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A Game Mod of Garry's Mod turned official game mode, Prop Hunt is easily one of the most common fan created modes for any game that allows for custom mode creation ever, being essentially an online version of hide and seek. Only with guns and props. The mod was also ported to other Source Engines games, notably Team Fortress 2, and is somewhat popular on community servers.

At the start of each round, players are put on one of two teams: Props and Hunters. People on the Props team have the power to turn into ostensibly inanimate objects, which allows them to attempt to disguise themselves. Hunters are given a full load-out of guns and other weapons, and have to try and kill the Props. However, the Hunters lose health if they attack an object that isn't a disguised player, meaning they have to be careful. If the Hunters kill the Props, they win. If the Hunters end up dead or the time runs out, the Props win.

The Team Fortress 2 variant works slightly differently to that of the Garry's Mod version. As the seeker, you can pick any class (except Spy) with any secondary melee weapon. note  Once the props have found their hiding spots, the same rules apply as above. Props also move as fast as scouts do and running over Control Point(s) refills your health (be you a hider or seeker). Hiding (and staying) in one spot is a wise strategy for most players, as the maps used are claustrophobic and props are, by TF2's design, much larger than found in Garry's Mod Prophunt. Once there's one prop left on the field, the last man standing is then allowed to use whatever their primary gun is in their Scout loadout. note  Prop-switching is generally turned off too, so good luck being disguised as a Control Point...

The original version of the game mod can be found here.


This game mod provides examples of:

  • Awesome, but Impractical:
    • Turning into the largest props. While you have a lot of health, you can't move around very well (if at all), especially if indoors...And you can potentially get stuck. Also, since most maps only have a very small number of such props, this makes the player easy to find. Inverted in the Team Fortress version, as you have 125 health, no matter what prop you choose... even the Control Point.
    • On the Hunter side, using grenades. While they can clear out an entire room, it counts as an attack on everything there. If there's more than a handful of objects and a disguised player isn't there... goodbye, hunter.
  • Boring, but Practical:
    • Hunters can pick up and move around any object (in the Garry's Mod version), but not disguised players. This allows them to check a room safely by trying to knock everything in it over.
    • Becoming a small object and hiding in hard-to-reach nooks and crannies is a sure-fire way to win, but your prop hunt experience will consist of 5 minutes of doing absolutely nothing aside from maybe laughing at the hunters as they fail to find you.
  • Cast from Hit Points: Hunters suffer damage any time they damage objects that are not disguised players. This is inverted by attacking disguised players, which heals the hunter.
  • Cutting the Knot: The Hunters could go about the map sifting through individual props to locate hiding players, or they could simply fire a grenade into a pile of junk and kill any players hiding among other props.
  • Die, Chair, Die!: Smashing objects is the entire point of the game.
  • Fragile Speedster: Smaller props have less health, making them easy to kill. However, they are faster and more mobile, as well as being harder to hit due to to a combination of smaller hitboxes and Hitbox Dissonance. As such, it is possible to lead several Hunters on a wild goose chase in this manner that could last minutes as they frantically spray bullets in your general direction trying and failing to land a hit.
  • Game-Breaking Bug: It's rare, but sometimes on the GMOD version, hunters can die for basically no reason, usually by "tripping" on an object.
    Daithi De Nogla: I STEPPED ON A TOILET AND DIED!
    • Also on the GMOD version, if the props win by default (because all of the hunters have died), the game will declare that the hunters won instead of the props.
    • The inability to see what direction you're facing on GMOD can be a huge force of frustration. You can be absolutely confident that you have an absolutely foolproof spot, only for a hunter to shoot you instantly and say, "You weren't facing the right way."
  • Hidden in Plain Sight: The basic strategy for playing as a prop. However, you can't change the direction you're facing on others' screens, so it's trickier than it sounds.
  • Hitbox Dissonance: The GMOD version is notorious for this. Props with 1 hp are small, fast, and suffer from an extreme case of this trope. It's not uncommon to shoot a moving 1 hp prop and see actual blood come out, but it still doesn't die.
  • Inanimate Competitor: Subverted. The entire idea of the game is for a team of player to avoid detection by imitating inanimate objects, although the players themselves are indeed animate (though defenseless).
  • Mighty Glacier: Disguising as a larger object. The largest ones cannot even move, but have a ton of health.
  • Mistaken for Transformed: It's very common for hunters to mistake real props for disguised players and open fire, to no avail - though it's important not to make this mistake too many times: hunter players lose HP for every attack that doesn't hit an enemy player.
  • Needle in a Stack of Needles: Some maps allow the props to hide amidst a large number of the object they're disguised as.
  • Objectshifting: The prop team has the power to transform into copies of the various inanimate objects scattered around the maps in order to hide from the hunter team, from bottles to park benches.
  • Sapping the Shapeshifter: Players disguised as bigger objects have more hit points, requiring more gunfire to kill, though they aren't quite as maneuverable as the smaller ones... but the Hunters lose hit points for every missed shot, so each bullet in this this chip and chisel fight has to be very carefully measured - hence why using the grenade launcher is so risky. For good measure, it's not uncommon for fleeing players to frantically shift from shape to shape in a desperate attempt to find a new disguise or defence before the hunters kill them.
  • Taunt Button: Both Hunters and Props have the ability to play soundbytes as a taunt. The Obj Hunt variant can have an auto-taunt timer for props enabled so they automatically play a sound in order to provide hints to their location. They can also adjust the pitch and select from a list of silly sounds along with being able to play a taunt to reset the timer. Nothing's worse than letting the timer run down and you emit a long, slowed down version of Ken's attacking sound or Epic Sax.


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