[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/3953061/58aa51f70f95d0b874f85453d4fb58a44d10cb1c.jpg[/img] [b][i]Hello and welcome to the first Featured Mod episode for 2023! [/i][/b] In today’s episode, we won't highlight a single map, but a whole package of them that we recommend you guys to check out. Today we are highlighting a contest organized by [url=https://www.serioussite.ru/]SeriousSite.ru[/url] called [url=https://www.serioussite.ru/forum/33-3959-1]“Jingle Bombs 2022”.[/url] [b]Jingle Bombs 2022[/b] is a contest in which the contestants have to create a single-player or a cooperative map with a Christmas theme. The creation that captures the spirit of the Holiday the best and has the most effort put into it, gets the top prize. The top 3 ranked maps are: [b]Winner - "Break the Loop" for Classic: TSE by “Cr1sTaL” 2nd Place - "Stolen Snow" for Serious Sam Fusion by “Riba4оk13” 3rd Place - "On the eve" for Classic: TSE by “TesLineX”[/b] Those maps deserve a featured mod article of their own, but as I've said today, we will focus on the contest as a whole, so I strongly recommend heading over to the SeriousSite.ru website and giving those maps and also the rest of the ones submitted for the contest a check. There are a total of 8 submissions: four maps for Classic: The Second Encounter, three maps for Serious Sam Fusion, and one map for Siberian Mayhem. Now you have plenty of variety and Serious Content to play in the upcoming snowy days! In today’s basement chat, we will talk with the contest’s organizer who’s also a member of TimeLock Studio: Ar2R-devil-PiNKy! This is just one of the competitions that he has organized. He has been doing mapping contests since 2010 on various themes such as: Speedrun, RetroWave, Escape, Horror, Puzzles, and many many more. You can check all those competitions and maps on the SeriousSite.ru website. Now let’s head to the basement and talk with Ar2R-devil-PiNKy about all this stuff! Link to the maps: https://www.serioussite.ru/forum/33-3959-1 [h1]BASEMENT CHATS WITH YASEN[/h1] [b]Hello everyone! It's an honor for me to welcome our first guest in the basement for 2023- Ar2R-devil-PiNKy! He is a co-founder of SeriousSite.ru and a member of TimeLock Studio. He has been organizing contests and activities for Serious Sam for way too many years now! ⚪Welcome Pinky, nice to have you here finally. I've known you for many years now as we have co-hosted some community activities back in the day. Please introduce yourself to those of the community members that don't know you. When did you become a community member and when was the first time you started getting involved in creating community activities?[/b] Hello Yasen, thank you for inviting me. My name is Arthur, I've been a fan of the series for more than 20 years, and have been modding for more than 17 years. I think probably every fan has come across at least one of my works, be it maps, mods, art, video content, etc. I became a member of the community back in 2009 when I was just connected to a good stable Internet. Loved playing Serious Sam 2 a lot, and during one of the co-op sessions I met two guys, they were ZIM and ALEX. ZIM introduced me to a website that he had just created. That's how it all started. The first contests were held by my friends, but a few years later I decided to make this event an annual one (with honorary members of the jury, of course). And a few years ago we added an additional second contest for every new year. ⚪[b]You've had quite a long journey! There have been over 15 mapping contests. Which ones hold a special place in your heart and you would strongly suggest to the community to try? My personal favorites would be "[url=https://www.serioussite.ru/forum/33-3758-1]Brainiacs[/url]" and [url=https://www.serioussite.ru/forum/33-3702-1]"Manhunt"[/url]. [/b] Oh, honestly it's hard to give an answer to such a question, since each contest has its own gems, heh. I would advise to start with [url=https://www.serioussite.ru/forum/33-3597-1]"Treasure World"[/url], [url=https://www.serioussite.ru/forum/33-3758-1]"Brainiacs"[/url], [url=https://www.serioussite.ru/forum/33-3879-1]"RetroSeriousWave"[/url] and [url=https://www.serioussite.ru/forum/33-3905-1]"Masters of Horror"[/url] - that's my favorite ones. ⚪[b]How would you rate last year's two contests that you hosted:[url=https://www.serioussite.ru/forum/33-3954-1] "Please fly"[/url] and [url=https://www.serioussite.ru/forum/33-3959-1]"Jingle Bombs 2022"[/url], in terms of community activity (submissions) and quality of maps? I'm interested in hearing from you since you have been a member of the community for such a long time, what do you think about the state of the Serious Sam community currently, and is there something that you think we can all do to improve it further?