Get Ready to Rock the Room… the next Creator Contest Begins!

With Rec Rocks just completed we want to see you bring your musical and auditory talents to Rec Room with the theme “Rhythm and Rooms!”

This contest is all about making rooms sound as good as they play! Create a room with an amazing original soundtrack! Or… Make an incredible room that uses audio as a gameplay element. Or… Build a gorgeous environment that sounds as good as it looks! 

Any rooms that feature audio prominently will be considered. 

Notable Changes from Past Contests

For the Rhythm and Rooms contest we have a few notable changes from contests past! Firstly, we’ve vastly increased the number of total tokens possible to win! Additionally, we’re moving to 7 finalists from 10. 

We’re also creating a new category for Rec Room Studio. This allows users with Rec Room Studio to participate in the contest, but only in this one category. 

We’re also being more explicit about what it takes to qualify to become a semi-finalist where your room will be evaluated by Rec Room employees. We’re looking at the top 50 most engaging rooms in each category. Engagement is a combination of player time spent in your room as well as the total number of visits. 

We’ve eliminated some previous rules about changing your room during the contest. It’s up to you to make sure your room is playable for players and judges at the correct times, and that it's built in accordance with the code of conduct! 

Additionally, because we’re taking things a little differently for this contest we are open to revisions or suggestions to the rules during the build phase.

How do I submit a room to the contest?

When you create your new room, tag it with #RhythmandRooms. Next, be sure to publish your room by April 19th at 11:59 p.m. PDT. Finally, we’re breaking the entries up into categories (#art, #activity, #hangout, #pvp, #quest, and #rrstudio) so please see the Guidelines below for more info about the categories!

If you’re creating a room with only the Maker Pen, please ensure that your room is submitted to the correct category by applying the #RhythmandRooms tag and only one of the following main tags: #art, #activity, #hangout, #pvp, #quest.

New to this contest is Rec Room Studio! If you’re creating a Rec Room Studio room, please keep in mind that the #rrstudio tag is automatically applied to your room! Just remember to also include the #RhythmandRooms tag so your room is eligible to win. Additionally, you’re welcome to still apply one (and only one!) of the main tags to your room (ex. #art, #activity, #hangout, #pvp, #quest). Just keep in mind you’re participating in the #rrstudio category and that category only regardless of what your room is about.

Prizes

Each category will have prizes for 1st through 7th place. The prizes listed are awarded to each co-owner or creator of the winning rooms.

4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th prize (24 winning teams) - Rhythm and Rooms Torso and Accessory avatar items, 250,000 tokens

Additionally, we will have awards for:

• Best Original 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 Room Thumbnail Photo

• Best Animation

• How did they do that?! Award

• Rising Star award

Ready to nominate a room for a special award? Fill out this form. Nominations close on May 11th at 12:00pm PST (Noon).

When is the contest? How are winners determined?

Build Phase - March 15 to April 14, 2023

Get to work on your room, getting it ready for players! We’re looking for rooms that fit the theme and are engaging! (so lots of players spending lots of time there enjoying your room!)

Playtest Phase - April 15 to April 19, 2023

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!

Rooms MUST be published by April 19th 11:59pm PST in order to qualify for the engagement calculation on the 20th. So if you want the best chance at winning, absolutely make sure your room is published with people playing it before the 20th! 

Play Phase - April 20 to May 4, 2023

The play phase is where your room will be calculated to see if it qualifies for the final judging phase. Ensure you have an engaging room that people are visiting!

A major change from previous contests! You can keep editing your room all the way up into the lock time. Rooms will be judged at the state of the room at 11:59am PST on May 4th.

You can measure your room’s engagement on Rec.net in your creator dashboard. Keep your numbers high! We look at both your average play time per player as well as total visitors to determine engagement.

Judging Phase - May 4, 2023

On May 4th At 11:59am PST we will copy the top 50 most engaging rooms in each contest category over to an internal repository for us to evaluate. The version of the room we judge will be whatever state your room was in at that moment, please be careful with updates! 

The Roomies - To be determined

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.

