Out of the grave comes this never-used Ville theme! Once again I’m glad to partner with Map Labs to bring these new mapping challenges to life.
Here is DeceptionVille, where the mappers were challenged to make a map wherein something isn’t what it first seems.
This is the first challenge of three in the Hammer Cup 2022 – stay tuned to see the standings and the results of the next 2 challenges!
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.
- Title: DeceptionVille
- Filename: sdk-2013-sp-mlc-deceptionvillev2.7z
- Size : 476 MB
- Author: Sylenth, Léo, 1upD, Tiop, Duck, Yousefstein, Coralilac, Cvoxalury, barrelzzen, Jean Knapp AKA XBLAH, Jason Gimba AKA Maki, matt71490 AKA Event Horizon, Juko43, Bouribou, Staps, iiboharz, Rubecula, Andrii Mykhailenko
- Date Released: 23 March 2022
- Make sure you have the Upcoming branch of the Source SDK Base 2013 Singleplayer installed in Steam and run at least once. (Properties – Betas – select upcoming from the dropdown list).
- Copy the deceptionville, mapbase_shared, mapbase_hl2, and mapbase_episodic folders into your SourceMods folder.
- Restart or start Steam.
- DeceptionVille should now be listed in your Library tab.
If you decide to use the Per-Map Opinion Images, feel free to use the file below as a template:
DeceptionVille-Review-Template.txt
Listed as they are displayed in the mod itself:
videogame by Sylenth
Dyson by Léo
Accidental Disclosure by 1upD & Tiop
The Nothing by Duck
J.O.L.L.Y.’S Cooperation by Yousefstein
Facade by Coralilac
U. C. by Cvoxalury
Encapsulated by barrelzzen
Weighing Nine Cinderblocks by Jean Knapp AKA XBLAH
Always Greener by Jason Gimba AKA Maki
d2_coast_02 by matt71490 AKA Event Horizon (bonus map)
Out Of Date by Juko43 & Bouribou
Detached by Staps
Border Crossing by iiboharz
plz gib idea by Rubecula
Person with three legs by Andrii Mykhailenko (bonus map)
Time for you to share your thoughts! Vote for your top 3 maps from DeceptionVille. Poll closes 15th April 2022.
What are your top 3 DeceptionVille maps?
- Person with three legs by Andrii Mykhailenko (bonus map) (0%, 0 Votes)
- plz gib idea by Rubecula (2%, 2 Votes)
- Border Crossing by iiboharz (9%, 9 Votes)
- Detached by Staps (4%, 4 Votes)
- Out Of Date by Juko43 & Bouribou (2%, 2 Votes)
- d2_coast_02 by matt71490 AKA Event Horizon (bonus map) (1%, 1 Votes)
- Always Greener by Jason Gimba AKA Maki (11%, 11 Votes)
- Weighing Nine Cinderblocks by Jean Knapp AKA XBLAH (33%, 33 Votes)
- Encapsulated by barrelzzen (7%, 7 Votes)
- U. C. by Cvoxalury (19%, 19 Votes)
- Facade by Coralilac (1%, 1 Votes)
- J.O.L.L.Y.'S Cooperation by Yousefstein (0%, 0 Votes)
- The Nothing by Duck (5%, 5 Votes)
- Accidental Disclosure by 1upD & Tiop (1%, 1 Votes)
- Dyson by Léo (1%, 1 Votes)
- videogame by Sylenth (3%, 3 Votes)
Total Voters: 41

Here are the top three places. Scores from all non-bonus entrants count toward The Hammer Cup 2022 scores as well.
- First: Weighing Nine Cinderblocks by Jean Knapp AKA XBLAH: 88.8 Points
- Second: Accidental Disclosure by 1upD & Tiop: 81.3 Points
- Third: U. C. by Cvoxalury: 80.8 Points
Full details of all the points can be found on The Hammer Cup 2022 Scores Spreadsheet.
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
Each map has 5 screenshots.
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906Overall
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12Today
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32Last 7 days
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269Last 30 days
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906365 days
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 4 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 3 Hours, 9 Mins
Shortest: 1 Hours, 30 Mins by TheLastBear
Longest: 5 Hours, 4 Mins by ShawnHL
Total Time Played: 12 Hours, 34 Mins
If you believe this release is missing important tags, please suggest them in a comment?




Updated to v2 file to fix an issue with d2_coast_02 map.
