03 · the hackathon
Hackathon rules
The workshop hands you the tools. The hackathon is what you do with them. One evening to learn it, a week to build, one deadline. Everything you need is below.
Theme
Real physics. Cinematic visuals. Your own idea.
Pick something from the idea gallery or invent your own. The math has to be real. The look has to be yours. Beyond that, anything goes.
Timeline
- Workshop day · Sunday, July 5, 5:30 PM IST · about an hour, and we'll run longer if people are still building. We cover the tools and the prompt together.
- Build week · July 6–12 · you build your sim. Chat is live the whole time.
- Submission deadline · Sunday, July 12, 11:59 PM IST.
- Results · winners announced on the group WhatsApp, and posted here on the site the next day. No live call, no screen-sharing. Your video does the talking.
Judging
Three criteria, equally weighted:
Visual impact
Does it make us go 'whoa'? Density, glow, motion, color. Beauty matters.
Creativity
An angle nobody else thought of beats a polished copy of someone else's idea.
Physics accuracy
Real formulas, sensible constants, and honesty about what you approximated. A physicist watching it should nod, not wince.
Not sure what "real physics" looks like in practice? The demo's physics page shows exactly where a sim can be exact, where it can approximate, and how to check the difference.
Prizes
Medals and certificates for the top submissions. Everyone who submits gets a participation certificate.
Beyond the medal
Standout sims will be featured (with your name and credit) in the public physicssim project, which teaches physics visually to school students. Your work could end up in a classroom.
Rules
- One submission per person.
- You can edit your submission anytime until the deadline.
- Code on GitHub, public. Drive link is fine if you don't have GitHub yet.
- Include a one-line README with: what the sim shows + how to run it (e.g.
python sim.py). - Include a short clip or screenshot. Judges look at this first.
- Using AI to write the code is encouraged. It's the whole workflow.
- Submitting someone else's hackathon work as your own = disqualified.
What you submit
On the submit page you'll provide:
- Title — one phrase, give it a name.
- Tagline — one-sentence pitch.
- Description — what it is, how it works.
- Repo link — GitHub or a Drive folder.
- Video URL — 30–60s screen recording. YouTube unlisted or Loom.
- Screenshot URL — direct image link. Imgur works.