Ok, so you've all been waiting a long long time for this, and I won't go into explanations as to why it has taken so long, because I know all you guys want is to SEE THE RESULTS! Each map will be given a score out of 10 in Aesthetics, Gameplay, and Creativity by each judge. The map that scores the highest overall score will win the battle and a copy of GMod 10 thanks to Flare. The highest scoring map in each individual area will also recieve credit.

I was gonna pretty it all up with images and shit, but that idea can get fucked.

So without further ado...

sf_watercanal_b2 - by Alingrad

Sauce says:

My initial thoughts of this map were that it would be too small to warrant good gameplay, however i was mistaken. It's size makes for fast-paced games, and lots of caps. The map is neat and clean, with good texture choices, however there are several issues; These are mostly aesthetic and heavily detracted from the map's score - The textures on the block spawner buttons are all flipped horizontally, the blocks spawn in an awkward location, and the ladders, particularly the one under water, are very hard to use. Ammo crates also work for both teams, regardless of their colour. Another thing to mention is that I experienced very little lag on this map. This is a good proof of concept, but needs work before it's full potential can be realised.

Aesthetics - 6
Gameplay - 8
Creativity - 6

Overall - 20


KGtheway2B says:

Pretty buggy, and It was unclear how the game mechanic was designed to function. The map had a certain artistic flair, but the rest just didn't work.

Aesthetics - 4
Gameplay - 2
Creativity - 5

Overall - 11


Swiftspear says:

Looks pretty good, some texturing style inconsitancies and the fact that there isn't any demanding visual focus cost it the points here. Certainly not ugly enough to refuse to play though.

I felt very reminiscent of sf_reservoir playing this map. Gameplay wise it added the ladders, but I suspect they would just be blocked right away anyways.

Aesthetics - 6
Gameplay - 6
Creativity - 6

Overall - 18


Flare says:

Extremely clean and well done texturing, however, outer wall texturing does not suit the map. Map design is clean, and elegant. Large visible spawn buttons and simple design make it easy for any newb to start building on this map. Wonderful and clean base design makes for limitless possibilities, and organized forts. Plays extremely well, underwater canals/tunnels provide strategic possibilities and unique base designs. Bravo!

Aesthetics - 9
Gameplay - 10
Creativity - 9

Overall - 28


OVERALL AESTHETICS - 25
OVERALL GAMEPLAY - 26
OVERALL CREATIVITY - 26

FINAL SCORE - 77


sf_island - by Mudkip

Sauce says:

Wow. This map is huge! Where to start? Well, the theme is EXCELLENT. I just love the pedestals with the flames and crystals on them - they both look pretty AND tell you which direction the enemy base is in :P I have some minor gripes with the map though - the pedestals with flames on them give you damage if you get too close, however the crystal ones dont. Also, if you look out to the sea you see a seamless ocean stretching towards the horizon, however if you look from underwater, the ground stops at the edge of the map. This sort of destroys the illusion. Lighting is great (apart from the odd turquoise shadows), as is texturing, however it is somewhat lacking on the faces of some cliffs. Displacement work is of a high standard, however some seams are visible. Some displacement edges also need a playerclip brush to aid movement - some edges no more than 16 units high were preventing movement, which shouldn't be the case. Also, this map could benefit from better nofreeze zones, however you have done very well with the flag placement. not too close to spawns, there are about 20 different ways to get into it, and it is almost impossible to block it off entirely. Areas such as the exits to the tunnel are easily blocked off. Lighting needs some work as it is hard to tell which team the blocks belong to when they are in certain positions. A nearby disposer for the main block spawner would have also been appreciated. This map really does need alot of players and a high block limit to play well (our block limit was 90), however it should be fun to defend with half or even a third of that. You should be very proud of this map!

Aesthetics - 9
Gameplay - 7
Creativity - 7

Overall - 23


KGtheway2B says:

Very pretty map, and visually stunning, however the scale of the map combined with the multiple routes made it more unsuitable for SF's CTF then a smaller map. Very pretty though, expert dispacement use, although some of the "castle" textures seemed lacking in proper scaling/placement and could use some variations.

Aesthetics - 9
Gameplay - 5
Creativity - 7

Overall - 21


Swiftspear says:

Very pretty but some basic mapping errors, light leaks and what not.

Poorly placed block spawners, massively oversized, very little intelligent building spots, highish ceiling means lots of jumping over opponents walls, and the flag is too easy to wall in and too hard to defend. It was fun when we played it without building.

