New year, new contest

It's 2025 which is just a wild number. You may have noticed things have been pretty quiet around here. Some small changes have happened behind the scenes but nothing too major. We recently disabled the status updates feature due to it only being used by a couple normal people and always the first target of a spam account. The future versions of JKHub will not have a status feature anyway, so we're just disabling it early.

Work is still being done with the new JKHub. The last few months have been slow due to me moving and then the holiday season and launching a new podcast. I hope to gain more progress on it throughout this year. You'll hear more about it when it's ready to show. I will say though that the goal of the new website is cost savings and streamlining. It's been nice using this software for the website since JKHub's launch but it was already super expensive and they raised the price last year. Donations haven't kept up with our costs in many years now. With the move to my new custom website, we will lose features and it may seem more barebones compared to this, but with activity going down more and more, it makes more sense to strip the site down to essentials. Here is a sneak preview of the new file pages. The goal is to keep the important parts of JKHub in tact.

Duel Map Contest
We haven't had a contest since the 20th anniversary event, but here we are with a contest focused on just duel/tffa maps. This idea was originally from someone in the community @banhammer and I agreed to host it for them.

What makes a duel map?
The requirements for a duel map are more than just the .arena file. Duel mode (and Power Duel) are typically small maps with minimal obstacles or paths from spawn to action. The reason TFFA can be looped into this as well is the way that TFFA is played is similar to duel, where typically 2v2, 3v3, or 4v4 has the action limited to one dueling area. For example when TFFA is played on FFA3 (Tatooine City), everyone spawns and immediately makes their way to the main area in front of the giant door across from the brown ship. The best duel and TFFA maps typically have spawns that are far enough away from the action area but not far enough that it takes forever to get to it.

Here is a very simple diagram of a layout that works well (do not make this exactly, get creative!).

TFFA maps are typically bigger than Duel maps, however there is a sweet spot to being able to cater to both modes and how they are typically played. If you have no experience playing duel or TFFA in multiplayer with real players, don't hesitate to ask questions in the comments below, or don't be afraid to jump into a server and ask to be shown how it works.

You do not have to cater to both modes, you can pick one or the other. You also don't have to stick to the above diagram design.

Rules

• All submissions must be maps catered to Duel and/or TFFA modes in Jedi Academy or Outcast.
• Map must function in the base game modes (must not require mods to work, like MBII). Include separate map files if you must.
• You can only enter your own creations.
• Already released files cannot be submitted. The goal is to encourage new creations!
• It does not have to be Star Wars themed, any theme will work.
• Make sure it abides by the file submission rules.
• Mods can be for Jedi Academy and/or Jedi Outcast. We will assume mods are for JKA unless specified otherwise.
• The deadline for submitting content is 23rd of February 2025, after which a poll will be opened.
• The poll will be closed by the end of day 1st of March 2025. You must be a member of the forum prior to the contest to vote.

What do I win?
Winner of the contest gets a badge on the forum, an entry on the contest board, but best of all this just encourages creativity that benefits the community to enjoy the mods being made. The best creations come from passion, not reward.

How do I submit my mod?
Our goal is to make it as simple as possible for everyone involved. The way you submit your file for this contest is to upload them as normal files in our file section, but using the category called Contest Entries. After the contest is over, we will move the mods to their respective categories.

Click the button below, and submit your mod as you normally would. The category should be set to Contest Entries already. If you don't enter it there, your file won't be entered until you do. If you realize that you didn't do that, PM a staff member and we can change it for you.

Submit to Duel Map Contest '25

This may seem like a broad subject for a contest, but hopefully it gets some mappers out of their comfort zone and create something they haven't before! Good luck!