So i've been lurking this thread a bit and want to give my thoughts on why mappers gravitate away from comp a lot.

I'm just going to dump this here: http://www.teamfortress.tv/24307/esea-map-poll/?page=4 no one gave proper feedback. I'm not saying the map isn't absolute shit, but going into other projects without knowing stuff I need to start avoiding is utter shit.The reason i'm bringing this up is because it's pretty much why people don't want to map for competitive, getting feedback is a lot harder, getting an environment to actually test is a ton of work compared to other alternatives, (This was actually one of the first proper tests of sandstone, it had a few before hand but not as good)

Getting more map makers is simple as providing an environment to properly test, weekly gamedays for example is how tf2maps has pumped out so many pub maps, and why people tend to gravitate there. It's as simple as dumping the map in a thread, and on the following Monday watching the .demo, reading the feedback, and talking to players. If a similar service was available for competitive map testing, a lot more could happen

Koth Sandstone pro is now on the steam map workshop!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=454263715&result=1

ok, for feedback purposes, why does everyone hate sandstone so much?

http://i.imgur.com/0l84z0j.jpg

Why not koth_sandstone?

There's been a heavy need for a king of the hill alternative, and this map has been through rigorous testing in order to fit the competitive scene, but also has it's own distinct layout and meta. It would definitely bring out new strategies and playstyles unlike many of the other KOTH options and be a breath of fresh air for this comp.

Here's the thread for it: http://teamfortress.tv/thread/16114/koth-sandstone/?page=1

And here's a big imgur album so you can have a nice look at it (It's very stylish) http://imgur.com/a/5VDsO

Posted the final version in the main post!

Now here are the assets for you to edit as you please:

http://forums.tf2maps.net/downloads.php?do=file&id=6035

This includes: Models/Materials used, VMF files of all pro versions and some regular versions, all instances, Other assets used, and best of all a bunch of DEM files for you to know what to do next.

READ THE README AS WELL

These are the restrictions:
-You may NOT re-release or modify any of the models/textures under your own name whatsoever, unless you get the permission of the individual author.
-The Sandbowl, Shrine, and TNT Wiring is allowed to be modified however, with original credit given to "fantasmos".
-You may NOT take absolute credit for the map, you can only take credit for changes you have made.
-You may NOT re-release it under the name Sandstone, you must rename it (e.g sandstorm, sandtrap)
-You must name the map a derivative of sandstone in your map thread's main post
If you are unsure of anything, msg me on steam, my username is "fantasmos" and same for tf2maps.net

Good luck to whoever decides to be the next maker!

The Story of Sandstone.

The first screenshot of sandstone posted to a bunch of strangers on the internet was a CP hologram on some dev textures. No one really knew what it'd become and neither did I at that point, but all I knew was I was determined to make my 2nd tf2 map a ton better. Looking at it I was proud of a map that would be called that weekend during a playtest as “a clusterfuck” and “a map that needs ton of work” but regardless, with a spring in my step and a smile on my face, I packed it nicely and uploaded it to the tf2maps server.

This process happened every week for over 25 weeks.

Sandstone was something that took ages to shape, mould, and with hundreds of corners cut I finally released what I thought was the longest part of koth_sandstone's creation. The pub version.

So, what was next? Obviously a _pro version despite having no clue what I was doing. So, I posted on teamfortress.tv and asked for advice, and boy did I get some amazing tips for a comp version. Rollouts! Lighting! Paths! Rotations all of this was new and exciting to learn just by mapping for this community. I got my first comp play by some cool cat called umbiquitous or something and that spread me further!

It was a long time until I finally met who would be the biggest contributor to sandstone_pro, jackylegs.

We would chat at night/morning (thanks to timezones) of where to go next with this map, fixing bugs, a LOT of holes, and discussing previous matches of how the map should be changed. After a while of this, we managed to get it played on pickups a bit some playtests here and there and even in the latest EVL Winter Battle Royal in the preliminary rounds, the most played map of the day!

So, this is the short-version of the story of Sandstone, a map that took a while to peak just a bit, but enough.

But I don't want it to end here, I'll be releasing all the assets of the map in a ZIP file, VMF's prefabs, models, everything you need to be the next maker of Sandstone, and a bunch of 4v4 demos to give you some inspiration on what to change next! The rest of the details will be posted tomorrow along with what is possibly the final version of Sandstone released by me.

So, do you want to be the next chapter?

B19 Is OUT, contains many bug fixes, slight optimization and the caves have had their aesthetics overhauled so go to the first post and give it a download!

So, for those that played the EVL Gaming Winter Battle Royale, what did you think?
Your contributions will help with the map being updated!

Where was it played? I'd love to have a chat with some of the players + Admins

b18
https://www.dropbox.com/s/nyr0reew0tf9mye/koth_sandstone_pro_b18.bsp.bz2?dl=0
-Minor aesthethic updates
-Major gameplay changes, mostly making house built for rotations and height variance on mid.

This version will be featured in http://maincall.tf/ so be sure to keep your eye on it!

-Removed balcony
-Other fixes
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zay1yyv1ql8dspk/koth_sandstone_pro_b15.bsp.bz2?dl=0

Edit: Taking this down, map has broken clipping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbptjCvduxk

So, when Crash asked me to work on a trailer for his map, I put Sandstone down for a few days and booted up SFM, i'm surprised he hasn't posted it here so I will do just that!

B14
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8fwfrprelywj2a5/koth_sandstone_pro_b14.bsp.bz2?dl=0

-Minor seem fixes.

Also, Sandstone is now featured in the 3days cup at maincall.tf: http://maincall.tf/around-the-world-in-3-days-cup-powered-by-tf2pickup-net/

The map will be updated as much as possible to get it ready for it

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q5tz7g6b91d76wo/koth_sandstone_pro_b13.bsp.bz2?dl=0

Fixed more bugs, enjoy B13

Oh and I did some small art updates

Basically, the attacking team needs to see the point, but it'd be overpowered if the defenders had a clear view right to the spawn, this solved it. Glassworks implemented these windows as well so I decided to do the same.

B12 is here

Includes:

-Bug fixes
-Removed ladders as they were confusing to new players

Download:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/83x89jsl2vijnn6/koth_sandstone_pro_b12.bsp.bz2?dl=0