HAMMER MONTH poll results: Community insights and highlights

The HAMMER MONTH, announced in May and played throughout June, is now over. This crossover event between the TF2C Mapping and TF2C Competitive communities brought enough participants to playtest experimental modes like 4teams (koth_blender by Milkman67) and a new take on domination with constantly moving objectives (dom_carts, by Voodoo People) in an organized competitive setting for the first time; while map makers gained a whole different perspective by observing 6v6, prolander and highlander gameplay on their maps for the first time.

One thing is clear: The TF2C Mapping Community is no one trick pony. Not only did multiple maps show good game flow, but the quality of modelling and artistry was also shown to be top notch. Both experienced competitive players and newcomers alike played through the event, with many of them providing valuable feedback in the post-event poll. Let us now look at that data.

Demographics of the poll

Participation was almost perfectly split between competitive veterans with league experience and newcomers who started playing competitive recently, many of them in our own TF2 Classic competitive group. This balance allowed for a well-rounded view of how different types of players responded to the maps.

Overall favorites

Across the full set of responses vipr_chopper (by Damon) was the clear favorite, leading in both league-experienced and non-league responses. koth_cavity (by Tright) and koth_winery (by Ruby) tied for second place overall, each drawing solid support. vipr_chopper was a strong favorite for both veteran competitive players and newcomers, but koth_cavity and cp_victoria (by Mrs. Hazel) stood out for the competitive veterans, while koth_winery and dom_carts were preferred by the newer competitive players and casual participants.

Potential for improvement

• koth_winery and cp_victoria were seen as the maps with the greatest potential for improvement through further development.
  
• vipr_chopper was widely regarded as ready for release. The majority of participants believe it could be added to the game in its current state.
  
• Among the remaining maps, dom_carts and koth_cavity received the most votes for being potentially game-ready.

Still, every map received at least some feedback suggesting areas for improvement. Here’s how they ranked in terms of perceived need for further work:

• Most work needed: koth_winery (unsurprisingly, as it’s still in progress)
  
• Least work needed: vipr_chopper
  
• Middle ground: The other four maps received nearly equal votes

Artistic design

When asked which maps were the most aesthetically pleasing:

• dom_carts with its out-of-the-box junkyard theme and vipr_chopper with its aeronautical grand canyon escape, topped the list,
  
• koth_cavity came in close behind with its beautiful depiction of an Northern Italian town in the mountains.

Game mode choices

While most respondents thought the maps were well-suited to their current game modes, cp_victoria stood out as the map that might work better in a different mode (perhaps VIP instead of A/D CP), according to a notable number of voters.

What’s next?

The response was overwhelming: most participants expressed interest in future events like the HAMMER MONTH.

A big thank you to the TF2C Mapping Community and all the amazing mappers who contributed. And thank you to all the players who participated on the event, willing to try out maps they have never played before.

Stay tuned for more community events and testing opportunities in the near future.

1 Comment

Güven

The main reason why we could not play DOM after winter is mainly because the official dom maps have 3 points, and we are not sure if it's possible to contest effectively with 6v6. And when we had 9v9, we played other highlander-ish modes we missed, like VIP. Dom_carts' relatively compact layout and only having 2 points actually gave an idea about how DOM could be made more possible to 6s. I hope we see more 2-point DOM maps in the future.

July 6, 2025