Innovation and Creativity in the Gaming World – Playtika Hackathon

By Orenstein Adar, Hardon Benjamin Tal, Gefen Gavriel, Hershel Daniel, 1^st Year Students, Entrepreneurship School

The Playtika Hackathon, held during the orientation week for the Economics – Entrepreneurship and Computer Science – Entrepreneurship tracks, was a one-of-a-kind experience. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet other entrepreneurs from the university where we’ll be spending the best years of our lives. Through it all, we also got to learn about ourselves as aspiring entrepreneurs, as team members among all participants, and most importantly, to understand the true meaning of teamwork.

In addition to that, we gained a shared experience as a group, deepened our connection with one another, and worked in complete collaboration. The team dynamic was excellent - we listened to everyone’s ideas and suggestions, consolidated our opinions, and together reached the best decision: choosing the idea of “Man vs. the World.”

After dividing into groups and uniting as a team, we had a brief introduction where each member presented their upcoming degree and we began figuring out what each person could bring to the table. After the introductions, we clarified the problem that our project was meant to solve.

The challenge presented to us was the lack of awareness about how everyday decisions (transportation, energy, food) affect global warming. Our task was to develop a game that demonstrates the impact of those decisions and encourages real-world action.

From the moment we sat together around the table, after the opening talk and getting to know one another, we began our journey of building the product. Once we understood the problem, we proposed app ideas that could address the challenge. Eventually, we combined several ideas into one concept that everyone liked, and from there, we began developing it. After finalizing the idea, we decided to create a game. The plan was to use Base44 to create a demo that would illustrate the gameplay.

Thanks to the introductions, we already knew each team member’s strengths, which helped us divide the work into two internal sub-teams: one focused on the app’s presentation and user interface, and the other on the game’s development itself.

Our idea was to develop an application that begins after an extreme climate pollution event, where the user’s goal is to “heal” the world through a series of actions-some of which involve taking real-world steps.

The game aims to reduce harmful daily habits that impact the climate and to create new ones that emphasize the importance of recycling and ecological awareness.

For example, players could earn points in the game after riding the bus (through cooperation with public transportation companies).

Of course, our road to success wasn’t entirely smooth-we encountered several challenges, and here’s the main one:

After trying to develop the app in Base44, shortly before presenting it to the audience, we realized that the software only provided a basic version of our idea and might not be clear enough to the viewers. We brainstormed alternative solutions, and eventually, we used ChatGPT to create a visual demo of the game through images. We were satisfied with the product we managed to create within the given time, and it gave us confidence.

In conclusion, the experience was amazing-we made new friends, learned a lot about ourselves, strengthened our weaknesses, and enhanced our strengths. We highly recommend everyone to take part and experience this powerful journey.