End of Year Level Design Contest!

It’s been quite an… uhh… interesting year, so let’s end it with an interesting level design contest!

TWO CONTESTS ROLLED INTO ONE!
Two themes with two separate prizes! Create level(s) for one theme or both themes to increase your odds of winning!

THEME #1: HOLIDAY BONANZA
Make a level featuring themes from ANY holiday that occurs between October 31 and January 1! This includes Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Years, etc!

THEME #2: A YEAR TO REMEMBER
2020 has been quite the year... wildfires, toilet paper shortage, a viral pandemic, celebrity deaths, Space-X launches, murder hornets, etc! Make a level featuring themes from any notable aspect of 2020.

NEW: Notable Changes from Last Contest

• Two contest themes with two separate prizes!
• Shorter voting period, so voting won’t take a month
• Per your feedback: Multiple edit periods to modify level(s)!
• Per your feedback: Separate “Feedback” and “Review” threads to help level designers create better levels and not face reviews until after edits have been made!

Contest Timeline

• Monday, Dec 28th at 3:00pm EST - Submission deadline
• Monday, Dec 28th at 10:00pm EST - First game night
• Saturday, Jan 2nd at 12:00pm EST - First revision deadline
• Saturday, Jan 2nd at 9:00pm EST - Second game night
• Monday, Jan 4th at 12:00pm EST - Final revision deadline
• Monday, Jan 4th - Voting begins
• Saturday, Jan 9th at 9:00pm EST - Final game night (community's choice, picked via poll)

General Guidelines

• You can submit up to 10 levels per theme. Game timers should be 4-5 minutes max, though they can be longer (up to 10 min) on a case-by-case basis. Ask before creating!
• Levels must be created new, but may re-use features from past levels. Sequels are fine. Novelty levels welcome if shorter.
• Levels featuring COVID-19 or political themes are allowed, but please be sensitive. Avoid misleading information or divisive topics. Ask if you’re not sure!

Creating and Submitting Levels

• Levels should primarily be anonymous, but it’s fine to ask for help with levelgens, testing for bugs or design, etc. Just keep it to a few players max.
• Submit your level(s) via forum PM or Discord by the deadline.
• Voting will be conducted via google form and run separately for each theme. It will be open to any active-ish or previously active-ish players (ie. not Skybax’s wife).

Prizes

• Theme #1 - 1st: $20.20* via Paypal/Venmo/gift card + badge!
• Theme #2 - 1st: $20.20* via Paypal/Venmo/gift card + badge!
• *$5 extra if level was sent in by original deadline of Dec 16
• Theme #1 - 2nd: $5 via Paypal/Venmo/gift card
• Theme #2 - 2nd: $5 via Paypal/Venmo/gift card
• Prizes can also be donated to a charity of your choice.

Good luck, and let me know if you have any questions!

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The Fine Print
In order for any cash prizes to be awarded, both criteria below should be met:
• Each theme should have at least 5 participants submit levels
• Each theme should have at least 10 total levels submitted
Note: Arctic and I (sky_lark) do not apply for these criteria.
These should be really easy criteria, but encourage friends to make levels!

Only one cash prize will be awarded per user. If someone finishes 1st and 2nd, they will only receive the higher prize, with the other prize going to the next highest finisher. Arctic and I (sky_lark) are not eligible for cash prizes.

[Skybax]

I feel personally attacked

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday, or a happy weekend if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving!

We are now entering December which means we have just over two weeks until level submissions are due! The deadline is Wednesday, December 16th at 11:59pm Eastern with the first contest party being that Saturday, December 19th at 9:00pm Eastern.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments!

Thanks to everyone who has submitted levels for the Bitfighter End of Year Level Design Contest! We have around 12 total levels right now, which is decent, but I understand more folks are working on levels and with two themes I'd like to give folks an opportunity to submit levels for both themes.

Therefore, I will be pushing back the deadline from this Wednesday to now Monday Dec 28th at 7:00 AM Eastern. (Yes, AM: Effectively end of day that Sunday, but with a little extra time for our night owls. )

The first contest party will thus no longer be this Saturday, but will rather be Monday, Dec 28th at 10:00pm Eastern. The second contest party will occur on Saturday, Jan 2nd at 9:00pm Eastern after level revisions are submitted, and a third contest party will be added the following weekend to show off levels following the second and final revision period. I will update the original post accordingly.

Anyone who submitted at least one level prior to the original deadline of this Wednesday evening and wins 1st place in the contest will get an extra $5 on top of their prize! (Note: This applies to each theme, but only for a 1st place victory.)

I hope everyone has a great holiday and I look forward to seeing the levels yall produce!

Less than ONE WEEK to submit levels for the End of Year Level Design contest! Over SIXTY dollarydoos ($60) in cash prizes available!

Deadline is Monday, Dec 28th at 7:00 AM Eastern (yes, AM).

And don't forget the first contest party later that day on Monday, Dec 28th at 10:00 PM Eastern!

The deadline for the End of Year Level Design contest is TOMORROW (Monday, Dec 28th) but pushed back slightly to 3:00pm Eastern. Get those levels in!

The contest party is still 10:00pm Eastern on Monday. Looking forward to it!

Thanks to everyone who submitted levels! We have roughly 31 levels submitted by 12 users, which is fantastic!

The contest party begins in around 90 minutes at 10:00pm Eastern. I hope everyone can join, it should be a ton of fun!

I will put up the General Discussion/Feedback thread either late tonight or tomorrow sometime. Note this is not a review thread, but rather a thread specifically for discussing the levels and giving feedback to help the level creators make edits to their levels accordingly. A formal review thread will be posted after next week's contest party (Saturday, Jan 2nd at 9:00pm Eastern).

Fun party! We got crazy numbers, 8v8 and 9v9 for several rounds which was awesome!

The first revision period is open through Saturday, Jan 2nd at 12:00pm Eastern. The second contest party will be that evening at 9:00pm Eastern.

Have a great week and see y'all next year (literally)!

Thank you to everyone who submitted contest feedback. Per feedback, I am shortening the timeline of the contest as follows.

1. The first revision period will remain unchanged: Revisions are due Saturday, Jan 2nd at 12:00pm Eastern, with the contest party being that evening at 9:00pm Eastern. The review thread will be posted on Saturday as well.
2. The second revision period will be shortened by several days, with secondary revisions due on Monday, Jan 4th at 12:00pm Eastern. In the future I will probably take this second revision period out entirely, but I didn’t want to do that this time for folks who might’ve been counting on it.
3. Voting will now begin the evening of Monday, Jan 4th, instead of waiting until after the third contest party. As mentioned earlier, voting will have strict deadlines and also be simpler to partake in. Overall, I expect voting to last at most half the time it did for the previous contest.

Feel free to continue sending feedback in. Thanks!

Saturday's party was a lot of fun, thanks to everyone who came out and played! We had around 12-14 users, which is awesome for a secondary contest party.

There is one more party for this contest (and likely the last party I organize for several weeks). I ran a poll to try to find the best time slot and based on the information, the third and final contest party will be Saturday, January 9th at 9:00pm Eastern. Thanks to everyone who answered the poll.

Additionally, I made a proper reviews thread and started the first round of voting, so check those out if you get a chance! Thanks!