The Map Labs challenges come in a bunch of sizes – Atoms being the shortest challenges at 24 (or 48) hours. Back in March 2021, they ran a straight week composed of 5 Atom challenges.
We at RTSL collaborated with the Map Labs crew again for a couple of these Atoms – AscentVille and ElevatorVille 2. AscentVille was an unused idea back in the Hammer Cup days, and we thought ElevatorVille 2 would be an appropriate theme to interpret for such a short mapping challenge. Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, Gravity, and The Emoji Theme fill out the rest of the Atom Week themes – plus a handful of bonus maps as well.
Anyway, here is the full Atom Week release! Enjoy a whopping 57 short-form 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.
- Title: Atom Week (AscentVille, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, Gravity, ElevatorVille 2, and The Emoji Theme)
- Filename: sdk-2013-sp-mlc-atomweek.7z
- Size : 703 MB
- Author: Employee8, AtomicSpeedFT, fossil2020, Gravity Cat, Pancaked, Attack Slug, Sam Ricker AKA Startacker, Dyghaus, krassell, StookyPotato, Tacarish, Holly Liberatore, OfficiallyOusted, Soulmoose, Duck, TankiFlo, shoes, rowleto, samisalreadytaken, Layla, Hail Hazmat, PercyVader, sci_pain03.wav, Tiop, timCopwell, Analgen, aaaaaaa, Caleb West AKA CW3D, teamakes.games, Sergey, xyclone482, Sarif, b0rk, chanoc, Ethosaur, Nukedrabbit95, beefbacon, White_Red_Dragons
- Date Released: 24 April 2021
- 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 atomweek, mapbase_shared, mapbase_hl2, and mapbase_episodic folders into your SourceMods folder.
- Restart or start Steam.
- Atom Week should now be listed in your Library tab.
If you decide to use the Per-Map Opinion Images, feel free to use the files below as templates:
AscentVille-Review-Template.txt
Can’tStopWon’tStop-Review-Template.txt
Gravity-Review-Template.txt
ElevatorVille2-Review-Template.txt
Emoji-Review-Template.txt
AtomWeekBonus-Review-Template.txt
Dynamic Skills by Employee8
Rained by AtomicSpeedFT
Lifted by fossil2020
Viral Reconnaissance by Gravity Cat
Wathabah by Pancaked
Profaned Fortress by Attack Slug
OREAMNOS by Sam ‘Startacker’ Ricker
Brickmound by Dyghaus
Concrete Mini-lith by krassell
The Big Picture by StookyPotato
Cove by Tacarish
Climbing the Corporate Ladder by Holly Liberatore
then it is a distant cawing by OfficiallyOusted
Rite of Heaven by Soulmoose
Desolation by Duck
Y.A.S.P. by TankiFlo
Not Raining on the Box by AtomicSpeedFT
growing louder or coming nearer by OfficiallyOusted
レーベンホルムには行きたい… by shoes
CONTRABAND: Canal by rowleto
Border Reflections by Employee8
SWARM by samisalreadytaken
FreemanWave ’98 by Layla
Desolation 2 by Duck
Scrap Metal by Gravity Cat
Ms. Gravity Cat’s Introductory Lesson to Gravitational Science by Gravity Cat
Repercussion by Hail Hazmat
Raiders of the Temple of the Crusade by PercyVader
Xen Again by sci_pain03.wav
Specific Gravity by Tiop
TAKEOFF by timCopwell
Undeveloped by Analgen
Spacewalk by aaaaaaa
tells of crows returning inland by OfficiallyOusted
Desolation 3 by Duck
Ascension Mishaps by CW3D (Caleb West)
Loud their voices, bold their clamor by OfficiallyOusted
Redolance by teamakes.games
Evilator nightmares by Sergey
The Outside by Holly Liberatore
Desolation 4 by Duck
Descent by Gravity Cat
Hida by Gravity Cat
Desolation 5 by Duck
Sacrificial Chamber by Attack Slug
Normalitea by teamakes.games
Just smile by Employee8
dancingladiesmaptoohours by Tacarish
silent only when the night comes by xyclone482
Under Cover of Night by Sarif
Stasis by b0rk
Juggle by chanoc
Escape from Ringworld by sci_pain03.wav
A Stroll Through Themes by Ethosaur
Going Up by Nukedrabbit95
Deep Space Salvage by beefbacon
Friday On Gnomes Street by White_Red_Dragons
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
Huge thanks to Chris W for the screenshots!
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Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 2 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 2 Hours, 49 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 57 Mins by ArctixSnowPup
Longest: 4 Hours, 40 Mins by ShawnHL
Total Time Played: 5 Hours, 37 Mins
If you believe this release is missing important tags, please suggest them in a comment?
Lots to digest here. I must admit I have no idea what to do in Concrete Mini-lith. I figured out how to move in Rite of Heaven but where to go still has me stumped. I guess I didn’t do enough puzzles as a kid!
Yeah, this was an incredibly frustrating first “jump” that you have to make – apparently when you duck you gain a little bit of height, and that’s really the trick you have to use here.
I spent 20 minutes on it and could not make the first jump. Oh well.
I’ve Finished All of the Maps, I found them all very well, but the ones given the time bothered me, I passed them after a few tries, it’s a good compilation, I’m waiting for more.
