THE AIR GROWS COLD AS THE SUN FLEES BELOW THE HORIZON

You shiver, cinching your jacket close to your body. The home you once knew has closed its doors. You at least had the benefit of knowing when checkout time was, but the fact remains that you've lost something special. Maybe this is all that's left? Maybe we are all doomed to wander the digital wastes as nomads? Other structures in the distance beckon. You set out, meager belongings in tow. Let's see where these roads go...

The Mapping Potluck Returns! And this time it's the last one! (maybe)

Cohost is over, but that doesn't mean the level editors are also put on the top shelf. This map jam is re-scheduled to run to the end of this year, when Cohost finally and truly goes dark. You, however, have the opportunity to keep working, so take your time, and show off what Friends of Eggbug are capable of creating even when things look bleak.

What's the mission?

Originally, this was going to be a Halloween-themed map jam where you would pick out some monstrosity from Zillow and attempt to recreate it in a game engine of your choice.

That's all out the window now. You're certainly free to still run with that prompt, but with the site closing down, it feels more fitting to open this up to anything and everything, because Cohost also shared an astounding amount of diversity in creative pursuits: exhaustively researched long-form essays, art, comics, music, photography, game development, web development, and more.

If I had to actually slap a name on this theme, it would be this:

FROM THE ASHES

From the destruction of one thing is created another. Anything goes! The only thing that matters is that even in this moment of losing something that was important to so many of us, you are still creating, using anything and everything available to you.

You get to pick the game engine. You get to pick what you will express with that game engine. It doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter. Make something. It can be as elaborate or as simple as you would like. Just make something. If you've always been curious about tooling around in Half-Life Source or thought you could make a really kick-butt Sonic-style platforming map in OpenSurge, this is your cue to step up, do the research, and create.

 You're welcome to stick with stock textures and art from whatever existing game engine you might build atop of, or you can create your own.

The standard rules apply: Just like last time (with one slightly changed rule, there are some (hopefully) common sense rules that govern entries:

• You may submit more than one entry
• Teams are allowed
• Entries should be able to be successfully loaded in the engine they're intended for
• Entries should be free of bigoted imagery or messaging
• Custom assets are allowed as long as you have permission to use them
• No genAI art, such as from Stable Diffusion or Midjourney
• The participant must have had a Cohost account

The notable change here is that the map doesn't have to have gameplay. You could build a beautiful but empty Quake map, for example, with the point being just admiring the architecture and lighting. It only matters that you created it. It only matters that it is yours.

Shifting discussions to here

Previously, I had turned off the community feature for this map jam because I was intending for the discussion to happen on Cohost, but obviously that's not going to work now, so if you would like, the community feature for this jam has been reactivated.

What happens after:

I will be gathering up all the entries from this and the previous Cohost Mapping Potluck, and uploading them to Moddb for everyone to enjoy.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

Reach out to me, Adorable Sergal, via any number of links on my web site if you need anything clarified or spot a problem with the submission process.

Feel free to use the  hashtag #MappingPotluck on any social media site you're on. Show off your progress. Find other budding level designers. Keep track of each other long after the lights go out.