Following my recent video on what would make you play new maps, MapCore’s recent competition
might just give you a reason.
It received 98 submissions, which have now been whittled down to 10 finalists.
These will be subject to a panel of judges, but you can try them right now from the link
in the description.
I’ve played no part in this competition.
This video is simply to let you- and me- get accustomed to these maps, some of which I
suspect we’ll be seeing in future operations.
Valve seems to like mapcore.
If you want to play these maps with other people then wait until the 18th, which is
when Mapcore will begin testing them, 2 a day.
Asylum is set in and around an abandoned mental asylum in England.
Can you think of anything scarier?
Despite that, it’s set on a warm sunny day which makes it nice to play on.
The minimap makes it look like an absolute labyrinth but since it’s mostly flat, as
long as you head in the direction you want to then you should make it there quickly and
easily.
There’s more detail to this map than first meets the eye and I quickly became fond of
its imposing architecture and 1.6-style bombsites, which I suspect will be fun to play.
Sadly this map hasn’t had much attention on the workshop right now.
It deserves more!
Give it a download.
Tangerine is that map that stands out because it’s really really orange.
And there are tangerines everywhere.
It’s a lovely warm and welcoming map to play on, but while the theme is similar to
Dust2, it plays very differently, since everywhere you go there are alleys and open doorways
to explore.
I’d go as far as to say that it’s the most complex map here.
There’s always an open window or second entrance to help you to flank the enemy.
If Studio looks familiar, that’s because an earlier version of it was included in one
of my playtesting sessions a few months ago.
It’s come on a long way since then, becoming a detailed visual feast situated both in and
around an American film studio.
It’s a big map, with large open areas and not a lot of empty space to separate them,
as you can see from the map overview.
But should you get lost, just head to the outside of the map where you can follow it
around to where you want to go- but look out for snipers, who will love the long open corridors!
Sirius is a shady pharmaceutical company who have kindly laid out pointers on the floor
so you know where to go.
This one reminded me of de_season, with differently coloured rooms and plenty of modern looking
architecture.
Bombsite A has a room like Toxic from Nuke, while B is situated in a grand hall with some
really cool walls.
I was pleased to find this site simpler than it first looks, which makes it more about
who’s the best rather than who’s looking in the right direction at the right time.
Exodus has said that it’s not 100% finished right now so you can expect some adjustments
to it later on.
Offtime is unlike any map you’ve ever played before.
It’s situated inside a huge TV transmission tower across several different storeys.
As terrorists you’ll be jumping down lift shafts and stairwells, meeting CT’s coming
up from the bottom.
The whole map is brilliantly themed and makes for some frantic close-quarters battles, helped
by the number of weird angles and corners that being set in a cramped tower brings about.
Oh and it’s a hostage map, to make it even more different.
Kaizen is set in a vivid, compact city that would feel at home in the Deus Ex series.
And despite being a set at night it’s well lit and is easy to spot enemies on.
There are one-way drop zones that should mix up the gameplay a bit.
Of particular interest to me is bombsite B, which features an open ramp right over the
top of it- a very bold design choice that should make for some unique situations whether
you’re attacking or defending.
I have to say though, these traffic cones are the feeblest obstructions I’ve seen
since Canals!
Biome is a beautiful map situated inside a tropical greenhouse.
The overview makes it look very complicated, but thankfully it doesn’t feel it to play,
due to good readability and plenty of memorable landmarks to help point you in the right direction.
This map feels very finished to me, though its maker is continuing to update it further
beyond the competition version.
Fun fact: the biome is based on a real place in Germany that’s described as a ‘tropical
themepark’.
I got strong Overpass vibes from Berth, which is a very open map with lots of unique angles.
There are some potential boost spots, as well as many thin bangable walls.
The layout of this map is very simple and unique, which I suspect will aide people in
learning where to go and what to do.
Although it sports train tracks, most of the layout is a more traditional warehousey, blocky
design which I hope will be built upon in later versions.
Apollo is the second of just 2 hostage maps to make it to the finals.
It works nicely with bots and already sports some fancy features, like custom models and
a multi-layered map overview, so its design is quite a bit more complicated than the original
overview may suggest!
It looks to be a good solid map that I hope does well in the competition, since hostage
mode really does need some good new maps.
And lastly, Abbey, which is a beautiful map located somewhere in France that reminds me
a lot of Inferno.
It feels very much like the sort of map that Valve would feature in an Operation- a good
solid layout that looks and plays like you’d expect a good map to.
I’m happy to see water being used, both to make it look pretty but also to ‘soak’
up falling damage- my one concern is how many spots you can hide in each of the bombsites.
Play your cards right in these locations and you’ll be a formidable opponent indeed.
What happens now is that these will be rated by 4 judges, all of whom have substantial
mapping experience.
They’ll be aided by 6 guest experts, just to make sure they make the right decisions.
You can see the prizes here- the top 4 will also be featured on Faceit for a time, which
is about as good an opportunity for maps to be learned as I can think of.
Best of luck to all of the entrants, hoping to see them in the next operation!