TF2Maps.net Major Contest #16: Back To Basics [FINALIST VOTING]

[Idolon]

Main Thread | Upload Thread | Preliminary Voting | Finalist Voting | Results​

Deadline

• Finalist voting ended December 2nd, 2019, 11:59 PM (23:59) GMT.
  • Voting was extended one week from the original deadline.
• Playtests will be held on our servers to play these maps on a regular basis.
  • Join our Discord or our Steam Group to be notified whenever a map test starts!

Voting Format

Voting is simple: Provide a 0-10 score for each map. Leave the score blank if you have not played the map. You should score based on how much you enjoy the layout of each map. Feedback is not required, but highly encouraged!

Optionally, you may also award the following honorary titles to each map as you see fit:

• Most Creative
• Greatest Potential
• Most Well-Rounded
• Best Alpha Style
• Best Spawnroom
• Best Hole
• Best Name

These titles do not count towards any final score or prizes, but the winners of each category will be announced at the end of the contest. You may award each title only once, and you are not required to award all of them. You can award the same map multiple titles. You are not allowed to make jokes about "Best Hole."

You may not vote for your own map. Votes may be thrown out at the discretion of staff*. Contest judge voting is weighted 60 / 40 against public voting and will be private until the conclusion of voting.

Use this table to cast your votes:

[table=head]
MAP | SCORE | HONORARY TITLES
Axlebox | |
Escalation (Stage 2) | |
Illinois | |
Shithole | |
Waterlog | |
Emil New Thing | |
Fountain | |
Route 51 | |
Tarpit | |
Tumb 2K19 | |
[/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.

 

[nesman]

wooo more voting

MAP | SCORE | HONORARY TITLES
Axlebox | 6 | Most Creative
Escalation (Stage 2) | 5 | Best Alpha Style
Illinois | 7 | Best Hole
Shithole | 4 |
Waterlog | 7 | Best Name
Emil New Thing | 5 | Most Well-Rounded
Fountain | 6 | Best Spawn Room
Route 51 | 5 |
Tarpit | 7 | Great Potential
Tumb 2K19 | 5 |

 

[Suna]

MAP | SCORE | HONORARY TITLES
Axlebox | 7 | Most Creative
Escalation (Stage 2) | 5 |
Illinois | 7 | Best Hole
Shithole | 6 | Best Name
Waterlog | 8 |
Emil New Thing | 7 |
Fountain | 6 | Best Spawnroom
Route 51 | 7 | Greatest Potential
Tarpit | 9 | Best Alpha Style, Most Well-Rounded
Tumb 2K19 | 6 |

 

[MegapiemanPHD]

MAP | SCORE | HONORARY TITLES
Axlebox |5| Most Creative
Escalation (Stage 2) |5|
Illinois |9| Best Hole
Shithole |6|
Waterlog |9| Greatest Potential
Emil New Thing |8|
Fountain |9| Most Well-Rounded
Route 51 |7|
Tarpit |5|
Tumb 2K19 |5|

 

[pk.pseudo]

MAP | SCORE | HONORARY TITLES
Axlebox | 7 |
Escalation (Stage 2) | 7 |
Illinois | 8 | Best Spawnroom
Shithole | 8 | Best Hole, Most Well-Rounded
Waterlog | 9 | Greatest Potential, Most Creative
Emil New Thing | 5 |
Fountain | 7 |
Route 51 | 6 |
Tarpit | 6 |
Tumb 2K19 | 5 |

Also an unofficial title: Shithole has the Best Health Placement

 

[Yrr]

MAP | SCORE | HONORARY TITLES
Axlebox |5|
Escalation (Stage 2) |6|Best Alpha Style
Illinois |6|
Shithole |7|Best Name, Best Hole
Waterlog |7|
Emil New Thing |8|Greatest Potential
Fountain |9|Most Well-Rounded, Best Spawnroom
Route 51 |5|
Tarpit |6|Most Creative
Tumb 2K19 |5|

 

[Maid]

yee yee

MAP | SCORE | HONORARY TITLES
Axlebox | 9 | Most Creative
Escalation (Stage 2) | 6 |
Illinois | 5 |
Shithole | 6 |
Waterlog | 9 | Most Well-Rounded, Best Hole, Best Name
Emil New Thing | 8 | Best Alpha Style
Fountain | 7 | Greatest Potential, Best Spawnroom
Route 51 | 4 |
Tarpit | 6 |
Tumb 2K19 | 7 |

