- If you're puzzled about seeing Sam's player model instead of "Batman", think of a principle used in the TV-show "Quantum Leap" where the main character has always seen himself in his own form no matter which body he "possesed";

- In addition to the most obvious option, where Sam falls into another world, we don't mind some unusual ways as well. For example, you can put Sam's mind and soul inside some actual character's body of the story;

- You can put Sam into some evil character's shoes too. Just keep in mind that Sam is a good, kind person. He can not really do evil things. And you have to show him in all of his Serious glory. Sam also doesn't possess magical powers (even if a character he "posessed" can has them). Sam acts like Sam, and he's in fact a pretty standard human being (albeit a very Serious one). In other words, he's as usual as we are. Make something out of it;

- As it was already mentioned above, you don't really have to come up with an explanation of how Sam ended up being in your selected universe. You can simply throw Sam inside your story and deal with it. Though you can get some extra points if you'll do more than that;

- We understand that it's fun to pick some crappy old movie as a base for your map. But, keep in mind that you'll have to work according to a source material and you'll loose points if your map will deviate from it too much. This is not so fun already, isn't it?

- There's a big difference between "Little Red Riding Hood" and Star Wars". The level of details in these two is very different, so even if your Red Riding Hood will be exceptionally good, some crappy Darth Vader will still get more points because of the big and complex universe he's in;

- Tips for newbies and those who want to save some time and money: having too many characters can be a difficult task for mappers, especially the inexperienced ones. Thus you can use sprites! You will most likely need characters in cut-scenes only anyway, whereas Sam can traverse through the world all alone. If you need to make a group of characters following Sam, you can put their sprites closer to a player's pathway, thus keeping the immersion effect. Just don't let the player come too close to them;

Q: Can I use Netricsa?
A: As you wish.

Q: Can I use the "Witcher" universe?
A: Yes, because it's based on books (and it has TV-series as well).

Q: Can I use the "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." universe? It has some books too.
A: No. These books are based on a videogame (whereas the original 1979's "Stalker" movie is not related to them at all).

Q: What about profanity?
A: Depends on the source material. Sam doesn't really use profanity words that much. No profanity - no big deal though.

Q: Can I use multiple universes with Sam travelling through them, "possesing" different characters?
A: Please, contact contest organizers about that. (Which universes you would like to use? Can you even handle such ammount of work?)

Q: Should I make Indiana Sam? Or Serious Sam as Indiana Jones' sidekick?
A: You can make each of them, just not both at the same time.

Q: Let's say I base my map on a TV-show, i.e. "Rick and Morty". Can I come up with a completely new episode, or I can only use the existing one?
A: You must stick to the general idea and setting of the universe. If the source material doesn't have any strict and clear storyline, you can make your own "episode" in its universe.

Q: Can I add/invent some new locations that don't exist in the source material?
A: Yes, but be careful. The jury members will thoroughly check them for lore & logic consistency.

Q: Peter Jackson's “Lord of the Rings” movies are based on books. Should I take the books or the movies as a base for my map?
A: Whatever you want. A movie adaptation counts as an independent, separate universe.

- Anything that can be considered illegal or prohibited in any civilised country of the world is prohibited (including NSFW stuff). Even if it's well hidden and can only be accessed by using cheats;

- Don't make story references to your old maps, especially those that can confuse the player and overcomplicate the understanding of plotline;

- One sumbition - one map. If your map has become too big, you can divide it into multiple maps. If your map has a sequence where players could potentially die a lot of times, we strongly advice you to make this sequence as a standalone map. You can also make a map-pack in case you need to optimise your project; other than that, map-packs are not allowed;

- Your map must be packed in a .gro-archive and launch correctly on a clean installation of Serious Sam. Don't use non-latin letters and spaces in the filenames. You can use AutoGRO to make a correct package;

- Singleplayer mode only! If you want to make a DM/coop/survival map — do it after you finish the singleplayer version;

- You're allowed to use SDK and extra DLLs in your map. Workshop entries are allowed as well, but you must attach a ReadMe file containing the list of all the links the player has to subscribe to. You can use any resources from other maps/mods, but make sure that you have a permission from the respective authors.

- Keep your development progress a secret. There are no potential strikes regarding thieves in case your unique idea will be leaked and used by some other contestant;

- You can have testers, composers, writers and other people to help you out (under your own responsibility);

- Your map must have a beginning and an ending. Make sure there are no critical and game breaking bugs. If the contest judges will have to use cheats in order to finish your map, it will result in loosing winning points for you;

- DO NOT TRY to make you map longer by making large and meaningless walking sections;

- The contest organizers are free to withdraw/remove a particular contestant from the competition due to systematic rule violations on this or previous contest (or if this particular contestant has been banned);

- The contest organizers can change some contest rules in any time and period up until its ending;

- The judges are free to participate in the contest but won't get any prize in case of victory (they can share some games that are left unused among themselves though);