Cutstuff CTF Competition 2: That's My Horse! ---FINISHED---

[King Dumb]

HEY THERE

DO YOU WANNA PLAY FOOTBAWL ON THESE COOL NEW CTF MAPS? WELL ME TOO!

[TSPG] Painkiller: THAT'S MY FOOTBAWL
IP: 45.79.134.90:10791

**POSTED WITH OP'S PERMISSION**

[Zard1084]

Could someone live stream this? Please?

[CutmanMike]

I tried to shadowplay record it but the recording came out corrupted. Was really fun though.

[DarkseedZero]

My map isn't the best for footbawl :'(

[CutmanMike]

I got some footage of the football train

[Korby]

To help me decide on my voting order, I decided to write up my thoughts on the maps and put them here.
Most of these maps are pretty good so it'll make ranking them difficult, and I hope my comments can help you improve your maps!
If not, that's fine. I don't really consider myself great at map critique anyway.

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TMHCTF01 - Thunderono

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Most of the problems I have with this map are fairly minor. One of the biggest ones I have is that the wheel platforms underwater in the bases by Gemini Laser are fairly awkward. The distance you fall after doing a full jump is fairly long, making it dangerous to go in those paths when enemies are nearby because you become a sitting duck for the entirety of the descent. It's also fairly inconsistent with the other underwater jumps in the map, all of which will leave you near the top of the water. Ultimately, I'd prefer if it were lowered to only requiring one jump to get out like the center base jump up to water balloon/the flag, but I understand if that won't happen.

Another problem I have with the map is the eastern path, particularly when compared to the western path. The western path is very cool, requiring a lot of winding and interesting, overlapping geometry, and some pretty cool opportunities to juke any people hunting you down. The eastern path is a straight line with a hole in the middle. This isn't inherently a bad thing, mind; several core maps do that as well- including one of my favorites, Melting Metal- but the fact that it exists on this map when the western path exists as the other side path means that, optimally, you should always take the eastern path because it's faster. Not much has to be done to the east path to make it about the same speed as the western path, if you could fit in an additional jump without making the path awkward, that would probably clear anything up. Also, you may want to include a way from the flag to be able to tell which path is which; the base itself is symmetrical so it can be annoying to remember which side is the eastern path when you're leaving the base with the flag.

TMHCTF02 - LlamaHombre

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My biggest problem with this map is that Slash Claw is such a good defensive option here, and it's two steps away from the base. The reason it's so good is because unless you went out of your way to grab Rush Coil first, there's only one way out of the flagroom. Said way out is very easily blockable by one guy with Slash Claw, and is impossible to escape from when there's two unless you're really, really good. If someone DOES bring Rush Coil, then it's pretty much impossible to get him unless your team already has the flag or people in their base, or you bop the man while he's flying up.

My other problem with the map is the W Tank path. While interesting enough and adding another path on the east side, it becomes very obnoxious when you're running along the east path and end up in a dead-end. To help rectify this, perhaps make some geometric changes to the elevator area that better illustrate that you should go inside the elevators or teleporter paths to get to the flag. Maybe erect a small wall next to the elevators which would block people who run into it, and telling them to go up the elevator? Even if that's not the way you choose to handle it, I definitely thing it should be better illustrated that the W-Tank path is a dead-end from that side.

TMHCTF03 - Magnet Dood

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I'm not going to touch on the hiding spots above the trains as I'd assume you've had earfulls enough of that, being within earshot of Smashbro and all. Instead, I'll touch on the flag rooms. The main issues there arise from the large pillars next to the flags themselves. I understand why they're there - to prevent people from the side cars to shoot the flag - but they make movement in the flag room very awkward when combined with the large crates in the corners. Personally, I'd just nix the corner cases.

Another problem I feel I have is that it feels too large. I'm not sure where you could cut out space, but I'm fairly sure I'm not the only one with this problem. Last problem I can think of is that there's only one Item-1 on the map and it's in a remote area. That's a pretty strange placement for Item-1, if you ask me.

TMHCTF04 - Mendez

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I'm not sure I need to say too much here as Mendez seems to have a pretty good grip on what he did wrong, but I'll bring up something I don't think I've seen brought up publicly. My biggest problem with this map is that it is asymmetrical. Normally, the super-minor asymmetry of one base being a different gravity than the other wouldn't matter too hugely, but in 1 Flag, when you introduce the fast-moving conveyors into the mix, one team will get a small speed boost on their way to mid, securing them the white flag first. I do think, however, that having the conveyors there is interesting because it cements high-grav as the setting you apply when you want to dodge intruders and stay alive with the flag, with low-grav being easier to shoot people in.