 

[Joseph joestar]

MAP | SCORE | HONORARY TITLES
Axlebox | 5 |
Escalation (Stage 2) | 7 |
Illinois | 8 | best hole
Shithole | 6 | best name
Waterlog | 5 |
Emil New Thing | 6 | Greatest potential
Fountain | 7 | best spawnroom
Route 51 | |
Tarpit | 6 |
Tumb 2K19 | 5 |

 

[DrSquishy]

MAP | SCORE | HONORARY TITLES
Axlebox | 4 |
Escalation (Stage 2) | 7 | Best spawnroom
Illinois | 5 |
Shithole | 8 | Most well-rounded
Waterlog | 9 | Best hole
Emil New Thing | 6 | Best alpha style
Fountain | 9 | Most creative
Route 51 | 6 |
Tarpit | rake in | the lake
Tumb 2K19 | 7 |

If you'd like cooler and better rounded feedback, just DM me and I can try and give some. Most feedback here has changed from my preliminary voting stuff, I think some is still super accurate and covers the biggest issues though

Spoiler: feedback

Spoiler: axlebox

More an issue with the gamemode than the map, but teams always felt so split up across the entire map. I enjoy a lot of the combat areas in the map itself, but it was just not too fun to play because of how split up everyone was, and how I was constantly ending up near the enemy team's spawns because of me trying to get from A to C/C to A while avoiding annoying defensive spots on B or before B. The entire map is just constant small skirmishes with no proper team fights until you bump into 5 people on your own.

Spoiler: escalation s2

it's neat, PLR isn't really my thing but this was fun a lot of the time. Rounds can take forever though, that final little nudge sometimes never comes (I feel like this is an issue on this more than other PLR maps, where it just never seems to end) and some of the defensive spots at last feel really tough to break through

Spoiler: illinois

I don't know what I think of this map. It feels a bit weird to navigate, I dislike the flanks around mid, and I really dislike how the lobby is just 6 or so doorways funneling into a room. The central mid hole is enjoyable to play around, it's a neat little element to the map that I've not seen before

Spoiler: shithole

Great fun, the dual layered point is really interesting but I disliked going on the lower level. It always feels so cramped down there, and a single pyro or soldier could easily just demolish me. Heavies camping in the bottom room's corners aren't fun to go against either, so I spent almost my entire time focusing on the upper level

Spoiler: waterlog

great fun, I love the extreme height on A and the geometry around it. B has some really neat areas as well with the trench of sorts between the highground by B and B itself. Snipers feel a bit strong sometimes, especially in the A area, but I was always able to get around to them and take them out.

Spoiler: emilnewthing

A is a blast but the routes into B don't feel particularly fun as blu, especially that single wide area you're funneled through before having to go a sharp left to get to half of the routes into B. I just do not enjoy B at all, A is cool though

Spoiler: fountain

I love this map, the CP start is neat + unique and the payload part is very solid also. My two main criticisms are that the B building is a bit cramped and A can be camped awfully by sentries in the shack (but you know about this). The last part of the map feels like it rarely gets played, but once it does red never seems to be able to defend - I don't think I've ever actually seen them hold for the entire round at last.

Spoiler: route 51

the layout feels really messy, flanks that just bypassed the enemy team completely sometimes. The routes from red's first spawn to the cart start was almost a maze. There was a huge choke for the B area but blu also gets so much time to push. I did consistently have fun though, genuinely think this isn't bad

Spoiler: tumb2k19

I think it's super neat, enjoy it way more than other arena maps. A little windy at points but I like how it's lots of little skirmishes centred around the point room once you get inside.

