Sierra just sent along word that they're offering a bounty for TeamFortress Classic levels that will be included with Gearbox' upcoming Half-Life add-on, Opposing Force. In addition to being part of a commercial release, the level authors will earn $1,000 (from my Doom level making days I think that's about .25¢ an hour, but a thousand bucks is a thousand bucks!). Here's the deal:

Bounty Offered for New Team Fortress Classic™ Levels Three User-made Levels to be Included in Half-Life: Opposing Force™

Bellevue, WA (August 12, 1999) - Sierra Studios today announced that it is now accepting new Team Fortress Classic (TFC) levels for inclusion in Half-Life: Opposing Force (Op For), the official game expansion for Valve's award-winning 3D action thriller.

To enter, users go to WON.net and then follow the directions for submitting their TFC levels at the following URL: http://www.won.net/lounge/contests/opposingforce/. Then, a panel of judges from Valve and Gearbox Software will select three winning levels for inclusion in the official game expansion. In addition to being listed in the game credits, each of the winning level editors will earn $1,000 for their work.

"The amount of high-quality content being created for Half-Life and TFC by the mod community and other amateur developers is incredible," says Gabe Newell co-founder and managing director of Valve. "We hope this effort will help spawn the creation of even more great content and give exposure to the people creating it."

"Many of the most renowned designers started out by making mods and custom levels for popular commercial games," says Randy Pitchford, director and chief designer of Gearbox Software. "We feel it's very important to give the most talented designers from the community a chance to have their creations showcased. And, we feel this is yet another great component of Half-Life: Opposing Force."