Also, using red as a major color in the Light base is generally just not a good idea.

TMHCTF05 - Caprice

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I like this map a lot. I don't really have a lot of complaints aside from things I've already mentioned to you personally, which basically boil down to the weapon layout complaints you've probably heard a lot. My specific suggestions were putting Rolling Cutter where Super Arm is, Danger Wrap where Rolling Cutter is, and Super Arm where Danger Wrap is. You could even put Rolling Cutter where Hard Knuckle is and plop Hard Knuckle somewhere else. Maybe one small thing you could do is, instead of having fencing in the pictured area below, you could have a small rock ledge so it's easier to hop the ledge to ice slasher? Fencing wouldn't be super required on top as the rock wall itself would serve as a fence.

Overall solid map, definitely one of my favorites here.

TMHCTF06 - Korby

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Even though I made this one, I still like it a lot. I think a lot of things that I did in it worked out fairly well. Particularly, I'm pretty proud of how varied the paths are and how fun it can be - at least, for me- to traverse the map. Some other things I want to point out include not having any health in the flag room itself (and any substantial health near it requiring you to put yourself in at least some danger), and making the paths that lead directly to the flag clearly marked with carpet.

Aside from a few possible weapon layout tweaks and some possible tweaks based on feedback from the judges, I think the map sits in a pretty good spot. 1 Flag is pretty painful on it, but there's not a lot that can be done there. Also, I will never forgive myself for the texture error in mid.
Won't put myself in first.

TMHCTF07 - Darkseed

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This map's greatest saving grace is that it looks pretty alright. Unfortunately, there is only one pathway to any of the flags, and that pathway is cluttered with strange/awkward geometry, turbo tires, backwards conveyors [although they barely move you in the first place], very strange fans, and one HELL of a deadly weaponset. This has the same problem 02 does with Slash Claw being really, really good at defending on it, and multiplies it with the addition of Arrow Buster; not to mention the other powerful weapons lying around.

But hey, cool skybox.

TMHCTF08 - JC494

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Although others might, I don't have a problem with you copy and pasting a map from your pack into this competition. My problem with this map is that it's just not good. It has an extremely confusing layout with so many twists and turns it's impossible to find flag carriers without being in perfect communication with at least two other people, and it's probably about twice as big as it really needs to be. I also don't understand why the fake walls exist? They seem fairly pointless to me.

TMHCTF09 - ForteGigasGospel

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This map is fairly solid. The main problems with it are its twisty layout making it difficult to kill people with a few of the weapons on the map not named Knight Crush, and that Knight Crush is so easy to get. I'd swap around the sets a bit to balance that out, personally. Maybe put Wave Burner where Thunder Bolt is, Thunder Bolt where Knight Crush is, Crystal Eye where Wave Burner is, and Knight Crush where Crystal Eye is? At the very least it would generate more traffic top-side because not a lot of people go up there from what I've seen.

TMHCTF10 - Duora Super Gyro

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I actually quite like this map and don't really have any problems with it. If anything, a small piece of cover on the main level for the bases would help flag carriers a lot. Aside from that, pretty darn solid map. There's never any confusion on where to go, and the weapon set - though brutal - is solid. If you're looking to make geometric changes aside from proposed cover, maybe include a couple jumps out of the white flag side paths instead of ladders? It's probably fine how it is currently, but play with it and see how it feels I guess.

[Dr. Freeman]

Hey you bamblers, votes are in!!!
To save on time and because I think he worded it way better than I can, I'm going to copy KD's little thing about voting from the F2M topic, because it's the exact same system we used here!

The overall winner when judge and community votes were corroborated will receive the Grand Prize. Then, the winner of the community votes (excluding the Grand Prize winner if necessary) will receive the Community Runner-Up Medal (this is the Community Vote Winner). Then, the winner of the of the judges' votes (excluding the Grand Prize winner if necessary and if necessary the Community Runner-Up) will receive the Judges' Runner-Up medal (this is the Judges' Vote Winner).

