Autumn is nearly upon us, and with it, Halloween! What better way to celebrate the best season of the year than with a Quake mapping jam?

Theme

Make a scary, spooky, or eerie map for Halloween! Go for pure horror if you like, or play off the more whimsical side of Halloween with trick-or-treating. Whichever way you go, see how far you can take lighting, sound, and map dynamics to create a mood.

Need more inspiration? Check out last year’s Halloween Jam. I would also recommend checking out Bloodshot’s “Twisted Strings” from Jam X Insomnia.

If you want to look for wider influences within games, why not revisit Half Life 2’s “Ravenholm”, “The Haunted Cathedral” of Thief 1, or “The Cradle” of Thief 3?

Assets

We will be using Arcane Dimensions 1.7. You can download the Halloween Jam 2019 Devkit Here. More information on Arcane Dimensions is available on Simon OCallaghan’s website. If you already have 1.7, here are just the new assets.

Registration

For Halloween Jam 2019, NewHouse has plans for a strange and exciting start map. But this means that we need to know how many maps to expect earlier than usual.

To register, please fill out the form Here. The deadline for registration is September 30th.

Map Submission Checklist

Name your map “hwjam2_username”. For example, my map will be “hwjam2_yoder”. Make sure the name is lowercase so our linux pals can play without problems.

Your level must exit to “start”.

Please make sure your map is vis’d.

Include co-op spawn points.

Include a readme. This should provide information about your map, the assets you used, and contact information. A readme template is available Here.

Include the final .bsp in your submission. If your map has colored lighting, include the .lit file too. Also consider including your .map file so others can see how you built your map.

If you used assets that weren’t part of the dev kit, include those in your submission along with the file path where they should be stored.

If you aren’t sure what to do with any of these steps, please reach out to me or the map-jam channel on the Quake Mapping Discord. We are here to help!

Schedule

Starting: Tonight! September 6th, 2019.

Registration: due by September 30th. We need to know how many maps will be involved for the start map. If you have to drop out, please let me and NewHouse know!

Deadline: October 26th, 11 PM Eastern Time (UTC – 4). We’re hoping to have the map pack ready for you in time for Halloween.

Where do I submit my map?

You can email your map to me at AndrewYoder@live.com or contact me on the Quake Mapping Discord.

Other Questions

Are new mappers welcome? Yes!

Yes! Do I have to use the whole time period? No. If you only have a few days free to make a map in September and October, you’re still welcome to contribute a map. If you intend to use the whole scheduled time, please pace yourself! Halloween Jam should be fun, and it’s not worth burning out.

No. If you only have a few days free to make a map in September and October, you’re still welcome to contribute a map. If you intend to use the whole scheduled time, please pace yourself! Halloween Jam should be fun, and it’s not worth burning out. Arcane Dimensions is intimidating, do I have to use all those features? No, you can make a map with id1 constraints if you want, and it should still work. But keep the Halloween theme in mind; there are a lot of tools in Arcane Dimensions that can help. Dumptruck_ds also has a video tutorial to help you get started with mods!

No, you can make a map with id1 constraints if you want, and it should still work. But keep the Halloween theme in mind; there are a lot of tools in Arcane Dimensions that can help. Dumptruck_ds also has a video tutorial to help you get started with mods! Can I use custom models, sounds, textures, or assets other than the ones provided? Yep! I recommend mentioning them in your level’s readme though. You should also have someone test your submission to verify everything’s working as intended.

Yep! I recommend mentioning them in your level’s readme though. You should also have someone test your submission to verify everything’s working as intended. Anything else I should know? No hate speech. Please treat each other with respect.

Now get mapping!