Aiming for a number of prizes, honour, and glory, thirty competitors entered July’s #hackwithus last weekend. They were grouped into small teams and tasked with a mysterious objective. Teams were initially aware that they were to code a victorious artificial intelligence program for a multiplayer game, but the logistics and setting were entirely unbeknownst to them prior to the mission briefing. The competitors entered the doors of Tectoria excited for what was to come: hours of friendly competition full of pizza, refreshments, and victory.
Upon their arrival into the event sponsored by Tectoria, Sendwithus, Kiind, crowdcontent, and Pretio Interactive, participants soon discovered that they were to #hackwithus by manipulating and playing a game of classic snake with a twist. Developed by the Sendwithus team, the game was multiplayer snake all controlled by AI-based players. Though its appearance and game-play may have initially appeared quite simple, the competition was far from easy. In fact, things were quite intense as each team watched their snake battle for food and mere survival.
Participants flocked in from many different fields of expertise in Victoria’s tech community as sponsors pitched in to help facilitate the event’s success. Providing the location and setting for the competition was Tectoria, an organization aiming to foster growth in the number of successful technology companies that start and grow in the Victoria area.
Our team at Sendwithus took charge of hosting the #hackwithus day, which was also supported in part by three other sponsors: the zero-waste gift campaigners at Kiind, the producers of the web’s freshest and most relevant written content at crowdcontent, and Pretio Interactive, a turn-key rewards and loyalty service. Ultimately proving to be a great success, the event aimed to foster an environment conducive to fostering team rapport, creative imagination, and fun!
“Our Hackday provided an opportunity to bring together talent and innovation to create something very cool and unique,” explained Matt Harris. As one of the cofounders here at Sendwithus, he entered the competition along with several other members of our team. It is likely they all hoped for a little luck with home court advantage, but there could only be one winner.
Participants were finally bested by the phenomenal duo of team “DumbSnake”, which was led in part by Steven Burgoyne, a developer at crowdcontent. He explained, “Though competition was fierce and the objective was a challenge, we managed to achieve our goals without too many hiccups.” With a single victory under his belt, we certainly hope to see him again at future events along with many more challengers.
Special thanks to everyone who participated and helped make the inaugural event a great success. We hope that everyone had an absolute blast. Special thanks to our sponsors: Sendwithus, Tectoria, Kiind, crowdcontent, and Pretio Interactive for helping with the location, refreshments, and development of the event. We hope to see you out for our next #hackwithus opportunity, where only time will tell what challenges competitors will come to face.