It's a bit generic, reminds me of one of the maps kz mod shipped with, but it's original to anything SF has done

Aesthetics - 8
Gameplay - 2
Creativity - 6

Overall - 16


Flare says:

Absolutely STUNNING! Great use of textures, however stretched at times. Temples add a nice visual flare to the map. Extremely ugly buildwall, which is made up for by creative use of displacements and 3D skybox. Map is best suited for 16-20 players, though it still works fine for less. Very fun map to build and play on, with many possibilities. Kudos for good use of Env_sun.

Aesthetics - 7
Gameplay - 8
Creativity - 9

Overall - 24


OVERALL AESTHETICS - 33
OVERALL GAMEPLAY - 22
OVERALL CREATIVITY - 29

FINAL SCORE - 84


sf_manywaters - by Manywaters

Sauce says:

Oh. My. God. I love the castles. Unfortunately, all the fun looking parts of the castles are unnacessible (the firing holes in towers, etc), and the textures you have chosen for the castle walls are incredibly repetitive, and detract from the maps look - next time try breaking up large chunks of geometry (as you appear to have tried with the firing holes). The build area is just the right size, and the maps architecture provides a great medium with which to forge your fort. Some very clever brushwork can be taken advantage of in ways that can actually direct the enemy around your base, in exactly the way you wish, whilst not making it too hard to cap. The healing rain is an excellent idea - that small boost in hp really does make capping that tad bit easier, and doesn't cause camping, as i initially expected, however some players had a negative response to it. My only negative point to add here is that the no-mans land is a little too small in my oppinion - the map is wider than it is long, resulting in quick caps, however i have nothing against making caps easy. Either way, you have made a great map that really does rise to the challenge.

Aesthetics - 6
Gameplay - 7
Creativity - 8

Overall - 21


KGtheway2B says:

There were some graphical errors and gameplay problems, mostly with the flags being so close to each other. However the brushwork was quite nice and the "flame" lighting was impressive.

Aesthetics - 7
Gameplay - 2
Creativity - 3

Overall - 12


Swiftspear says:

It looks decent, the lighting could be improved, the water is ugly as sin. Texturing and architecture is pretty good though for the most part

It's a castle. Seriously, that's cool. Lots of cool trickjumps and stuff too

The ceiling is too low, and you could almost longjump from one flag to the other. It suffers from deck syndrome, where the flag-d is the only thing worth building.

Aesthetics - 6
Gameplay - 6
Creativity - 8

Overall - 20


Flare says:

Excellent map. Visual drawbacks include mis-aligned and repetitive texturing, and lack of atmosphere, the map is simply very dull and at times, even ugly. I do however love the combine and rebel logos on either side. Not very creative, take a look at the sf_medieval map, but still pretty unique. Gameplay is not very fun due to the strange base layouts and frusteratingly unaccessible areas.


Aesthetics: 6
Gameplay: 6
Creativity: 7

Overall - 18


OVERALL AESTHETICS - 25
OVERALL GAMEPLAY - 21
OVERALL CREATIVITY - 26

FINAL SCORE - 72


sf_waterbend - by norhart

Sauce says:

My first impression of this map was that it looked like a good offensive map, however it inspired the enemy team to camp their fort and wait for us to come around the bend to them - noobs made heavy use of the premade sniper fort, which means less blocks are wasted on skyforts, but more noobs are likely to think that choosing the sniper class is a good decision. The stairs are too close to the flag, making it hard to build a strong main wall - you end up moving your entire fort forward and end up with the pipe/tunnel coming out just inside of your base, presenting further problems. The toxic water presents an interesting challenge to defending the switch within the final few seconds of the combat phase. This map has an interesting underlying concept, but needs reworking in the layout to function properly.

Aesthetics - 6
Gameplay - 4
Creativity - 7

Overall - 17


KGtheway2B says:

It was pretty un-extraordinarily mapped and lit. But it played pretty solidly, and had some interesting dynamics.

Aesthetics - 4
Gameplay - 4
Creativity - 6

Overall - 14


Swiftspear says:

Dry texturing, dry architecture. The water actually looks decent... but seriously, it's just water.

It actually plays fairly decently at first, then you notice the nobuild isn't tall enough, the build wheel can be triggered during build round for greifing, the pipe teleporter thing totally invalidates any reason to build in the middle anyways, and the ranges are just too massive, making the pistol dominate. The hut thing is pretty cool though.

It's a combination of tactical and conduits...

Aesthetics - 4
Gameplay - 4
Creativity - 4

Overall - 12


Flare says:

Pretty nice looking, texture alignment errors and poor texture choice and resulting repetitiveness hurt the map though. 3D Skybox! Very creative ideas put forth in the map, such as the alternate routes to the bases, making far-forward walls useless. Inspires tight defense.
The bases are well-designed and the water can provide an advantage if you use it correctly, despite the damage it inflicts. Premade snipernest blows hard, though. It inspires use of a horrible class.

