From participating in the hackathon to winning the Imagine Cup
We have already written about the victory of the IzHard team at the international final of the Imagine Cup and about their further success. In just one year, meeting last year at the Imagine Cup hackathon, the guys not only made a great game, but also agreed to release it by Nekki . Below we publish the story of the team itself about this fascinating way. And we remind you that if you want to repeat their success, you should visit one of the Imagine Cup hackathons that we hold in 8 cities of Russia. By the way, the hackathon in St. Petersburg will begin tonight !
Hello friends!
')
This is the IzHard team, and today we will tell a little about ourselves and our Imagine Cup.
First of all, it’s worth mentioning that there are four people in our team: Daria Chernova, Daria Kruzhinskaya, Alexander Vilasak, Ivan Sery. We make games. Rather, one game - OVIVO. But the IzHard team is already a studio, and we are not going to stop.
Since we are an indie studio, each of us performs different tasks:
At the head of the studio is Sasha Vilasak. He also came up with a concept on the hackathon, held on the eve of the regional stage of the Imagine Cup. The backbone of the team gathered there.
The idea was simple, but elegant - optical illusions, the game of black and white colors. For the game you need a mechanic. Along with this demand, a protagonist appeared, later called OVO. And the hero needs the ability. But first, they decided to give him a restriction - he does not know how to jump. Formally, he is only allowed to walk left-right and change the color of his stay (did not forget: are we talking about playing with black and white flowers?).
Click on the picture to play the demo web version of the game.
Thus, the concept of a black and white 2d platform game with puzzle elements, where there is no jump button, appeared. It remained to compensate for the "disability" of our hero. The jump to him replaced the "swap": switching between colors, the main character himself changes color, and slightly jumps on the reverse side of the contour. And if you stop without stopping, the OVO impulse, its inertia, is preserved. The amplitude of the jump increases, which means our hero can already jump to heights.
Then it was a little further: to invent a level or two and become the best on the hackathon. We were recognized as such. And invited to the regional stage Imagine up in St. Petersburg. Preparation for it was carried on: new levels were needed, it was necessary to set up physics, to get rid of many bugs. Days flashed, no one noticed them, and the regional stage rose to its full height ... And it was over. Not without nerves and experiences, but surely.
Although this very confidence after Peter has become much less. After all, further loomed the national stage, a trip to Moscow and competition between teams from all over the country. And this is serious. A good presentation, high-quality build and some handouts became the main fighting tools in Moscow. They brought us victory, but revealed a serious challenge for the future - the presentation should be better: we should be better prepared, and we ourselves should better stand on the stage and better prepare our speech.
We passed Moscow, but did not yet know that we would get to Seattle. There was an online selection, after which the project from only one of the three directions (games, social projects, innovations) will reach the final. This was done by OVIVO, our game. No words.
Our joys knew no bounds - on the one hand. On the other - it was scary. Well, Peter, Moscow, online, but the international final is somewhere in Seattle ... Something beyond. We began to prepare as we never prepared for anything. It was decided to make a presentation on Unity3d. And make a separate playable level instead of dozens of slides, where we talked about the main features and development plans of the project. Playable build until the last moment polished.
Then everything is in a fog. Flight to the States, trips, impressions, final preparation for the final, presentation is ready, performance before the jury and ... applause? Surprise, anticipation ... Winning the Best Game nomination? Victory? Victory! Hugs in Seattle, dancing joy in St. Petersburg. And a clear understanding that you can now open a studio. The prize for the victory was fifty thousand dollars. Money grant + savings = OVIVO game has a chance to become better, more, more interesting in real terms and publish the way we want it.
It all started with the hackathon , friends. Participate and win!
Hello friends!
')
This is the IzHard team, and today we will tell a little about ourselves and our Imagine Cup.
First of all, it’s worth mentioning that there are four people in our team: Daria Chernova, Daria Kruzhinskaya, Alexander Vilasak, Ivan Sery. We make games. Rather, one game - OVIVO. But the IzHard team is already a studio, and we are not going to stop.
Since we are an indie studio, each of us performs different tasks:
- Dasha Chernova - finance, art, graphics;
- Dasha Kruzhinskaya - level design, art, graphics;
- Sasha - game design, technical implementation, leader;
- Ivan - narrative design, marketing.
At the head of the studio is Sasha Vilasak. He also came up with a concept on the hackathon, held on the eve of the regional stage of the Imagine Cup. The backbone of the team gathered there.
The idea was simple, but elegant - optical illusions, the game of black and white colors. For the game you need a mechanic. Along with this demand, a protagonist appeared, later called OVO. And the hero needs the ability. But first, they decided to give him a restriction - he does not know how to jump. Formally, he is only allowed to walk left-right and change the color of his stay (did not forget: are we talking about playing with black and white flowers?).
Click on the picture to play the demo web version of the game.
Thus, the concept of a black and white 2d platform game with puzzle elements, where there is no jump button, appeared. It remained to compensate for the "disability" of our hero. The jump to him replaced the "swap": switching between colors, the main character himself changes color, and slightly jumps on the reverse side of the contour. And if you stop without stopping, the OVO impulse, its inertia, is preserved. The amplitude of the jump increases, which means our hero can already jump to heights.
Then it was a little further: to invent a level or two and become the best on the hackathon. We were recognized as such. And invited to the regional stage Imagine up in St. Petersburg. Preparation for it was carried on: new levels were needed, it was necessary to set up physics, to get rid of many bugs. Days flashed, no one noticed them, and the regional stage rose to its full height ... And it was over. Not without nerves and experiences, but surely.
Although this very confidence after Peter has become much less. After all, further loomed the national stage, a trip to Moscow and competition between teams from all over the country. And this is serious. A good presentation, high-quality build and some handouts became the main fighting tools in Moscow. They brought us victory, but revealed a serious challenge for the future - the presentation should be better: we should be better prepared, and we ourselves should better stand on the stage and better prepare our speech.
We passed Moscow, but did not yet know that we would get to Seattle. There was an online selection, after which the project from only one of the three directions (games, social projects, innovations) will reach the final. This was done by OVIVO, our game. No words.
Our joys knew no bounds - on the one hand. On the other - it was scary. Well, Peter, Moscow, online, but the international final is somewhere in Seattle ... Something beyond. We began to prepare as we never prepared for anything. It was decided to make a presentation on Unity3d. And make a separate playable level instead of dozens of slides, where we talked about the main features and development plans of the project. Playable build until the last moment polished.
Then everything is in a fog. Flight to the States, trips, impressions, final preparation for the final, presentation is ready, performance before the jury and ... applause? Surprise, anticipation ... Winning the Best Game nomination? Victory? Victory! Hugs in Seattle, dancing joy in St. Petersburg. And a clear understanding that you can now open a studio. The prize for the victory was fifty thousand dollars. Money grant + savings = OVIVO game has a chance to become better, more, more interesting in real terms and publish the way we want it.
It all started with the hackathon , friends. Participate and win!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/268925/
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