Welcome to the 2023 Summer MapJam!
The year is 2015. You finally deciphered the weird blinking light on PEI and were met with something that looked like a code…
Starting today, you have three weeks to create a map based around something from Unturned that hits you with nostalgia.
“That makes no sense though! Making a map themed around “Nostalgia”? Are you delusional?”
It does make sense, and I am only slightly delusional. Elaborations will come later down the post.
You are allowed to have a team of up to three people who must be listed as Steam Contributors on the workshop page of your submission.
Anyone who decides to help you that isn’t listed as a contributor will not be rewarded anything if the project wins.
After the allotted time is over, maps will be judged AS IS. Make sure any major bugs are ironed out and that the map works in multiplayer!
Maps will be judged on…
- A Unique Idea.
The brief this time around is around ‘nostalgia’. Think of anything pre-2017 that really appealed to you in Unturned (or its predecessors). Some examples could be, but are not limited to: An old-school arena map with specific weaponry to fight with, a map with the general look and feel of an era of Unturned you miss, or even something as simple as replicating canceled or workshop content.
It definitely wouldn’t hurt to describe what exactly is nostalgic to you within your map’s description or workshop page, too.
- Variation of objects.
You cannot use modded objects not made by you or your team. Objects made by Nelson or other curated teams are allowed, but you must specify what curated map objects have been used by linking them as required items in your workshop page. You also cannot use objects you’ve made in the past.
Please create new assets that fit your new project.
- Solid design.
How well designed your map is I.E does it contain excess compound*, is it easy to understand and play, is it visually pleasing, etc.
*Just for this one contest, I’ll allow -some- compound given the brief. Don’t overdo it!
- Team Formation.
In an effort to make things fair for everyone, previous contest winners will not be able to team up to create MapJam projects. If you’ve won before, you can still compete, just not on the same team as other winners.
*Any maps judged to have broken any rules are subject to disqualification.
Who are the judges?
-
Dug
-
Animatic
-
Renaxon
What do I get for winning?
A Gold, Silver or Bronze trophy skin on any skinnable weapon you would like.
Trophy skins are unique bronze, silver, and gold skins available as a reward during certain events. In addition to their metallic texture, these special skins have a unique ragdoll modifier which causes anyone killed by them to turn into matching, metallic statues.
We only offer trophy skins for valid, skinnable melee weapons and ranged weapons. If the weapon doesn’t currently have any skins available for it, then it’s not skinnable and cannot be chosen. For example, the Maplestrike and the Camp Axe are both skinnable weapons, and would be valid options. Weapons like the Quadbarrel and Makeshift Bat – which don’t currently have any skins available — are not skinnable, and cannot be chosen. Other skinnable non-weapon items, such as the Detonator, Canned Beans, or the APC vehicle, cannot be chosen.
There’s a lot of options to choose from! If you want to see what a certain weapon looks like with a bronze, silver, or gold trophy skin – the official wiki has images of them! You can find the skins available for any item at the bottom of that item’s wiki page. For example, here’s a link to the Ace’s skins: Ace - SDG Wiki
There’s also a preview video of how some of the trophy skins look in-game, and the unique ragdoll effect for golden trophy skins, available here: Twitter Video showcasing trophy skins.
Q&A
“The Nostalgia theme doesn’t make sense, am I only limited to Unturned theming?”
It’s a fairly subjective theme for a reason. I want to see maps that stick to Unturned theming mainly that evoke a sense of nostalgia, like mentioned in the criteria above. You are obviously allowed to put in some more personal themes (for example I relate Yukon to some other games that I’d play around the time it came out.) But don’t make them the main theme or priority.
“Only limited to Unturned, and even then only to a certain time period of pre-2017?”
I can be lenient; the 2017 mark was only a suggestion since some people can even find Kuwait or Elver nostalgic. Generally though, I’m looking to some fairly old feeling Unturned maps to be made here.
“Only three weeks? What’s up with that?”
For an objectively simpler theme borrowing from “simpler times”, I genuinely don’t expect much detail, not that it isn’t welcome of course. This helps lower the barrier of entry, too.
Submit your maps here.
Submissions have been closed. The winners have been announced.
Cutoff date for all submissions is September 8th, 2023 12AM GMT.