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

Rules

1. Creating, Publishing, Tagging and Content Theme

a. Creating 

Only rooms created (or copied) on March 5th 2023 (PDT timezone) or later may be entered into the contest. 

i. Subrooms - As part of the new relaxed rules around updating your contest room, we’ll be allowing users to add or remove subrooms to their contest room until the hard cutoff on May 4th at 11:59am PST. Whatever state your room is in during this time is what will be judged if you make it to top 50! Ensure your subrooms are setup correctly before then.

b. Publishing 

It’s imperative you get players actually enjoying and spending time in your rooms during the play phase. While we’re removing specific rules about when to publish, be aware that every day you’re not published is a day your room won’t be getting any engagement and will be less likely to qualify as a top 50. Entries published during the Play phase will receive an engagement score of 0 for any day in which the room is not published. 

c. Updating Your Room

At 11:59am PST on May 4th we will copy the top 50 most engaging rooms in each contest category over to an internal repository for us to evaluate. The version of the room we judge will be whatever state your room was in at that moment, please be careful with updates! 

d. Tagging

All submissions must be tagged with #RhythmandRooms (make sure you’re spelling this right!) and exactly one category tag. Valid category tags are: #art, #hangout, #pvp, #quest, or #activity for Maker Pen rooms. All Rec Room Studio rooms will be entered in the #rrstudio category regardless of which category tag you also apply to your room (ex. #art, #activity, #hangout, #pvp, #quest). The #rrstudio tag is automatically applied to your RRS room.

e. Content Theme and Categories  

i. We should be able to find a clear relationship to the Rhythm and Rooms contest theme in your room. For example, the following rooms qualify under the contest category:

• Rooms featuring audio based gameplay, eg. games timed to music, using sounds to solve puzzles, etc.

• Rooms with original sound tracks or spoken dialogue. 

• Rooms that enable the creation of music or sounds.

• Rooms that allow players to enjoy or play music together. 

• Rooms with quality environmental audio design. 

ii. All rooms should be fun and accessible for everyone, and they should be playable on all devices.

iii. Rooms can ONLY be entered in one category. No duplicate entries are allowed (i.e. simply copying the room and renaming/retagging it). Rooms must also be tagged in the appropriate category (i.e. a PvP room should not be tagged as #hangout). Use your best judgment when tagging your room category based on the descriptions provided. We will not determine the best category for your room for you. Category changes and room name changes during the Play phase will affect engagement scores and/or may disqualify the room.

iv. Anything you do that fundamentally changes the nature of the room may disqualify the room. This is at our discretion.

2. Code of Conduct 

Rooms must not contain any Code of Conduct violations. 

a. If we observe any behavior that we feel violates the Code of Conduct, your entry may be disqualified and/or your prizes may be forfeited. 

b. It is recommended that you should not show dead bodies and you should avoid topics around death as those topics should be treated respectfully. (cartoon/fantasy violence and skeletons are fine)

Please note that the Code of Conduct applies not only to the content of your rooms, but also your behavior in Rec Room’s online spaces. If we find players are violating the spirit of the Code of Conduct, you may forfeit prizes or your entry may be disqualified.

3. Inventions

Inventions are allowed when the invention was previously made by a room's co-owner, or the invention is published in the Invention Store. Please note that any inventions placed while the creator is a co-owner are allowed, even if the co-owner is later removed.

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 contest room and the invention was not made public by the original inventor. Official Template rooms created by us are ok to use!

Players listed only as Inventors will not be eligible for prizes; only the room owner and co-owners will be eligible for prizes.

4. Prizes

a. Winners

Prizes will be issued only to the room creator and co-owners.

b. Number of Winners Per a Room

A maximum of 6 people may receive the prizes for an awarded room. We will limit the number of co-owners who can receive a prize. If you have more than 6 total owners (including the room creator). Alt accounts cannot be added to rooms as co-owners to gain extra prizes. 

i. The room’s creator has the final say about which 6 owners receive prizes.

c. Owning Multiple Winning Rooms

Players who are owner or co-owner of multiple winning rooms will receive one set of prizes from the highest tier that they’re awarded, plus the trophies and tokens from all applicable winning entries.

d. Best Trailer 

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.

e. Best Soundtrack

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

5. Room Promotion

a. Room Visits

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. In the event of excessive promotion, the room may be disqualified. Contest rooms cannot be advertised in featured rooms. 

