Arenas of Combat

Level Design Contest

THE CONTEST HAS CONCLUDED!
Thank you so much to everyone for participating. The winning games are listed (and playable!) in this blog post.

Extra Credits and Core are teaming up to bring you a level design and map making contest. Top entries will be judged by Minh “Gooseman” Le - best known for his work co-creating Counter Strike!

Inspiration

Sight lines. Choke points. The heady smell of dust in the air and the rush of adrenaline making your vision darken and narrow. The moment of absolute focus as you round the corner, align the jittering crosshairs with your target, and pull the trigger. These moments, these wonderful, engaging, enthralling moments, are the result of good level design and tight gameplay, and they're exactly the ones we want you to enable.

On Core, it's easy to create tactical shooters, especially from the existing frameworks like Team Deathmatch and Deathmatch, and we want to see your maps make the most of it! A shooter game framework, modded or made from scratch, is also eligible to win one of this contest's top prizes! We're taking inspiration from the open source and modding communities (such as the infamous mod Counter Strike) for this contest, and to encourage that spirit, here are the steps to enter your game/framework in the contest.

How To Enter

1. Create a competitive game based on a shooter game framework or from scratch. 
2. Publish the game as "Open-for-Editing" to make it open for the community to mod in the opensource spirit 
   1. For scratch frameworks: publish it to Community Content with documentation/comments to make judging possible
3. Submit a link to the game here, tagging one category (Spooky/SciFi/Urban/Nature)

An extensive FAQ is located at the bottom of this page.

Dates

September 28th  - October 11th (see above for exact times). 

Getting Started

1. Download Core for free
   1. Go to Create --> New Project --> Gameplay Frameworks --> Deathmatch to get started quickly
2. Join our Discord and/or reference our documentation
3. Make and publish amazing games!
4. Submit the link here

Categories/Prizing

• Best Spooky Level ($500)
• Best SciFi Level ($500)
• Best Urban Level ($500)
• Best Nature Level ($500)
• Best Gameplay Framework ($1000)
• Best Overall Game ($2000)*

*All submissions that are full games (map + gameplay) are automatically entered for this

About Core

Core is a new (free!) game creation platform that lets you build, publish, and play games. 

Core makes prototyping and iteration fast, so it’s a great platform for game jams, especially if you want to quickly set up a 3D multiplayer experience. You can get started making games right away using thousands of free, high quality music, sound, and art assets, with no coding required. 

Core is backed by the power of the Unreal engine, and it lets you create and customize your game as you see fit, from custom game logic in Lua to primitives and models that you can kitbash together with visual effects to create an elegant scene

Videos

Here's a great overview of Core:

Here's how to quickly make a fully functional game in Core, in only 10 minutes! (yes, really):

And here are some winning entries from a previous art contest, for inspiration and to show the upper limits and versatility of the platform:

Core Resources

1. Core Documentation - Packed with tutorials, examples, and references, this is the place for all you need to know to use Core.
2. Core Academy - Check out the ‘Intro To Game Design’ course for an even more guided experience to make your idea into reality.

Level Design Resources

• https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DanTaylor/20130929/196791/Ten_Principles_of_Good...
• https://80.lv/articles/8-secrets-of-a-great-multiplayer-map/

Another great location is the GDC YouTube page, with videos such as:

FAQ

How are entries judged? - Our official judges (Gooseman and a panel of Core staff), will rank the final submissions based upon the categories listed above. The judges decisions are final, as they have the sole discretion in determining the winners. The judging rubric is the standard split of aesthetics (30%), functionality (40%), and overall impression (40%).

How do I submit my entry? - Detailed submission instructions here.

Do the games/gameplay framework have to be published open source to be eligible to win? - Yes. We want to encourage others to use the amazing maps/frameworks you create, and mandating that it is available on CC is a step in that direction.

Can we use content that we/others have made in the past? - Yup! You can remix sniper alley to be underwater if you feel so inclined; as long as you ultimately create an original work that fits the theme/catgeory, you are free to enter whatever you want. Note that the entries that make the most new content will be weighed higher, to allow new users a reasonable chance at success and to encourage amazing new content.

Does it have to be shooter-focused? - Nope! Feel free to twist the gameplay as much as you want, as long as it is a competitive experience (leaderboards, kill counts, etc. - there has to be some clear metric of who is winning).

Does the gameplay framework need to have a map, or just UI/gameplay logic: Just the latter; this is the "other half" of a full game, when paired with just a map it should make a complete experience.

Does the gameplay framework have to be made from Core's frameworks, or made from scratch? - Either! As long as it is a unique (i.e. it incorporates elements of your own original design), polished (i.e. it is usable by a larger community) experience at the end, the starting point can be wherever is best for you!

Can I use Community Content? - As always, yes, it is encouraged! Please do give credit where it is due though.

Can I submit multiple entries? - Yes, but every entry must be unique (i.e. you can't submit the same game to multiple categories). For this contest, know that maps and frameworks are essentially two different categories, so you can separately submit a custom framework, and a map using said custom framework.

Can I make unique looking art in Core? - Yes! From high fantasy to dark wonderlands to modern military, we've got assets to match the mood - and thousands of primitives and materials to create your own from scratch as well! Our art director's blog post describes the ideology behind it all, for those who are curious.

Are the detailed legal rules anywhere? - See here

Getting Started

1. Download Core for free. 
2. Join our Discord to chat with us and get more help.
3. Check out our documentation if you need help.
4. Enjoy!!

We're so excited to see what you can create!!