Unity Technologies, creator of real-time 3D development platform, announced their first gaming hackathon in India in partnership with BYJU’S, the world’s most valuable EdTech company. The event, which started on 16 October 2019, is two weeks challenge will bring together over 1300 budding and professional game developers, artists and designers from across India to come up with creative solutions to disrupt the way kids learn today using innovative games and interactive formats.
The hackathon aims to develop games/simulations/interactive formats for children under eight years of age. Developers behind the top 15 entries in Unity Hackathon 2019 will have the opportunity to present their work to a panel of industry experts at the third edition of Unite India in Kochi from 14 to 15 November 2019, while the ultimate winners will walk away with cash prizes worth Rs3,00,000. In addition to the hackathon, Unity and BYJU’S have formulated three challenges to give the participants a real sense of the excitement and thrill behind developing highly innovative learning games. Winners of these challenges will get the opportunity to win an additional cash prize up to Rs 50,000 per challenge.
On announcing the partnership, BYJU’S chief product officer Ranjit Radhakrishnan, said, “We strongly believe that the power of gaming is truly realised when your solutions manage to demystify concepts and actually help someone become a better, life-long learner. These four unique challenges will offer a great perspective to developers and designers about how much the learning ecosystem has evolved and how their skills can generate unbelievable impact in this industry. At BYJU’S, we are committed to disrupting learning with highly innovative gameplay and delight our students with unmatched learning experiences.”
Anumukonda Ramesh, country manager, India subcontinent, Unity Technologies said “We are very excited about the partnership which brings forward the first-ever skilling hackathon in India to solve real-world challenges with emerging technologies. The purpose of this hackathon is to bring together creative ideas on how to use the new age technologies in bringing awareness and crafting a digitized learning environment for children.”
This is a flagship initiative by Unity Technologies in partnership with BYJU’S – The Learning App and Skillenza.
About the events:
Hackathon: Build a game/simulation/interactive format that serves a playground for kids to explore, experiment and learn via play.
Game Design Challenge: Craft a design that uses rich ways of learning via innovative gameplay mechanics, art and narratives at your advantage.
2D Game Art Challenge: Create entertaining and engaging game art and elements for young kids.
2D Animation Challenge: Breathe life & personality into a character and tell a story by using just animation.
