Winners Announced

May 31, 2026

Download here: African Slate Quarry

Need help migrating assets in Unreal Engine?

Please read this guide

Or watch this YouTube Tutorial

2-Month Free Access to DASH

Dash joins you on your journey! With Dash in your Challenge toolkit, you'll streamline your workflow and bring your worlds to life faster.

Use code: SIERRA-FREE-DASH at checkout

CHALLENGE DATES

• Challenge Starts: Monday, September 8, 2025 at 10am PST
• Challenge Ends: Thursday, November 6, 2025 at 11:45 PST
• Winners Announced: Week of November 17

CHALLENGE DELIVERABLES

Work-in-Progress: Upon entering the challenge, you must share your journey and creative process, from first ideas to the final piece. Include screenshots, notes, or short descriptions to document key steps (blockouts, composition tests, lighting passes, etc.). Submissions without WIPs will not be accepted.

Final Artwork Submission must include:

• Asset Breakdown: Highlight important kitbashed assets, or any custom work done (see optional Hero Asset)
• Detail Lighting Render (Greybox): No Albedo map. Has Lighting, Normals, Roughness, Metalness. (Detail Lighting if using Unreal Engine)
• Beauty Render: Submit up to 3 high-quality final renders of your Environment in the Wilds.
• Format: JPEG. 1920x1080px Minimum
• Labeling: All submissions must include your legal name, the title of your work, and Challenge logo. Download template & logo here
• Optional: Turntable / Flythrough Video (max 30-45 sec).

ARTWORK RULES

Your Encounter in the Wilds submission MUST ONLY use assets from the asset packs listed above. NO OTHER ASSETS MAY BE USED. No asset modifications may be applied. (Only existing material instance adjustments). NO NEW materials, textures, or assets may be imported or used. However, artists may use their own post process, VFX, and lighting.

(OPTIONAL - Hero Asset) you may create 1 (one) hero asset to base your environment around.

• A Hero asset cannot be a massive custom Building or structure.
• It could be a character, a large prop, a strange alien asteroid, a weapon, etc.
• Hero asset should not use more than 350k polygons and 4 texture sets.
• Note: this asset will be considered in the judging process, so consider the scope of the project, timeline, and quality you can deliver. You may not want to include a hero asset if you can still deliver a beautiful story-driven environment without it.

CHALLENGE JUDGES

Encounter in the Wilds submissions will be reviewed by an incredible panel of 12 expert judges from Sierra Division and AAA Game studios.

JUDGING CRITERIA

Submissions will be judged according to the following criteria:

• Creativity & Originality: How unique and imaginative is the environment? Does it stand out from other submissions?
• Composition: Quality of scene layout, framing, focal points, and overall visual balance.
• Storytelling: How well does the environment convey a sense of place, mood, or narrative?
• Technical Execution: Effective use of assets, attention to detail, polish, and technical presentation.
• Use of Provided Assets: How well are the free assets integrated or reimagined into something new without asset modifications applied.
• Cohesion & Presentation: Consistency of style and quality of final renders.

YOUR REWARDS

Impress our judges, and three of you will be rewarded with industry tools and learning to help you succeed in your 3D Environment Artist career.

HOW TO JOIN

To participate in the Challenge, start by joining our Discord Server, which is required to log into our community forum.

For the complete list of rules, terms & conditions, eligible countries, and specifications please review the Terms & Conditions.