The Blizzard community has a long history of creating amazing games using our engines and tools. StarCraft II is no exception, and we’re constantly blown away by the quality of games that players create.

Now that the Arcade is free, we think this is a great time to encourage the creation of awesome games. We’re sending out the call: wow us with the most amazing Arcade games ever made using the StarCraft II Map Editor and Art Tools, and we’ll award over fifteen thousand dollars and other amazing perks to the winning entries. If you’ve always wanted to create your own game, this contest is for you!

The contest duration will be four months, ending on May 31, 2014. After a thorough review, we’ll pick the semi-finalists from the pool of entries and ask the community to help us decide on the winners. That’s right, the players themselves will narrow it down to the final five from which we will select first, second, and third place winners.

We’re looking forward to the variety of games that will be made! Here are the requirements that each submission must follow to be considered a valid entry:

• The game must be in English.
  • Barring any legal restrictions from your home country and state, anyone is able to participate in this contest, but there must be an English version of the game.
• The game should support at least one, but no more than six players.
  • You can make a single player RPG or a battle-arena game, but we don’t want the lobby size to be too big. Six is a good maximum for us.
• Your game files will need to be uploaded as part of the submission.
• The game must be published to the North American Region of StarCraft II using the map editor.
• The game’s info page in the StarCraft II Arcade must have a description, at least one screenshot, and the ‘How to Play’ section must be filled out.
• A forum thread must be created on our Arcade Game Showcase Forum with the following requirements:
  • The title of the thread should read “Rock the Cabinet: [GAMENAME]”
    • Example: Rock the Cabinet: StarJeweled
  • A link to your game should be provided.
    • Example (StarJeweled): starcraft://map/1/85968
  • A description of your game should be included in the first post in the thread.

Let’s talk about that last requirement that you create a forum thread for your project. Though this is something that must be done when you submit your final product, it’s really something we hope you’ll do from the start of your project. It’s a really good idea to keep the player community in the loop as your craft your masterpiece and get their feedback. Considering that the players themselves will have a role in choosing in a winner, it’ll be a good idea to hear what they think throughout the process.

Here are the prizes we are offering:

First Place

• $7,000
• Developer Jam Session
  • The first place winner will participate in a video conference with select members of the StarCraft II development for an intimate chat about all things game development.
• Tickets to the next BlizzCon
• Localization
  • Winners will have their game text localized in Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Russian, and Spanish.

Second Place

• $5,000
• Tickets to the next BlizzCon
• Localization
  • Winners will have their game text localized in Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Russian, and Spanish.

Third Place

• $3,000
• Tickets to the next BlizzCon
• Localization
  • Winners will have their game text localized in Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Russian, and Spanish.

We’re really excited to see what the community will produce. Feel free to send any questions about the contest to Arcade@Blizzard.com.

Check out the complete rules: http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/community/contests/sc2-arcade/rules.html

The world is waiting for your masterpiece!