Frostpunk 2 developers 11 Bit are holding a modding competition in collaboration with mod.io, with $10,000 for the one that shows “the best in creativity and overall technical polish”, which I assume is code for “If you send us another Thomas The Tank Engine we will come to your house and spit in your fruit bowl”. There are also custom GPUs and “goodie packs” for runners-up. The competition is open until August 22nd, with the winner announced September 1st. Cheers, PC Gamer.
I’m always in two minds about this stuff. Obviously, if you think something’s valuable, just pay people to do it. Mods can add years to a game’s lifespan and while there’s no way to guarantee a modder with that sort of talent is going to grace your game over others, offering a big wad seems like a surefire way to increase the odds. I am by no means saying this is what 11 Bit are doing here, but I will say that disguising requests for free labour as fun opportunities with fabulous prizes does have a precedent in games. I think it’s fair to say that the vast majority of entrants are going to make the game’s modding scene a lot more vibrant suddenly and not win anything.
Still, modders getting rewarded is always great, the prize pool is likely funded at least in part by mod.io themselves, and if you’re someone who’s just beavering away making free mods anyway, then why not.
There are separate categories to enter, with prizes for the best mods in politics, the city, frostlands, and graphics. Here’s 11 Bit from a blog post on the competition:
“What is the jury looking for? Creativity, playability, and most importantly, fun! After all, you are the strategy genre experts, and we would like to see what you will come up with to make the Frostpunk 2 experience even more interesting. New stories and mechanics? Insane mode? Replace snow with sand? Add dinosaurs? Introduce a swamp with ogres? The Steward would rejoice!”
Ogres, you say? To enter, you’ll need upload your work to mod.io, with a #fp2modcontest tag. Big Butt Skinner Balloon, please. Do it.
