Dreams And Nightmares: CSGO Skin Design Competition
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Community skin designers are in for a treat. Valve announced a design competition with the theme of Dreams And Nightmares.
Who doesn’t love a beautiful design on their skin? Of course, beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, and there are fans of both simple patterns and elegant designs. Whatever your preference for a loadout is, the ingenuity of CSGO community is incredible.
While it is a treat in itself to have your skin chosen by the curators to be included in the game and the creators of skins used in-game get their share of the market trade, Valve decided to incentivize the creation of a very theme-oriented range of skins. Is it the first time around? How to take part? What are the prizes? You’re about to find out.
Dreams And Nightmares Design Competition Rules
On July 22nd, Valve started a competition run of Steam Workshop submissions for skin designs that in some way allude to the topic of both dreams and nightmares. The competition’s landing page showcases a wide range of both fairytale and monstrous designs to give willing participants a hint on what kind of inspiration and interpretation they expect. It’s hard to fight the impression that the darker side of that theme might have something to do with the deadline landing near Halloween…
The competition runs until October 21st. The topic itself and the timeframe seems to be the only formal rule about the entry – not to mention the originality of submitted work, of course. Keep in mind that types of weapons and rarities that will be included in the collection are already chosen. These are:
- Cover AK-47
- Covert MP-9
- Classified MP-7
- Classified Dual Berettas
- Classified FAMAS
- Restricted XM-1014
- Restricted PP-Bizon
- Restricted G3SG1
- Restricted M4A1-S
- Restricted USP-S
- Mil-Spec Five-SeveN
- Mil-Spec SCAR-20
- Mil-Spec MAG-7
- Mil-Spec P2000
- Mil-Spec Sawed-Off
- Mil-Spec MAC-10
- Mil-Spec MP5-SD
One less formal rule is that you need a fully functional Steam account to post your submission to the workshop. A fully functional Steam account is one that you’ve spent at least $5 on. The other helpful thing is to keep your sketches and WIP handy so that the Valve team can confirm your authorship of the entry.
The general guidelines for designing skins can be found in this original Valve guide. The legal note on the competition can be found on this subsite.
What Is The Prize In CSGO Dreams And Nightmares?
Aside from the submission being included in the Dreams And Nightmares Case, there is a prize pool of 1 million dollars distributed among ten winning works.
Noteworthy, each of the winning submissions is eligible for a prize of $100,000. This means that one designer can win multiple prizes.
Winners will be contacted by the Valve representatives privately. The prizes will be sent to verified bank accounts specified by the winners.
Does It Mean CSGO New Case Is On The Way?
Yes, one way or another. Valve has even put the design of the case on the competition’s landing page. The question remains – will it be a standalone case, or a part of something bigger?
This year’s Operation Broken Fang was pretty successful with bringing about more fan base and injecting new skins into the market. With a pretty stable esport sphere that sees its rotations but faces challenges due to the travel limitations, Valve is looking for other ways to make new players engaged. Thus, a new operation is rumored to drop at the end of the year.
However, this does not exclude a new case dropping in between seasonal events. Just like Fracture Case made its debut quite some time after the Operation Shattered Web, maybe there is a content update planned between Broken Fang and the new operation.
Whatever is the case (no pun intended), it’s impossible that Valve is willing to provide extra rewards to the winning custom CSGO skins without later putting them into the game.
Previous CSGO Skin Design Competitions
It’s not the first time that Valve is calling for theme-based skin design submissions. For example, the CS20 case was backed with a contest that back then was called a ‘workshop event’. With the general model of how workshop works are included in the game, this only meant that the curators will put special attention to those skins that fall into the CSGO nostalgia that was the theme of the anniversary case.
This time, however, the allure is much greater. The 100k dollar prize is most likely there to motivate creators to prepare something outstanding and competitive.
I’m Looking For Someone To Collab
If you want to participate in the current skin contest, but don’t want to make this nightmare CSGO journey alone, Valve encourages you to join the Dreams And Nightmares discussion board. There you can find creators with a mindset and style similar to yours, or simply exchange ideas with the community.
The Sum Of All Dreams And Nightmares
With a hefty guideline and a decent prize pool, CSGO Dreams And Nightmares competition is a real treat for avid creators. The theme is broad enough to let your imagination run freely. Community feedback is welcome, as it helps bring curators’ attention to your skin, so make sure to present your work in a comprehensive way and boast your work among your friends.
If you’ve seen some nice entries already and want to share them with us, join our Discord channel and meet a community of skin enthusiasts!
