The Day Before studio is up to its old tricks, asking people to design maps for free in a contest whose lucky winner will get their work in a game, a free copy, and no money whatsoever

(Image credit: FNTASTIC)

In a move absolutely everyone could have seen coming, disgraced game studio Fntastic—the one responsible for the self-immolation of the former most-wishlisted game on Steam—is up to its old tricks. A month after resurrecting itself with a promise to base its development and marketing on the principle of honesty "from now on," the studio is once again asking people to develop its games for it for free (via TheGamer).

Fntastic announced it was working on a game, a multiplayer prop-hunt thing called Items, last week (immediately after it cancelled a Kickstarter that raised around $3k of its $20k goal). Now it just needs, uh, someone to make it. That someone could be you! That is, if you sign up for a "contest" the studio just announced in its official Discord.

"This contest is a chance for you to unleash your creativity by designing a map card that, if it wins, will be added to the game in future updates," reads the announcement by the server's head moderator. Interested fans are invited to create a map "using any method you like, whether it's a 2D drawing, 3D model, or any other style," and then submit it in a special channel on the Discord. "Be sure to explain the map’s theme, layout, balance considerations, and any other important details."

If I seem like I'm being harsh on what could just be a not-very-well-thought-out idea a studio community team cooked up, it's because Fntastic has fully earned it. Even before The Day Before became one of last year's worst and most risible videogame launches, even before we learned that the game's developers were apparently made to pay fines to the studio for work the bosses deemed unsatisfactory, and even before those same bosses pretty much went missing in the aftermath of the launch, the studio was criticised for its use of "volunteer" workers.

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.