Aesthetics: 6
Gameplay: 7
Creativity: 9

Overall - 22


OVERALL AESTHETICS - 20
OVERALL GAMEPLAY - 19
OVERALL CREATIVITY - 26

FINAL SCORE - 65


sf_tacwater - by Commander

Sauce says:

Where to start? This map looks absolutely amazing! There is no lag, the tunnels make for interesting entrances, and the scoreboard is sex. Unfortunately, as with all the other maps, there are still problems preventing this map from scoring as high as I would like it to. The map seems to be about the right size, however building is clumsy and tedious - navigating around the place with a block in your grav-gun is just so damn hard, due to the cramped tunnels. The flag placement is ok, but not ideal, resulting in crawls facing right into the enemy spawn, making capping and touches hard. On a brighter note, lighting is great, and the brushwork is nicely detailed. Curvy roofs, walls, and ramps make for some nice architecture. This map is better than some of the official maps, but lacks the details required for the perfect SF map.

Aesthetics - 9
Gameplay - 8
Creativity - 7

Overall - 24


KGtheway2B says:

Again, a very pretty map, however the size matches SF quite well. Extra "yay" for incorporating the water into the actual gameplay. This map plays a nice balance between "hard to defend but still 'defendable'"

Aesthetics - 9
Gameplay - 9
Creativity - 6


SwiftSpear says:

Looks very good, minor mistakes, and lack of any major style or feature, but nothing that wouldn't make me want to play this map alot

Minor annoyances cost points. I do like the large size of the nobuild, and the map isn't too large. The ceiling isn't too high, and there are lots of well placed ammo crates. I don't like the narrow passages to the flag zone that are fairly easy to block off, and I don't like that the block spawner is so close to the build wall, meaning alot of the build round is spent treking blocks back to the flag.

I love the center area and the fact that you can go under many of the access bridges under water. It's sort of has it's own style too, it's kind of a cave, but also a facility of some type. It's not something generic like a sewer ...

Aesthetics - 8
Gameplay - 8
Creativity - 8

Overall - 24


Flare says:

Sexiest map I've ever played. What more can I say? Extremely creative and unique design. Gameplay however can be downright shit due to the outlandish and different base layouts. It feels too enclosed. No further comments. One of the nicest maps made for SF, but could be a lot better.

Aesthetics: 10
Gameplay: 7
Creativity: 9

Overall - 26


OVERALL AESTHETICS - 36
OVERALL GAMEPLAY - 32
OVERALL CREATIVITY - 30

FINAL SCORE - 98


Well, in case you aren't very good at maths, the winners are as follows:
__________________________________________________ ______________________________

1st Place Overall - Commander with his map, sf_tacwater, receiving a score of 98!

1st Runner-up Overall - Mudkip with his map, sf_island, receving a score of 84!

2nd Runner-up Overall - Alingrad with his map, sf_watercanal, recieving a score of 77!
__________________________________________________ ______________________________

1st Place in Aesthetics category - Commander with his map, sf_tacwater, receiving a score of 36!

Runner-up in Aesthetics category - Mudkip with his map, sf_island, receiving a score of 33!
__________________________________________________ _____________________

1st Place in Gameplay category - Commander with his map, sf_tacwater, receiving a score of 32!

Runner-up in Gameplay category - Alingrad with his map sf_watercanal, receiving a score of 26!
__________________________________________________ _____________________

1st Place in Creativity category - Commander with his map, sf_tacwater, receiving a score of 30!

Runner-up in Creativity category - Mudkip with his map, sf_island, receiving a score of 29!
__________________________________________________ ______________________________

Congratulations to all those who entered and thankyou to everyone who contributed, those who had the patience to wait for me to finish my 15+ items of assessment (some of which I am still working on), and of course, the judges. An extra special huge congratulations goes out to Commander, who managed to win in all four categories!

Personally, I would have preferred for manywaters to have won it in the creativity category, for his healing rain idea, Mudkip in the Aesthetics category, for his beautiful island map (although I have to admit those turquoise shadows are ugly :P), and I would have called it even for sf_tacwater and sf_watercanal in the gameplay category.

This thread will remain open for public discussion about which maps you believe should have won, what you thought of the judge's oppinions, and congratulations and thanks to the participants. I hope you guys enjoyed following along with the first SF map battle, from it's conception through to the end!


You may download the map pack for this battle at the following locations:
MegaUpload Mirror

Unknown Files Mirror

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sf_skiff