This year's showcase banner is by @Kaia and @Pdan4, and features content from @Red13243, @« KeyGen », @Wilson, @zythe_, @Sarexicus, @Erk, @ZaChelbom, @Sonoma, @fruitycircus!, @36R49, and @Dasprucegoose!
It's been just over two months since we wrapped up our 10th 72hr Jam, and so it's time for the Jam Showcase! This year we'll be showing off 64 of the coolest creations made by the community. We hope seeing these entries will warm you up on these cold winter nights (or keep you cool during your summer, friends down in the Southern Hemisphere!).
The Numbers
This year we received 390 entries, with 350 of those being eligible for medals. This year we raised a total of $6,892.66 for Gamers Outreach Foundation, making this our fourth most successful Jam ever! This should be enough to fund two of Gamers Outreach's GO Karts (portable gaming kiosks which are used to provide entertainment to children in hospitals with limited access to activities outside of their rooms)! Incredible work once again, TF2 community!
Here's a breakdown of the 390 entries we got:
| Entry Type | Number of Entries |
|---|---|
| Map | 124 |
| Textures | 12 |
| Models | 10 |
| Prefabs | 2 |
| Particles | 0 |
| Content Packs | 0 |
| Other Resources | 2 |
| VScripts | 3 |
| Weapons/Items | 5 |
| Cosmetics | 8 |
| Warpaints | 4 |
| Unusuals | 7 |
| Games and Programs | 3 |
| Art: SFM | 47 |
| Art: Images | 119 |
| Art: 3D Models | 10 |
| Art: Videos | 9 |
| Art: Music | 3 |
| Art: Crafts | 9 |
| Art: Food | 1 |
| Other 72hr Jam Entries | 12 |
Acknowledgements
I'd like to give a huge thank you to @nesman and @Kaia for organizing the Jam this year, this wouldn't have happened without you two!
I'd like to extend special thanks to our sorting crew this year: @Sonoma, @Kaia, @Brokkhouse, @DoctorDoomtrain64, @14bit, @adam2, and @Erk! They're the ones that validated every entry, and decided what goes in the showcase. Thanks for the help, everyone!
Also special thanks to Scrap.tf for once again allowing us to take item donations, with a total of $614.47 in items donated this year!
And finally, I'd like to thank you, the reader! Without you and the rest of the community, The Jam wouldn't exist. Thank you for helping to make this world a bit of a better place through your enthusiasm and talents. Without further ado, on to the showcase!
Artwork
Interested in more Soldier-focused artwork? Our community has you covered! Check out @MIRU's Soldier propaganda poster for some high-flying fun, or @Jango's more subdued Painting-Lead Rain for all your Solder-looking-cool needs.
And to round out our Soldier section, check out Brothers being Brothers from @Chromsmith, shown right, which also features everyone's favorite Scottish Cyclops, Demoman!
I lied. We've got more Soldier art. Well, it's Pyro and Soldier art. Check out The besties!!! by @CrowDough, but be warned, there's a depiction of a human heart in this art!
For a cute bit of Pyro art with less gore, check out @kirbyman8's delightful Dustbowl Campout. And still speaking of Pyro, below is pyro's vision by @Smoliatich, one of the coolest things I've seen for one of these Jams in a while; a physical collage straight from Pyro's notebooks. Very cool!
Want just Scout? Well, we've got some concept art for a three-piece hippie-themed Scout set, the Cosmetic Concept - Woodstock Mann, by @Demi-Demon, one of which is shown left!
As our last Scout-focused piece for now, check out Archimedies?? by @Waka, featuring a guest appearance from Medic (who alongside Demoman and Sniper didn't get much art this year, sadly!).
While Medic and Demo didn't get enough artwork to get their own showcase sections this year, I would like to highlight @Red13243's really neat TF2 themed deck in Balatro, which puts both of them alongside Heavy:
On the right you'll find the striking POOTIS POW! by @Lilpoplil. Love the shading and linework on this!
Moving over to Engieneer (but with some Heavies in the background) @hydogen has graced us with 72 hours to map, a tribute to all the mappers that sacrifice their weekends for this noble cause. The 72hr countdown clock on his arm is a great touch!
Also don't miss the incredibly tall Engineer in Liminal Space (72HR Jam) by @Alto Arcade, which we sadly couldn't embed since it's so tall.
We've only got one Sniper-focused bit of art for this section, so below you'll find the average sniper duel by @« KeyGen », which I find to be quite fun and capture the spirit of the class quite well!
On the left you'll find the delightfully festive and 72hr themed Preppin' the Tree (72 HR Jam 2024) by @Slurpamurp. Be sure to check it out in full resolution, it's quite nice!
