PropHunt

PropHunt is a TF2 gameplay modification originally written and released by Darkimmortal with a set of accompanying maps developed by various authors, indicated by the ph_ prefix. The unranked copy of the SourceMod plugin is currently available for server administrators through AlliedModders. The ranked copy is available on request from the Geit or Darkimmortal via GamingMasters.co.uk.

There is also a SourceOP LUA rewrite of the plugin that is used privately on the SourceOP servers.

Gameplay

Players on the RED team are forced to play as Scouts and are randomly assigned the appearance of a map prop at the start of each round, which fully replaces their normal appearance (although there have been cases of certain cosmetic items continuing to display any particle effects they may possess). RED team players are not able to make use of their weapons unless they are the last player on their team. Passive item effects, like the Sandman's health penalty, will influence the player as normal.

The BLU team is permitted to play any class except for Spy. Pyro is by far the most commonly used class because it is afforded movement advantages (detailed below) and fire effects make it very easy to identify members of the RED team once they are found. Firing a weapon or swinging a melee weapon will cause members of the BLU team to slightly damage themselves, this is intended to give players a reason to focus on suspicious props rather than resorting to shooting everything in sight. To reward successful hunters, members of the BLU team who score a kill or kill assist are granted a small speed boost for the remainder of the round. Pyros are additionally granted the ability to "fly" by firing their flamethrowers in midair as a means of matching the vertical mobility of the RED team members, albeit at a cost to their reserves of ammo and health.

Prop Hunt plays much like a heavily modded version of the standard Arena mode in that it uses the same set of heads-up displays and does not permit respawns during the round. At the end of each round the teams are swapped; the Hunters (BLU) become the Hunted (RED) and vice versa. The RED team is granted a 30 second set-up time to find an appropriate place to blend in and hide, although they may continue to move and act as normal after this time expires. During the set-up period, the BLU team is confined to their spawn by means of positional locking or a time-release barrier. Some maps have open spawn doors, resulting in BLU players being able to see certain parts of the map and any props that decide to hide there or even attack props that wander into the spawn. Health pickups are generally very limited on Prop Hunt maps, although Prop Hunt maps universally feature a central, non-capturable control point that will fully heal a player passing over it once every 55 seconds tracked individually for each player. BLU or RED win the round if all members of the opposing team die. RED is also able to win by staying alive until the end of the round's duration, at which point all BLU players are instantly slain and the victory awarded accordingly.

Maps

These maps are the current official maps that have been approved by the mod's authors and are distributed with the plugin to potential server hosts.

• Basalt - S.W.A.T.Y
• Brawl - Jazz
• Canyon - Albatross (Modified by Shinkz)
• Cargo - Combatfetus
• Cliff Face - gRiMrEaPeRsco
• Concord - zephyrak
• Cyberpunk - Xenon (Modified by Spykodemon and Shinkz)
• Desolation - Jamie "Mr. Happy" Lea
• Devils Canyon - Soylent Robot
• Farm - Geit
• Farm Feud - Archanor
• Goldtooth - Chuck "Atrocity" Wilson (Modified by Shinkz)
• Grassland - Mr. Late (Modified by Shinkz)
• Harvest - Heyo
• Headquarters - Combatfetus
• Lumberyard - Valve (Modified by Shinkz)
• Maze - LabelMaker (Assisted by Geit)
• Mountain - Austria_Phantom
• North Ural - Flanker (Modified by Shinkz)
• Oasis - Tyb00 (Modified by Shinkz)
• Other Side - Vincent (Modified by Shinkz)
• Range - Pascal
• Ravage - Mehby
• Sawmill - Valve (Modified by gRiMrEaPeRsco)
• Spooky Ravine - Valve & Malachi
• Storm - Ikem
• Switcheroo - insta (Modified by Coffejunky)
• Timbertown - Unknown (Modified by Shinkz)
• Train Set - Johnny
• Warehouse - Geit
• Watch Tower - Joshua ‘JoshuaC’ Shiflet (Modified by gRiMrEaPeRsco)

External Links

• TF2 PropHunt Official Steam Group
• TF2 PropHunt Stats pages
• AlliedModders plugin release thread

Appearances and References

• [1] - Shacknews (Oct 2009)
• [2] - Interview with Dark Immortal and Geit on Kritzkast (Episode 36, October 2009)