INSURGENCY: SANDSTORM 2020 MAPPING CONTEST

Update September 17, 2020 - Rules Clarification: After receiving a number of questions about what can be used in Submissions, we want to clarify that the following are okay to use in your mods, in addition to your own creations:

Any assets (objects, textures, etc.) included in the "Insurgency: Sandstorm" game
Assets for which you own the full rights so that they can be relicensed to Sponsor and related parties as agreed in these rules
Assets which are in the public domain or licensed under a Creative Commons CC0 license

Additionally, we have posted a FAQ on the contest website with common questions. For further questions, please contact us at [email protected], and check the contest page regularly or join our newsletter for updates.

New World Interactive, are excited to announce the Insurgency: Sandstorm Mapping Contest in collaboration with Nvidia, Intel, Epic Games, Focus Home Interactive, Saber Interactive, and Mod.io

As a studio with deep roots in the modding scene, we are proud to be launching our first mapping contest for Insurgency: Sandstorm, and New World Interactive’s largest modding contest to date!

Whether you are an experienced level designer or a complete beginner, this contest is open to all ability levels and is the perfect opportunity to download our Mod Editor, learn Unreal Engine and familiarize yourself with level design principles.

Previous modding contests for Insurgency and Day of Infamy, have led to numerous incredible community maps, many of which have gone on to become official in-game content at a later date. With a 20 week contest and our largest ever prize pool, we can’t wait to see what fantastic creations level designers come up with, and wish all entrants the best of luck!

Brief:

Participants will have 20 weeks from 2:00 pm ET on Thursday, September 10, 2020, until 2:00 pm ET on Thursday, January 28, 2021, to create, test, and upload a custom map for Insurgency: Sandstorm to mod.io. Maps will be judged by the public and team at New World Interactive for the chance to win a pool of over $17,000 in prizes!

In order to allow maximum creative freedom, there is no theme for the contest, however, entries must be themed similar to Insurgency: Sandstorm’s art-style and created for one of the following core game modes using their default ruleset; Checkpoint, Push, Firefight, Frontline, or Domination.

Submission and Judging Criteria:

All mods must be uploaded and tagged as “2020 Mapping Contest” on or before 2:00 PM ET on Thursday, January 28, 2021 after this point no changes can be made to the entry until the final results have been announced.

On January 29, 2021, mod.io ratings on all eligible submissions will be reset and a one week period of public testing and community rating will occur.

The public judging period (“Public Judging Period”) will begin on January 29, 2021, at 12:00 AM ET and end on February 5, 2021, at 11:59 PM ET, during which Public Judging Period, the public will be invited to judge the Submissions by clicking the “Recommend” button on any Submission they believe should be in the 10 finalists.

The 10 qualifying Entrants whose Submissions have the highest result from calculating the number of Positive User Recommendations (Thumbs Up) minus the number of Negative User Recommendations (Thumbs Down), at the end of the Public Judging Period will be declared the finalists.

The 10 Finalists’ Submissions will be judged by a panel of judges comprised of New World Interactive team members and Promotional Partners, who are experienced industry level designers based on the following judging criteria :

Gameplay (50 marks)
Visual Aesthetics (25 marks)
Performance & Optimisation (25 marks)

Advice, Guides, and Tutorials:

To qualify the map must be an original piece of content created specifically for this contest. Remakes of existing maps from Insurgency or other games are not eligible, nor are any maps created before the launch date of this contest (September 10, 2020).

If you are working as a team or using any custom content you must ensure you have full legal permission to use any and all work submitted, as well as being legally able to grant permission for New World Interactive and contest partners to use the submitted entry if selected. This relates to all map content including the design/layout as well as any assets.

The submitted entry should support at least one of the following core game modes, Checkpoint, Push, Firefight, Domination, or Frontline, and must be playable with the selected gamemode’s default ruleset, as per our official playlists. Please clearly state in your submission which game mode(s) it was designed for. If the entry supports multiple game modes, please specify which mode(s) you wish to be judged on.

No changes may be made to the submitted map file during the judging processes, for that reason, it is important to thoroughly playtest your entry before the deadline. We encourage participants to upload work in progress versions of their content to solicit player feedback early, as well as submit a final version of the project in advance of the deadline to ensure the file uploads correctly. No individual exceptions will be made to the deadline. This includes if you are unable to upload the file due to connectivity issues or forget to include any assets. Please do not leave your uploads to the last minute!

Given the limited timeframe, we encourage participants to think carefully about the size and scope of your entries. We are placing very few restrictions on entities in order to maximize creativity and are looking forward to being blown away by your entries, however, when it comes to judging quality is key.

To help players get started with creating custom content for Insurgency: Sandstorm, New World Interactive has created a series of guides and tutorials.

Click here to view full rules, terms, and conditions on the contest web page.