As with a lot of the recent mapping events this was quite overwhelming. The best map by far was “Weighing Nine Cinderblocks” and there were a lot of stupid and short entries! Why do mappers still think it’s cool to show default Hammer textures or make the player do millimeter exact jumps?
Brilliant entry by Jean Knapp AKA XBLAH – Weighing Nine Cinderblocks. The (blue laser shooting super ships) that came out with the manhacks during the ride up in the elevator were a fun surprise. What are those called?
Mortar synths.
Just added a Community Poll by request!
If anyone needs recomendations, play now Encapsulated, U.C. and Always Greener. You will also have some fun at Accidental Disclosure, Facade, Detached and Border Crossing.
Playtime: 11 minutes
First part looks really meh. Second part looks interesting, but wasn’t used really well. It could have had some clips, I was getting stuck inside the bar. It was a missed oportunity. The deception wasn’t that clear, I don’t know what happened. NO AUTOSAVES!
Playtime: 3 minutes
The map was a blockout, I have no idea what happened, and crashed me on the part with a mounted machinegun. Vortigaunts aren’t good enemies. There is nothing we can do about it, stick to soldiers, antlions and so on. This looks like it wasn’t finished or properly tested and shouldn’t have been submitted until it was finished, despíte the deadline. Couldn’t see the deception since I crashed.
Playtime: 20 minutes
Extra points for voice acting, with lip sync, some finicks like outline on models and hints. I didn’t like the deception was only at the end. I also don’t know if the result was random or if I had to pay attention to something. It’s nice that it added a story behind it, a little bit slow for my taste, but it was solid nonetheless. Other than selecting the two scientists at the end, which I don’t know yet if it was random or not, there isn’t any meaningful engagements other than pressing a button. The design is good, compared to other maps in the competition, but I didn’t like the selection of materials. The materials had no hotspots, so they looked out of place. NO AUTOSAVES. ONE MINOR MISTAKE AT THE END SENDS YOU TO THE BEGINNING!
Playtime: 22 minutes
I have mixed feeling about the looks, but it clearly had a lot of effort put into it. It’s a matter of personal taste, I don’t like this kind of use of dev textures, obsolete, etc. Autosaves should be more frequent. The combat was not fun. The first deception was too cheap, in my opinion. It could have been better presented. The deception at the end was funny.
Playtime: 57 minutes
It could be fun, if didn’t kill you randomly. Yes, randomly. Some of the areas required pure luck that the explosion sequences wouldn’t take you with them. Learning how to progress by dying shouldn’t be a gameplay. I had to cheat with buddha once because of that. Another area I just noclipped because I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it. The design, looks and sounds are really simple. This is clearly a map to frustrate the player, and it’s a REALLY small niche that likes this kind of maps. About the deception, it’s not that explicit. I played to the end out of spite, and you shouldn’t be proud of that. It wasn’t satisfying to finish it. The jigsaw puzzle and the ring puzzle were interesting, but badly executed. It’s one hour I’m never getting back. Please, don’t do this again. Think of the judges who have to actually play it to the end. It drained all my will to play other entries. I played Facade completely silent, and then just closed the game. You had an oportunity here to develop a story, give the player some progressive training on the puzzles, but you missed the oportunity. We obviously missed a some of the stuff you tried to present, but that’s the result of frustration and unfair punishment. I didn’t bunnyhop around or random click stuff, I actually paid attention to the map and it still was unfair.
Playtime: 5 minutes
A solid map, with a solid but simple deception. I wish there were hints that it would happen. It basically came out of nowhere. The later combat was a little bit boring, as enemies were just standing there waiting for you. It would be nicer if they reacted to the sounds or what was happening, so you would see their movement or actions. The looks were simple, but pretty nice. It was nice that you added Alyx as a companion at the beginning, although something happened to the lipsync. The deception could have been presented in a better way than just scaring the player. With the amount of time you had, you built something really nice. As a suggestion, a few scripted movements and it could have been a lot better.
Playtime: 11 minutes
Visuals were great, ambient sounds were great, the engagement was great, the level design was well elaborated. Obviously time constraints and abilities had you use game texts as dialogue instead of choreographies. If I were you, I’d have recorded the voice lines and played them as sounds, even if there wasn’t lip sync. The deception at the end was solid, although I’d hope there was an aftermatch to play instead of just fading to black. The combat was on point. This map was really satisfying to play. I have no idea what the rose crown is for, but I took it with me. Wish I could do something with it. Those buildings look great, by the way.
