Amazing reports so far! Should be enough to get the right design spirit going.

As for "pug loafs" (we like to call them dog breads), i can promise you that those are one of our favorite easter eggs over at TF2Maps.net, so don't you worry about those :3

fast responses! huehuehue

Most of the parts explained so far seem like what would be part of a tf2 mappers normal mind set. What is interesting is... What makes comp maps special?

When looking at granary for example, i noticed that it is easy to divide into areas, which are marked by a number of exits which are easy to get an overview over. What does this do to your experience with the map?

Hi there.
My name is Element, and i am a mapper.

Recently, the competitive scene has caught my attention, and I've started to think about trying to create a map designed for competitive play.

Now, that's all fine and dandy, the problem here is that the I, along with most of the TF2 mapping community, have only vague ideas about what the competitive community wants. We have very few competitive folks capable of providing useful feedback (ScorpioUprising is a great example of one of those few) and it generally feels like any attempts on closing in on the optimal design choices for a comp map is unappreciated/deemed useless etc.

So now i ask you... What makes a good comp map? What makes some maps good for comp and other ones bad for it? Are there some aspects of certain maps you see as good examples of how a comp map should function and are there likewise maps that displays design choices that would fit competitive play horribly?

I would basically like a discussion of anything map related in the comp scene, so i can try to get a picture of what is expected from a comp map.