 

[Mâché]

MAP | SCORE | HONORARY TITLES
Axlebox | 7 | Greatest Potential
Escalation (Stage 2) | 5 | Best Alpha Style
Illinois | Chicago | penis inspection day
Shithole | 6 |
Waterlog | 8 | Most Well-Rounded
Emil New Thing | 6 |
Fountain | 7 | Best Hole
Route 51 | 6 | Best Name
Tarpit | 7 |
Tumb 2K19 | 8 | Most Creative

 

[half]

MAP | SCORE | HONORARY TITLES
Axlebox | 5 | Most Creative
Escalation (Stage 2) | |
Illinois | |
Shithole | 9 | Best Hole, Best Name
Waterlog | 9 | Greatest Potential
Emil New Thing | |
Fountain | 8 | Most Well-Rounded, Best Spawnroom
Route 51 | 5 |
Tarpit | 7 |
Tumb 2K19 | 6 |

haven't played escalation, illinois, or emilnewthing, hope to get to before voting ends

 

[Wilson]

MAP | SCORE | HONORARY TITLES
Axlebox | 6 |
Escalation (Stage 2) | 6 |
Illinois | 5 |
Shithole | elohtihS |
Waterlog | 8 | Most Well-Rounded
Emil New Thing | 7 | Greatest Potential
Fountain | 8 | Best Name, Best Hole, Best Spawnroom
Route 51 | 4 |
Tarpit | 6 |
Tumb 2K19 | 6 |

 

[tyler]

MAP | SCORE | HONORARY TITLES
Axlebox |6|Most Creative
Escalation (Stage 2) |8|
Illinois |7|
Shithole |8|Best Hole, Most Well-Rounded
Waterlog |5|
Emil New Thing |7|
Fountain | |
Route 51 |5|
Tarpit |8|Best Alpha Style, Best Name, Greatest Potential
Tumb 2K19 |5|

Spoiler: Reasoning

axlebox
interesting point designs but i think it's let down by mid being kind of absurdly easy to hold somehow and the map being rotationally symmetrical. mirrored symmetry would work better i think because the points would be necessarily more different and interesting

most creative: bc this is the only nonstandard map besides mine

escalation
i think this is a good plr map. i dont find this materially different from many plr stage 2s, for better and for worse.

illinois
i really like the point design, but the building flanks that got added in later alphas are aggressively bad imo. there's no reason to let players sneak around the point or flank the flanks. i think this map was like a 9/10 about 4 or 5 versions ago.

shithole
cant really complain. this isnt a 10 because the area between spawn and the point is just a maze of doorways

best hole: bc the gameplay around it is the most fun
most well rounded: because you can just detail this right now and it'd be fine

waterlog
i dont really think PD has gameplay. i feel bad giving this a 5 but i think a 5 is high. i am sorry. i dont understand why people like this

emil new thing
this map consistently improves, but i dont like how the routes to B are like a big 7 shape. it's really dumb. something about the routing needs to change.

route 51
aggressively mediocre payload that was actually better when it was stealing ideas from overwatch. the last point is undeniably miserable.

tarpit
the most promising, unique, and interesting map in the contest imo. other maps might be nearly as good, or as good, but this one gets there on its own merit rather than repeating a formula

best alpha style: it's evocative without being overdetailed, or prematurely detailed
best name: it's very unique, yet very simple. fits the theme perfectly. maps with names this apt appear once every few years.
greatest potential: bc it's good, but not great. i believe it could be extremely fun with a few tweaks and a dedicated detailing pass

tumb 2k19
it's too big. door mechanic would be better on a smaller map

 

[Cargo_Tokens]

MAP | SCORE | HONORARY TITLES
Axlebox | 7 |
Escalation (Stage 2) | 6 |
Illinois | 5 | Best Hole, Best Name, Most Creative
Shithole | 5 |
Waterlog | 8 | Most Well-Rounded
Emil New Thing | 8 |
Fountain | 7 | Best Spawnroom
Route 51 | cow |
Tarpit | 7 | Greatest Potential, Best Alpha Style
Tumb 2K19 | 5 |

 

[Emil_Rusboi]

MAP | SCORE | HONORARY TITLES
Axlebox | 6 | Best Alpha Style
Escalation (Stage 2) | 6 |
Illinois | 5 |
Shithole | 7 | Best Hole, Most Well-Rounded
Waterlog | 7 |
Emil New Thing | I wish you were here |
Fountain | 8 | Best Spawnroom
Route 51 | 5 |
Tarpit | 6 |
Tumb 2K19 | 7 | Most Creative

 

[Tumby]

MAP | SCORE | HONORARY TITLES
Axlebox | 4 |
Escalation (Stage 2) | 6 |
Illinois | 4 |
Shithole | 8 | Best Hole
Waterlog | 8 |
Emil New Thing | 6 |
Fountain | 7 | Best Spawnroom
Route 51 | 3 |
Tarpit | 4 |
Tumb 2K19 | : ) |