If you are going to download it, you will have to give this mode at least 3 hours because some maps are very long, it is a good time killing mode, I found it good, but I know you can be challenging.[
Manually
Medium
4 Hours, 40 Minutes
Again I was deeply disappointed by most of the maps and I believe that these short delevopment time challenges are little more than a lot of wasted potential for both mappers and players! The mayority of levels were just bad, either because they were stupid, unfinished or the mappers still believe that players like to do millimeter exact jumping puzzles all the time. There were some exceptions to the rule showing off that you can do great things with the Source engine, like space battles, space walks or playing asteroids, but even those were not really fun to play, just exceptional in showing their mapper’s ingenuity. I wish all these good modders would work together to build HL2:EP3 according to the leaked document instead of playing around in challenges like these…
ITALIC: …and I believe that these short development time challenges are little more than a lot of wasted potential for both mappers and players!
Agree 100 percent on this. IDK why organizers of these challenges love to promote small mostly lousy entries…
“I wish all these good modders would work together to build HL2:EP3 according to the leaked document instead of playing around in challenges like these…”
I also absolutely agree with this!!
It’s alright! This was the first RTSL thing I played, and it’s a lot of bank for your buck (which is time, in this case). Some maps are infuriatingly incomprehensible. For instance, I couldn’t finish Y.A.S.P. after I got to the green room…I might be kind of illiterate when it comes to the puzzles, though. Who knows?
Over all, I think it’s a solid map pack. Maybe not the best, but a great time killer.
Dynamic Skills by Employee8
This map reminds me of the portal 1 piston puzzles. I had some fun getting to the top, but once I was up there my first instinct was to shoot the helicopter down not realizing that was my way out. Not much else to say. 5 minutes
Rained by AtomicSpeedFT
It could be a bit brighter, most of the map is really dark. One thing I didn’t like about this map is the fact that the ladder breaks and I had to use props to climb. Looking at the video and I believe the ladder just disappears into thin air. It was very short. 2 minutes.
Lifted by fossil2020
Despite the dev textures, I really believe this to be my favorite map so far. The execution is all there, but not sure why the elevator seemingly just stops at each floor. With some more time I believe there could be a better way to implement this idea. 4 minutes and 30 seconds.
Viral Reconnaissance by Gravity Cat
Another great map. This takes the ascent very literal. As in I had to climb stairs to get to the top. For some reason I cringe at the codename though. Vanguard? Seems like a codename every fps uses at some point in the story. I would’ve preferred V (pronounced as the letter, not five), or maybe just a common name like Bradley. The attention to detail is great though. 2 minutes.
Wathabah by Pancaked
What does the name even mean? Is this a pun on the British pronunciation of water bottle? This was an interesting map. I believe I was in some kind of sewer system with zombies and turrets. Why was there a health station at the end? Why did I end up in gm_flatgrass too? 1 minute and 30 seconds.
Profaned Fortress by Attack Slug
How the hell did you do this Slug? Amazing dedication to your map. This takes the cake and my vote for the competition. The level design was just so elaborate and stunning. I love the unique usage of the crossbow! Unfortunately it was only about a minute of gameplay. Way too short for something this amazing.
OREAMNOS by Sam ‘Startacker’ Ricker
This is a pretty good map. Feels like some giant tree house in the middle of a vast desert. Pretty standard gameplay. I just had to push through the combine to defeat the gunship and fade to black? Not sure how I got to this giant tree house, but at least I had fun doing it. 4 minutes of gameplay.
Brickmound by Dyghaus
This feels like I sorted by new on the gmod workshop. Clearly made in about 20 minutes and just kinda slapped together. I beat it in 1 minute.
Concrete Mini-lith by krassell
Krasell, what is your motive to make such crazy parkour maps? I mean I’m not complaining, but damn. This was hard. 10 minutes of concentration.
The Big Picture by StookyPotato
I don’t even know what the QR code reads because I never got it to work. It’s a good start to a castle though. 30 seconds.
Cove by Tacarish
It’s a nice little cove with a nice atmosphere. I liked the refreshing ending. 1 minute
Climbing the Corporate Ladder by Holly Liberatore
This map is not about elevation, but more about climbing up in status. Too bad that all it really was was a button mashing simulator. I did enjoy the Stanley parable-esque storyline though. 16 minutes
then it is a distant cawing by OfficiallyOusted
I like the cityscape battle between Gordon and the metrocops. 30 seconds.
Rite of Heaven by Soulmoose
Can’t rate it since I didn’t complete it.
Desolation by Duck
God this map annoyed me to no end. It’s like someone took the antlion puzzle and said: It would be funny if the player died as soon as they touch the ground. 6 minutes.
Manually
Medium
57 Minutes
So, I really don’t know what to think about this “Map Lab” challenge kind of stuff anymore. RTSL.com was a cool platform in the past to distribute and allow to download of great maps and mods from many developers around the globe, and it was the total milestone-reference to the most cool Total Conversions, and fully moded stuff in the past. Now it just seems like it is totally dedicated to this map-lab stuff while some other awesome mods are just released in the Mod DB site, considering all limitations Mod DB has as it is not a dedicated HL2 moding site. Don’t get me wrong and take this I’m saying as a rude complaint, but most like a past-lost-nostalgic sigh…
Some releases are pretty cool, while others are just a space for bloofing developers trying to show they can do the utmost unbeatable hard-arse entry, which is just frustrating to any gamer. and in this Atom week thing, we just have plenty of those kinds of entries, especially in the first, nonstop, and gravity categories.
And then stuff like the totally awesome “Space Salvage” is not even in the main categories, but the bonus category! About that one, I just think the developer is a genius and Valve should hire him immediately. As he can do a great space, or maybe a CMB combat helicopter game with the limited source engine. I hope this developer dares to continue with this marvelous project as it would be a fantastic TC HL2 Mod.
the rest of the categories, I guess were just OK but most of them felt like a proof of concept only, so I can’t really say they are like wow, though the emoji entries were a clever way to develop maps indeed I thought when I played them.
Yeah, I guess this one maybe could be the one for you, but for me is a big maybe…