Blvcker Hackathon

Contents

• Welcome To The Blvcker Hackathon
  • Background and Context
  • Hackathon Schedule
  • Rules
  • Perks and Prizes
  • FAQs
  • Housekeeping
  • Tips
• Teams
• Building
  • Resources
  • What to Build
    • Core Features
    • Comlpementary Features
• Projects and Submissions
  • Example Project Tree Structure
  • Project Folder and Files Overview
  • Ways to Submit
    • Create A Branch in the Blvcker Hackathon Repo
    • Upload Project to Google Drive
  • How Projects are Evaluated
• Presentations
  • Preparing Your Presentation
  • Delivering Your Presentation
• Configuration
  • Installing Unity
    • On Windows
    • On Mac
  • Installing Git
• Credits
  • Sponsors
  • Blvcker Team
  • Mentors

Welcome to the Blvcker Hackathon

Background and Context

What is Blvcker?

An app created with a deeper knowledge and appreciation of spades culture. We have taken our time to insure that we have created a gameplay experience that is as close to real life as possible.

Why this hackathon needed to exist?

We’re calling all software developers, UI/UX designers, project managers, and anyone interested in tech to compete in developing a live streaming feature for the Blvcker spades app. Also, this event offers a specific space to innovate, network, and shine within the tech community!

The Challenge: What Blvcker is Looking For

• Ideation
  • Fresh perspectives to:
    • Assess our current concepts.
    • Suggest enhancements (or new features).
    • Revolutionize the user experience.
• UI/UX Design
  • Functional and/or aesthetic enhancement
  • Improving usability through a more engaging, intutive interface.
• Technical Development
  • Building on proivded UI assets to create robust game streaming features.

Hackathon Schedule

Day 0: September 3 (Pre-hackathon)

Time Frame	Activity
12:00pm	Participant reminder, update with resources, links.

Day 1: September 4 (Hackathon Starts)

Time Frame	Activity
10:00am - 10:20am	Check-in, receive team assignment
10:30am - 11:00am	Welcome and opening remarks
11:11am	Morning Hacking session
1:00pm - 2:00pm	Lunch, Spades Tutorial
2:15pm	Afternoon hacking
5:00pm - 7:00pm	Option to attend BITCON Networking Mixer
7:15pm - 10:00pm	Evening hacking session

Day 2: September 5 (Enjoy Conference, Work remotely)

Time Frame	Activity
all-day	Remote session, use Blvcker Discord for updates, comms.
by 8:00pm	Presentation order announced.

Day 3: September 6 (Blvcker Launch Party Sponsored by Square)

Time Frame	Activity
by 3:00pm	Team projects must be turned in.
5:00pm	Launch party begins.
6:10pm - 7:00pm	Project presentations.
7:10pm - 7:40pm	Project judging and deliberations.
7:20pm - 7:40pm	Blvcker Investor Pitch
7:45pm	Hackathon winners announced.

Rules

• To be considered for prizes, team must submit a folder of work.
• Teams must submit original work.
  • Submissions cannot be a copy of another team's work.
  • Previously completed work (example: something you did @ previous hackathon) is not acceptable.
• AI tools are allowed for code generation only.
  • If generated code doesn't run, this will have a negative impact on project evaluation.
• Each team will have a maximum of five minutes to present their projects.
• Teams sizes are between 2-5 members.
• Submission Requirements:
  • There are 2 ways to submit
    • Make a branch on the Blvcker Hackathon repository
    • Upload project to Blvcker Project Submission Drive
  • Short Description of Project
  • Demo video (3 minute max)
  • Presentation slides.
• Submission Deadline is September 6 @ 3:00pm.

Perks and Prizes

• All Participants receive the following:
  • General Admission BITCON ticket
  • BLVCKERHACKER lanyard attachment.
  • BLVCKERHACKER t-shirt
  • Opportunities to meet with recruiters from sponsors, Square and Intuit.
• Winning Teams (each member of the team) receive the following:
  • Ticket to BITCON Benefit Concert featuring Rick Ross.
  • Blvck Spades prize pack

FAQs

1. Can I start working on my project prior ot hackathon? No. All coding must be done during designated hackathon hours.
2. What happens if I encounter technical issues during the event? Reach out in-person or in the Discord's #tech.
3. Are there prizes for winners? Yes, winners will receive a Blvck Spades prize pack, tickets to the BITCON Benefit Concert featuring Rick Ross, potential paid opportunities, exclusive meetings with Square recruiters, and more.

Housekeeping

• Join the Blvcker Discord for all updates.
• Respect your teammates, other teams, sponsors, mentors, and yourself. Respect the game.
• Use appropriate channels for your messages.
• Don't spam or share inappropriate content.
• All participants will be assigned the @participant role in the Blvcker Discord

Tips

• Plan ahead
  • Things to consider:
    • Who from the team will submit the project?
    • How does the team want to split up the work?
• Refer to the Blvcker Discord and Blvcker Hackathon repository as much as needed.
• Keep a checklist.
• Spend more time building/creating than contemplating on what to build.
• Outline, update your presentation as you go.
• Build your demo video as early as possible.
• Breakdown your big task(s) into sub-tasks.
• Ask for help early (and often).
  • Use the #technical-support channel in the Blvcker Discord
  • Use the mentors in the room for feedback as you build.
    • Online: Tag @mentor or @admin for specific help.
    • In-person: Flag someone down.
• Stay active
  • Enable notifications for important channels.
  • Check discord regularly for updates and announcements.

