The HAMMER MONTH & the Damon interview

There is no viable competitive scene without its map makers, and its custom maps that get the best out of the gameplay mechanics. There is no better way for map makers to test their maps in a coordinated, high-awareness game, than playing it in a competitive setting. We know it. You know it. Therefore we deliver it: the HAMMER MONTH. A full month of playing the weekly CompTF2C PuGs (pick-up games) in TF2C Mapping Community maps every other week.

Find the dates, chosen maps, and surprise details of the finest collaboration between the two communities below. Followed up by an insightful interview with Damon, a renowned figure in the mapping community, and a relatively new member of Eminoma. Not only did we take a look at his journey, but we are also peeked some exciting bits from the upcoming Steam release.

The Two Communities

Let us first lay out the usual schedules of both communities. CompTF2C PuGs happen every Friday at 20:30 CET (18:30 UTC) in the EU server and every Saturday at 19:00 EST (23:00 UTC) in the NA server, joined via TF2C Competitive Discord server. Anyone can join any game, regardless of their region or skill level.

TF2C Mapping Community calls to arms for the playtests taking place in their EU server every Saturday at 19:00 CET (17:00 UTC) and in the NA server every Saturday at 20:00 EST (Sunday 00:00 UTC).

The servers of both communities are provided by AltTAB Network, owned by CompTF2C’s admin technician Jaws, who is also the community lead of TF2C Mapping Comm. And that is more or less all the titles you can get in the TF2 Classic community.

The HAMMER MONTH

On the Friday-Saturday dates listed below, in its usual EU-NA(&SA) PuGs, CompTF2C will play the indicated two maps before any other. On these weeks, TF2C Mapping Community will give an extra hand by not doing their own playtests, directing their playerbase to the competitive PuGs, and taking some long-deserved break every other week.

May 30-31, 2025: vipr_chopper by Damon / koth_blender (4teams) by Milkman67
June 13-14, 2025: dom_carts by Voodoo People / koth_cavity by Tright
June 27-28, 2025: cp_victoria by Mrs. Hazel / koth_winery by Ruby

In each of the 6 dates, the first chosen map (vipr_chopper, dom_carts, or cp_victoria depending on the week) will be played certainly, while the second one (koth_blender, koth_cavity or koth_winery) may be played based on the active player count and feedback. After the designated two custom maps, the PuG nights may continue with standard maps. Everyone is welcome to join the Discord server to participate.

Two maps that did not make it to the HAMMER MONTH deserve special mention: vip_marbles by sandwich and dom_sheer by Ruby. We are looking forward to see how these would be improved to fit in a future occasion.

The Damon interview

This is not the first time the two communities are collaborating. In Week 5 of PuG Ladder Spring 2025 on April 11, after the announcement in both Discord servers, CompTF2C played vipr_chopper, the first map to be played in the HAMMER MONTH. The creator of that map, Damon, joined us that week to see how his map will perform, and became a consistent player of our scene since then. He left no better candidate for the following interview.

Güven: What is your history with mapping, and mapping specifically for TF2C? How has been your experience with the TF2C mapping and modelling community?

Damon: I started out mapping for Counter-Strike: Source, specifically the Minigame gamemodes. These consisted of “course maps and multi-games”. It was very different from how it is now, and mappers had way less resources/guides to help them create their vision.

When it comes to TF2C, I started out after being very inspired by Flask. I loved the idea of 4-team and thought it could provide for an opportunity to tap into a less saturated market. This is when I got the idea for arena_downtown. I had already made several city themed maps before in other games, so I figured it could be a great way to start of my mapping within the TF2 universe.

Once I started showcasing some of the work of Downtown the community was instantly very helpful and encouraging. I also had developers of TF2 classic reach out early on and help improve several aspects of the map. I do think mapping for TF2 classic is more rewarding than many other source projects, as people are very enthusiastic and have love for the game. Everyone pushes you to deliver the best possible product and it feels rewarding to be able to deliver.

G: Your recent map vipr_chopper is an interesting case because VIPR as a game mode was introduced to the game a few months ago, late January, with the Double Down update. It is a short time for even internalizing a relatively complex game mode like that, let alone creating a fully artpassed map of it, which became one of the community favorites. What was its creation process like? And how did that lead to you being recruited by the developer team, Eminoma?

D: As soon as VIP Race dropped, I found myself to love the gamemode and the high stakes and adrenaline of capturing the last point. I got the idea of having the final points taking place on a cliffside, with a more cinematic escape vehicle. Hence the helicopter idea.

The very first version of chopper had more space available to players. It included an entire underground around mid to encourage more engineer and spy gameplay. This didn’t last long though, as it felt disconnected and fights were too far from one another. Later on I got feedback from both the community and some of the developers of TF2 Classic. They shared their thought process about how they approached VIPR and the challenges that came with it. This had me alter several aspects of the map. To improve the flow and to adjust the map towards the VIPR formula more.

I had actually already applied to join Eminoma, before I started on vipr_chopper, but I think the creation of this map together with showcasing my older projects from both Left 4 Dead 2 and Counter-Strike have been in my favor. Since most of my experience come from these two games, I think my approach to certain things within mapping is different that makes for interesting combinations.

G: We know that since the new SDK is released in February, Eminoma has been working hard to port the entire game and release it on Steam. This implies, in theory, inheriting all live TF2 features. This has so many promises for the competitive community, like tournament mode GUI and HUD, stopwatch, currently missing convars, full plugin compatibility, logs.tf, CastingEssentials etc.

Do the Steam release have exciting technical implications for the mapping and modelling community as well? Moreover, aside from the technicalities, not to go deep into the classified area but should we be excited for the Steam release in terms of maps or other surprise additions?

D: The update will indeed be very promising for the competitive scene, as we’ll inherit all functionality from the live version of TF2. Most plugins should just work or at worst require very minimal modifications.

We also have more features planned, that will make great use of the already existing gamemodes in Live TF2.

You should definitely be excited for the new update in terms of content creation as a whole. TF2C will feature additions and tools to help creators make the best content possible. I can’t say much more just yet, but you’ll find out soon enough.

G: Thank you very much for the elaborate answers, and for creating the content that keeps us excited for an 18 year old game. It is one of the last standing old school shooters, unmatched in many aspects, and perhaps it would have died if it wasn’t for the creative people like you.

D: Happy to answer them! Yes, all of our love for this classic game is truly what keeps it going. Every person playing counts.

We are aware that many of these maps were not created with competitive gameplay in mind. Nor were the standard TF2C maps we play our unique game modes on. We also know that things do not happen just by waiting and hoping for it. As in the previous brief collaboration in April, the map makers would appreciate receiving feedback on these maps. It is on us to make that happen, and to affect and encourage map creation in a specific direction. So, map maker, tester or pugger; we are expecting everyone to join, to experience these maps like never before, and to contribute to the development of our game and community.