Before I post the results, I just want to drive home how close this was. The basic way this is handled is each map is given a number of points based on how you ranked them, and whoever has the most points win and all that jazz. For both community and judge votes (before they were combined), 1st place won by literally 1 point over the respective 2nd place. Twice.
Every vote mattered, wow! It was really close but let's get this going!

i'm also stealing korby's pictures aaaaa

Grand Prize

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TMHCTF01 - Lost Riches by Thunderono

Community Vote Winner

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TMHCTF03 - Trackside Tussle by Magnet Dood

Judges' Vote Winner

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TMHCTF06 - Korboo's Haunt by Korby

Once again, it was incredibly close! The maps were great and it was just a fun time! I hope you all enjoyed playing on these maps, because I know I did!

And to be tidy, here's a list of the actual rankings.

Combined Rankings

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1st- TMHCTF01 - Lost Riches
2nd- TMHCTF05 - Dueling Caves
3rd- TMHCTF06 - Korboo's Haunt
4th- TMHCTF03 - Trackside Tussle
5th- TMHCTF02 - Coterminous Crusaders
6th- TMHCTF09 - Water Works
7th- TMHCTF10 - Sky High Skirmish
8th- TMHCTF04 - Spacecaps
9th- TMHCTF08 - Dungeon Doom
10th- TMHCTF07 - Operation Midnight Climax

Community Rankings

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1st- TMHCTF01 - Lost Riches
2nd- TMHCTF03 - Trackside Tussle
3rd- TMHCTF05 - Dueling Caves
4th- TMHCTF02 - Coterminous Crusaders
5th- TMHCTF06 - Korboo's Haunt
6th- TMHCTF09 - Water Works
7th- TMHCTF10 - Sky High Skirmish
8th- TMHCTF04 - Spacecaps
9th- TMHCTF08 - Dungeon Doom
10th- TMHCTF07 - Operation Midnight Climax

Judges' Rankings

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1st- TMHCTF01 - Lost Riches
2nd- TMHCTF06 - Korboo's Haunt
3rd- TMHCTF05 - Dueling Caves
4th- TMHCTF03 - Trackside Tussle
5th- TMHCTF09 - Water Works
6th- TMHCTF02 - Coterminous Crusaders
7th- TMHCTF10 - Sky High Skirmish
8th- TMHCTF08 - Dungeon Doom
9th- TMHCTF04 - Spacecaps
10th- TMHCTF07 - Operation Midnight Climax

Until next time!

[CutmanMike]

Enjoy your medals (let me know if I messed them up, new forum software etc)!

[Superjustinbros]

Congratulations, everyone!

[fortegigasgospel]

Woo, consistently 6th place!
But yea, grats everyone, and wonderful job on all the maps.

[King Dumb]

Congrats to all the winners! I'll be posting my brief-ish thoughts on all the maps later this evening/tonight (once I finish them up), so stay tuned for that. I will say these were some of the hardest judging decisions I've had to make in a competition before, as all of these maps are solid and fun!

[Thunderono]

[6:11:33 PM] Thunderono: holy fuck

I'm extremely happy that everyone enjoyed my map!  It feels pretty great to have come this far from my shifty F2M and I.N.S.P.I.R.E. entries.  I definitely had some tough competition, though.  While I regrettably didn't get to play much due to the college move in, the few matches I was able to squeeze in were a ton of fun!  Congrats to Dood and Korby!

Might as well toss some of my thoughts about the maps here

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TMHCTF01: Lost Riches
If anyone was confused as to why I was upset over the new Pirate Man textures, this map was why.  I had begun work pretty early, and after I had textured a large majority of the map, the new set was revealed.  I wasn't a huge fan of the rocks, and the offsets were designed around the old textures, so I was talking back and forth with Korby that whole week giving suggestions on the rock textures.  I can't thank him enough for when, about a month later, he gave me the updated textures early so I could get the recolors started.
While I'm certainly ecstatic over the positive reception, I did hear a few negative comments.  Most prominently, people weren't huge fans of the way you had to jump out of the flag pit.  This was admittedly an experiment to see if I could make it more difficult to escape with the flag, thus shifting the way the mode is played from "Two carriers are in their base" to the more traditional attack/defense based CTF.  I guess it didn't work out so well.  I also heard there was some weird glitch where sometimes if you died in the flag pit you'd have water gravity forever????  I couldn't replicate it, but it seemed to be related to the flag pit being lower than the general water level, so if this map gets into core I'll be killing two birds with one stone.

