Changes to the Map Curation Program
We’re excited to announce several upcoming changes to the curated map program. Any change here is obviously going to be substantial – and is subject to change – so we wanted to lay out some of our plans early on.
If you’re not familiar with the program—we began promoting community-made maps alongside the game’s official maps in 2017. This simple way of adding extra content to the game has since grown into something much larger over 8 years. You have likely played on one of the amazing maps created by talented mappers for the program.
Very early into 2024 we realized the need to revise how this program works. We had many goals in mind: from opening the program to a wider variety of creators and maps, to reducing obstacles that scared away less experienced creators.
We explored ideas such as commissioning maps or even switching to a contest-based system! However—we realized many ideas wouldn’t achieve our goals or were just way too convoluted. Instead? We are streamlining the program. Simplifying the process from guidelines to acceptance.
Creating Maps
Modding is a cornerstone of Unturned 3.x. Tons of amazing content is available from the Steam Workshop that isn’t curated! We want to promote fun content—whether it’s by someone already accomplished and well-known in the community, or a less experienced creator getting their foot in the door.
Our streamlined program starts with you simply publishing a map to the Steam Workshop. It would look something like this:
- You create/publish a map to the Steam Workshop.
- We occasionally reach out to authors of popular, high-quality Workshop maps when preparing for certain events (e.g., an end-of-year update).
- Legal agreement for a smooth transition and ensuring the map can get across the finish line. (Reducing infighting or extraneous issues between authors, establishing revenue share between co-authors, etc.)
- You make any minor changes necessary (if any) for us to curate the map.
- We commission artist(s) (or the map authors create) the contents of store bundles. (Mappers won’t need experience with creating these!)
- Several new curated maps are added to the game.
We’re hopeful about these changes fixing many common obstacles. Chiefly – mappers can now share their projects with the entire community whenever they want. Feedback can be gathered from a wider number of players during the map’s development simply by publishing it to the Workshop. This should also afford more flexibility to authors—particularly solo developers or less experienced creators. Maps can be accepted at any time after being published, so authors can create content without worrying as much about other people’s projects.
Other Notable Changes
Some additional things:
We’re updating the Documentation pages for curated maps to provide more information. Some guidelines may change as part of this, but things like “no copyright/trademark infringement” and generally matching the game’s art style will not.
A big issue that many new players face is understanding the difference between official and curated content. As we begin to accept even more curated maps, we’d like to improve this experience. If you have any ideas (as a player who may have faced those issues) we’d love to hear them! One change under consideration is revamping the single-player menu to better display these maps.
As part of revising the program, we were also considering additional ways players could optionally support their favorite maps. For example: a cosmetic that adds a small badge or some other effect next to the player’s name when they’re playing on that map.
This is all – to some extent – still subject to change. We’d love to hear feedback from players regarding this direction.
FAQ
Q. Are there any maps planned to release under the OLD program?
Yes. There’s several maps which predate these changes. We believe most will be released throughout 2025.
Q. When’s the earliest we could expect to see maps releasing under this NEW program?
Since there’s already several curated maps in the pipeline for this year, and some changes aren’t ready for the new program yet, we think the earliest would be end-of-year or sometime in 2026. If you were already creating a Workshop map, consider sharing it with players before then!
Q. Can Workshop maps still be featured outside the curated program?
Yes. We’re actually interested in featuring more maps (such as on our ongoing Community Blog). If you know a cool project that someone is working on—or if you’re working on a cool project—let us know and we may highlight it on the blog!
Q. Could multiple maps be released at the same time under this NEW program?
We’re looking to accept multiple maps at once. These could release at the same time or have staggered releases. When considering maps to release together, we’d like to ensure they’re distinctly different from each other. (For example, an arena map and a PvE-focused survival map).
Q. Will new curated maps be more similar to vanilla maps?
We’re interested in adding maps that should still feel new, fresh, and exciting to players. Similar to the old program – this includes both maps that stay close to vanilla gameplay and those with innovative uses of our modding features. Though we believe including some amount of custom content on new maps is helpful and important to players.
Q. Are maps going to be identical to how they were before being accepted?
We may suggest some fixes or other adjustments necessary for the map to meet our expectations. In some cases newly-accepted maps could be released with some additional content or other polish compared to its original version
Q. Would curated maps still need to follow the vanilla game’s art style?
We’d like for any curated experiences to still look and feel like Unturned (just like any of the curated maps accepted under the old program).
Q. What game modes can maps be accepted for?
Maps designed for officially-supported modes (Survival, Arena) are the most likely to be accepted. We may occasionally consider some maps designed for popular custom game modes.
Q. Will cosmetics still be released alongside new maps?
Yes. These may be created by the map author(s), created in collaboration with another player, or created by SDG.
Q. Do accepted maps receive a revenue share?
Yes. We intend to continue providing a 50% revenue share on purchasable cosmetics released alongside the map.
Q. Can my map be curated if it uses assets from other mods / curated maps?
Curated maps can only use assets from the base/vanilla game and what they’ve created themselves. If your map is using assets from someone’s mod (including other curated maps), we won’t be able to consider it for curation.
Q. Are these changes set in stone?
No. While the curated program will be changing, all of the changes described here are subject to change as we further develop this new program. Regardless, we’re hoping this paints an idea of the direction we’re moving towards, and is exciting to the mapping community.
Q. Is there another location for this information?
Our documentation site will be updated in the future to include information about the new program.
Commissioning Official Content
Last year, we teased our intent to commission more official content for Unturned. While we aren’t planning on commissioning any new official maps at this time, we have begun the process of reaching out to a longtime creator we haven’t collaborated with before.
And as mentioned with the curated program changes, we may also commission artists to create the bundle contents (including new mythical effects) for any curated maps that release under this program!
Releasing Unturned’s Source Code?
We’ve also teased our desire to release Unturned’s source code. We won’t cover that topic here. We’re still in the very early stages of figuring out what this would entail, but you can expect to hear a little bit more news about this later in February!
EDIT: We’ve updated the FAQ section with more information regarding release structure, guidelines, game modes, and cosmetics / revenue share.
