Are you ready? Are you set? The next thrilling ForgeHub community forge contest is officially crossing the finish line! So start your engines, and get ready for the joyride of your life as you partake in the ForgeHub Grand Prix!

The ForgeHub Grand Prix Aesthetic Race Contest (or ForgeHub Grand Prix for short) is the first of many contests the pit crew at ForgeHub will head in 2018. It's also the first since the Extermination contest of 2017 to be birthed, raised and nurtured by your tender loving staff themselves. In this test of speed and momentum, submissions will be judged equally on their aesthetics and tracks, meaning that a perfect marriage of both will see you crossing that finish line ahead of the competition. In the rest of this article, I will be detailing the specifics on how to ensure your racetrack is in our top gear.

A schedule is being finalized right now for all you rookie racers looking to get your tires moving. Below is an up-to-date version of the schedule.

Official Contest Submission Date Begins
12:00 AM EST - Friday, January 19th, 2018

Contest Submission Closes
11:59 P.M EST - Monday, February 19th, 2018

Judging begins the final week of February.​

Unlike our previously hosted contest, The ForgeHub Grand Prix is being hosted by a panel of four ForgeHub Staffers and one very special guest, who feels right at home here with us. Without further ado, our judging panel is...

-BaconMedia-
-Ducain23-
-Shooty Person-
-Sir Iron Wolf-

And Special Guest, the Owner of HaloTracks.org
-Le Hefe-​

Below you can find the rubric for how maps will be judged, which has been constructed from the ground up to prevent subjectivity in the judging process.

There will be FIVE total categories in which you may score points for your map. Each category is worth an equal 20 points, and the five categories are all based around the principle features your map will have: A Racetrack and Aesthetics.

- Theme -​

• How well does your map capture the intended theme? Are there sounds? Is there fitting lighting? A custom skybox? All of these are suggestions to improve your score in this category.
• Your theme may be an original concept OR it may also be a remake or re-imagination of an existing theme seen in Halo or other media. You will NOT be scored less for using an unoriginal theme, but you may be judged more critically if you do not capture said theme in a familiar way.

- Construction/Piece Usage -​

• Does your map maintain it's quality of appearance throughout? Or are some sections lacking in order to boost the look of others? If so, is this an appropriate trade-off?
• Are pieces obvious? Do you disguise your pieces well enough to merge them seamlessly into your crafted environment?
• Are there floating pieces/holes in your environment? Noticeable construction errors?

- Integration With Track -​

• Does your environment effect your playspace (racetrack)? Maps that incorporate their tracks into the environment will score significantly higher than maps that create a simple floating track.
• If your track isn't fully integrated, does it at least match the overall theme?

- Functionality -​

• Does your racetrack run smoothly? Are there any unintentional bumps or odd angles?
• Is your racetrack too difficult to be casually enjoyed? The objective is not to create a strong challenge, but instead to provide a setting where players can enjoy themselves.
• Please note that Framerate will NOT effect your score in any way short of causing a catastrophic error in the map's playability. (Causing a jump to become unreadable, causing racers to repeatedly die in a specific area, etc.)

- Track Design/Layout -​

• Is your racetrack exciting without being too difficult? Does it create a fun atmosphere catering to both casual and veteran players?
• Are there any unique or exciting gimmicks? Scripted events?
• Overall, this category exists to ask the question "Is this race fun?"

To recap, each judge will rate each category on a scale of 1-20 (1 being an overall failure to include any elements of the category, a 20 being an exceptional and groundbreaking measure). At the end, each judge will tally their score to give the maps and overall 1-100 rating. The judges will compare their 1-100 overall score and a formula will be preformed to find the true average (or mean) for each map. This will be the map's final score. The three maps with the highest total scores at the end of the competition will place 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Which brings the next question. What do you get?

The true winners in this competition are the judges, as they get to have fun playing through a plethora of exciting community maps. But as far as contestants go, there will be THREE winners in this contest.

3rd place Prize
-$100 USD-

2nd place Prize
-$150 USD-

1st place Prize
-$250 USD-

A unique submission thread will be linked here when it is posted on Friday, January 26th.
​

Here are some key bullet points and guidelines for this contest, think of this section as a FAQ, and the more questions you ask down below, the more we will update this section.

• Your objective is to design a LOOPED race. This means a map with several laps around a circuit, NOT a point-to-point race similar to the ending of Halo: Combat Evolved. This is a choice made to provide a smaller, repeating track so you may increase your visuals and focus on aesthetics more freely.
• You may use your vehicle of choice from the following: Warthog (any), Mongoose, Banshee, Wasp, Ghost.
• Your map MUST be able to support up to AT LEAST 5 racers in whichever vehicle you choose.
• Prefabs with the scripts and tutorials on how to set up the Race Gametype will be provided closer to the submission date opens.
• Using another forger's aesthetic published prefabs is PROHIBITED. This is a contest based heavily around visuals and any map that is caught using another forger's prefab will be requested to make the change or be immediately eliminated.
• Your map MUST be started AFTER this announcement. Yes, THIS announcement! Meaning you don't have to wait until the submission date to start throwing together ideas, you may begin right this very moment, but you'll have to hold off until 12:00 A.M EST on Friday, January 19th to submit.
• As always, lets keep it civil and classy. Anything that violates our Code of Conduct will be removed, and the author may be placed on a blacklist prohibiting them from entering our contests.

*To submit your map click here!*

Ducain's Race Checkpoint Prefab