TF2 Smissmas 2021 Map Review

Dom reviews the 6 maps added to Team Fortress 2 in the Smissmas 2021 update.

The maps are titled Altitude (cp_altitude), Bread Space (pl_breadspace), Cascade (koth_cascade), Chilly (pl_chilly), Doublefrost (ctf_doublecross_snowy) and Polar (pl_coal_event).

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Intro
00:12 Altitude
02:23 Bread Space
06:13 Cascade
08:03 Chilly
11:56 Doublefrost
15:41 Polar
19:16 Outro

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Thanks for watching. Happy holidays. Au revoir.

[svideos]

Author's notes

The video was made before the Winter Holiday Mode was disabled. Now that it's over we know what happens to all the maps. The festive ones were removed entirely from Casual Matchmaking and the rest moved to the normal categories. Oddly Bread Space was simply moved into the payload category. I thought it was going to move into the Miscellaneous category with the other really odd maps.


Two of the bugs on Doublefrost I pointed out are from the original map. I think, given the opportunity to fix mistakes made by Valve, it's better to do so than maintain consistency with the original map. That said, I respect the decision to not fix that one texture and add a rock under the floating tree. At the end of the day it's not a big deal.

It occurs to me now that I never explained how the ice floors work. They're just slippery. Imagine you move in one direction on them and then hold down to move in another direction. When doing that there's a lag as you first decelerate and then accelerate into the new direction. That's how slippery floors work. Weirdly they effect noclipping players. I don't know how it's done on a technical level. It's probably a property in the texture's VMT, but it could also be something more elaborate I'm unaware of. I'd have to look at the decompiled map to say for certain.

I used to think TF2 gameplay on maps like Doublecross was just bad. It attracted a lot of low-skilled players who were not interested with playing Team Fortress 2 as an actual TEAM-based game. Now my views have changed. I genuinely think it's good for the game to have low-skill maps. The gameplay that happens on Doublecross may not be to my liking (since I'm an advanced player) but it's just as valid and deserves to exist.

I mentioned the doors out of red's final spawn spraying air. I think I may be wrong about that. On second thought it could also be sterilization spray. So they are not there to indicate an air-pressure difference but rather to sterilized those who pass by.

Statistics are fun so let me share some. 365 video files were collected to make this video but a lot of them never made the final cut. The entire project's 4.46GB big, (size includes audio files). I recorded 1-hour and 50 minutes of script-reading before editing it down to about 20 minutes. (I say paragraphs multiple times and only use the best takes). The script is 3726 words long, (but I cut 1 paragraph near the end of development). I work like 3-6 hours a day. It took 6 days to play-test the maps, 3 days to write the script, 4 days to record voice-over of the script, 5 days to edit it down, 1 day to write down all the footage needed, 5 days to record all the footage and 3 days to edit the video. After that it takes 1 day to do the upload, make the thumbnail, write up this author's note and the description and lastly do everything else near the end of development. After a video is released I still have work to do. I delete video assets that weren't used (to save space) then compress the project into a RAR and move in onto my external storage for safe keeping.

If this video is well-received I'll create a new one the next time new maps are added to Team Fortress 2. So this year's Halloween update in 10 months. Remind me.

[bobross]

12:20 - 12:30 honestly that's super creative and resourceful. Nobody during a regular match is going to noclip into the table and see they're actually cosmetics.

[mrcomp]

Altitude is such a gem of a map. I haven't had a single bad match in it as of yet and it's really pleasing to look at.
Edit: Also I really enjoy the commentary on smaller details like the map lores or the thing with the deer. They're great.

[gub]

Altitude point b is one of my favorite places on any map ever.

[mrjameshendry]

Terror was a bad Halloween map. What made Valve think we wanted a Smissmas reskin with Chilly?

[overlordlettuce]

I am pretty sure the snowmen are a reference to ueakcrash and his daughter

[SnugWugs]

Good news, Altitude and Cascade are here to stay. Okay news, so is Bread Space.

[CobaltIngot]

Doublefrost was made by the popular mapmaker EUAK-Crash, it was his first project after a long hiatus. You might remember him for koth_trainsawlaser, which is his proudest work. For that reason he hid a bunch of trains everywhere as a fun little reference. The snowmen I assume are referencing himself and his daughter (who was the main reason why he mostly retired from mapmaking, since taking care of your kid is pretty important.)

As for the decorations using cosmetics, I don't really see that as an issue. I see that as resourcefulness, not laziness.

[Rlowe]

Chilly is the map equivalent of Valve’s lazy hat picks from workshop.

[VerticalCalzone]

Very nice! I enjoyed the mix of subjective and objective analysis. I really wish you talked about the creators more though; so much more about these maps can be learned by looking at who made them. For instance, altitude and cascade were both made by the same person, so it makes sense that they both play and are detailed well. Chilly's maker, ICS, has several maps in game, most of which also feel low-effort. And double frost was made by UEAKCrash, popular map maker famed by TrainSawLaser, hence all the tiny trains. The name, Elliphany, seen on the train poster in the secret room, belongs to his daughter, also seen in snowman form with crash himself.

[xenderfacex]

14:03 The Snowman to the right resembles UEAKCrash, the Mapmaker

[YatzeeWillWearAGreenHat]

Cascade is my favourite map, not only this year, but of ALL time.

[jackbutcher]

This guy sounds like a cartoon network voice actor

[Spariteo]

i hope you continue to make tf2 content like this I really enjoyed your left 4 dead and older tf2 map reviews and to see it with more recent maps was great

[Small_child_punter]

I love the maps, no matter how much they might suck.

[gub]

You don’t know how many times I’ve seen the entire red team run in the opposite direction that they were supposed to at the beginning of a bread space game. Garbage map.

[lazyxeno]

Breadspace is still in beta and this is the first space theme map was added

[WilhelmScreamer]

14:05 - Its the mapmaker and their kid

[KimFareseed]

5:08
I am still confused over why that path was closed off when it was added to the game. It had previously been open after B was capped, durring development.

13:52
So it is a UEAKCrash map then. Praise be to train god.

[phlogchamp]

Interesting to note, both Chilly and Terror were made by the same creator. This creator is also responsible for some of the worst Halloween maps of all time: Brimstone, Hellstone, Gravestone, and Erebus.