On April 7–8 in Kontur there was an open hakaton - a 27-hour programming marathon. Developers, testers, designers and interface designers gathered to storm the tasks. Only the topic was not working problems, but games.

The rules are simple to horror: you come without any preparations and in a day you show what you managed to do. Hackathon was held in five cities: Yekaterinburg, Izhevsk, Innopolis, Novosibirsk and Perm. For the first time we invited everyone .

I was called to judge him, and I absolutely do not regret that I spent the weekend. Today I will tell you how it was in Yekaterinburg, and I will review the best games.

I don’t know what I did, but do they take it with me?

Hackathon. 27 hours non-stop

We had 24 hours to sell, 204 participants, 5 offices, 46 teams, almost a dozen game engines, a whole sea of ​​multicolored cookies and chocolates, as well as a box of chokopays, 70 pizza boxes ordered at one in the morning, and 250 liters of energy ... Damn energy , after it delivers you so that you look like a typical programmer from the series. With loss of locomotor skills, hallucinations and loss of commits.
Vlad Babin, hackathon participant, tester

Most of the teams showed up in full, the rest of the organizers were friends right on the spot. And someone decided to hackate alone. In Yekaterinburg, participants fully occupied the first floor, including a cafe.

The organizers gave out ideas that could be used at will in their projects: cacti, bitcoins, clowns ... The hackathon began.

The organizers have prepared references if you do not know where to start.

In the cafe this weekend, too, the work was in full swing.

In the evening, the teams gathered in a conference hall, where game concepts were presented on a large screen. The teams presented projects for each other, no one gave ratings. The guys were in the soap, and this helped them briefly emerge from the trawl.

Participants who did not find a role in their teams entertained themselves: one Pythonist wrote a script that made an n-number of commits for his team, ensuring it won by this parameter. Although it did not play any role :)

Champions on commits.

It was cool to watch what the guys could do in just 9 hours.

The event has its own meme about leaked cavalry.

At night, the organizers brought an energy drink - 500 cans. In the morning there was not one.

At 01:00 bring a pizza truck. However, this day is not over: at 3:30 was the last dinner. Who could - continued to write, who could not - slept. Arranged as they could: bags, sofas on the sidelines, kontrovtsy slept in their offices.

I admire the courage of the participants.

When I first found out about the format of the event, I was amazed: I would never have decided to spend my weekend so much.

You'll never walk alone.

By 13:00 the last project was handed over. The teams that were shooting out at last could have a rest. The judging was already in full swing: each project was presented with a short trailer, and the timing of the commercials of 46 teams was 108 minutes. They were watched on the big screen, the whole room.

Results

Hackathon judged:

• Grigory Ivanov from Targem , who receives money for the development of computer games;
• Alexey Kulakov from Jetstyle , who makes live action games for over 20 years;
• Ivan Domashnikh from Kontur, who went into programming for the love of games, and now teaches our developers;
• Maxim Zakharov from Kontur, who is in charge of testing and promised to look after the quality of the games;
• and I, Sergey Usminsky, who invented several published board games. For example, the routes of the two capitals .

There were seven nominations:

• the most sticky gameplay;
• plot;
• cool technology;
• design;
• idea;
• Artificial Intelligence;
• People's Choice Award.

I'll show you the trailers of the winning teams and, where possible, share the sources on GitHub. Some participants asked not to share the code. I hope, because we still hear about these projects.

The most sticky gameplay

The prize was taken by a game about a grandmother who is trying to pass the financial statements. The guys from the circuit released steam. Grandma moves with the help of a rope, which you need to accurately cling to the bricks.

As a judge, I am very grateful to the guys who set out the essence faster than the 3 minutes allocated by the rules.

Best story

Won the sweetest game about the struggle between good and evil. The trouble is that each new skill leads the character to the dark side.

The team consisted mainly of artists, and the world really touches. But it didn’t go off alone with the pictures: the game received a prize for the highest amount of ratings in all respects.

The eye rejoices. Sources

The coolest technology

The coolest technology showed one of the few 3D shooters. In an unlucky future, bitcoin deposits are depleted. What to do?

In this game there are enemies, shelters, a train and ... a katana with the sound of a fist. Her appearance caused delight in the hall.

But you better see for yourself:

JOIN SKB KONTUR. But the game was made by the team from Tarhem . Sources

Best design

Another futuristic shooter won - "Existential run to nowhere". We decided that design is not only beauty, but also a visual language that works for the idea of ​​the game.

The developer stood the same style and fit the training mode well into the game.

Artificial Intelligence

There were few realizations of AI: most of the games had no enemies at all. And if they were, then most often they simply ran to the player. But this was not the game that the judges called “Life is the other way around.” That one, with a meme about cavalry.

The player sets up an army, and then watches how the battle is simulated. The goal of the player is to arrange the troops so as to defeat the given position of the enemy.

The game cost minimal graphics.

Sources

Prize for the best idea

The game Messenzhinarium - the desktop Imaginarium in the Telegram won. The leader comes up with a phrase, and then the players send pictures that fit it. Then vote for the most suitable.

The game does not contain graphics. Messenger is well combines successful products and due to this creates something new.

Simple and tasteful. Not a single word was said in the demonstration.

Sources

People's Choice Award

Participants voted for the cowboy duel on the cards. You must choose the action you want to do as quickly as possible. The principle is similar to “rock-paper-scissors”. It often lies at the heart of the game mechanic.

The game goes against another player. Sources

There were other interesting games.

Here is the tower defense of the Yekaterinburg TV tower , which was demolished two weeks before the hackathon. As a super-weapon Roizman is involved.

Super weapon in action.

In the game "Elon Massacre" Ilon Mask alone goes to Mars to fight the Martians.

And the game CowCar is a race in which the coverage is constantly changing. And you change shape.

Play in the browser . Sources

That's all

If you want to understand some thing, try to create it. While game designers are arguing about what a game is, 200 participants were looking for an answer to practice. Of course, it was not easy. Someone limited to copying the form, forgetting about the content. Someone drowned in humor, which filled the project and ousted the game from it. Someone went beyond the marathon, not calculating the force. Someone made a good game, but could not present it.

But the game is not graphics, not monsters or trash. The game should be fun to play. Messengerinearium and "Life on the contrary" prove that for an interesting graphic project it is just one of the tools at the disposal of the game designer.

Sources of games on GitHub.
Game trailers on YouTube.