i. Event spam

If creators and co-owners have created more than one event per day, averaged over the whole play and playtest phases, this is considered event spam and the room may be disqualified. This includes events held in promotion rooms, as well as party invite spam. 

b. Promotional Items

Player-created promotional item events such as a custom made in-game trophy, collectible or item skin are allowed as room prizes. Rooms and Events promoting giveaways, raffles, lotteries, or contests involving any real currency, virtual currency, Rec Tokens, “free gifts”, or permission offerings are prohibited, in line with the Rec Room’s Terms of Service and Creator Code of Conduct. 

c. Featuring

Contest rooms cannot be promoted in Featured Rooms during the contest period.

6. Experimental content 

We cannot guarantee the stability of the content in beta. Room beta content is used at your own risk.

7. Junior eligibility 

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

Category guidelines and rules

General Guidelines

Rec Room has always put an emphasis on “fun” and “welcoming.” With that in mind, when we judge rooms for these contests, we always favor experiences that are accessible. We also believe that challenges are important to keep things fun over time (like, have you played Crescendo??)! There’s a balance between making something too deep, complicated, and challenging and making something too simple and easy. We favor things that are both easy to start having fun with and difficult to master.

Competitions are also a time for creators to show off their technical mastery, and we try to reward that, especially with our Special Awards (see below). However, the important thing is still to create Rec Room experiences that are fun and welcoming, and that’s what we look for most during judging.

Art

The art category is all about showing. Show us your vision, and show us your skills! Art rooms should dedicate all their resources to making something inspiring and impressive.

• Examples: ^JulesVerne, ^ANightInVenice, ^Bloodborne, ^SpiritedAway, ^FrightfulFeast

• Art Rooms should not require players to interact with the room very much, if at all. Picking things up to see how they’re used is OK, and so is touching buttons or interfaces to open doors. Art Rooms should not involve any challenge. Art Rooms can absolutely involve things that move and react to the players! But nothing that a player needs to control with any effort in order to experience the room. All kinds of media are encouraged! 3D art, 2D art, sound, music, animation, costumes, holotars, etc.

• Players should be able to move through art rooms at their own pace or at a slower speed in order to see all of the art.

Hangout

Give us some place to settle down for a while. We’re looking for somewhere we can sit and talk with old friends, and meet some new ones too.

• Examples: ^RecCenter, ^TacoLakeHouse, ^Lounge, ^Starfall

• Hangouts should have places for people to gather. Give us some furniture, or a campfire to stand around, or a balcony--anything that’s a distinct comfortable space. Hangouts should be easy to get around in. We want people to move around and meet each other.

• Hangouts can have multiple subrooms, but there’s a limit: we want it to be easy for people to find each other if they visit your room frequently. If a Hangout room has too many subrooms, or the subrooms are hard to move between, then it’ll lose some appeal during judging. If a hangout includes a small activity or game, we won’t play the game to judge it, but having those things does count for a minor credit in judging. Take care that any activities included still allow for conversation and camaraderie while playing!

PVP

Slashing, shooting, and running. This category emphasizes competition, action, and players attacking each other. Even though PvP stands for “Player vs. Player,” we don’t categorize all rooms where people compete as PvP. Think of PvP as “battle” or “combat.”

• Examples: ^SplashRoyale, ^MythMonsterBattles and ^TheStrandedDuel

Quest

Quests need to have progression and challenge. Players should start somewhere and end up in a different place or time, and face challenges in between.

• Example: In ^TheRiseofJumbotron, players start in a battle aboard the SS Coach, end up fighting the Jumbotron, and in between they fly through space and fight bigger and tougher enemies. Quests can involve fighting enemies (ours do!), but wave shooters don’t count.

In order to accommodate the number of judged rooms, there is a 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. Judges for the contest will be on all devices so make sure your room is accessible for everyone.

Activity

A game or activity with a goal or objective that gets people having fun. We consider the activity category to be the most open category, if your room isn’t going to fit the other criteria, this is the one for you.

Please note that casino and gambling based rooms are not allowed. 

