The contest rules, guidelines and some helpful tips can all be found on the S2 Games website map contest page. The deadline for contest submissions is Friday, February 16, 2007, with the winning entry announced on Tuesday, February 20, 2007.

The contest requires players to design a Savage 2 gameplay map concept using three main elements: a map image, a map size, and a written description of the map concept. For the map image, contestants will need to design the geography of the map using various colors to represent the different geographic elements such as water, pathways and ground. The maps will also need to include one Human starting location, one Beast starting location, resources, scars and NPCs (assets for the game map design can be downloaded from the S2 map contest web page). The map size attribute runs from Very Small (5-10 member team size) to Very Large (25+ member team size) and will determine not only how big the geography will be but also what type of strategy will be employed during gameplay. The written description element should be a short summary of why the contestant made the particular design choices on the map.

“We’re giving one lucky fan the opportunity to have their creative talents included in our game by creating and submitting the best Savage map they can dream up,” said Marc DeForest, co-founder and lead designer, S2 Games. “As an independent developer, we have the freedom to offer this kind of opportunity to the gaming community and we’re confident there are a lot of aspiring game designers with some great Savage gameplay map concepts out there. We want to see some!”

S2 Games will be self-publishing and self-distributing Savage 2: A Tortured Soul. Although, the game will be available for free download and playable over a LAN or in single-player tutorial mode, players will need to buy an account in order to play online with other players as well as to take advantage of other features such as saving game data and persistent world items. Players can purchase an account and immerse themselves completely into the world of Savage 2: A Tortured Soul by simply paying a $29.99 (USD) fee via the S2 Games website.

For more information on Savage 2: A Tortured Soul, please visit http://savage2.s2games.com.