And last for Spy, check out @pato's pretty stylish Blender render of their Spy loadout, titled Scrooge McSmoke! I like the lighting.
We got some art of maps and items this time, not just of the mercs! Below you'll see the amazing koth_lakeside Voxel Art by @oohboy. Be sure to download the full resolution version from the thread, it's quite impressive!
Moving from voxels to pixels, check out this Pixel Art Scattergun by @Skylark and @zeddash! And if that wasn't cool enough, check out another entry from the same two artists, Pixel Art Rotating Viaduct, below!
Music and Games
Cosmetics, Items, Warpaints, and Unusuals
Want a fit that goes hard? Rocks are hard! Presenting Rock Collector (before publish) by @r0nii, a cosmetic/mod for Demoman that replaces all of the grenades on his vest with rock005.mdl, everyone's favorite rock model. Not enough rock005 for you? @Coolfsta has your back with rock005 pills (Grenade Launcher + Loch n Load only), which replaces Demo's fired grenades with mini versions of rock005! We don't think these two coordinated, but we're happy we could share them together!
The other warpaint we're showing off is brought to us by @Ninja with standards and @Umbrella, called Hammered Out. Ever wanted to dev-texture your weapons? Well now you can! Check out a preview of that on the left.
Finally for this section we've got a few unusuals! Be sure to check out not one, not two, but three whole Unusual Concepts by @Dreadnaught! They're called Emerald Explosion, Vice Vibe, and Night Shade. Want something a bit more out-of-this-world? Check out @WheatOnToast's Close Encounter, featuring a fun little UFO that flies around your head!
And finally, something a bit different; an unusual for Wrangler shields? Or more specifically, a proposal for a new Halloween spell that adds an unusual to Wrangler shields? Seems like it! Check out @Kerpongle and @William_The_Minecraft_Kid's Fortified - Wrangler Weapon Spell below to see it in action!
Textures, Props, and Vscripts
Are you looking to make a map using things made for the Jam? You're in luck, we got all sorts of mapping assets this year! We got a ton of skybox textures this time, like the fantastic pack of five Sky_Rainbowdusk skyboxes from @Auwi (a few of which are shown above!). Looking for somethign more overcast? Check out sky_gris by @verdigris! Need a sunset? @Cincomma has you covered with sky_archipelago!
Need some signs that are a bit more modular? Check out @MC_Labs15's Modular Spytech Monitors, which smoothly transitions us into showing off some map props and models! Sticking with the military theme for just a bit longer, don't miss @KrazyZark's Tf2 Spartan Jeep (Kaiser M715)! If you're instead looking for a slightly more in-season vehicle for your maps, @MrOakridge's Santa's Sleigh...? might be the map prop for you! It might be a bit beat up, and I'm not sure where all that splattered red paint is from, but it's a well-made model ready for your next Smissmas map. Check it out below!
To round off this section, here's a couple of Vscripts you could plan a map around! If you're making a cold-themed map, check out @LizardOfOz's Cold Breath, which makes the mercs (except spy) have breath clouds while in the cold! Want something a bit bigger to plan around? Consider using @Sarexicus's Hybrid Mode Prefab (Payload with Control Point first) Vscript/prefab, which will make a reappearance in a map later in the showcase!
SFM, Gmod and Videos
Up next we've got a bunch of posters and animations made in both SFM and Gmod! Just in time for the holidays that we completely blasted past when making this showcase, @MEGAARN has graced us with The Birth of Bonk, which you can see below:
Moving the focus away from Scout (but still including him), check out the stylish Nigh walk from @BIG_BENG78, featuring Heavy, Scout, Demo, and Spy all dressed up and escorting a dripped-out Medic.
Want something cute? Check out @Sonoma's Bubbles, featuring everyone's favorite pyromaniac Pyro blowing some bubbles.
Want something stylized? Check out @Jax's SCREAMIN EAGLES, featuring Soldier and his Market Gardener soaring through the air (with a tiny cameo of Sniper in the back)!
And speaking of Sniper, check out @EmojiPlay's spectacular 360 noscop, provided here in crunchy .gif form but available in high resolution .mp4 form through the download page!
Finally, we have one other Gmod video that doesn't quite fit anywhere else. We genuinely have no idea what is going on this in video, but we're impressed by @mat_mot0's look, yes : react, ??? regardless. We promise it's worth clicking through and downloading it!
