AUG 13, 2025 | Harvest Festival
man versus machine
Back in June, Valve made a blog post calling for more Mann vs. Machine maps. We, the Side 7 team, read the post. Then we reread the post. We underlined a few things. We had a short meeting. Then a long meeting. Then we onboarded an Events Director and he underlined more things. In the end, the conclusion was unanimous: Valve was clearly asking us — specifically us — to make a map where you can fight machines and to somehow involve Harvest.
I will say, though — Valve could work on their communication skills. If they really wanted Side 7 to make a new map, they could have just emailed me. Robin Walker has had my email for 15 years. Maybe he’s still too busy deciding which unusual effect to put on my Max’s Head all these years later?
Anyway, I’m not sure where they get off asking for such a big undertaking on the TF2 blog of all places. But no worries, Robin — message received.
First of all, “versus machines”? That’s the easy part. Our entire roster consists of 60-foot-tall giant machines. Box checked. Honestly, I’m not sure why they even had to ask.
Next up: the Harvest part. This one’s trickier. They specifically mention “the ancient Greek candy-harvest festival of Halloween,” but then say it doesn’t have to be Halloween-themed? So... are regular Greek candy-harvest festivals acceptable?
Here’s the problem: I’m pretty sure 60-foot-tall robots don’t eat candy. So, sorry — we’re shelving that part for now. And “Greek”? Surely they can’t expect us to add GF13-002NGR Zeus Gundam on such short notice. Did nobody tell them how long it takes to add a custom mobile suit? Although, given Valve did famously hire a Greek economist, maybe this is all some elaborate ploy from a TF team member whose favorite Gundam just happens to be Zeus -- with the candy harvest doubling as some kind of economic stimulus package. If so, I admire the persistence — though I’m not sure reverse-engineering a mobile suit is any easier than fixing a country's economy.
But hey — compromise. They did say “harvest festival.” And that part couldn’t have been clearer. Without a doubt, they were telling us to port KOTH Harvest over. So... we did.
So, without further ado, we are incredibly excited to announce Side 7's biggest ever update: Harvest Festival.
side 7’s first ever custom map arrives
Starting August 15th, join us to play on our first ever new map, Harvest. Ported and adapted from Team Fortress 2 with the blessing of Harvest's creator, Sean "heyo" Cutino, Side 7's development team has been hard at work these past months to undergo the learning process of what it takes to extract from Source, import to Unreal, and all the magic in between of putting a map into a game without that game's source code.
But that's not all! More than just a map, Side 7's Harvest Festival comes with sixteen new skins, all inspired by Team Fortress 2 itself!
We will also be making existing TF2 and Dwheimverse portraits and icons available for purchase!
capital points update
To make capital points more accessible to our community, the Side 7 team has updated our policy:
All new accounts will now start with 1,500 capital points.
All existing accounts will receive a one-time 1,500 capital points grant to ensure consistency.
Additionally, players will now receive capital points and material points for duplicate drops from supply pods:
Duplicate skins → Capital points
Duplicate stamps, portraits, and player icons → Material points
New account capital points will be made available immediately. Duplicate drops providing currency will become available starting August 15th
bugs & known issues
Reverse-engineering projects like this often require persistence and can result in imperfections during implementation or re-implementation. We appreciate your understanding regarding the following known issues:
Custom Match Error Message on Harvest
When loading into a custom match on Harvest, players may see a “Failed to Start Custom Match” error.
The match will still begin shortly after this message. No action is required — simply wait for the match to start.
Incorrect Currency Display in “Meet the Suits” Supply Pods Duplicates
Duplicate skin drops incorrectly display material points instead of capital points.
This is a display issue only — capital points are awarded correctly.
Incorrect Drop Count Display in “Meet the Suits” Supply Pods
Meet the Suits supply pods incorrectly show three drops per item. The correct amount is one item per drop.
Harvest Control Point Alignment
The control point capture zone does not perfectly match the actual capture zone.
This is due to limitations when porting the Domination game mode from existing maps.
Important Note: Due to the nature of Harvest being a map not explicitly designed for Gundam Evolution and the above noted bugs, Harvest will only be available through the in-game menu for a limited time. Afterward, players will need to request a custom room override from one of the Side 7 team members in order to set a lobby to Harvest.
Credits
Finally, today's update would not have been possible without the hard work of everyone at Side 7. I would like to go above and beyond to provide special recognition to the following Side 7 team members for making today's update possible.
Dwheim: Creator of the Meet the Suits shorts, Bad Haro, and more, Dwheim now wears a badge of honor of not just making Gundam Evolution inspired Team Fortress 2 shorts, but now putting Team Fortress 2 into Gundam Evolution itself.
Over these past months, Dwheim has been instrumental in exporting Harvest from the Source Engine and importing it, asset by asset, into Unreal Engine. From QA to playtesting, Dwheim ensured that every single fine detail was accounted for to ensure we could import the Harvest experience to the best of our abilities.
Dwheim is also responsible not just for the map, but also all of the 16 new skins found in our latest supply pod.
Once again going above and beyond, he is also the author of our launch trailer, as seen above.
A very special thank you to Dwheim!
McLyntree: Side 7's resident content modder worked hand-in-hand with Dwheim in the early part of this project. Joined at the hip with Dwheim, McLyntree set the groundwork of determing how to take what was once a Source engine asset and plugging it into Unreal. Without McLyntree's extensive R&D, it's not clear whether we'd be here today.
Moekumo: A developer of many talents, Moekumo got deep into the nitty-gritty of this game's code to help us through each and every blocker along the way. Making the impossible become possible, Moekumo dug in deep to help alleviate our lack of source code by using his expertise to reverse the game's compiled code and get through each and every hurdle that hindered development.
Samuel: A special shoutout to Samuel who also dug into the game's code in order to ensure the finishing touches. Through Samuel's unwavering efforts, we were able to provide a rich intro and outro experience to the Harvest map experience.
I would also like to extend a special thank you to every one of our test pilots to helped us ensure that Harvest was ready for primetime. A special thank you to all of the following:
Seikaiuehara, puparoid, Harpuia, PipehFreeze, RetniW, MonokoLonkard, GMP, Gonifeck, Joanjo_17, NuBook, SrDanix, Rx_MOON, zaro, Serris, kasino, peeb, Asorr, Substitute, Charbrose, Spiderkid, Kriidnaar.
join us!
Ready to join us on Harvest but not yet set up on Side 7? Learn more over at https://discord.gg/side7!
