The time is upon us! Below are the final results:
1st Place ($300):
Ares
by Aulli
2nd Place ($150):
Vacuum
by Brokkhouse & Muddy
3rd Place ($50):
Spookery
by Mess About
4th Place:
Poltergeist
by Tang & Rhamkin
5th Place:
Meat Train
by Ray is Sucky
6th Place:
Soul Pit
by SuperLuxDeluxe & Pinewabble
7th Place:
Orange Grove
by Norfolk
8th Place:
Tiftid Lava 2
by Tiftid
9th Place:
Grave Shift
by Gruppy
10th Place:
Zoned
by August101
Score Breakdown
| Map | Ares | Tiftid Lava 2 | Spookery | Vacuum | Soul Pit | Zoned | Meat Train | Grave Shift | Orange Grove | Poltergeist |
| Layout/Gameplay | 8 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3.5 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| Custom Mechanics | 9 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2.5 | 3 |
| Visuals/Theming | 9.5 | 4 | 6.5 | 9 | 7 | 2.5 | 6 | 5 | 6.5 | 8 |
| Overall Experience | 9 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 6.5 | 6 | 6.5 | 7.5 |
| Total | 35.5 | 20 | 24.5 | 29 | 21.5 | 9.5 | 22.5 | 19 | 20.5 | 23.5 |
Detailed Reviews
Ares
I don’t think it comes as a surprise to anyone that this map places high in the contest. Of all of the maps submitted, Ares definitely feels the most polished and cohesive. Right off the bat, the map looks visually like it’s in a nearly-finished state.
The changing capture zone is very clever and keeps the map from feeling stale over time. I found the way it launches players into the air to be very entertaining and I was able to do some interesting movement tricks to get the drop on unsuspecting enemies below!
The randomized underworld gauntlets are another clever trick that keeps the map from becoming repetitive. I initially assumed there were three different versions of the underworld; Only upon noclipping around the map did I realize that you actually used a three-pronged layout and just swapped which team spawns where.
The randomized pickups add a bit of flavor here and there without being too overbearing. I don’t think they are strictly necessary, but by no means do they detract from the experience either.
I thought the end-of-round prop hunt minigame was really impressive and I had a lot more fun with it than I was expecting to. At one point I got stuck holding the thermal thruster as a seeker, though this can probably be ironed out (or perhaps it’s something valve would have to fix. Not sure).
Overall, you really knocked it out of the park with this one! This could easily make it in as an official halloween map next year with a bit of polish and elbow grease.
Vacuum
This is another extremely strong contender! The first thing anyone will notice is the unique spawn mechanism. Making it appear as though the players are all being cloned adds a lot to the sci-fi aesthetic, and I think it’s probably the coolest spawn I’ve seen in a map. The rest of the map is similarly impressive-looking and makes very good use of the Asteroid assets. I got a real kick out of the way you used several cosmetic items in the skybox to create that horrible cthulhu space monster thing. There were actually far more details than I realized (never even noticed the out-of-bounds UFO near the intel until opening the map in singleplayer)!
Gameplay-wise, I quite like the idea of giving each team their own delivery platform, though I did find it rather difficult to stop the enemy team from capturing once they started. Perhaps it would be a good idea to swap the positions of the two elevators so the enemy team has easier access. The way that players have to hop into a spaceship with the intelligence is a nice touch and it adds to that whole “So long, suckers!” feeling you get when escaping successfully (though it isn’t immediately clear how the spaceships are meant to leave the geodesic dome).
I liked the speed boost/gravity mechanic in the exterior area, though it seems like the gravity gets even lower above a certain height, which means jumping classes can get stuck in the (lack of) air for quite a long time and become sitting (floating?) ducks.
Overall, very well put-together!
Spookery
This is yet another solid entry. The visuals, while more barebones than the previous two, are still quite well done in terms of overall shape and the map makes pretty efficient use of the props it has.
Gameplay-wise, I think the mid area could do with a bit of adjustment, as it feels mostly like an empty room with a platform for the point. The side areas do offer some nice opportunities for forward holds, especially with the dispenser ghosts.
As for the ghosts themselves, I instinctively wanted to avoid them most of the time because they don’t look distinct enough from the regular “BOO!” ghosts (which the map also has in another location for reasons that aren’t immediately clear to me).
The change to pumpkin bombs to make them do less damage is a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, being able to jump with them more is fun (though I don’t think the layout encourages this very much), but on the other hand, it makes it a bit harder to get kills on other players with them. I also think that players probably don’t take advantage of them much in part because they are accustomed to the usual near-lethal damage from vanilla ones. Much like the ghosts, I think these would benefit from custom models.
I like the concept of the underworld a lot, but I never really saw many players using it (it was usually just me and the skeletons), probably because there is only one entrance to it located on the low ground below the point and because said entrance is sometimes a death pit instead.
