Greetings fellow gods,

As you might have heard, we're planning to start a closed beta on Steam in January, where we will test the core graphics mod, Steam Workshop integration, achievements, and more. We're now in the crucial stage of development where our main goal is to polish everything we already have in the game before the planned 1.0 release in March. It will require some specific tests.

One of those tests we will start today. We would like to propose a modding contest for everyone who already owns the game on Itch and has access to the modding editors. 

We've provided a lot of editors in the core game to allow you to create your very own content mods, as easily as possible. In short, you can create your own maps by placing tiles on the grid and create your very own entities (items, enemies, environment tiles) by filling some forms. Recently together with v0.7.0, we've released a modding guide describing these 2 sections - maps, and entities editors. we would like to put them to the test, and we need your help. The guide is available on the #modding Discord channel.

Today we're starting a modding contest, and we will provide up to 10 closed beta keys for the best submissions. The beta keys will last until release.

These are the rules of the contest:

1. Submissions must contain exactly 1 region map and must fit the world available in the core mod.
2. Submissions may contain any number of new entities on the map.
3. Submissions shall use the existing ASCII graphics style for content presentation.
4. Submitted content must not infringe on any trademarks, copyrights, or patents.
5. Anyone can make multiple submissions, however, up to one key will be provided per person.
   
6. By submitting your mod, you give us the right to include it in the core and core_gfx mods, modify it and distribute it with the game. Only chosen submissions may be included. If we choose to do so, you will be credited in the Credits section of the game.
7. We accept submissions on the #modding-submissions Discord channel until the end of the year 2021.
8. Winners will be chosen by Soulash Team - Artur and Xiclu, by subjective opinions. We will play the game with your mod and evaluate it by originality, how well it fits the existing world, the balance of the content, and how it feels during the playthrough.
9. Steam Closed Beta keys will be distributed in the first days of January. They will be blocked after the 1.0 release planned in March.

I hope everyone who can spare some time will give it a shot, there's no special technical knowledge required to participate, you don't need to write any code, or manipulate raw data files, no need to do any art, just use the in-game editors to create something fun and share it with us. If you need any help, ask around on the #modding Discord channel, we already have some experienced folks creating cool stuff. We would also love to get more feedback on the modding tools available.

Can't wait to see what you'll come up with!