FusionVille 2 – Map Labs #10 Mapping Challenge Announcement

You’ve wanted it! We’ve wanted to do it! Perhaps the best Ville challenge ever finally returns!

FusionVille 2 is the next full Map Labs mapping challenge and it starts now! FusionVille 2 runs through Monday, August 31st. Get mapping!

Theme Details

The original FusionVille required mappers to combine 3 of 8 given themes from previous challenges. Same thing for FusionVille 2 but with a twist – you must pick 3 of the 10 given themes and fuse them together… drawn from past Villes and from past Map Labs!

  • Bridge
  • Toxic
  • Teleport
  • Liberation
  • Vertical
  • Episode One
  • Two Rooms
  • Think Tank
  • Companion Piece
  • Back on Track

Here’s the official announcement (click for full version):

FusionVille 2 Announcement

Deadline

The deadline for submission is Monday 31st August 2020. With an extra 3 days after that for bonus (non-judged) maps.

31st July 2020 12 Comments

Classic of the Month Stream – FusionVille – August 2020

Well, we just finished the Classic of the Month for July, coming back from a long hiatus. But guess what? This weekend is August already, and I’ve decided to move up the schedule a few weeks to coincide with the announcement of FusionVille 2 as the next Maps Labs challenge [selection of themes yet to be revealed]!

FusionVille was the final challenge of the 2017 Hammer Cup, and is August’s Classic of the Month. It was one of the best challenges we’ve had here at RunThinkShootLive, and there have been a ton of them (68, believe it or not!) and it’s certainly worthy of classic and Hall of Fame status.

Considering the Ville mapping challenges, there are some real gems among them – but none of them have been Classic of the Month, and none are in the RTSL Hall of Fame. Both change now!

Please note: I’ve switched back to Twitch as the streaming platform! The stream will be on the RunThinkShootLive Twitch Channel.

I’ll be streaming Saturday August 1st, about 12pm (noon) Eastern US Time (5pm in the UK, 6pm Central Europe). FusionVille’s a big pack so I might have to continue the playthrough on Sunday at the same time.

Check the Time & Date.Com website for your local time. See you there!

29th July 2020 No Comments

Classic of the Month is back!

At long last, the hiatus ends. Classic of the Month returns!

As you may have guessed, Half-Life: C.A.G.E.D. is July’s Classic of the Month. Cayle George reworked and greatly expanded his original map from Project: Quantum Leap into an instant classic. Polished, quirky, and jamming to the synthwave soundtrack by Lazerhawk. I’ll be going after the secrets, including the special bonus map, and will do a comparison to the original Caged too!

Please note: I’ve switched back to Twitch as the streaming platform! The stream will be on the RunThinkShootLive Twitch Channel.

I’ll be streaming Saturday the 25th, about 12pm (noon) Eastern US Time (5pm in the UK, 6pm Central Europe).

Check the Time & Date.Com website for your local time. See you there!

22nd July 2020 5 Comments

Eye Candy – Map Labs Test Tube #8

for Half-Life 2: Episode Two

This Map Labs challenge focused on purely visuals – make a pretty map, gameplay optional (and did not count toward the score). This was a Test Tube, so the mappers only had about a week to pull off the best-looking map they could.

This time there were a whopping 28 entries (including a bunch of bonus maps, and adding another fantastic background map). Enjoy!

As always, if you’re interested in learning more about Map Labs and maybe even participate in their upcoming challenges, visit the Map Labs Discord.

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Total Downloads: 2,8625th July 2020
8 Comments and 5 recommendations, most say "Play It Later"

Tales from the Source

for Half-Life 2: Episode Two

As Dr. Gordon Freeman, you were last seen exiting City 17 with Alyx Vance as the Citadel erupted amidst a storm of unknown proportions. In Episode Two, you must battle and race against Combine forces as you traverse the White Forest to deliver a crucial information packet stolen from the Citadel to an enclave of fellow resistance scientists.

Note: this version is the updated Tales from the Source map from October 2021 and is now packaged as a Sourcemod.

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Total Downloads: 1,82922nd June 2020
14 Comments and 11 recommendations, most really enjoyed it!

Back on Track – Map Labs #9

for Half-Life 2: Episode Two

The latest Map Labs challenge is Back on Track, where the challenge was to create an interesting way to have the player backtrack through an area or even the entire map – a classic map design pattern. Yep, somewhat in the vein of BackTrackVille but certainly its own challenge. (But the next full Map Labs challenge is a collaboration with us here at RTSL, so keep your eyes out for that!)

This time there were a whopping 19 entries (including bonus maps, and a fantastic background map). Enjoy!

As always, if you’re interested in learning more about Map Labs and maybe even participate in their upcoming challenges, visit the Map Labs Discord!

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Total Downloads: 4,98117th June 2020
24 Comments and 11 recommendations, most say "Play It Now!"

Half-Life: The Infected

for Half-Life

Enjoy a new 28 Map Half-Life campaign. Take the role of Gerald Backman, an industrial electrician interning at Black Mesa at the time of the resonance cascade. Face off against all the enemies from Opposing Force.

Half-Life: The Infected uses Opposing Force content but does not require Op4 to be installed.

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Total Downloads: 2,89916th June 2020
20 Comments and 15 recommendations, most say "Play It Later"

Companion Piece 2: Companion Harder – Map Labs #8

for Half-Life 2: Episode Two

For this challenge, Map Labs expanded their Test Tube Companion Piece (couple days) into a full-blown lab challenge (3+ weeks). The theme was of course to make a map where the player works alongside an ally or companion.

So here are the 10 maps entered, along with 2 bonus maps!

As always, if you’re interested in learning more about Map Labs and maybe even participate in their upcoming challenges, visit the Map Labs Discord!

Fun fact: AllyVille was going to be one of the Lambda Cup 2018 challenges for a long time. Unfortunately we wanted to get some extra features into the game to expand the usefulness of NPCs, and that was never completed. So AllyVille was cancelled as a theme – glad it can live on somewhat under Map Labs!

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Total Downloads: 1,98914th June 2020
12 Comments and 5 recommendations, 2 say "Play It Now!"

Power Tower

for Half-Life 2: Episode Two

A Combine tower lies in the middle of the forest, providing energy to all Combine units in the area. Its destruction would greatly benefit the Resistance. You find yourself in the shoes of Gordon Freeman, tasked with destroying the construction.

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Total Downloads: 2,6239th May 2020
21 Comments and 20 recommendations, most say "Play It Now!"

Tunnel Vision

for Half-Life

A pack of seven maps spanning various areas of the Black Mesa Research Facility. Made for TWHL competition 35, Half-Life 20th Anniversary: Vanilla Half-Life.

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Total Downloads: 1,7043rd May 2020
13 Comments and 10 recommendations, most say "Play It Now!"