Overall, quite solid, but the custom mechanics could use some fleshing out.
Poltergeist
This is definitely one of the nicest-looking entries. The visuals remind me a lot of a seasonal “pumpkin patch” amusement park that I used to visit every year when I was a kid growing up in the midwest with all of the games and carnival rides and the like. Similarly to Harvest Event, this map feels a lot like it could really exist in the game’s time period. There were some missing textures in some places (especially in the underworld), but it didn’t really hinder gameplay at all.
Gameplay-wise, the layout feels fairly pleasant, but also fairly chokey. I suspect this was somewhat deliberate to work in tandem with the underworld teleportation mechanic, but said mechanic doesn’t seem to be very noticeable or influential. Part of the problem is that the entrances seem like they’re not open anywhere near often enough. I ran several playtests of this map and I could count the number of times I used the underworld on one hand. The fact that you are sent to a completely random (as far as I can tell) location also makes it hard to capitalize on it since it’s purely luck-based. I would suggest opening the underworld for much longer and giving players some kind of choice between several different exits so they could strategically choose their location to make a push or stop flag carriers from escaping. Perhaps there could also be some kind of risk-reward aspect to it, so exiting closer to the enemy intelligence, for example, would require the player to take a longer, more dangerous, or more exposed path.
Overall, needs some work, but you have a pretty solid foundation and I could see this map getting into the game next halloween with a little elbow grease.
Meat Train
I was hoping we’d get at least one player destruction map, and this one delivers. Meat, to be more specific.
Visually, this map makes good use of custom assets to give off a really gross (in a good way) aesthetic. The only major issue in terms of visuals I could point to would be the lighting. The entire map feels like it’s all the same brightness and makes much of it look rather dull. I would suggest darkening the OOB areas and the tops of buildings by dimming the light environment and using lights to keep the play space brighter. Perhaps use some even brighter lights in key areas such as the capture zone to emphasize their importance.
Gameplay-wise, the layout feels a bit cluttered in some areas and it plays quite similarly to king of the hill, but not bad overall. The custom mechanic, however, doesn’t work all that well in my opinion. Part of this is due to how annoying and awkward skeletons are to fight (though this isn’t really your fault). I do like the idea of giving the losing team bonus points to try and capture, but it could probably be done via some other delivery method (conveyor belts that spawn pickups, perhaps?). It also seemed like it might have been bugged, as skeletons didn’t always seem to drop pickups (though this also raises the question of where the meat is coming from ;P).
Overall, I like where you’re headed with this and I’d love to see it finished.
Orange Grove
This map has some great visuals and gives off a nice halloween atmosphere. The biggest issues I have with the map are twofold: First, it’s far too dark in many areas. I could barely see enemies in some places, especially just outside of the choke near the A point.
Secondly, I don’t think the custom mechanics work particularly well. I think the idea of a ghost cart is fun, but the fact that it scares players on BLU as well as RED was more of an annoyance to me than a boon considering how BLU is ordinarily encouraged to huddle up against the cart to push it. The aforementioned choke near A was made even more brutal by the fact that players attempting to push out of it (often with an ubercharge) would accidentally touch the cart with their pinky toe and then become unable to shoot, wasting precious moments to act.
The way the cart “haunts” things is a fun idea, but I didn’t find it to be very noticeable or obvious. In my opinion, you should expand upon that aspect of it (because there is a lot of potential there), but stop the cart from scaring BLU. I’d love to see an extended version of this map with more “haunting” shenanigans afoot.
Soul Pit
This map is probably the most unique entry in the contest by far. The reskinned robots look really cool and I love the idea of giving them some kind of defense mechanism. I also love the giant pyres (especially the poor skeletons attached to them) and the giant ribcage thing in the center.
There are two main issues I have with the map. First, the layout inside the base is very disorienting. It is composed of three extremely similar-looking areas (open rooms with round centerpieces and windowed walkways/platforms above) and arrows directing players in multiple different directions. I considered myself lucky whenever I managed to make it to the mid area.
Secondly, the cultist gimmicks all either feel poorly-communicated or not particularly impactful. For example, I probably never would have figured out that the outdoor cultists activate a secret entrance had I not read about it in the map description. The self-defense mechanisms of the robots are cool, but they didn’t seem to do enough to deter players from killing them anyway. I never personally got a chance to attack the “boss” myself, but I think that’s due to a combination of the above layout thing as well as the fact that it is often easier and safer to just farm the outdoor robots instead of invading the enemy base in the first place.
Tiftid Lava 2
I was very conflicted about this entry. On one hand, the custom mechanic is one of the best ones in the contest. It feels surprisingly solid and I have a lot of fun using the lava to jump around as classes that wouldn’t normally be able to do so. I could easily see it being a core feature of an official halloween map. On the other hand, however, the layout is quite confusing and does not make very good use of this mechanic, limiting its actual gameplay potential.