[/b] Very solid. Did not even expect that there would be such a number of works. Mappers never cease to amaze with their ideas. I think the state of the Serious Sam community is more or less good now. Of course, due to the long time interval between the release of the main games of the series (Serious Sam 3: BFE and Serious Sam 4), a lot of time has passed and a lot of people have come and left, but this is a common thing. Sometimes old members who have left the community come back- once a fan of Sam, always a fan of Sam. People just need to be nice to each other and, if possible, not to disturb others too much with their Marsh-Hoppers in their heads. ⚪[b]Very well said, people should always be nice to each other. It’s been almost 14 years now since you joined the community and you are now part of TimeLock Studio, and Croteam and you also have your own personal life. What motivates you to keep doing this volunteer work for the community and still be so engaged on all fronts?[/b] The community itself. It's always nice to bring a little piece of joy to your favorite game and share it with others, and the process of creating something is still very exciting, even if there is very little free time for it now. It was also influenced by the fact that since the age of three I have been burning with the desire to create my own games (and in secret, I am slowly going to this) and Serious Sam modding has become a confident starting point in all this. ⚪[b]Speaking of creating games, you now have a Serious Sam game behind your back! Could you please share some behind-the-scenes pieces of information on Siberian Mayhem: how did you join the project and what is your overall experience of working on it and having Croteam's support for it.[/b] Sleepless nights and lots of fun. The story is quite simple, Kadath offered me to work on the project and I agreed. And sure I can tell you something interesting behind-the-scenes. You won't believe it! One day [REDACTED] and he, like, [REDACTED]. We look at [REDACTED] scene, and after that, we decide [REDACTED] until it's done. We finished at 4 o'clock in the morning (according to my time) and the result was great ⚪[b]Well, I'm sure the community will love it so much once they read all this spicy information exclusively here in the Featured Mod article! Thank you for sharing it all. Now that we have covered Siberian Mayhem and the contests, I have to ask you about my personal favorite work of yours… [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G93UplfMmcI&list=PLDFC3974AA8D66498]Samolash[/url]. Do you plan on doing another episode and if yes then when can we expect one? Please tell me soon, the world needs more of it! [/b] I am very glad that you liked it. Unfortunately, I can't give an exact date when, but I do aim to finish work on a new episode sometime in 2024. A lot of ideas have accumulated for the new episode and I'm hoping it will turn out to be the biggest and most interesting one! Moreover, new games have been added to the series and this is a huge scope for new jokes and parodies. And by the way, just like last time, I accept work from everyone who wants to participate in a new episode! ⚪[b]Exclusive news right here: Samolash is returning in 2024! I think we have gone through most of the topics, so I have to ask you: what does the future hold for you? What are your future goals and things you would like to achieve in the upcoming 1-2 years? Should we also expect more contests?[/b] Hehe, the jury members and I have already come up with themes for the following contests for years ahead. For example, the "Please Fly 2022" contest concept was invented in 2020. Annual contests have already become a SeriousSite legacy and we are not going to stop. We also have plans for other things, but it's too early to talk about them yet. ⚪[b]Happy to hear that there are no plans of you stopping any time soon. I would like to thank you for coming by the basement and having a chat with me. I can't wait to see the future content from you. For the finale, by tradition, the stage is yours to address the community. Share anything you wish for them or simply give shout-outs! See you in the next episode everyone![/b] Thank you Yasen, and thank you handsome stranger who read this right now. Bye!