Killing Floor is co-op survival horror game. Up to 6 players in online co-op mode, or just you, on your own, playing the Solo mode. The aim – cleanse each area of zombies, in waves, until you get to the last one. The Big One. The Patriarch. Then exterminate him, too. Actually, they aren’t “zombies”. They are the left-over “specimens” from a cheap and dirty government program to clone soldier-monsters. The basic ones will just munch on your arm and try to disembowel you. The bigger ones were the first ones they tried arming. Nothing much. Just a chainsaw or a blade for starters. They had just got on to the chain gun and rockets when the government tried to secretly shut down their secret program.

But, in the typical way these things go, the program didn’t want to be shut down. The specimens got loose. No-one was left alive to turn off the specimen-cloning equipment. And now they are running amok. Well, some of them are running amok. Others are shambling amok or even jumping amok, but you get the idea.

The police were sent in, but that wasn’t even a challenge for the specimens. The first army units hadn’t been warned what to expect. The screams of “its got a bloody chainsaw!” over the radios probably didn’t do much for morale, as whole units were chewed up. Quite literally, in some cases, of course.

And now, there is just you. And a few friends. The few survivors from the first police and army units thrown in. Of course, you can’t tell anyone anything, because that would be a breach of the Official Secrets Act 1911, 1920, 1989. And that would be a disciplinary offense. So just get in there and do your bit for Queen and Country…

With over 50 entries for the contest, we have been really impressed with the quality of many of the submissions. The best of the best was judged to be Damien Laurent’s “KF-Waterworks”, which wins the top prize of $5,000. With amazing visuals and impressive gameplay the map set the bar very high for Wave 1, and will be one to watch for Wave 2. With all the great maps submitted in Wave 1, we can’t wait to see what the mapping community creates for the final wave where the grand prize is $10,000. Additionally, the Wave 2 deadline has been moved back to October 2nd, 2009 to give the mappers a little extra time to polish their entries.

Congratulations to all the entrants in Wave 1. It is clear that a lot of effort went into these maps and it is just a shame that we can’t reward everyone. The top 3 maps from Wave 1 are:

• First Place - KF-WaterworksV2 by Damien “DamDam” Laurent which wins the $5,000 prize.
• Second Place - KF-FilthsCross-v5 by Justyn “JustFilth” Toohill – Nvidia GTX 275 (896MB) graphics card plus a Logitech G19 Keyboard and G9X Mouse
• Third Place - KF-CornerMarket_v3 by Clement Menendez – 2 Nvidia GTX 9600 GSO graphics cards
• Here is the full list of runners-up, with a special mention for Justyn “JustFilth” Toohill who succeeded in producing 3 of the prize-winning maps!
• 4. KF-Biohazard-XTX by Justyn “JustFilth” Toohill – Logitech G15 Keyboard
• 5. KF-Refugev2 by Andrew “IrritAnt” Orman – Logitech G15 Keyboard
• 6. KF-Hospital-V3 by Justyn “JustFilth” Toohill – Logitech G9x Mouse
• 7. KF-DegenerationSPV2C by James “KiCk3R” Lovegrove – Logitech G19 Keyboard
• 8. KF-Swamp by Michael “Kyben” Hewish and Corey “Maul” Sine – Logitech G9X Mouse
• 9. KF-MountainPass_Beta1 by Kevin “DrGuppy” Butt – Logitech G9X Mouse

The full set of maps from Wave 1 is available at ModDB. Many of the potential entrants for Wave 2 are available now for testing, over at the Killing Floor forums, along with the rules for the contest, all at: the official website.

Key features:

• Co-op game mode for up to six players obliterating multiple waves of specimens
• Solo game mode for offline play
• Watch those crucial and violent creature deaths in slomo “ZEDtime”, even in multiplayer
• 9 different monster types trying to eat your face off, armed with everything from teeth and claws, through to chainsaws, chainguns and rocket-launchers
• 12+ weapons for the players to chose from, ranging from knives and fire-axes up to pump shotguns, rifles and a flamethrower
• Add in a welder, medical tools and body armor to help the players survive
• Persistent Perks system, allowing players to convert their in-game achievements into permanent improvements to their character’s skills and abilities
• Players choose which Perks to play with, so they can best balance out a co-op team to survive the horrors
• Open, non-linear play areas: choose when and where to fight – or run; weld doors closed to try and direct the monster horde
• Full support for Steamworks features, including Steam Achievements and Friends
• Fully-configurable, allowing players to change things as simple as the difficulty level or number of creature waves, or go so far as to set up their own favorite waves of monsters
• Includes SDK for the creation of new levels and mods

Killing Floor is currently available for digital download through Steam for $19.99.