Avast mateys! Is that… another contest?!

Our last contest of 2019 is starting! You have wowed us every contest with your passion, talent, and creativity, and we can’t wait to see what you make this time.

This contest, we’ll have the theme High Seas! Whether it’s taking a journey across the ocean, diving to the depths, or fighting off sea monsters, we want to see your take on the High Seas theme. Make sure we can see the sea in your room!

Players have some creative leeway in how they interpret the theme, but Rec Room judges should be able to find a clear relationship to the High Seas theme in the room.

How do I submit a room to the contest?

When you create your room, first tag it with #HighSeas. Next, be sure your room is set to ‘public’ in the room privacy settings by December 22nd at 11:59 p.m. PST. Finally, we’re breaking the entries up into categories, so make sure you also include one (and only one!) of the following tags based on what your room contains:

#art - beautiful, interesting, or thought-provoking rooms (^Bloodborne, ^HalloweenCharacters, ^FrightfulFeast)
#hangout - social spaces for relaxing (^DiaDeLosMuertos, ^SunfallFestival, ^PumpkinFalls)
#pvp - action-filled battles against other players (^GhostInTheGraveyard, ^DeadByDaylight, ^SpookyPaintball)
#story - rooms that take players on a journey and have a narrative. (^CrimsonFall, ^HauntedHigh, ^BendyAndTheInkMachine-)
#activity - non-PVP games played in a single room or using a single core game mechanic, typically without a story-like narrative (^SpookyManor, ^Prop_Hunt, ^AwesomeAutumn)

Prizes

Each category will have a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prize.

1st prize (5 winners) - Gold Maker Pen Trophy, Stormy Seas Maker Pen skin, Diver wetsuit and tank, and red and gold Sea Captain jacket and hat

2nd prize (5 winners) - Silver Maker Pen Trophy, Diver wetsuit and tank, and red and gold Sea Captain jacket and hat

3rd prize (5 winners) - Bronze Maker Pen Trophy, Diver wetsuit, and red and gold Sea Captain jacket

Additionally, we will have awards for:

Best performance by a holotar
Best costume design
Best audio design
Best room trailer
Best animation
How did they do that?! Award
Rising Star award

When is the contest? How are winners determined?

Build phase - Friday November 29th, 2019 to Sunday December 22nd, 2019

Play phase - Monday December 23rd, 2019 to Sunday January 5th, 2020

* Days start and end according to PST (Seattle time).

* You may still refine and fix bugs in existing public rooms and sub-rooms during the play phase (no new sub-rooms, or entirely new content can be created). You may also set your room public and have people actively playing in the room during the build phase. However, the calculation for qualifying rooms will only be made during the time-frame of the play phase. We encourage you to get your room public ASAP then test and iterate on your design with the community!

Evaluation phase - After the play phase ends we will take a day or two to review what rooms captured the most player engagement during the play phase.

Judging phase - The top 7 rooms in each category will move on to a judging round and the top 3 winners in each category and additional award winners will be determined by Rec Room staff.

The Roomies - After the Judging phase, the top 7 of each category and additional award winners will be invited to a special event where they will be announced in a red-carpet style event! Detailed information regarding The Roomies event will be announced after the Judging phase.

How do I get started?

Check out the 'Custom Rooms Tools and Tutorials' article in our help center!

Rules

1. Players must have a confirmed email on their Rec Room account so that we can contact them if they win.

2. All submissions must be tagged with #HighSeas and be set to ‘public’ in the room privacy settings before the end of the Build phase and throughout the Play and Evaluation phase. We should be able to find a clear relationship to the High Seas contest theme in your room. Only rooms created on Friday November 29th 2019 (PST timezone) or later may be entered into the contest. Sub-rooms which are not created and public before the end of the Build phase (Monday, December 23rd 2019) will not be included in judging. Entries not public before the end of the Build phase will only be judged on the content in the room at the time of publishing and will not be judged on iterations and bug fixes.

3. Rooms must not contain any Code of Conduct violations.

4. Some inventions are allowed. Inventions that are originally from a room made by one of the entered room's co-owners are allowed. Inventions that are made public in the invention store are allowed. Your room may be disqualified if an invention was created in a room that was owned by someone else, or if it is an invention of someone who is not a co-owner of the entered room and the invention was not made public by the original inventor (official template rooms created by Meriesa are ok to use!). Keep in mind that this is a judged contest, and originality is better than remixing.

* Please note inventors will not be eligible for prizes, and only the room owner and co-owners will be eligible for prizes.
5. Rooms can ONLY be entered in one category. No duplicate entries (ie. copying the room and renaming/retagging it). Rooms must also be tagged in the appropriate category (ie. a PVP room should not be tagged as #hangout) by the end of the build phase. Use your best judgement when tagging your room category based on the descriptions provided. Rec Room staff cannot determine the best category for your room for you.

6. Anything you do that fundamentally changes the nature of the room may disqualify the room. This is at our discretion. Examples: A PVP match in the middle of a story room or as an event in a non-PVP room, hangout events in story or art rooms, drawing or art show events in a PvP room, etc.

7. Prizes will be issued to the room creator and co-owners. However we may limit the number of co-owners who can receive a prize if you have more than 6 total owners (including the room creator). Players who are an owner or co-owner on multiple winning rooms will receive one set of prizes from the highest tier, plus the trophies from all applicable winning entries.

* One additional player may be issued the “Best Trailer” trophy if they are not an owner or co-owner of the room, if they assisted in the creation of the trailer for the room and are credited in the room description. The owner and co-owners of the room will also receive this trophy.

8. Rooms or creators found to be using malicious practices including but not limited to aggressive invite spamming, non-authentic players, or other attempts to 'game the system' may be disqualified.

9. This contest is not open to players using a Junior Account due to current restrictions around juniors and the creation tools.

I need help with custom rooms!

Join the Rec Room Discord Server and check out the #building, #gadgets or #contests channels to meet other creators, see what everyone is working on, and get tips on getting started!

You can also find a lot of answered questions and helpful community members on the Rec Room Subreddit.

Check out the 'Custom Rooms Tools and Tutorials' article in our help center!

If you still have questions, need technical support, or run into bugs, please check out our Help Center.