Maps
On to the maps! Up first, and for the entirely wrong season, is @xTrueWlol's Halloween Payload map Fiendhill, featuring some fun spaces good theming. Want Payload but are tired of it being so normal? Check out @zythe_ and @Sarexicus's seasalt, a Hybrid A/D Payload map (shown below) using that vscript we mentioned earlier!
And speaking of A/D as a mode, we've got a few of those as well! Be sure to take a run around @YOYOYO's final1, a Gravelpit-like map set in a nighttime desert with some fun lore in the download thread. And as always, it wouldn't be a 72hr Jam without a new version of Backalley by @Wilson, this time called Backalley 2024 (shown below). For those who haven't been keeping up, this is the 7th version of the map; it's a remake of a remake of a remake of a remake of a remake of a remake of the original Backalley at this point!
Looking for something else also made on stream? Check out @14bit's 72bit, a Steeltype map set entirely underground around a supercomputer in a spytech base, shown from above below. Here's a review of the map from fishbus, the creator of Steel: "oh no."
We got a bunch of detail maps this year, too! To pair with the last map, check out the similarly themed Spytech Underground by @aceman, which features some fancy tricks to do real-time reflections on the floor. Speaking of underground things, be sure to give @Seacat08's Seacat Subway a look, a subway inspired by Mario Kart 8's Superbell Subway! Want to relax a bit, away from the hustle and bussle of subways and secret lairs? @Erk has you covered with their relaxing Japanese Hot Springs, shown below.
We'd also like to take a quick look at the lesser-represented types of TF2 mapping this time, starting with a jailbreak map! While having almost nothing to do with Valve's RD Asteroid, @Semicolon Backslash's jb_asteroid_72 is a quite impressive jailbreak map for such little time, featuring 10 fully functional minigames! Are you a fan of TF2-themed Sourcemods? A fan of Unreal Tournament 2004? How about both? If so, check out @ZaChelbom's remake of Albatross from UT2004 for Open Fortress, fittingly named Albatross! And finally, to round out our maps section this year, check out @ChinoIchino's jump_bridge_chinoichino, a recreation of the famous Roman aquaduct in Southern France, the Pont Du Gard, but as a jump map! Check out a video of the map in action below:
3D models, Crafts, Food, and Everything Else!
Guess what? We've got even more entries to showcase! Venturing beyond the bounds of the game and into other programs, we've got some excellent (and festive!) Nutcracker Mercs by @⸸⛧Luzifer⛧⸸, seen above. All nine classes are here, and in both team colors, impressive!
Venturing even further from in-game content, we got some Lego-based entries this year! @Bonk Nickeltoon is back again for their sixth time making a Lego creation for a Jam, this time making a LEGO Quick-Fix!!, with plans to build and display the backpack alongside this for Brickworld 2025. Good luck, Bonk!
Great minds think alike, so we've got two more related Lego creations, first being @zandergb's BrickHeadz-style Lego Scout made with vitual Lego bricks in Bricklink Studio (above, left), and second being @Truckojr's Lego Medic Brickhead made in real life (above, right)!
We've not gotten a food entry since 2022, but that streak has finally been broken by @Vince, who baked a delightful JimiJam Cake for the Jam this year, which you can see on the right. This lemon sponge cake with lemon buttercream filling looks incredible, and we wish we'd gotten a taste!
To round out this section, and the showcase as a whole, we have a few literary entries we'd like to highlight. First up, our first fanfiction in a few Jams, is men of sound mind by @caw-caw-robinjay, a fun first chapter of what will become a rivalry between Engineer and Spy. I'm excited to read more! And finally, @Hazard has gifted us with a D&D Class - The Mercenary, which has almost all the info to bring your favorites mercs into the realm of tabletop gaming, complete with Mannpower and minicrits!
What's next at TF2M?
Want to see all the entries? You can see them all here: https://tf2maps.net/downloads/?prefix_id=12 Want to see only maps, or SFM artwork, or crafts made for the Jam? Now you can do that too! Head over to the Downloads section of the site, go to any category you want, then select the "Filters" option and choose the "72hr Jam 2024" Prefix, like this:
Participation and donation medals have already been sent out. The cutoff date for medals was Monday, February 10th; if you did not get one and think you should have, sorry but we can't send any more out!
Thank you, TF2 Community for supporting these events! We've still got a few years before we reach 10 years of Jams (the first few years we did it twice a year!), but I'm amazed to see us hit 10 total Jams this year. I never imagined they'd make it this far when they started, and I hope to see them continue for many more years to come.
Stay tuned for our next batch of Featured Maps and other surprises coming soon!
And finally, to send us off and warm your hearts through the rest of the winter here's one more entry: Heavy with Little Birdies by @fruitycircus!
