Virtual Event timeline:
March. 19th 5:00 pm - event kickoff zoom call
March. 20th 5:30 pm- coding begins
March. 21th 12:00 pm - coding ends, video + project submissions due, judging/ playtime
March. 21th 1:00 pm - winners announced
Due to Covid, the annual hackathon put on by the Blackstone Launchpad in conjunction with ACM and AWC will not be in person this year but will be a fully virtual weekend event! There will be a discord server and mentor video zoom calls to keep check-in and keep tabs (or trash talk) on the competition. At the end of the event, teams will submit a video and any additional supporting materials to be judged by the panel of industry professionals, and teams are welcome to see what everyone else made.
Who Should Come: This event is open to anyone interested in programming, no matter their experience. We especially welcome computer science majors, graphic designers, and business majors. This year due to the virtual nature of the event, the event is not just open to MSU students, but all university students in Montana.
Project Planning: The event will start with one hour of planning and ideation for each team's prototype idea, you are welcome to ideate and think of the idea that you want to code before the event starts, but you should not start coding for the project until the event officially starts. This time also allows solo contestants to find teams.
Coding Starts: Beginning at 5PM, your team will have over 36 hours to build a prototype app, game, or website.
Demo to Judges: Teams will submit a video of their project and if applicable a playable version of their project 12PM on Sunday to demonstrate their project to the other teams and our panel of judges.
Assemble your team
Teams consist of 3-5 students; the exact composition is up to you. Students are urged to sign up with a pre-assembled team. However, if you sign up solo, there will be plenty of interesting teams to join. LaunchCats and ACM will help to find the team that best fits you. You are also welcome to compete solo if you desire.
Super Support
Building prototypes is hard work, but you won’t have to face it alone. Throughout the event, professional mentors from around the community will be hanging out on the discord and can drop in via zoom to see your progress and help find solutions to any problems you may have.
What to build
Prototypes are expected to be complex enough to fill the time window but simple enough for the team to have made significant progress by the event’s finish. Some teams may choose projects that take longer than 36 hours to complete, but will still be expected to demonstrate the product’s core functionality.
For example, a team is not expected to finish all levels necessary for a full-length video game. However, they should be able to demonstrate the game’s full mechanics. Likewise, a messenger app doesn't need to show the finished UI, but the core messaging service should be functional.
Additionally, we will provide prompts proposed by local businesses for teams that prefer a more focused challenge.
Any questions feel free to reach out to Andrew Nakas Nakas@msulaunchpad.org