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Thursday, April 18, 2024

Team Fortress 2 Mirrored Maps Series Two was released to TF2maps.net on January 2nd 2011. The original post can still be found here.

2Fort was an obvious inclusion as it was, and largely still is, one of the most frequently played maps in the game. The two control point maps, Badlands and Granary were popular maps in the competitive TF2 community at the time and they were chosen to try and provide some variety and new challenges for those players.

Having avoided developing a process to mirror props during the development of series one, it was quickly apparent that they couldn’t be omitted this time around. Badlands had its spire control points that only utilised an existing anti-clockwise prop and to not produce a mirrored version would change the way the point played in such a way that would not be true to the mirroring concept.

Likewise, Granary last features a staircase with a walkway alongside a large pipe that is all one static prop. This also had to be mirrored in order to not affect gameplay on the final point.

Surprisingly, the requirement for mirrored models also presented itself in 2Fort. The red tower in the mid area is largely a model with only a variant that would lean the tower one way. The silos outside red base feature a cut in them that required a mirrored prop. The ‘safe’ door at the top of the spiral ramps needed to be mirrored to avoid having it sit in a different position and the power outlet in either teams flag room also needed mirroring in order to sit correctly. Another important inclusion to the mirrored props was the light shaft that sits in the room outside of Red spawn.

Once a process was in place for mirroring props, even 3D skybox props were getting the mirroring treatment.

Series Two was well received but didn’t garner the same success that Series One had seen. The project wasn’t finished, six maps were now completed and there were plans to do more but it wouldn’t be until 2016 that I would return to them.

MIRRORED 2FORT: CTF_TROF2

Team Fortress 2's most played map, reversed. The first mirrored map to feature mirrored props.

MIRRORED BADLANDS: CP_SDNALDAB

Competitive TF2 favourite, Badlands was the first 5cp map added to the Mirrored Maps stable. It features a mirrored spire that was the main trigger for the maps to start needing mirrored props.

MIRRORED GRANARY: CP_YRANARG

Rounding out Mirrored Maps Series 2 is mirrored Granary. Another 5cp map that further pushed the requriement for mirrored props as the final cap points simply didn't work without the mirrored staircase.