14 DAY TRIAL // After disappointing quite a lot of Dota 2 players with the news that it won't be organizing a Frostivus 2014 winter event, as it wants to focus on new features for the game, Valve confirms that creative fans can now start submitting content for the upcoming New Bloom Festival 2015 that takes place in February of next year.
Dota 2 is played by tens of millions of fans from around the world, but as you can imagine, the free-to-play experience is really popular in Asia, particularly in China. As such, Valve caters quite a bit more to that region of the world, and after canceling Diretide 2014 or Frostivus 2014, two traditional events, in order to focus on overhauling the game's engine, it's making sure that New Bloom Festival 2015 is still coming right around the Chinese New Year.
Players can already submit items that might appear in New Bloom 2015
Now, in order to give creative Dota 2 fans enough time to make some items for the game, Valve reveals on the official statement the rules that, when followed, should make their content appear much easier inside the game come New Bloom 2015.
First up, content creators must mark their submissions with the Spring2015 tag when placing the items in the Steam Workshop and the deadline is until January 19, 2015, so you might want to do this sooner rather than later. Those who want to get involved with the process should visit the Workshop for Dota 2 and start voting through their queue of items.
Different restrictions are in place for the new event
Valve also highlights that new restrictions are in place for Dota 2's New Bloom 2015 event, as while items need to be based "around the themes of Chinese New Year, Chinese history, and springtime," they must also avoid using specific elements.
These include dragons and written Chinese characters, but also traditionally taboo things like skulls and even some awkward restrictions concerning class differences.
"This time around we would like to ask artists to avoid the use of dragons and written Chinese characters, as well any concepts that involve human skulls, blood and gore. Additionally, to have the best chance of having your work make it into the game, please be careful not to mix cultural concepts in your designs, such as traditional divisions between the dress of children and adults, warriors and civilians and upper and lower classes," the studio explains.
A technical restriction concerning custom particles is also present, as Valve is reworking the way the workshop particle mechanics behave, so players shouldn't use them in the items they submit for New Bloom 2015.
The actual event takes place in February of 2015, so expect to hear more during and around that time.
