Virtual reality is still in need of great experiences to bring to the masses, and MSI wants to help make them with its latest game jam.
The desktop and laptop maker’s MSI VR JAM is now on, running until December 15th. It’s offering hopeful Oculus Rift and HTC Vive developers over $80,000 in prizes as it searches for great new PC-based VR experiences. Got an idea? You’ll need to get registered via an official website and submit your pitch by 11:59 pm (UTC +8) on October 31st. After that you’ll have A month and a half to finish off your big idea, meeting milestones along the way.
https://youtu.be/PNfoThccyD4
You’re free to make pretty much anything you want, but judges will be looking for out for a few specific areas in each project. 40% of the finalist judging will be based on your project’s fun factor, interaction, engagement and immersion, while another 30% will look for innovation in VR mechanics. 20% will then be focused on the optimization of the experience to MSI’s own set of specs, while the overall completion of the project by deadline will count for 5% and integration an MSI logo or pattern takes up the final 5%.
Finalists should be announced on December 23rd, while the top three overall winners will be revealed on December 28th. Judges include MSI Marketing Director, Sam Chern, Futuretown CEO, Johan Yang, Unity Evangelist Kelvin Lo, and WEARVR COO, Andrew Douthwaite.
But what, you ask, is actually up for grabs? Well, first place is definitely something to shoot for; you’ll get a $30,000 cash prize, a GP62M VR GeForce GTX 1060 Notebook, a one year Unity license, and the chance to travel to Taipei, Taiwan early next year to speak at the Taipei VR Forum. Second place nets $25,000, an Aegis X desktop, a year of Unity and the Taipei trip too. Third gets $15,000, a X99A Gaming Pro Carbon Motherboard, a GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card and, again, the Unity and Taipei prizes.
There’s also a mystery community voted prize that will be revealed at a later date.
It’s a great chance for VR developers to get their hands on some significant resources. Good luck to everyone that enters!