Playtime: 8 minutes
Encapsulated had nice visuals, althought the glow effects were too strong. Having citizens around gave life to the place, as well as the use of soundscapes. The deception was well presented in the middle of the game, and the deception at the end was funny. Killing the guards in the second part was partially weird. One crowbar hit should be enough to take them down. Overall, a good short experience.
Playtime: 34 minutes
Playtime: 6 minutes
This map nailed the goal. It had a good presentation, with good visuals, good sounds, good level design. It was weird that the guards didn’t rush toward us until we were close to them. The combat was really engaging, the npc movements were dynamic, and even the windows breaking while they were shooting was a nice touch. The triple deception was pretty good. If I were you, I’d have recorded the voice lines and played them as sounds, even if there wasn’t lip sync. It was a solid, satisfying experience.
Playtime: 4 minutes
This were more cromulentville than deceptionville. I wish it was more. It started really nice by (apparently) making the tunnel become larger and larger. It had some interesting visuals while you walked around, but that was it. The boss fight was not satisfying. It takes too long to kill, it just stands there, and I could camp without being targeted while I just kept shooting. It crashed me once. The custom content was nice, but visuals were ok-ish. I know the d2_coast_02 map doesn`t exist, and that this was the deception, but you missed the oportunity of making an actual coast map.
Playtime: 15 minutes
The whole meta map thing is not for my taste. The introduction to the dev part was good, but then it stopped there. I didn`t see the deception here other than that. Visuals were between ok and bad, mainly because of the dev area. The interaction was meaningless, it was just pressing buttons to advance, no thinking was necessary. The ambient sounds were non existant, and the npc just standed there or moved with AI towards me. It clearly took some effort to build this, with custom content and etcetera, but I think it missed the shot.
Playtime: 21 minutes
Detached was a solid little adventure. It could use a few improvements. The only thing I have to actually complain is the toxic waste, that can`t be trespassed without getting hurt, even by using the floating wooden props. The visuals and sounds of the map were good. If I identified the deception, I think it was the sniper hiding, and maybe the zombies under the toxic waste, but was that it?
Playtime: 5 minutes
Border crossing started really good by presenting visuals I`d expect from HL2. The lower side was the combat. Just having metrocops standing there isn`t an interesting fight, and it got repetitive too quickly. I feel it could be more dynamic, with metrocops doing something. Also, there were too many of them in the same place, and it doesn`t make much sense. The deception was solid, and the epilogue was on point. Wish there was more, but the time constraint justifies it.
Playtime: 5 minutes
This was more Cromulent than DeceptionVille. The black/white walking around was weird. I`d suggest adding at least a reference to the floor, but I get your idea. The switch between this part and the rebel x combine fight wasn`t deceptive for me. And the combat against the rebels feels weird, because they have extremely precise aim. And not only that, they just standed there, as did the combine. It would be nicer if they moved around and did something. The ending was not that satisfying.
Playtime: 2 minutes
This map had a weird looking intro, and a weird combat against a hunter, a bunch of roller mines and random crates around. As viewers mentioned, it felt like a map you ran on gmod and spawned random enemies. I`d expect the player to have to get rid of the rollermines. The combat was just to keep moving around and shooting the hunter, which ended the game after dying. There wasn`t really a deception here other than a surprise enemy spawning. The visuals weren`t good, and can use a lot of improvements.
Good gameplay in the first part, the second part is kinda clunky. The collision is really off inside the bar and ending with a CS meme is meh. Twist is kinda good but also out of nowhere. And no checkpoints.
If there was a twist, I feel like it’s not the false opening message since the third Vortigaunt just attacks you. Thank god, the Vortigaunts are nerfed though. Apparently the ending is a reference to Evangelion, according to my friend.
I thought there was gonna be more elements to the deduction but it’s all just memorizing the scientists each day. I can’t say the twist is much surprising when, in hindsight, the foreshadowing was really that obvious.
I like how you put cameos of your older maps and the custom enemies were fun to fight against. The twist is completely unrelated to what’s happening though, and I’m not talking about the reveal that you broke out of a set with a crowbar.
This map even fails to be a good rage map, Cat Mario makes more sense than this.
First puzzle would have been good if the button is not where you literally cannot see or find within a time limit. Second one is a terrible, an insult to, even, trial and error gameplay. You don’t even know what you die from. Third one is impossible to complete since the puzzle piece can either clip into the wall or occupy the same space. The fourth puzzle is a terrible rehash of that one gag in Portal in the worst way possible. The final one is a total clusterfuck.