TMHCTF02: Coterminous Crusaders
Honestly, the unique approach to the bases was really cool.  I liked how the 1FCTF spawn was handled.  For how much you beat yourself up over using core textures, this map looks really good, too.  I remember hearing someone (maybe smash?) saying it was a little too difficult to leave the frontal area, and I sort of agree.  I liked it, though.  At first I was a little confused as to why the teleporter led to the flag spawn directly, but then I realized it was your way of emulating the map having two 1FCTF spawns, which I thought was really inventive.  Good stuff.

TMHCTF03: Trackside Tussle
I was well aware throughout the entire voting process that Dood was my biggest contender.  We were sort of scratching each other's backs with feedback the whole way through, and Dood's map came out really good.  The map looks great, and the paths are well handled and help to break up the close quarters fights that the trains provide.  I think my only real issue is that it's sort of difficult to defend due to the flag room having generally low sight lines and three different directions you need to be checking all at once.  The matches here were great fun, though!  if only you got those actors

TMHCTF04: Spacecaps
The music here is great.  Honestly, I liked this map (though I didn't get to play on it much).  The gimmick could have worked really well, but my main issue with it was that it also changed the layout of the base.  I understand why it does this, but some of the pathways it closes off are pretty central.  One of them even creates a pretty hefty buster wall for the flag carrier.  Honestly, don't beat yourself up over this map-- the gimmick is really pretty cool.

TMHCTF05: Dueling Caves
I wasn't sure if Caprice was going to finish this map before the pack dropped.  He had kept us posted over skype with screenshots, but then suddenly stopped at one point.  I'm glad he did, though-- this map is honestly one of my favorites.  I love the layout, and the recolored textures look fantastic.  I think the only thing really dragging it down is the weapon selection-- there's a lot of really powerful weapons here, some even overlapping utilities with others.  There was also the issue of the doorlike window in the back of the base, but it honestly isn't a problem after you try jumping through it the first time.

TMHCTF06: Korboo's Haunt
I wasn't sure how to feel about this map.  My limited playtime meant I only got to play 1FCTF and footbawl here, and the 3D floor usage at mid really dragged those modes down.  Everyone seemed to like it, but I didn't get enough exposure to understand why.  I guess I don't have much of an opinion.  Sorry!  must resist the urge to comment on the music

TMHCTF07: Operation Midnight Climax
Great name.  I'll start with the good: the map looks fantastic.  Really!  The skybox effect is awesome, and for someone who I haven't seen many (or any) maps from, this seems very professionally made from a texturing/architectural standpoint (barring a couple of slip-ups).  Unfortunately, after this I begin to run out of nice things to say.  The single-path style makes reaching the enemy flag a nightmare and the random boxes and tires everywhere make getting around difficult.  The fans are also difficult to use correctly (though the jumps you can do at mid using them are pretty cool).  There's also, of course, the genuine Train Meme, where you can stand on the rails.  On this map, you can get really far from the train doing this!  Sorry about the way this one turned out, but I honestly think if you keep at it you can make some cool stuff in the future.  You really seem to have a handle on how this game's architecture works.

TMHCTF08: Dungeon Doom
Telling all, here-- I ranked this map lowest.  I don't want to sound too harsh, but I honestly couldn't find anything I liked in this map.  The abundance of 3D floors made finding anyone a nightmare, turbo ladders are disorienting, the weird pass-through logos didn't work, and a whole bunch more.  I was told this was recycled from some other, much older project, and its age shows.  Again, I don't mean to sound hostile or anything-- I just didn't like this one.

TMHCTF09: Water Works
Conversely, I really liked this map.  The somewhat bland textures were used in a way that made them much more interesting, and the pathways were just plain fun to run around in.  The tightness of the pathways made fighting a little difficult, though, and the bridge at mid felt a little too detached from the rest of the map.  I guess that's really all I have to say-- this map is pretty good!

TMHCTF10: Sky High Skirmish
I guess I'll echo what everyone else has been saying: for a map made in one day, this isn't too bad.  The layout works for what it is.  It has a lot of readily available power weapons, though, and the map is small enough for a flag carrier to near instantly reach their own base.  The map makes up for it with a more open style of base, something I didn't see a lot of.  This one was okay.  Weird choice of cover, though.

I had fun mapping for this, and I hope everyone else did too.  Thanks for all the support!  I really wish I could have had more time with these maps so I could form more solid opinions.