• Examples: In the #Activity category, game rooms include ^Spotit, ^ButtonMash, or ^DarkStories. #Activity can also include things such as thrill rides or fast paced rides that are the main function of the room, such as ^TheCarnivalOfCarnage or ^Expedition_Everest. Some #Activity rooms with mini-games are ^AnimalCrossingRRHorizons, ^VoodooLagoon, ^Pokemon87, and ^RecParty2018. Co-operative #activity rooms should not put too much emphasis on progression. If players are moving through different settings and playing different kinds of games, then the room belongs in the Quest category. Use your best judgement.

Rec Room Studio

Since Rec Room Studio is still in early access and not available to all, any rooms created with Rec Room studio will fall exclusively into this category and not count for any others. Any type of room that would qualify for one of the other categories applies to the Rec Room Studio category, but you can use Rec Room Studio to build it. 

Questions & Answers

Q: What’s the difference between Art and Hangout?
A: Hangouts need to be comfortable, and Art rooms need to be nice to look at. Hangouts do benefit from being nice to look at, but if you can’t find a spot to gather with friends and enjoy the views, it’s not worth hanging out there. Art Rooms don’t benefit much from being comfortable, because the artist’s goal should be to keep people moving through the room and seeing all the stuff they’ve built.

Q: What’s the difference between Activity and PvP?
A: Activity can have “action,” but only PvP Rooms can have “violence.” If the most basic mechanic in your game is that players are “attacking” other players, then it’s a PvP and belongs in the PvP category.

• Example: Paintball is a game because it’s a fun activity with rules, but players play it by attacking each other, so it wouldn’t be allowed in the Activity category.

• Example: Among Us does involve a player attacking other players, but the basic mechanic of the game is not attacking; it’s deception, communication, and problem-solving; so it wouldn’t be allowed in the PvP category.

Q: Where can I find the Code of Conduct, Creators Code of Conduct or Terms of Service?
A: You can find our important information on our website, here.

Special award guidelines

Starting with the #Carnivale contest, we will accept nominations for these awards from the community. A team of room creators may nominate themselves for only one special award.

Ready to nominate a room? Fill out this form. Nominations close on May 11th at 12:00pm PST (Noon).

Best Original Character Design (either Holotar or animated) - This award goes to a room that has an original character or characters brought to life through either holotars or animations with voice acting which enhance the immersion and experience of the room.

Best Costume Design - Best Costume Design goes to the most beautiful, creative, interesting or masterful costumes. This can be on a dummy or a holstered costume.

Best Audio Design - The Best Audio Design award goes to a room that has sound that enhances the sense of place and time through sound in the room.

Best Original Soundtrack - Please upload this to Spotify, Soundcloud, YouTube, or another sharing service and let us know in the room description. If you do not include a link in the room description, it is much harder for us to gather all the nominees and you may be missed. For this award, the music should be made for the room experience. Remixes of existing works are allowed, but must be original to this competition.

Best Room Trailer - Please include this on the rec.net page for the room. If you do not have the ability to do so, please ask through our Support site. Above all, a good trailer should make us want to check out your room!

Best Room Thumbnail Photo - The judges will check out the thumbnails of contest entries for the best composed and most enticing room photo. This photo is what players see on the Play menu before joining a room, so be sure to make yours eye catching!

Best Animation - This award goes to a room with an animation or animations that greatly enhance the room. These animations can be big or small, but should enhance the immersive experience of the room.

How Did They Do That?! Award - The core of the How did they do that?! award is innovation. We may or may not actually be able to determine “how you did that,” but it should exhibit a novel or interesting new use of a tool or technique. We may give this award to multiple entrants each contest.

Warning: We encourage pushing the boundaries of the tools we provide, but we also advise respecting those boundaries. Please avoid exploiting unsupported features of our creative tools. Review the guidelines of the Builders Please Beware page to understand this better. When in doubt, ask through our Support site. Asking will absolutely not disqualify you from getting the How did they do that?! award. Also, using build exploits will not disqualify you from the contest--but we strongly advise against it for the sake of the players who want to enjoy your room without it breaking.

Rising Star award - Rooms created by entrants who have not previously won or placed in a build competition are eligible for the Rising Star award. This award is to recognize promise and talent in creators that are new or increasing in skill.

I need help with custom rooms!

Join the Rec Room Discord Server and check out the #building, #circuits 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.