SHAPE Hackathon recap: See what happens when super heroes and augmented reality come together

On July 8th and 9th, we hosted the AT&T SHAPE Hackathon in Los Angeles at Cross Campus Downtown LA. Over 450 people showed up to the event and formed 74 teams to work on entertainment-centric apps. There were plenty of competitions for attendees to enter at this hackathon and the developers stepped up to the challenge creating some truly fun and interactive experiences.

We provided plenty of food, caffeine, sample code, and experts who could help the hackers get started. Who could forget all the robots on hand. We had the space filled with so many interesting things and new learning opportunities that teams couldn’t help but to be inspired. In fact, at this hackathon, coders had access to materials featuring D.C. comic heroes and didn’t hesitate to create apps that brought these character into the real world. After a round of lighting talks discussing all the challenges and materials available, hackers got to work and spent the next 24 hours coming up with some truly inspired apps.

SHAPE Hackathon Winners

As mentioned, there were quite a few challenges at this hackathon including opportunities from DC Legends, Warner Bros., IBM Watson, Robotis, Oculus Rift, and others. While we awarded most of the prizes at the hackathon, we held off announcing the winners of the Best Overall Entertainment App. Instead, we invited the three finalists to show off their apps the following weekend at SHAPE, which was held at Warner Bros. Studios on July 14th and 15th. Once there they demo’d their apps for attendees who got to vote for their favorites. In the end, our judges and attendees picked the following winners:

Best Overall Entertainment App

1st Place: D.C. Scene It – $20,000 in cash for the team

“This app integrates the future of entertainment and advertising. Use the app to create custom mixed reality scenes co-starring your favorite D.C. characters. You can select the hero, animations, and filters and add it to the scene and then share it on social media. D.C. Scene It creates AdBlock proof user generated advertising. Who wouldn’t want to share something they were a part of? Get D.C. Scene It today and become legendary.”

2nd Place: TimeShow – $10,000 in cash for the team

“Watch your favorite shows with your friends, even when they’re not there! As you watch your show, you can use the app to create voice clips, texts, and stickers, and then share it with friends and family. When they watch the same show, they’ll be able to see your reactions at the moment they happened when you initially viewed the show.”

3rd Place: StoryboardAR – $5,000 in cash for the team

“Create comic books in augmented reality (AR). People can use StoryboardAR to create scenes with their favorite comic book characters, pose them in the real world, create dialogue bubbles, and take pictures. They can then turn all of those images into a digital comic book.”