish, if that's the word I'm looking for? The map is basically just a box, with each team having split spawn rooms that are just off-center on each side of the map. Most of the map is the sprawling mid building, and you can fight on top of it's low roofs, so while the map only has two levels of height it feels a lot more vertical than it is.It seems like Loader is the one-and-only map of it's creator, Swizzle, but it's a really good one! The download has his full name, and a quick googlin' shows that he's still active and around in the game dev scene, with some high-profile work under his belt, although it seems like he hasn't touched level design in years.
