MAP RELEASE #18: 2 NEW MAPS + X-D CONTEST RESULTS + TEAM UPDATE
Congratulations, everyone!
Yes, you read that right! I'm literally congratulating the community from the very first line, instead of the usual greetings, because finally FINALLY the X-D Mapping Competition is OVER. I'm so happy we can put it behind us. It has dragged on for months upon months, first because of how generous I was with the map submission deadline, then due to how long it took some mappers to make the fixes, then because of the several-months-long public beta test, and in the end because of SOME mappers being very slow with final fixes. And no, [name redacted], I'm not talking about you. I'm actually talking about [another name redacted], so don't blame yourself.
Aaaanyway... The community voting has concluded, let me just briefly remind you how it worked:
1. there were two separate votings: for community and for the experts; community's results amounted to the 40% of the final score, experts' - 60%.
2. they all rated each map based on 4 criteria which had different weights in the final scoring: gameplay (1.0x), visuals/design (0.85x), polish (0.7x), theme (0.55x)
3. arte_dela got penalized for not following the initial contest rule - "Your map must be at least 70% climb"
KREEDZ.COM X-D MAPPING COMPETITION FINAL RESULTS
So, the final results are as follows:
🥉 cy_lumora by Chrizzy (€40.5)
4. v4r_intensity2 by V4R10L4V3R4
5. sky_to_Acc1 by sky6666
6. arte_dela by arte de la puerta
Additionally, you can see what map was the highest rated in each category:
Best gameplay: qcg_arid2
Best visuals/design: qcg_arid2
Best polish: ph_exodia
Best theme: ph_exodia
Highest-rated by the experts: cy_lumora
Highest-rated by the community: qcg_arid2
Here's the detailed table with the exact scores (Experts | Community | Combined):
| Gameplay | Design/Visuals | Polish | Theme | Final | |
| arte_dela | 3.33 | 2.68 | 3.07 | 4.22 | 3.79 | 3.20 | 4.11 | 3.35 | 3.95 | 4.56 | 3.65 | 4.16 | 3.55 | 2.97 | 2.82 |
| cy_lumora | 4.22 | 3.46 | 3.92 | 4.22 | 3.87 | 4.08 | 4.44 | 3.95 | 4.24 | 4.11 | 3.78 | 3.98 | 3.839 | 3.36 | 3.65 |
| ph_exodia | 4.22 | 3.54 | 3.95 | 4.11 | 3.92 | 4.03 | 4.44 | 4.00 | 4.266 | 4.33 | 4.10 | 4.24 | 3.837 | 3.45 | 3.68 |
| qcg_arid2 | 4.00 | 4.41 | 4.16 | 4.00 | 4.24 | 4.10 | 4.22 | 4.32 | 4.263 | 3.89 | 4.24 | 4.03 | 3.64 | 3.90 | 3.74 |
| sky_to_Acc1 | 3.44 | 2.92 | 3.23 | 3.44 | 3.66 | 3.13 | 3.89 | 3.11 | 3.58 | 3.44 | 3.22 | 3.35 | 3.36 | 2.91 | 3.18 |
| v4r_intensity2 | 3.88 | 3.30 | 3.65 | 3.78 | 3.46 | 3.65 | 4.11 | 3.65 | 3.93 | 3.67 | 3.39 | 3.54 | 3.49 | 3.10 | 3.33 |
*arte_dela's penalty: 3.32 - 0.5 = 2.82
**same-value scores are tied unless there's additional underlined tie-breaker digits
Congratz to the winners. I believe it was a very tough choice for everyone, just like it was for me. Just think about the impressiveness of our contestant match-up for a second:
arte de la puerta - The abstract KZ gameplay pioneer and the creator of the revolutionary mapping software gchimp
Chrizzy - The old-school legend whose mapping career spans DECADES
Phinx - A creative mapper wielding the power of the unique AI-generated textures
Qicg - A veteran in making high-quality hard maps
sky6666 - An aspiring and innovative newbie mapper
V4R10L4V3R4 - A talented hard-map mapper whose every map has been a major hit
Who were we supposed to vote for??? I wish I could give a 5/5 to every one of them! And honestly, it's incredible that in the 2026 mapping contest we got a whole SIX maps, despite it's much harder to create X-D maps compared to normal maps. I believe it's another reason to admire our fascinating community. Thanks to everyone who took part in the contest and contributed in any way!
By the way, in the previous news post I promised to give a shoutout to whoever's bet is the closest to the actual results. Despite nobody was that close to the real results, MART correctly predicted qcg_arid2 as the winner and had the highest overall accuracy across all ranking metrics (I used several). SAJKEE came second, and c0rn was the last.
Shoutout to MART for the closest prediction! And I believe he deserves a special prize for it... 
...Let's wish him good luck on his several upcoming cy_lumora FAMAS streams! 🤣🤣🤣
MAP RELEASE #18: TWO NEW MAPS
Yep, I have more fantastic news. Two of our contestants have been working behind the scenes to create easier versions of their maps, to make them accessible to wider audiences! I present to you:
v4r_intensity2_ez by V4R10L4V3R4 - an easier version of v4r_intensity2
 |  |
Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Type: Climb
Length: Long
DOWNLOAD V4R_INTENSITY2_EZ
ph_exodia_weak by Phinx - an easier version of ph_exodia
 |  |
Difficulty: Hard-Extreme
Type: Climb
Length: Middle
DOWNLOAD PH_EXODIA_WEAK
And I'll even let you all in on a little secret: there's actually ANOTHER mapper who's working on a _ez version of their X-D map right now. So, if your fav map wasn't among the two above, it's not all lost yet!
TEAM UPDATE
Our beloved mapper chk, whose two new maps got released recently, expressed the desire to be a part of the Map-checking Team once again. For reference, he's been a map admin back in 2020-2022 (possibly 2023 too), and demonstrated exceptional dedication to the process. So, naturally, we accepted the offer happily. Everyone, please welcome him as our new map-czecher! Hold on... I mean... map-checker* heh. Anyway, to be precise, it's actually been 3 weeks since he became part of the team again, and he's already helped us greatly. What can I say, his expertise in visual design is simply invaluable! Thanks, chk, we hope our cooperation will be long-lasting!
Much love,
Map-checking Team
P.S: I spent WAY TOO MUCH time and effort processing and compiling that accursed voting data, not to mention time spent on organizing the contest in general. Could've made my own X-D map in that time. Glad it's over.