[Magnet Dood]

OHMYGODIWONSOMETHINGHOLYSCHNICKIES

Glad everyone enjoyed my map! I thought I had a pretty good shot at like 4th in this compo, but to see me take home the community vote really brings a smile to my face. Thanks to everyone who voted!

And I owe Thunder a huge thank you to all the support he gave me while I was building my map. Seriously, the amount of inane questions I gave him about setting up GZDoom Builder probably would have driven other people crazy, and he was always available to test out new builds and give his thoughts on it. Without him, there's no way I could've gotten this far. Not to mention the fact he made a kick-ass map himself! Congrats on the big win- you earned it, man.

Congrats to Korby and the rest of the competitors as well! This compo was really fun, and I'm glad I just managed to get something finished for one of these. Looking forward to when another mapping competition begins!

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In case anyone was wondering...

[King Dumb]

As promised, my brief thoughts on the maps, my ranking, and my reasoning.

First, here was my ranking of the maps:
1. TMHCTF06 - Korby
2. TMHCTF02 - LlamaHombre
3. TMHCTF10 - Duora Super Gyro
4. TMHCTF09 - FGG
5. TMHCTF05 - Caprice
6. TMHCTF01 - Thunderono
7. TMHCTF04 - Mendez
8. TMHCTF03 - Dood
9. TMHCTF07 - Darkseed
10. TMHCTF08 - Jack Corvus

Rather than go in numerical order, I will be going in ranking order from highest to lowest in providing my feedback. This is mostly so I can use what the higher maps did well as examples in my reasoning for the lower maps. For this reason, I forced myself to keep these reviews brief since they really are meant to be read altogether, focusing on the best highlights and biggest complaints. If anyone wants a more detailed review of their map, just let me know!

Before we get to it, a word about my overall thoughts. As most know, I really enjoy CTF. It’s hard for me not to enjoy playing CTF on any map, and I enjoyed playing on every map in this competition. I think it takes a lot of fundamental mistakes to make a CTF map that is bad, because different maps can cater to different kinds of gameplay, and I don’t think any of these maps are bad. That being said, you will (with one notable exception) see a stark contrast between my review of my top 4 maps and those after. This is not because I don’t like the maps after the top 4; it is because the top 4 did things that made their maps stand out in very good ways from my usual appreciation of CTF. Because of my outlook on the game mode, it takes a lot more than solid layout to hit the top of my ranking list.

1. TMHCTF06 - Korboo's Haunt

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One of the best words I can throw around with maps is 'deliberate'. Korby thought through most everything on this map and it shows.

This map's strongest area is its bases. Bases are where detail is most critical, for a few reasons. You'll be spending a lot of time here, and they are the stage for the most important plays of a CTF game: defending, taking, and capturing the flags. You spawn here, and the weapons present in the base are likely among the most commonly used (or at least, most commonly acquired) on the map. Ammo and health placement in the bases has an enormous effect not just on how the aforementioned important plays go down, but on the entire pace and flow of the game.

The thought Korby put into his bases - the carpet connecting the flags to base exits, the sparse placement of health in indirect locations, the options provided for traveling between levels, the visibility control of the holes in the walls and floor - make defending, attacking, and escaping interesting and involved. The bases are the meat of this map, with travel between accommodated well: Korby provides multiple routes between bases, importantly balancing speed and risk (the fastest route is also the most likely to have enemies; you'd be surprised that this is not always the case). Also of note is that Korby gives you a lot of opportunity to change your route. This makes the task of traveling between bases less thoughtless than it can be in other maps.

2. TMHCTF02 - Coterminous Crusaders

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Llama plays with a lot of CTF conventions in this map, in some more subtle ways than the most obvious layout gimmick may lead you to believe. Like Korby, it's clear that Llama was deliberate in his decision making for many parts of this map. It's the combination of deliberateness and creativity that makes for the ideal CTF map in my mind. Korby and Llama were both creative in different ways with their maps.

Llama's deliberateness notably shines through his weapon set, which is tailored to the tight-corner, sudden battles a map of this layout will cause. With the inclusion of oil canisters, Fire Storm, the upper path, and by varying the length of the two lower side paths, Llama provides a lot of options and a lot of variance in how one can travel between the bases. The small size of the map allows this variance to matter, as you find yourself needing to quickly decide which path to take (what weapons to grab, how to approach the flag, etc.).