Atmospheric lighting but kinda didn’t know what was going on. But hey, the ending was funny.
I think this map is too good at lying. I legit thought it was just a hard puzzle map and didn’t come back to it until I saw the site’s banner. So….have a bonus score for that.
Combat is too easy and I expect Mortar Synth to bomb me, not burn me with lasers. Cool Gunship battle with a twist too.
I wouldn’t really call that a twist….
That twist is set up so well! Combat is good too.
The twist was overall well done and I like how the ragdolls turn into a corpse in the next part, with exact location even.
So….I played the broken version of this map and I thought that was it because it looked like something Matt would do. But it wasn’t because of an error of the map pack. …..Does this count towards deception?
The twist kinda lacks a bit more build up and that RPG’s projectile is wider than China itself, damaging me several times.
The map is just too padded out with the length of each corridors and the twist is meh. Buttons inside the dev texture dimension also takes too long for stuff to happen. And to be honest, the twist of you being in Hammer is just stale at this point.
This score is only brought down this low because you can blow up the crates inside a house which you need to stack up to. Although, I also don’t know if that’s how to do it. It would have been OKAY or GOOD.
EDIT: Never mind, it’s just that I found the platforming slightly confusing. Not sure what is the twist here though.
OK, that one got me.
I’m struggling to call anything in the map a twist since it’s so random. “Platforming” part was neat though.
Very weird Hunter fight and……what’s the twist here?
Manually
Medium
4 Hours
I think I managed to break Weighing Nine Cinderblocks…
Instead of weighing the cinderblocks and deducing the light one that way, I picked them all up and threw them identically, and one flew slightly further. Does the game rely on the scales to trigger whatever is next?
…never mind I figured it out lol
I’d like to play this but my Norton anti-virus is automatically removing 2 of the files as it considers them a risk – client.dll and server.dll. For example:
Filename: server.dll
Threat name: WS.Reputation.1Full Path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\sourcemods\deceptionville\bin\server.dll
____________________________
____________________________
Threat type: Insight Network Threat. There are many indications that this file is untrustworthy and therefore not safe
____________________________
server.dll Threat name: WS.Reputation.1
Locate
Few Users
Fewer than 50 users in the Norton Community have used this file.
Mature
This file was released 1 month ago.
Medium
This file risk is medium.
Sorry Norton is complaining. I talked to the coder behind Mapbase and the code for the Map Labs challenges – he said he hasn’t seen this before. Your best option is to force Norton to ignore the files, sorry.
Great to see another map laps! I’m rating the way I am because map quality overall is average when considered in a vacuum, even though the quality’s fairly high given the time limit for these (and so many entries, too!)
Not doing a per-map rating since it’s hard to rate without spoiling the “deception”. My top three (in order) were:
Weighing Nine Cinderblocks – Don’t understand how some people didn’t put this in their top three, awesome creation.
Border Crossing – I can’t believe you did that, you absolute clown. Love it.
plz gib idea – Not the cleanest map but the twist was well executed.
Manually
Medium
1 Hour, 30 Minutes
I really liked the buildings and visuals of U.C. I looks like the author was inspired by the architecture in HL Alyx a bit. I also liked how the buildings were placed off grid. With that said, it’s a bit disappointing that such a nice environment doesn’t have that much gameplay to go with it.
very good but the puzzle maps are bad
Manually
Medium
5 Hours, 4 Minutes
For me, Weighing Nine Cinderblocks was absolutely the best in every aspect, although I still don’t get why you gave the scales three uses if two is always enough.
The second would have been videogame if this contest didn’t have a theme. The map was very original, but the deception wasn’t quite clear.
So my top two goes to Out Of Date. Maybe for more expirienced players this concept is old and boring, but for me it was something new and the map is really well executed
And top three goes to always greener. Simple. Well executed. Great twist.
Also, I wasn’t able to pass the first room in the J.O.L.L.Y. map, so I didn’t bother wasting too much time on it. From reading other comments: it’s a shame the author didn’t make a good map, but at least we’ll see jolly suffer again.
Manually
Medium
2 Hours
btw, I posted my no commentary playthrough on youtube, in case anyoune wants to see the maps, but doesn’t/can’t play them: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJFj71K6fSDlguslL5Ny97mnPx8GM8chO
Happily Norton now lets me play this mod without quarantining the files. I was about to give up on “Weighing Nine Cinderblocks” but I decided to play it one more time and finally figured it out. What a terrific entry. There are a few other interesting maps but that one was the best.