Whew, that took a little longer than we wanted - but here it is, the showcase! There are of course no winners and no losers in the jam: all this is is a chance to show off some entries that particularly impressed us. There are so many fantastic entries - we’re barely scratching the surface of the best here.
Acknowledgements
Before the showcase itself, I want to run through some acknowledgements. Firstly I want to give credit to
@Crash and
@Fr0Z3nR - the jam was their idea, and was very much sculpted by their guidance. Secondly, I want to give a particular shout out to
@killohurtz, who’s acted as my second-in-command throughout the jam, and done more work than anybody else to make it a success. Also of fantastic help was
@Geit, our technical expert - all those problems we had would have been far
far worse without him. In addition, my thanks to
@iiboharz, creator of the logos and images for the jam. Next up are
@Muddy,
@Dasnvi,
@NickTF,
@Davekillerish,
@theatreTECHIE,
@phi,
@MaccyF,
@worMatty,
@soosh,
@shadowslasher11,
@Berry,
@KubeKing,
@Nioxed and
@Lovres, who either ran tests for us, created graphics, or helped us sort through the entries - my sincere thanks to all of you guys. And finally, my thanks to everyone who’s helped out by joining our playtests, giving feedback, or providing other assistance. I can’t possibly name all of you, but it’s you guys who make this jam so successful, and make it so valuable for everyone.
The Showcase!
Buckle in, folks, this is a long one. In the end we had roughly 520 entries, of which 225 were maps, 135 were SFM images, 64 were hand-drawn or computer-made artworks, and 28 were models or cosmetics. Bold Underlined text is links you can click for a closer look or a download.
So much of the jam was based on the Frontline pack, so lets start with some great war-themed entries! That shiny picture up at the top is from
plr_valentine, by
Bakscratch, a personal favourite of mind, and a gorgeous use of the theme: including a
custom payload cart made by Robot Agent. The face of frontline himself,
Crash, has created
Trenchfoot, and newcomer
Buttons has made
supplytrack, a fast, creative Player Destruction map. To the left is
Operation Soaring Eagle, a fantastic piece of frontline art by
Loth, and not the only great example: check out
Dragoon's
Frontline Squad, and both
At The Frontlines by
Rummy and
Spibbb's
collection are fantastic work from new SFM'ers. Finally, check out
Shalikyuu's
Mustard Gas Grenade and
Bapaul's
modular walls for shiny new frontline assets.
Those aren't the only great models: I can't wait for a chance to use
boomsta's
coffee machine (pictured right) in a map. We've had several cool cosmetics, but none as impressive as
Corvalho's
Nest Threat set: though i'm really looking forward to a finished version of the
Microsapper, by
centersolaCE. Pixienal is representing the Mayann update well with a neat
Mayann Ammopack, and our own
Killohurtz has somehow found time to create some stylish
Graffiti.
To the left is my favourite SFM submitted, by
The Scurvy Orange - to me, it looks like a gorgeous holiday snapshot. Also on the theme of "Summer" is
tf2Dove's
collection of images, and we've got two summery maps you should take a look at:
Manntorini by Grizzly Berry, and
Sand Dollar by
Mikroskopic.
It's not only the virtual world we're working in:
TheLocalPub has made and labelled some
actual TF2 Jam. (Call me when Overwatch has
that!)
Yotts has also
3D Printed a Knife, plus released the CAD files for anyone wishing to do the same, and
The Croc has made a
Prinny Machete from clay.
Ixy has been making some fantastic TF2 versions of classic artworks: The standout is this version of Rembrandt's
The Anatomy Lesson in collaboration with
DuckDog, but check out his
Downloads page for more. Those are far from the only great SFMs entered: some more of the best are
Brootalon's "
A Sneaky Capture,
Diva Dan's
Mappers Aren't Nappers, and
itsdash's
Sawmill Showdown.
There's not just artistic talent on show here - there's some fantastic technological talent on show.
The Evil Pickle has made
a mod allowing you to drive the frontline tanks, including seperate types of tank for different classes: I can't wait to try it out.
Kikouille Master and
Zelk have made a whole game:
Sandvich Stacker! I've tried it out and it's a ton of fun.
Nuke has done what was thought impossible and
made an endless MVM mission generator. and
SekretAgentMan has made a video about the quintessential casual experience... on a
TI-BASIC Calculator.
ICS has made a whole
website for his maps (check them out, they're all great), and, pictured to the right,
Practical Problems has made a sharp, well-posed taunt for the
Short Circuit.
Last year we had a couple of songs submitted, and this year we had even more - some of the best were
Muddy's funky bond-esque
Dusty Desert Hop,
Dasnvi's funky
JimiJam swing, and... look, you have to see
Ronald_D_D's "
Scout Sings "It's Not Unusual" to believe it - that might be my favourite entry in the whole jam.
Above is
Not Your Sagittarius' well-named "
Demo Shooting Jam", which I love for its classic cartoon feel, and what must be some very tricky Jam splatter effects. To the left is
Windowmaker's fantastic "
Skill Always Beats Luck" - and to the right is
Uberchain's glorious vintage JimiJam advert - i'm personally impressed most by these bits of hand-drawn artwork, and sorry I can't share more. And if we're talking about
true art, then I would be remiss in not mentioning
Badlands x Reckoner, probably the only existing piece of erotic map fiction, which is a good thing. That's written by
Idolon, by the way - I point that out to explain why i'm firing him as a staff member, since he will clearly never have either my or your respect again. (JK, JK - about the firing. I'm plenty serious about the loss of respect.)
And finally, (yes, nearly done) I should show off some maps, since it's in the site name and all. Pictured above, from left to right, are
Infinite,
Bagel, and
DiscordClub, by
Egan,
Yrrzy, and
Tekku respectively - three tremendously fun and great-looking maps that show what can be made in the time by masters of the craft. I want to give a special shoutout to
Pest, by
haronymsuzi, which looks to be a great early effort from a new mapper, to
Meme Machine Redux by
NickTF, augmented with even more memes, and to the two versions of
Moonblast, by
Flipy, because the finale blows up the moon. Last, but not least, let me leave you with a shot of
Tierra-Verde's gorgeous
Antarctic Detail Scene.
Some Final Things
Before you go, I'd like you all to fill in
this survey. It lets us know what you enjoyed and didn't enjoy about the event, and what you want us to do differently next time. Be honest - It's all anonymous.
Everyone will be getting their medals within a week or so - we’ll let you know as soon as they’ve gone out. Keep watching this space. In fact - keep watching in general. We should be announcing our next minor contest within a couple of weeks, and we have no less than three more events being prepared for you guys before the end of the year.
And finally, one more set of thanks - to all of you, for taking part, for putting up with the technical issues, for making this site such a great place to be. And, from a personal perspective, thanks for making this event such a pleasure to run! Stick around, and join us to keep making your things and expanding your skills - or come back in the new year for the next jam. Let’s see if we can make that one even bigger!