Korby received my first place vote for a few smaller reasons. While both maps are deliberate in what they've done functionally, Korboo's Haunt's aesthetics appealed to me more, perhaps because I find they do a better job of buffering your impersonal relationship with the puzzle the map has provided you with compelling imagery.

3. TMHCTF10 – Sky High Skirmish

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A theme across the maps I ranked higher is intention. Sky High Skirmish is, though maybe it doesn’t strike you immediately, an economical map. It has 8 weapons, but most perform a very specific function: Pharaoh Shot for base defense; Mega Ball for mobility that is very valuable on this smaller, open map; Super Arm for clearing platforms above you (extremely valuable on a map with ladders on critical paths). The remaining weapons – Drill Bomb, Metal Blade, and Laser Trident – function best on the open battlefields outside the bases and for assaults on enemy bases.

The map has perhaps a couple superfluous weapons, especially Dust Crusher. The entire layout is also basically lined with health and ammo, but the map provides enough of a puzzle in trying to survive with its ladders and openness that having health and ammo always accessible doesn’t degenerate the gameplay too much.

The openness and the deadly weapons create a sense of urgency when traveling over the open areas to the base; the visibility between the lower and upper middle paths, the multiple ladders (which can be a death sentence on a map with Pharaoh Shot, Quick Boomerang, and Drill Bomb), and Mega Ball make picking a path interesting and important.

4. TMHCTF09 – Water Works

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I actually initially disliked this map. The originally confusing Item-1 alcove in the bases and some of the spawns hit me right off the bat. I found Wave Burner overshadowed by most everything else in the map, and Knight Crush being not only available on such a close-quarters map, but incredibly easily acquired made it difficult to appreciate anything else about the map since most of my time was spent avoiding or using that weapon.

But the more I experienced it, the more I realized that Water Works does a very good job of deliberately playing with visibility and space. The translucent waterfalls and the windows in the bases make the map feel cramped while giving you the ability to make decisions as if the map were more open. Then suddenly you find yourself in the truly cramped side regions of the bases. Climbing up to Wave Burner gives you a lookout over the action in the bases, but you still feel part of the chaos. The regions with Knight Crush serve as a reprieve from the chaotic close-quarters of the bases, but the ability to move under the bridges provides some sense of visibility control for players even here.

The upper walkway in the center of the map, where Crystal Eye is, brings the map together in a lot of ways. It gives a real sense of “breath of fresh air” from the chaos down below, and the visibility and access it provides help you appreciate what the map is accomplishing.

While the complaints I listed at the beginning remain, and I believe Knight Crush can at times degenerate the game Water Works prompts you to play, the manipulation of space this accomplishes gives it my 4th place spot.

5. TMHCTF05 – Dueling Caves

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I’ve been mentioning it over and over, but a common trend you see in my rankings is where I can recognize intention on the part of the mapper. Where Dueling Caves falls to the maps ranked above it is in this area. I don’t feel the same coherence and purpose on this map that I do on the above, particularly in the weapon and health/ammo departments.

Path-wise I like the fact that there are varying paths from base to center, but that all paths meet briefly in the center area. It makes the map feel smaller and gives a greater sense of interaction between opposing teams than having multiple nonintersecting paths. The visibility provided by the windows in the bases helps to diversify how people travel.

This is a more technical gripe but still important. I always suggest non-elevated, full-width (that is, taking up the entire width of whatever hallway or dead-end they occupy) fans over the implementation done in this map. It helps prevent the accidents that were common on this map in playtesting.

6. TMHCTF01 – Lost Riches

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This map employs a standard three-route system to connect the bases, with connection between the routes at the middle. Varying in length, complexity, difficulty, and weapons, Thunder provides a lot of factors to take into account when deciding which route to go down and executes the three-path system well. However, keeping the paths relatively disjoint severely limits how interesting the decision making on this map can get to almost quantifiable levels. For the most part your interaction with other players in the middle of the map is limited to determining who will pick which path. A lot of core maps employ a three-path or two-path system but do more to differentiate the paths in interactive ways (see MMCTF01, MMCTF07, MMCTF14).

The maps ranked above on my list all have some way of making the connection between bases more interesting than lane selection: Korboo’s Haunt puts the majority of your travel time into the bases; Coterminous Crusaders’ unique layout boils puts significant emphasis on careful timing and ‘micro-prioritization’; Sky High Skirmish’s weapons and ladders force more interaction between ‘lanes’; Water Works’ close quarters and visibility control confound attempts to stay in one ‘lane’; Dueling Caves funnels all travelers through the main room.

