The Day Before Developers Fntastic Want You To Design Levels For Them, But They Won’t Pay You

As a seasoned gamer with decades of experience under my belt, I must say, I find myself both amused and disheartened by Fntastic’s latest move. On one hand, it’s commendable that they’re engaging their community in such a creative way. But on the other, asking for free labor without compensation? That’s a tough pill to swallow.

The creators of the unsuccessful extraction shooter game titled “The Day Before” are inviting individuals to create levels for their upcoming project, named ITEMS. On their Discord server (courtesy of Eurogamer), Fntastic announced a competition where participants can design a map for their new game endeavor.

The catch is, the winner of the contest won’t be paid for their work.

The announcement states that this competition offers you an opportunity to showcase your creative side by creating a map. If you win, this map could potentially be incorporated into the game during upcoming upgrades.

The guidelines for entering the “contest” were explained next, specifying that entries can take the form of 2D sketches, 3D sculptures, or any other creative style. Besides the map layout, submissions must also encompass images and artwork, a comprehensive description, the theme of the map, its level of detail (layoff), and “equilibrium factors”.

The Day Before Developers Fntastic Want You To Design Levels For Them, But They Won’t Pay You

As a gamer, I was pretty stoked about the contest to design my own game map, but here’s the bummer – the creator of the winning submission doesn’t get paid for the hours poured into the design. Instead, they just get a copy of the game (if it ever gets released) and their map integrated within it. Plus, their name will be featured “somewhere” on the map, but no cold hard cash.

As of publishing, six maps have been submitted.

Fntastic’s History With Fan Submissions

Fantastic is no stranger to seeking fan-made map designs from the community. In fact, during the production of The Day Before, the studio frequently enlisted unpaid volunteers for game development. These volunteers came from diverse regions such as Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Finland, and beyond.

At one point, the studio claimed to be using over 100 full time volunteers.

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