The goal of the Pixels Camp hackathon is to single out and reward creativity and innovation by providing participants with an opportunity to work together within a time frame of 48 hours to create something awesome.
The Hackathon is the most important part of the event. Every candidate is advised to put a team together and take part in it. Participation is what makes Pixels Camp great. The more we have evidence that you participated in the hackathon and other activities, the more your chances of joining us next year improve.
The nature of your project is up to you, but we advise you to take a look at the challenges that our sponsors have prepared for this edition and pick the one that best matches your expertise and passion. Just make sure you have a prototype, product or a service to show us when the clock runs down!
We don't expect you to come to Pixels Camp just to attend a few talks, that's not the spirit. We expect you to join us for three days, all-in, participate, communicate, learn and teach, and network with the community.
We think that the past edition's blockchain based voting system was a huge success. In fact, it worked so well that we decided to build an MVP and we're launching a startup out of that idea.
This startup is called TAIKAI, a blockchain-based open innovation platform for companies, innovators, students and investors.
TAIKAI leverages on the decentralization and transparency properties that blockchain technologies promise, and uses that to allow you to pick up the winning projects of this edition's Hackathon.
The dynamics are of what you can find in the real world and a real economy.
As a participant, you're also an investor in TAIKAI and you'll be awarded with KAI coins (TAIKAI's currency token) by participating in Pixels Camp activities, or by convincing others to transfer their tokens to you.
When the voting starts, you can invest in the projects you like the most using your hard-earned tokens.
In a nutshell: every participant can be an entrepreneur, an investor, a service provider, a customer, a marketing guy, a growth strategist, a CTO looking for help, a mentor and a trader.
So here's what changed:
- The Pixels Camp hackathon will run on TAIKAI's website.
- The Hackathon projects will also be submitted through TAIKAI.
- You can log into TAIKAI using your Github account, the same that you used to apply to Pixels Camp.
- Unlike last year, there's no need for wallets or dedicated software to vote or transfer tokens.
- You can only start investing in the projects when the Hackathon ends at Saturday 1pm, just before stage presentations.
- You can, however, trade your KAI coins with anyone you wish, and prepare your own strategy for when the voting starts.
What stays the same:
-
Angels will also be listed on TAIKAI. They have more tokens than most users and will invest in the projects they think deserve it.
-
To vote in a project, you simply transfer KAI coins (tokens) to the projects you love.
-
Every investment in a project, either coming from Angels, it's team members, good friends or general participants will be entirely traceable, transparent and incorruptible, by design.
It may sound a little complicated, but there will be a section on TAIKAI in the opening Keynotes explaining everything to you in details. Plus, this document is going to be updated regularly with more information. Last, the TAIKAI team can always be reached at the Bright Pixel booth for help and support.
Let's get started with the Hackathon rules now.
Any Pixels Camp approved participant can work on a hackathon project, as long as they are on the premises during those 48 hours (within reason – you are allowed to go out and get some air, sleep in a proper bed if you want to, etc.)
Groups must be larger than 2 elements, all of whom must be Pixels Camp participants. Teams are advised to recruit elements with a wide diversity of interests that complement each other in their knowledge areas. The broader the skills in a team, the higher the probabilities to surprise the angels, investors and your peers with innovative ideas.
You can use Slack, Twitter, Pixels Camp website or TAIKAI user directory to find your team members or you can meet them IRL on site when Pixels Camp starts.
Participants can only be part of one project.
Ideas, concepts, and team organization are tasks that can be thought out before the event, but the project itself should be developed during the 48 hour period.
The hackathon projects must be submitted through TAIKAI's website.
When project registration opens, you can create one for your team.
First log into TAIKAI using your GitHub account.
Then hit "CREATE A PROJECT" in the Pixels Camp Hackathon challenge page.
From there you need provide a title for your project, an intro (it will be used in the listings) and a description of what you're planning to build with your team.
You can use Markdown in the description, to make it more attractive.
You'll need to enter the members of your team, a pretty cover image for your project, an optional video in the description and your code repository if you have one.
When you think that everything's ready for the world to see, click "Publish".
Press the "Edit" button whenever you feel like changing your project page.
Once your project is published, you'll have access to its permalinked page.
This is the page that everyone will see when your project is enabled.
In the page, you'll see the title of your project, cover, logo, description and the team.
Once it's public, you can share your project page with other participants.
TAIKAI will promote the projects as soon as they are published. The sooner you get your project page up and running, the more chances you get to be invested.
Projects will be listed on TAKAI's Pixels Camp Hackathon Challenge page and will also be highlighted on TAIKAI's homepage.
A number will be attributed to the project based on the creation date.
This will be the order by which they'll be presented on the Main Stage.
Every team member is entitled to have a seat at a table. You can ask any staff member to claim seats for your team. They will give you a special marker for your project.
You can develop your own idea, but if you choose to respond to any sponsor challenges, make sure you read the provided documentation and don't forget to mention them in your project description.
The sponsors will assign mentors that will be avaible during the event to help you with any questions you might have regarding your project. They will be wearing a lime green t-shirt with the word "mentor" so they're easily identifiable.
The programming event will last exactly 48 hours, starting on the first day. You can see the full schedule here.
Everyone should have their projects public and enabled by the 3rd day, Saturday, at 1 pm.
If you're not planning to present your project in the finals, then please disable your project.
At 2 pm, everyone presenting a project should head to the main stage for testing their laptops.
At 3 pm the final projects presentation begins. Everyone should be ready to get on stage. Projects will be called by the same order as they've been registered.
Each project will be presented on stage by a single representative team member, who'll have 90 seconds to pitch and/or demo your project.
As a viewer you should take notes about the Projects you like best. Then click on the "BACK THIS PROJECT" button to vote.
Transfer as many KAI tokens as you think the project deserves. You put the eggs in several baskets or go all-in. It's up to you!
To get a sense of what we're talking about, take a look at last year's project presentations video.
After the project presen
Pixels Camp will award the ten most well funded projects. The count will take place exactly 30 minutes after the last project presentation on Saturday.
Each of the winning projects will receive a handful of prizes, some of which offered by our sponsors and partners, and big beautiful Pixels Camp v3.0 trophy to keep by the fireplace at home, proudly.
We will also award some of the winners from fun competitions like the Quiz Show, CTF, Chasing Ghost, etc.
Finally, TAIKAI will award the top investors, that is, those who were able to accumulate more KAI tokens after the final redistribution.
We have a FAQ here too.