My story of the Imagine Cup, or how our ships sailed to the finals
Hello! In this article I will tell you about our participation in the competition Imagine Cup, conducted by Microsoft. About what is the sea of positive and innovation and why it is worth doing such nonsense as IT start-ups.
Since 2012 we started playing games. Began, of course, with mobile phones. We released several games that were relatively successful, as it seemed to us then.
It so happened that in February of this year we got into Games Jam Kanobu, where new people joined our team, with whom we began to make a browser game about ships.
Actually, at this competition, Microsoft selected several projects that received a quota for participation in the very final of the Imagine Cup in Moscow. Among these lucky ones we were ...
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We make a browser-based online game about the battles of sailing ships, in the “ethnopunk” setting developed by us. This setting models a pagan, occult civilization that has mastered navigation. Ethnopunk implies an alternative development of humanity with a general stylization of the era of the Vikings, Indians and pirates.
In the game, you can participate in the session sea battles, or explore the open world, to conduct maritime trade and rob ships.
The game is developed using Unity 3D technology in conjunction with SmartFox Server. For hosting the test server, Windows Azure is used.
Participation in such a competition aroused a genuine interest in our team. We have begun a rapid preparation for the event. We collected a fresh demo version, shot a teaser video and even found sponsors.
Initially, we were preparing to show our game to as many users as possible and get as many reviews as possible. It was interesting for us to get feedback from the jury of the competition, but we are playing for the players, and it was very important for us to get feedback from them. Therefore, it was initially decided to spend the main efforts on holding events at the exhibition of projects. We prepared a lot of gifts for our guests and collected a demo in which we could evaluate the possibilities of our project.
We spent the first day of the competition at the Microsoft Technology Center, in which there were a lot of interesting things, including lectures on innovative entrepreneurship and public speaking.
The next day, the final was held in the office of Mail.ru Group. We were very tired, held contests, presented our project to the jury and, most importantly, received a lot of feedback from users. At the stand we held competitions with valuable prizes, and also distributed a mountain of gifts.
At this event was an amazing atmosphere. There was a lot of running around, excitement, but at the same time everything was very cool. We enjoyed it a lot, even though we didn’t win this time. We will definitely participate in the Imagine Cup next year to once again feel its indescribable atmosphere, when you do not feel oppressive competition, but simply enjoy the participation in such a wonderful event, from communication with participants and organizers.
We continue to work on the project. And in the near future we have - to get to Igromir 2014, if we manage to find sponsors for holding this event. Already in October of this year we will try to launch at least a closed alpha.
Imagine Cup gave us a lot of strength and energy, probably for the year ahead, in order to work on our product and show it to the world.
From myself, I would like to wish students: do not go to work in boring outsourcing companies, do not sell your youth for $ 4 per hour. You are capable of more. Be creative, create your own products and everything will work out for you.
our team
Since 2012 we started playing games. Began, of course, with mobile phones. We released several games that were relatively successful, as it seemed to us then.
It so happened that in February of this year we got into Games Jam Kanobu, where new people joined our team, with whom we began to make a browser game about ships.
Actually, at this competition, Microsoft selected several projects that received a quota for participation in the very final of the Imagine Cup in Moscow. Among these lucky ones we were ...
')
Our project
We make a browser-based online game about the battles of sailing ships, in the “ethnopunk” setting developed by us. This setting models a pagan, occult civilization that has mastered navigation. Ethnopunk implies an alternative development of humanity with a general stylization of the era of the Vikings, Indians and pirates.
A couple of screenshots
In the game, you can participate in the session sea battles, or explore the open world, to conduct maritime trade and rob ships.
The game is developed using Unity 3D technology in conjunction with SmartFox Server. For hosting the test server, Windows Azure is used.
Final Imagine Cup in Moscow
Participation in such a competition aroused a genuine interest in our team. We have begun a rapid preparation for the event. We collected a fresh demo version, shot a teaser video and even found sponsors.
Initially, we were preparing to show our game to as many users as possible and get as many reviews as possible. It was interesting for us to get feedback from the jury of the competition, but we are playing for the players, and it was very important for us to get feedback from them. Therefore, it was initially decided to spend the main efforts on holding events at the exhibition of projects. We prepared a lot of gifts for our guests and collected a demo in which we could evaluate the possibilities of our project.
We spent the first day of the competition at the Microsoft Technology Center, in which there were a lot of interesting things, including lectures on innovative entrepreneurship and public speaking.
The next day, the final was held in the office of Mail.ru Group. We were very tired, held contests, presented our project to the jury and, most importantly, received a lot of feedback from users. At the stand we held competitions with valuable prizes, and also distributed a mountain of gifts.
At this event was an amazing atmosphere. There was a lot of running around, excitement, but at the same time everything was very cool. We enjoyed it a lot, even though we didn’t win this time. We will definitely participate in the Imagine Cup next year to once again feel its indescribable atmosphere, when you do not feel oppressive competition, but simply enjoy the participation in such a wonderful event, from communication with participants and organizers.
What's next
We continue to work on the project. And in the near future we have - to get to Igromir 2014, if we manage to find sponsors for holding this event. Already in October of this year we will try to launch at least a closed alpha.
Total
Imagine Cup gave us a lot of strength and energy, probably for the year ahead, in order to work on our product and show it to the world.
From myself, I would like to wish students: do not go to work in boring outsourcing companies, do not sell your youth for $ 4 per hour. You are capable of more. Be creative, create your own products and everything will work out for you.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/222785/
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