Submission Rules

Moonlight MvM accepts new MvM submissions on a rolling basis. What this means is that submissions are accepted year-round (24/7/365), and once enough submissions are gathered for a new event, we will ship a new event to mvm.pineapple.tf complete with in-game medals and a charity drive!

Follow the rules below on how to submit your MvM content to be featured in the next event. All the accepted content will be showcased on this forum thread.

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Types of Accepted Submissions

• Mission (.pop) files
  • Accepted difficulties: Intermediate, Advanced, Expert.
    
  • Accepted formats: Invasion (standard), or Endurance (bomb timer and/or wave 666).
    
  • Your mission must use a map that is deemed "sufficiently complete and functional." Dev textures, maps with server crash issues, fullbright, etc. are prohibited.
    
  • Your mission must work on a vanilla TF2 server without any external mods or dependencies.
    
  • If you use custom sounds or bot icons, then submit a separate .zip file containing all those miscellaneous assets.
    
  • A maximum of 2 contributors are allowed on a mission submission. Additional contributors will not receive medals.
    
  
  
• Map files
  • All map submissions must include a mission (.pop file) to accompany the map. The mission should be either intermediate or advanced mode (not expert).
    
  • Submit a .zip file containing the map (.bsp +. nav), mission (.pop), and any other miscellaneous assets to accompany the .pop file.
    
  • Do not submit a detailed map as your first version. You may be asked to significantly change the geometry. Dev textures are strongly recommended until your layout is approved.
    
  • A maximum of 4 contributors are allowed on a map submission. Additional contributors will not receive medals.
    
  
  
• SFM (Source Filmmaker) Poster
  • One SFM poster is needed to accompany the announcement on the TF2 blog. You will be credited on the announcement post with a link to your profile.
    
  • Contact a staff member on discord if you are interested in creating a SFM poster. Do not submit SFM posters to the forums.
    
  • You may be asked to provide a sample of your previous artwork before you are given the go-ahead to create the poster. Do not start any work until you are told to do so.
    
  • A maximum of 2 contributors will be credited on the TF2 news post announcement.
    
  • Examples posters of what we're looking for: [A] [B] [C] [D]
    

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Mission Quotas

In an attempt to keep events short and focused, there are limits on how many missions that can be accepted from the community. Any excess submissions over these limits will be rolled over to the following event.

• Maximum 2 missions per author (including collaborations)
  
• Maximum 2 missions per map per difficulty across all submissions (e.g. max 2 bigrock advanced missions)
  
• Maximum 3 missions per map across all submissions (e.g. max 3 mannhattan missions of any difficulty)
  
• The maximum limits for each mission difficulty are listed in the accepted submissions thread.
  
• Missions are added to the accepted list in the chronological order in which they were accepted.
  

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How to Submit

1. Create a new thread on the submission forum.
   
   
2. On your thread (OP), list the name of the submission, the submission type (Map or Mission), the difficulty of the mission, and all the contributors to the submission. The thread title should contain the submission type (Map or Mission) and the name of the submission. See the example submission threads linked below for more information.
   
   
3. Reply to your thread and upload your submission as a forum attachment. If your file is too large, then use a sane file hosting site such as Dropbox, Google Drive, or Mediafire (no account required) and include the file link in your post.
   
   
4. Go to the Request Judging thread and post a link to your submission thread in it. This step is necessary to ensure that the judges process the submissions in the order in which they were received (to ensure fairness to all contributors).
   
   
5. The judges will review your submission and post their feedback on your thread. Make the appropriate changes and repeat Steps 3 and 4 with your updated submission. Do not update/overwrite any prior forum attachments.
   
   
6. For all file versions after version 1 (first version submission), include a brief changelog describing the major changes that were made and the feedback that was incorporated into the newer version. (Minor changes do not need to be documented.)
   

Example submission threads: [Mission submission] [Map submission]

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Judging

Judging will operate on a three (3) strike system. While the first run is exempt from strikes, any future runs that are deemed a waste of judging time by a unanimous vote will be given a strike. To avoid getting a strike, follow these two guidelines:

1. Listen to all the feedback.
   
2. Test all changes with community playtesters prior to resubmitting.
   

If these guidelines are followed, then no strikes will be given. If a mission is deemed pass-worthy, it will be submitted to a second group of judges to certify the pass decision before it is accepted to the next event. Missions that fail the certification process will not receive strikes but may be requested additional changes.

During testing, all judges will follow these restrictions:

• No Medic
  
• No Sniper
  
• No Airblast
  
• No Crit/Uber Canteens
  
• No Class Switching (after wave 1)
  
• No Class Stacking
  

If your mission receives three (3) strikes, then it will no longer be judged for the remainder of the time period between now and the next event release (the mission is essentially disqualified from the upcoming event). However, you are allowed to submit your mission for consideration for the following event (the event after the next event) with a clean slate of zero strikes.

Strikes can be appealed to a Moonlight staff member for additional review. Please do not use the appeal process unless you believe you have a strong case or else your future appeals may be denied without review.

Due to the greater amount of effort required, map submissions are exempt from strikes, but the mission that is submitted with the map is subject to the strike system.

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Rewards

• The Auspicious Automaton Assembler's Accolade medal
  
• All the medals (player+donor) of the event that your submission is featured in
  
• The "Content Creator" role on our discord (expires 1 year after the event concludes)
  
• [SFM artists only] Credits on the TF2 event announcement
  

Please address any outstanding to-do items (e.g. if your mission is accepted pending required changes, make sure to implement those changes) or else your rewards may be withheld until you do so.

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Questions?

If you have any questions about the submission process or the judging system, leave a comment below and we'll be happy to answer.

Happy content creating!