Most of the map between the spawns and the point feels like a cramped maze with no obvious direct path to the point. I rarely encountered many enemies in these areas and I had a very hard time trying to build a mental map of the routes (some of which just lead players on pointless detours). It wasn’t really clear what most of it was meant to be, either. Just a bunch of random geometry with no clear in-universe explanation or purpose. Eventually, I figured out the only route I ever wanted to take was the one that led me most directly to the large lava lake, which was the best part of the map in my opinion because I had room to actually move around and jump.
The design of the control point in particular needs to be completely redone in my opinion. The lava jumping thing feels completely sidelined by the fact that the objective is located inside of a tiny box with no room to move around in at all. Control of the point seemed to boil down to one demoman or engineer camping above the point and turning it into a miserable deathtrap.
In my opinion, the map should be given far more open spaces and more height variation adjacent to lava to encourage players to strategize with their movement. Place the point outdoors in an open space, perhaps on the edge of a high cliff adjacent to the lava so that players can choose between approaching the point on land or flanking to the other side and jumping onto it.
Grave Shift
I wasn’t sure about medieval CTF, but I honestly had quite a bit of fun with this map. The layout feels just about the right size for it and the routes give players several options for approach and escape (I appreciate the addition of water for pyro shenanigans). Engineer is also no longer able to camp on top of the briefcase and turn the map into a stalemate.
The visuals are quite plain, but not bad either. This map mainly loses points because the custom mechanic isn’t particularly unique or interesting. When a player picks up the enemy’s intel, a gate blocks off one entrance to the room and forces them to use a slightly longer route. It works well for this map, but it isn’t exactly a new concept and you could get the same effect by just making one entrance a dropdown.
Zoned
From what I understand, this is one of the creator’s first maps, so I want to preface this by saying that I’m glad you’re trying some ambitious things so early on. Please don’t be discouraged by any of the critiques below. I was also informed that the map had some bugs that couldn’t quite be fixed before the deadline, which is unfortunate, but I have to judge what was submitted.
I think the idea of a cart that travels through the underworld is a really fun one and there is a lot of potential in this relatively simple concept. The main issue I have with it currently is the execution.
For starters, it’s not clear what exactly you were going for visually or thematically. The underworld consists of a very large, winding, looping pathway with deathpits on either side and walls/ceilings covered in seemingly random textures.
The cart itself spends a very long time in the underworld. This might not necessarily be a problem, but the way the underworld works in this map is not very conducive to this at all. For starters, the scattered entrances send players to random unintuitive locations, making it very hard for either team to fight in a coordinated fashion because someone could just teleport behind them when they’re not paying attention.
The underworld also slowly damages players. In most maps with an underworld, this happens because they want players to spend as little time there as possible so they will attempt to run through the gauntlet and return to the objective instead of just trying to camp out and kill other players just entering. Engineers usually also aren’t allowed to build in the underworld for the same reason (plus being able to build teleporter exits in there would nullify the timed entrances).
In this map, however, both teams essentially have to spend large amounts of time in the underworld because of how long the cart path is. Slowly dying in a place that you are required to enter for the objective is not very fun for either team. Engineers are more or less reduced to a worse version of the scout since they can’t build anywhere.
Another issue is that the layout of the underworld doesn’t give most classes other than sniper and pyro much to do since it’s essentially just a long, flat path with deathpits around it. The path also loops around over a very long distance until it crosses above itself again. The biggest problem with this is that if players choose the wrong underworld entrance and end up on the low ground, they have no way of getting to the high ground without traversing the entire length of the path if they aren’t one of the few classes that can jump.
I won’t comment much on the overworld as it’s clear you just need more experience, but one thing that I would point out is that the way that the map is split into two separate areas was not clear as a BLU player and many players thought something had broken until we noticed the new spawn exit we could use. Since the old area becomes inaccessible to red at that point, you’d probably be better off making it multistage or at least giving BLU a new spawn.
If you’d like to keep using the “underworld cart” idea, I think it would work quite well with a few changes (in a new map, of course). For starters, have the cart spend most of the time in the overworld, but every so often have it enter for a relatively short track length before exiting again. The entrances and exits could be placed in interesting locations that don’t necessarily correlate 1:1 with the underworld geometry (maybe have spaces that are larger than would otherwise be possible to fit in the space allowed), essentially creating two parallel maps that exist in tandem with one another. Give the underworld some kind of special property
(low gravity, more hazards, etc), but don’t make it damage players passively and let engineers build there.
I wish you the best of luck in your future mapping endeavors and I’d love to see you try this concept again!
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And with that, the contest is now over! Thanks to everyone who participated!
If you have placed in the top three, send me a DM here or on Discord to coordinate prize delivery!
