What is prop spam and why is it bad for my map?

[dabmasterars]

When playtesting one of my maps (headquarters, to be precise), I noticed a recurring piece of feedback of people saying that the map has prop spam.

Isn't the whole artpassing thing to cover the map with a bunch of props? Or am I doing it in a way that doesn't look coherent? What are the ways to mitigate prop spam?

 

[MegapiemanPHD]

Propspam is the overuse of props and/or of the same prop. The point of an artpass is to add detail to a map in a way that makes sense and looks good. Propspam tends to not make sense and never looks good. It's all about finding the right balance.

TF2's art direction is all about selective detailing. Most of the time it does more with less and valve maps tend to leave areas underdetailed more than overdetailed. Too much detail and an area looks noisy, too little and it looks unfinished.

Propspam is also bad for optimization as it's more stuff for a computer to render and more draw calls to your gpu to render each prop. It takes time to really get the hang of what is and is not spam, but with TF2, it's usually better to under detail than over detail.

 

[Plainz]

headquarters feels very blocky, you can fix that without changing the layout, by adding depth with detailbrushes using 4/8 units grid.
For exmaple: these walkways have no support what so ever, add that.

Many walls are plain textures, could use a lot more overlays, like a stain near the ceiling or crack in the wall.
Also you are not taking advantage of the out of bounds rooms that are separated from the playable space by glass and doors that lead nowhere.

This ceiling should have a massive support structure, current beams dont really add any support, they are actualy adding weight to the ceiling instead of supporting it because they have NO vertical beams that distribute the weight down.

changing ramps into staircases can add a lot of detail weight to an otherwise empty space.

you could have an out of bounds room right here to the left separate from the playable area by glass.

Looking around more it seems you are afraid of using lower than 8 grid size, if you want to get better detailing wise you have to use 4 or lower grid size.

 

[dabmasterars]

headquarters feels very blocky, you can fix that without changing the layout, by adding depth with detailbrushes using 4/8 units grid.
For exmaple: these walkways have no support what so ever, add that.

Support is going to be weird, especially with the circular part in the middle, but I'll try. Agree on more detail brushes.

Many walls are plain textures, could use a lot more overlays, like a stain near the ceiling or crack in the wall.
Also you are not taking advantage of the out of bounds rooms that are separated from the playable space by glass and doors that lead nowhere.

I think overusing overlays may also lead to "spam", but right now some walls clearly need more detail. Out of bounds rooms are going to be tricky in some parts, since the map is tightly built, although I do know a semi-working method of creating fake windows.

This ceiling should have a massive support structure, current beams dont really add any support, they are actualy adding weight to the ceiling instead of supporting it because they have NO vertical beams that distribute the weight down.

There are vertical beams, but now that I'm looking at it, I think adding diagonal ones wouldn't hurt.

Agree with everything else, will try to add that to Beta 6 plus more reflective textures cause shiny stuff is pretty cool.

 

[nesman]

Take a look at maps that have a similar feel to some of your rooms. On Rumford last you can see how I did the supports. Each beam adds a sense of depth to the flat walls. Windows, pipes, overlays for dirt, etc.