Teams

• ♦️ Diamonds
• ❤️ Hearts
• ♠️ Spades
• ♣️ Clubs

Building

Resources

• Assets, Templates, and Resources folder
• Blvker Figma Boards
• Blvcker Hackathon repository
• Blvcker Discord
• Cursor: AI Code Editor
• Blvcker Project Submission Drive

What To Build?

Core Features

• In-game Voice Chat
  • Real-time voice interactions for up to four players.
• Text Chat Stream
  • Dynamic commenting and spectating as game happens in real-time.
• Up Next Feature
  • A queue system allowing spectators to join games easily.

Complementary Features (Additional Builder Pathways)

• Content Moderation
  • Chat filtering for content which demeans overall gaming experience.
    • Slurs and other derogatory/racist remarks.
    • Harrassment patterns.
• Profile Plus-ups
  • Badges
• Gameplay Moderation
  • Detecting bot players.
  • Detecting cheating.
• Wagering System
• Tournament Creation System
• Marketing, Promotion
• Gameplay Manual
• Scoring System
• Experimental Gameplay Modes
  • Things to consider:
    • Is there some new way to play Spades?
    • Are there game modes which would enhance the user experience?

Projects and Submissions

Example Project Tree Structure

    BLVCKERHACKER_BITCON24_TEAMNAME
    |--- README.md
    |--- presentation
         |--- BLVCKERHACKER_BITCON24_<TEAMNAME>_PRES.pdf
         |--- BLVCKERHACKER_BITCON24_<TEAMNAME>_DEMO-VIDEO.mov
    |--- assets
         |--- build-files
              |--- ui-update.psd
         |--- screens-images
              |--- ui-update_screen-a.png
    |--- src (custom source code lives here)

Project Folder and Files Overview

• README.md
  • Needs to Include
    • Team Name
    • Team Members
    • Project Theme
      • Core Feature: OR Complementary Feature:
    • Solution:
      • Why this particular solution?
      • Other solutions considered
    • Challenges/Obstacles
    • Basic instructions on how to run/test your code
      • This only applies to teams who wrote code.
  • There is a README template in the Assets, Templates, and Resources folder
• presentation folder
  • Contains the team's presentation file.
    • Use this naming convention: BLVCKERHACKER_BITCON24_TEAMNAME_PRES.pdf
      • Example: BLVCKERHACKER_BITCON24_CLUBS_PRES.pdf
• assets folder
  • Contains
    • image files of any UI screens.
    • build file (figma, photoshop, .etc)
• src folder
  • contains source code (if you wrote code)

Ways to Submit

Create A Branch in the Blvcker Hackathon Repo

Familiar with GitHub? Awesome.

• Check if Git is installed.
  • From terminal (console): git --version
    • If this returns something similiar to git version 2.46.0, git is installed.
    • If not: refer to section on installing git
• Clone Blvcker Hackathon repository.
  • git clone <https://github.com/BlvckerOwner/blvckerhackathon>
• Create a branch within the Blvcker Hackathon repository.
  • git branch <branchname=team-name>
    • example: git branch hearts
• Change into your branch
  • git checkout <branch-name>
    • example: git checjout hearts

Upload Project to Google Drive

Not overly familiar with Git? No problem.

Prepare an organized folder of your project and upload to the Blvcker Project Submission Drive. Please use this naming format for submissions: BLVCKERHACKER_BITCON24_TEAMNAME_PROJECT

How Projects are Evaluated

• Technical Implementation (25%)
• Functionality and Completeness (25%)
• Presentation and Demo (25%)
• Innovation and Creativity (25%)

Presentation

Preparing Your Presentation

Delivering Your Presentation

Configuration

Installing Unity

On Windows

1. Visit Unity download page
2. Click on "Download Unity Hub"
3. Once Downloaded, run UNityhubSetup.exe
4. Follow installation wizard.
5. Open Unity Hub after installation.
6. In Unity Hub, go to the "Installs" tab
7. Click "Add" and select the latest Long Term Support (LTS) version of Unity.
8. In the components selection, ensure "Microsoft Visual Studio Community" is checked.
9. Complete the installation process
10. Once installed, create a new project to verify the installation

On Mac

1. Visit the Unity download page.
2. Click on "Download Unity Hub"
3. Once downloaded, open the UnityHubSetup.dmg file
4. Drag the Unity Hub icon to the Applications folder
5. Open Unity Hub from the Applications folder
6. In Unity Hub, go to the "Installs" tab
7. Click "Add" and select the latest Long Term Support (LTS) version of Unity.
8. In the components selection, ensure "Microsoft Visual Studio for Mac" is checked.
9. Complete the installation process.
10. Once installed, create a new project to verify the installation.

Installing Git

• Create a GitHub account
  • If you don't have a GitHub account, create a github account.
• Install Git:
  • For Windows
    • Download Git for Windows
  • For Mac
    • Install via Homebrew
      • brew install git
    • Download Git for Mac
• Configure Git
  • Open terminal or command prompt
  • Change into your home directory
    • cd $HOME (on Mac) Works on Mac and in Windows' PowerShell
  • Clone the hackathon repository
    • git clone https://github.com/BlvckerOwner/blvckerhackathon
  • Setup user name and email
    • git config --global user.name <your-name>
      • example: git config --global user.name jack
    • git config --global user.email "your_email@example.com"
      • example: git config --global user.email jack@me.com
• Change into Cloned repository
  • cd <path-to-repositroy>
    • example: cd $HOME/blvckerhackathon
• Check contents of repository
  • On Mac: ls
  • On Windows: dir

Credits

Sponsors

Blvker Team

Mentors