Sleuths, spooks, and the supernatural -
we want a Mystery!

winners!

Who knows where this contest could take us! Becoming a hard-boiled detective; chasing cryptids through forbidding terrain; or journeying to the Bermuda triangle - anything mysterious is fair game! Maybe we’ll be taken to the pyramids or some standing stones, maybe we’ll meet a famous detective or two, or maybe we'll be abducted by aliens!

The theme for this building contest will be Mystery.

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 Mystery theme in the room. We are keeping the Playtest phase once again, so we encourage you to get those rooms open for testing, get feedback and fix bugs! Again, you will be allowed to use the engagement from the Playtest to replace lower days in the Play phase. However, we’re bringing back the two week play phase to give a little more time to spread out special events and let your rooms grow! The top ten rooms from the Play phase will go into a judged round to determine the winners.

In order to accommodate the larger number of judged rooms, we are keeping the strict ONE HOUR time limit on #quest room judging (per room). You will want to tailor your difficulty, length and replayability so that judges can experience the best of your room in that hour. Use the playtest phase to figure out how long people are taking to get through, add hints where needed, and adjust the difficulty.     

How do I submit a room to the contest?

When you create your new room, tag it with #Mystery. Next, be sure to publish your room by September 27th at 11:59 p.m. PDT. 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, with minimal interaction (^LostRiverDelta, ^ANightInVenice, ^Talapa)

• #hangout - rooms designed around social spaces (^SanFran, ^CittaDelBronzo, ^CozyAestheticIsland)

• #pvp - action-filled battles against other players (^GetawayCanyon, ^TropicalEncounters, ^PineapplePush)

• #quest - rooms that take players on a journey and have a narrative (^TheAgent, ^CheckingIn, ^Vacation)

• #game - non-PVP games played in a single room or using a single core game mechanic, typically without a story-like narrative (^AnimalCrossingRRHorizons, ^VoodooLagoon, ^KhanaIsland)

Prizes

Each category will have a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prize. The prizes listed are awarded to each co-owner or creator of the winning rooms.

1st prize (5 winning teams) - Gold Maker Pen Trophy, Mystery Maker Pen Skin, Mystery Torso and Hat avatar items, 6000 tokens

2nd prize (5 winning teams) - Silver Maker Pen Trophy, Mystery Torso and Hat avatar items, 4000 tokens

3rd prize (5 winning teams) - Bronze Maker Pen Trophy, Mystery Torso avatar items, 2000 tokens

Additionally, we will have awards for:

• Best Character Design (either Holotar or animated)

• Best Costume Design

• Best Audio Design

• Best Original Soundtrack (please upload this to Spotify, Soundcloud, YouTube, or another sharing service and let us know in the room description)

• Best Room Trailer (please include this on your rec.net page)

• Best Animation

• How did they do that?! Award

• Rising Star award

When is the contest? How are winners determined?

Build phase - Friday September 4th, 2020 to Thursday September 24th, 2020
Get to work on your room, keeping in mind the theme Mystery and your chosen category!

Playtest phase - Friday September 25th, 2020 to Sunday September 27th, 2020
Get your room open for testing and get people in there! This is a chance to find any major bugs, get player feedback, or finetune the balance of your room. Engagement measured during the Playtest phase can be used to replace low-engagement days in the Play phase, so take advantage of it!

Play phase - Monday September 28th, 2020 to Sunday October 11th, 2020  
The calculation for qualifying rooms will be made using engagement during the Play phase.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).

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 and Playtest phase. 

Judging phase - The top 10 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 5 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.

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

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 #Mystery and one category tag and be set to ‘public’ in the room privacy settings before the end of the Playtest phase and throughout the Play and Evaluation phase. We should be able to find a clear relationship to the Mystery contest theme in your room. Only rooms created on Friday September 4th, 2020 (PST timezone) or later may be entered into the contest. Sub-rooms which are not created and public before the end of the Playtest phase (Sunday September 27th, 2020) will not be included in judging. 

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. simply 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 and tokens 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. Promotional events and items, such as token giveaway events and free item events should be limited to a maximum value of 25000 tokens. Other player-created promotional item events such as a custom made in-game trophy, collectible or item skin are allowed. In the event of excessive promotion, the room may be disqualified.

10. Rooms that use beta features such as circuits v2 will not be eligible.

11. 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.