🎃 Halloween Screenshot Contest

You know these places… until night falls.

A path winding between trees, a reflection in the water, a sky filled with unknown worlds… This Halloween, discover the stories hidden within the landscapes of Chronicles of Arcadia.

Explore the new possibilities of Arcadia Engine and DirectX 11, create a Halloween scene, and share a screenshot accompanied by a short story.

📸 What is the challenge?

Create a Halloween-themed screenshot showcasing at least one of the game’s new graphical features.

To participate:

1. Prepare your scene with DirectX 11 enabled and graphics settings set to maximum.
2. Take a screenshot that visibly showcases at least one new graphical feature.
3. Identify the feature you have chosen and explain where it appears.
4. Include an original story of 50–150 words inspired by your screenshot.

You may combine several new features and explain how they contribute to your scene’s atmosphere.

🎭 Choose your scene

How you bring Halloween to life is up to you:

• Explore the world: find a mysterious forest, ancient ruins, or another location and use the new graphical features to create a Halloween atmosphere.
• Include your character: make your character part of the story with costumes, outfits, poses, or a carefully chosen setting.
• Create your own setting: decorate your house or garden to build a haunted scene and tell the story behind it.

You can combine these ideas. Showing your character is optional, and costumes or housing decorations are welcome.

Every entry must still showcase at least one new Arcadia Engine or DirectX 11 graphical feature, identify it in the accompanying text, and include a short Halloween story. Screenshots must be taken with DirectX 11 enabled and graphics settings set to maximum.

If your character appears in the screenshot, keep the interface, character names, and health bars hidden.

✨ Features you can showcase

Here are a few ideas to inspire you:

• Grass and flowers: new options for vegetation density and the balance between grass and flowers allow you to give familiar landscapes a different appearance.
• Revamped skies: planets, nebulae, stars, and shooting stars can become the centrepiece of your screenshot.
• Sunlight and moonlight: use light and shadows to highlight a silhouette, create mystery, or hint at an unseen presence.
• More realistic water: incorporate its appearance and reflections into your composition.
• Vegetation movement: capture a moment when that movement contributes to the scene.
• Interaction with the environment: show how the surroundings react to your character, such as grass moving as your character passes through it.

These are only examples. You may choose other new Arcadia Engine and DirectX 11 features, provided you identify them and explain how they appear in your screenshot.

If you choose a feature involving movement or interaction, describe what was happening when you took the screenshot and where the effect can be seen.

🕯️ A picture with a story

Your screenshot and story must be connected to Halloween.

Draw inspiration from legends, disappearances, enchanted forests, creatures, abandoned places, or unexplained encounters. Humorous stories and other creative interpretations of the theme are also welcome.

Your story must contain 50–150 words and have a clear connection to the screenshot. Use the setting, its details, and its atmosphere to bring your story to life.

📜 Entry requirements

• One entry per person, consisting of one screenshot and its accompanying story.
• The screenshot must be original and taken by the participant within Chronicles of Arcadia.
• DirectX 11 must be enabled, and graphics settings must be set to maximum.
• The screenshot must showcase at least one new graphical feature, identified in the accompanying text. A general description such as “better graphics” is not sufficient.
• The interface, character names, and health bars must be hidden.
• Cropping is allowed. External filters, image composites, lighting or colour adjustments, added elements, and AI-generated or AI-modified images are not permitted.
• The story must be original and connected to the submitted screenshot.
• Both the image and the text must comply with the community rules and the game’s Terms of Use. Obscene, discriminatory, or offensive content will not be accepted.
• Entries must be submitted before the deadline and include all required information.

📝 How to submit your entry

Post your entry as a reply to the official contest thread, attach your screenshot, and complete the following template:

Character name:

Screenshot title:

Chosen graphical feature(s):

Where the features appear and how they contribute to the scene:

Story — 50–150 words:

🕯️ Example Entry — The Sixth Shadow

Character name: Quorthon

Screenshot title: The Sixth Shadow

Chosen graphical feature(s): Revamped skies featuring planets, nebulae, and stars.

Where the features appear and how they contribute to the scene:

The large reddish planet and the partially visible ringed planet dominate the sky above the stone circle. The purple nebulae and stars create an otherworldly backdrop, making the gathering of hooded figures feel like a ritual awaiting a celestial alignment.

Story:

Five of us entered the stone circle on Halloween night. The instructions were simple: wait until the red world appeared above the tallest stone, then count the shadows.

There were six.

We checked the spaces between the pillars. Nothing. Only the little green lights drifting closer to the ground.

“Count again,” someone whispered.

Five figures. Six shadows.

We joined hands, as the instructions demanded. That was when I noticed the mistake in the ancient drawing: the figures weren’t holding hands to welcome something.

They were keeping it inside.

Something cold squeezed my fingers.

🏆 Judging criteria

The judges will consider:

• Graphical quality and use of the new features: the screenshot’s visual quality and how it makes use of Arcadia Engine and DirectX 11.
• Halloween atmosphere: the ability to convey mystery, horror, dark fantasy, or a creative interpretation of the theme.
• Creativity and composition: the originality of the scene, framing, and camera angle.
• Story: the originality of the narrative and its connection to the screenshot.
• Identification of the chosen features: how clearly the entry explains which new features were used and where they can be seen.

📅 Dates

Contest opens: 31.10. 00:00 CET

Submission deadline: 14.11 23:59:00 CET

🏆 Award Categories and Voting

Every valid entry will be considered for the following awards. You do not need to select a category when submitting your entry.

❤️ Community Choice

Awarded to the eligible screenshot receiving the highest number of valid Like reactions on its original submission post in the official contest thread

Voting will remain open until 48 hours after the submission deadline, giving the community time to review all entries.

Voting closes: 16.11 23:59:00 CET

✨ Best Use of New Graphical Features

Selected by the team for outstanding graphical quality and effective use of the new Arcadia Engine and DirectX 11 features.

The team will consider how lighting, skies, water, vegetation, or other new features contribute to the composition and Halloween atmosphere.

🎭 Most Creative Halloween Entry

Selected by the team for the most imaginative combination of screenshot and story.

Original ideas, costumes, housing creations, unusual locations, and clever connections between the image and its narrative will all be considered.

📋 Award Rules

• Only entries meeting all contest requirements are eligible for awards.
• There will be three different winners, with one category prize per participant.
• Community Choice will be determined first. The Team will then select the other two winners from the remaining eligible participants.
• A tie in Community Choice will be resolved by the team based on graphical quality, creativity, Halloween atmosphere, and the accompanying story.
• Using multiple accounts or other artificial methods to manipulate voting is prohibited and may result in disqualification.
• All three winners will also receive the Participation Pack.

📋 Contest terms

• PlayerNet reserves the right to amend these rules or cancel the contest at any time. Any changes will be announced in the official contest thread.
• The organising team will oversee compliance with the rules and may disqualify entries that do not meet the requirements.
• Anyone attempting to manipulate or disrupt the contest may be excluded.
• By entering the contest, participants agree to these rules.
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🎃 Find that place that has always made you look twice… and tell us what lives there.

🎁 Rewards

Participation Pack

Every valid entry receives this pack (winners included):

Winner Rewards

Each of the three winners receives:

Plus one costume per category:

🎃 Find that place that has always made you look twice… and tell us what lives there.