Reddit + Mapcore CS:GO Mapping Contest!

(Art by Thurnip)

/r/GlobalOffensive and Mapcore are teaming up to grow Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s mapping community!  

Check out the reddit thread for this contest »

The Big Reveal
 

We’re hosting a map-making contest for original, competitive 5v5 bomb defusal maps AND competitively-minded hostage maps, open exclusively to mappers who have not yet had their work featured in a Valve Operation! 

Older projects are fair game: now’s the perfect time to polish up that map you’ve been working on but never got around to finishing. Experienced Mapcore judges and prominent members of the Counter-Strike community such as Sadokist, Moses, DDK, James Bardolph, and Anders Blume will be weighing in – but only one map can win it all.

Helpful Playtesting

Every week for the length of the contest, eligible maps will be playtested during /r/GlobalOffensive community nights according to a sign-up schedule. Slots on this schedule will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis following an approval process, but we will try our best to accommodate everyone at least once. However, because it’s impossible to guarantee that all contest entries will have the chance to be playtested, /r/GlobalOffensive playtesting is a supplemental, helpful tool which will have no bearing whatsoever on contest judging.

You can register for a playtesting slot here. Remember -- playtesting registration is first-come, first-serve!

Enter Your Level

To officially enter your level into this contest, post a WIP thread with a link to your level’s Steam Workshop page in Mapcore’s official event forum.

Posting a WIP thread with a link to your level’s Steam workshop page constitutes your official entry into the contest, however you don’t need to do both at the same time. In other words, you can post your WIP thread and then update it later with your workshop link if you’re not ready to go right away. You can also feel free to continue updating your workshop level after you’ve posted your workshop link – contest entries will not be judged until after the submission deadline.

The Deadline
 

Your level must be submitted to Mapcore by August 31st, 2015 at midnight Pacific Standard Time (PST).

Our panel of judges will then select four finalist levels based on the following criteria:

• Fun factor
• Visual/thematic presentation (graphics)
• Overall polish

Grand Prize Deadline

After the top four maps have been announced, /r/GlobalOffensive users will put them to the test!

Once all four finalist maps have been tested, mappers will have two weeks to revise their work based on community feedback. After those two weeks, an official Grand Prize Winning Map will be chosen!

Contest Calendar

Our Goal

The goal of this event is to raise awareness about Mapcore's incredible level design community and the incredibly useful playtesting capabilities of /r/GlobalOffensive. Both Mapcore and /r/GlobalOffensive are free resources available to all mappers. To date, Mapcore users are responsible for creating more than 70% of Valve Operation levels. Mapcore’s staff are unpaid volunteers, and do not personally profit in any way from additional traffic to the site.

Prizes

Of course, it wouldn’t be a contest without a reward… In addition to the helpful feedback and free publicity that CS:GO mappers will receive by participating in this event, each finalist will also receive:

• Eternal Bragging Rights™ and a showcase on Mapcore (where their level will be highly visible to industry-veteran game developers and the rest of the community)
• A monetary prize ($1000 + Mapcore swag for first place; $400 for second place; $200 for third place; $100 and Mapcore swag for fourth place)
• The top-finishing map will also be played in a competitive show-match casted and streamed by goRGNtv, for all to watch and enjoy!
• *NEW* CEVO has generously agreed to host the winning map in their PUG rotations for one month!
• *NEW* Added $1,000 to prize pool thanks to Gamebanana.com and EGO DEATH (gun skin creator)
• *NEW* Valve prizes!

                   Top 4 will receive

1. Signed CS:GO poster

2. CS:GO Lanyard

3. CS:GO Vinyl Sticker

         First place will receive a CS:GO prize pack:

1. Signed CS:GO poster

2. CS:GO Lanyard

3. CS:GO Vinyl Sticker

4. CS:GO SteelSeries Kana Mouse

This is your big chance -- get to it!
Good luck, mappers!

Additional Rules

• Remakes of older maps are NOT allowed. All works must be original to you and their layouts must not have appeared in any prior versions of Counter-Strike.
• Custom artwork is allowed and encouraged, but must meet workshop guidelines.
• Collaborations are allowed and encouraged. Any contest winnings arising from a collaboration will be split in accordance with the collaborators' mutual agreement.

Judging Procedure

• Mapcore staff will rate their top four maps of the contest, results will be tallied and all votes given equal weight.
• Some time later, the judges and guest judges will rate the top four finalist maps and results will be tallied, with all votes given equal weight.
• Guest judges will be asked to act as tie-breakers in the event of any ties in the voting.

Mapcore Judges
Jason “General Vivi” Mojica -- Creator of "Rose Iron" Skin (Overkill Software)
Patrick "Puddy" Murphy -- Creator of CS_AGENCY (Overkill Software)
RZL (Independent) -- Creator of DE_RESORT
Shawn “FMPONE” Snelling (Independent)

Johnny “Sprony” van Spronsen (Journalist)

Guest Judges
Matt "Sadokist" Trivett -- @Sadokist
Jason “Moses” O’Toole -- @JmosesOT
Daniel "DDK" Kapadia -- @followddk
James Bardolph -- @jamesbardolph
Anders Blume -- @OnFireAnders

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Our Thanks to 

EGO DEATH (Steam Workshop author)