By finding ways to confound the typical three-lane system, these maps allow for more interesting player vs player interaction. It’s one thing to understand that combat in MM8BDM is not linear; it’s another thing to understand that direct player vs player interaction can take place across a map and over longer distances than just shooting and dodging can. The three-path system limits the more creative aspects of MM8BDM CTF.

Moving on from the middle of the map, we have the bases. The flag room is designed to be difficult to escape from. The difficulty level in this is fairly unique among MM8BDM maps (the best case for challenge is probably MMCTF01) and makes for interesting risk-reward decisions in situations such as when the enemy team is ready to score. However, I found that loading all of this difficulty into a single jump out of a flag pit can be more frustrating than is worth it. The difference I see between this and MMCTF01 is that in the latter, I can maneuver to work from advantageous positions before and after I commit to the necessary disadvantageous position. In TMHCTF01, committing to the disadvantage is often required immediately and the fact that getting the flag is the easy part means there are no advantages to utilize.

7. TMHCTF04 – Spacecaps

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Overall this map does show the sort of deliberation present in the highest-ranked maps, but falls due to execution.

Like others in this part of the list, Spacecaps missed out on a higher ranking largely due to missing the high bar set by the top 4 maps. That being said, I also had a number of technical reasons I found to rank it lower. Most of these I’m sure have been mentioned before, but they include the base colors; the use of two different switches for changing the gravity rather than just one; too many ambiguous low gravity jumps; the monotonous texturing of the flag rooms.

I think low gravity is one of the few things capable of ruining a CTF map if it is implemented poorly. Fortunately, Mendez did not let that happen. Looking past the ambiguous jumps I think the middle section of the map is well made and mixes paths well (though the paths are in fact more defined than just looking at the map would lead you to believe). I don’t think the bases do a spectacular job of utilizing the gravity-changing gimmick, though there is enough to make a meaningful decision out of changing the gravity.

The weapon set is clearly deliberate, though unfortunately many of the weapons are simply outclasses by Noise Crush, which is ubiquitous during games on this map.

8. TMHCTF03 – Trackside Tussle

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Most of my critique of this map is the same as with Lost Treasure – the connecting paths – so that’s why this review is much shorter. Trackside Tussle is lower on the ranking list because it has even fewer factors to consider when selecting a path.

I can see a good amount of intent in this map. The bases do a good job of promoting that ‘train shoot-out’ feeling, and certain weapon selections are very apparently deliberate and deliberately positioned.

The map feels like a classic three-path CTF match, in the vein of Double Castle and All-Out Assault. I love those kinds of maps for the gameplay they provide, but the creativity and execution shown in this competition were high.

9. TMHCTF07 – Operation Midnight Climax

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In a lot of ways, this map can be more fun than a normal three-path map. You’re forced to be interacting and fighting with enemies the entire time, and huge emphasis is placed is on aiming well, moving smartly, and acquiring pickups economically. This map replaces the uncertainty you must factor in on every other CTF map with additional pressure to outperform, and that is interesting and fun in its own right. The inclusion of rooftops re-introduces the choice between speeding to the other side of the map or stopping an opponent in a very concise way.

That being said, there are execution faults here that bring this map down. Tires, the health and ammo placement, the presence of Slash Claw in the base and Arrow Buster on the way, and frustrating fan mechanics all serve to limit how much you can enjoy the game this map offers; a game which, while unique, is ultimately a bit simpler than on other maps.

The hype factor is real on this map though, and I’d actually be interested to see an asymmetric version (if executed well, of course).

10. TMHCTF08 – Dungeon Doom

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Overall, this map gets the lowest ranking because it doesn’t promote diverse, meaningful decision making as well as the other maps in the competition. It does blur and connect the paths between bases, but the layout, symmetries, weapons, and even texturing work against efforts to move and interact with purpose on this map.

It’s hard to see purpose in many of the layout choices here, and because of that you wind up taking random turns and losing interest in traversing the map. As was mentioned, I think the best remedy would be to try reducing the size of the map a lot, seeing what you’ve left remaining, and then working more deliberately with that to build back up to a size that you want.

[Duora Super Gyro]

7th place across the board, that's pretty cool. I'm happy you all enjoyed playing my map, and congrats to the winners. I'm now off to make a new CTF map pack, and to fix up my map a bit :3