HoloLens Contest - Enter now for a chance to win a HoloLens dev Edition kit and up to $100,000

From contest rules "ELIGIBILITY" paragraph:
"previously created a game that has a minimum of 10,000 downloads in the Steam Store, Google Play Store, or Apple’s App Store"
Can we participate if we are creating pre-operative planning software for surgeons? We have active users (definitely not 10000), and our app is not distributed through app stores.

 

The whole eligibility thing is gunna put a damper on submissions. What if there are devs that privately distribute their apps? Pretty much the whole enterprise industry, which is what the HoloLens is very useful for, is excluded. What if you have already been developing for HoloLens? Does that at least gain some sort of merit when applying? Also, I'm pretty sure devs with 10,000 downloads or more are focused on improving the product they have already released or at least heavily focused on making games rather than real world applications.

 

Sounds quite interesting. I have a few questions, though:

1. Do we really need an app (wait, it actually says "game" :?) with 10k downloads? And if that really is a requirement, do apps in the Windows Store count?

2. Are games allowed in the contest? Or should we focus more on useful app (non-game) ideas?

3. Do the finalists not in the top 3 need to return the HoloLens devices? The "official rules" page says that all finalists keep the devices, whereas the main page says that only the top 3 finalists keep them.

 

I am wondering about 10K downloads requirement too. Is it strictly required? Are there any answers to this question from contest organizers?
Just decide to post this question again here with the hope to catch attention from official Unity/Microsoft folks.

 

It says the application has to be developed for the UWP, but does that specifically mean that it must be released on the Windows Store at some point throughout the competition? Is distribution required at all?

What about a distinct "lite/pro" version split, where only the lite app is released (if needed), with the pro version being something a little more sophisticated.

 

OK, thanks for the clarification.

Just from a quick Google, looks like you need to register to sell stuff on the Windows Store, and that's $20usd for an individual, or $100usd for a company/developer (like Gaben announced for Steam). Royalties seem to be a bit better than Steam, Googlestore, etc which was a bit surprising. Price range for the store is free, and 1.49 to 999.99 in preset intervals.

 

Hi, I have some questions:

1- I am Iranian but im student in USA and I also have job authorization from US government. can I participate?

2- My Idea is definitely problem solving but its mostly for governments, big organizations or industries not for regular people. would that be fine to participate?

3- can we fake data? for instance, imagine that im going to show parts of a car. but i dont know real sizes of those parts, and the car factory wouldnt give me those information. can I made up size for those parts by myself?

4- can we use VS 2017 instead of 2015?

Thank you very much.

 

in submission form it ask for company name. what if im an indie and not a company? can I participate?

 

Hello to the unity-team and all other pariticipants of the contest!
I have a rather urgent question:
After submitting all the required data on the website i did not receive any type of confirmation email.
Is this on purpose? (maybe other participants can tell me if they recieved any email)

If not I'd need to resubmit my idea ASAP. (the deadline is coming!)

 

I panicked a bit too, but it did eventually come through for me.

 

I accidentally submitted the Form twice now. The emails later showed up in the "advertisment" tab of gmail... narf.

 

Hello，My question is" if we were not the 10 finalists which announced on 16 June" Can we still buy the devices by ourselves and completing submission form 2 to be the final prize winner and get the 100,000 dollars ?

 

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to chime in an inform you that due to the overwhelming amount of submissions that Microsoft has received, just around 1,000 total, the winners will not be announced today. We hope to have them selected and announced sometime around June 23rd. Please stay tuned until then!

 

I believe the 100,000 grand prize is only open to the projects who were selected to continue as a finalist. I'll let you know if I hear otherwise.

 

Hi Buhlaine, Thanks about the results delay.
I forgot how many times F5 was pressed here today
Thanks

 

What time to announce today?

 

Is the private announcement to the finalists being sent today?

 

Crosses fingers am a finalist... would love to develop the idea I submitted.

 

I think everybody would like to be a finalist .
I work mainly for hospital, and I know exactly what we have to create for some patient.

 

10 out of 1000, this sure is exciting!

 

Well, lets wait, i would like to be a finalist!

 

I bring a message from Microsoft's CEO!
Satya Nadella.
By command of his most merciful excellency, your efforts are to be recognized.
Developers you were, and developers you'll remain.
But the terrible penalty of waiting in agony for the contest results has been set aside...

... on the single condition that you identify one finalist from among yourselves!

I'm the finalist!

I'm the finalist!

No, I'm the finalist!

(Everyone): I'm the finalist!

 

Awesome, congrats.
So I am not a finalist, I received nothing.

 

It was a joke, relax I don't think anything has been announced yet.

 

Just wondering if anyone got the email already or not yet...

 

Me.. NOT YET.

 

Haha! Who else is going crazy with anticipation? I even went to see a psychiatrist today!

Me: I'm still having these dreams, Doctor. And I still can't stop myself from believing them.

Doctor: I've told you, Mr. Hofstadter, to believe in one's dreams is a manifestation of insanity and the sooner you accept this, the sooner you'll get well.

Me: But I dreamed that Alex Kipman appeared, and whispered into my ear, and told me who the HoloLens Contest finalists were!

Doctor: And what exactly did he say?

Me: What difference does that make? This was a dream, a fantasy, I mean you said--

Doctor: SHUT UP HOFSTADTER AND TELL ME WHO THE FINALISTS ARE!

 

@Jo-Ryall Hi there, just wondering if the finalists have been sent emails yet. We're all on the edge of our seats!

 

Think this may have been an idea grab...they don't really care about the finalists...they just needed ideas for developing HoloLens Unity apps.

 

That's rather far fetched. What's more likely is they've been trying to confirm which of the finalists will actually follow through and participate, so that the HoloLenses are shipped only to those that are serious about the contest.

Still, it would be nice to have some updates even if this is the case.

 

A lot of people here have only 1 post or 2

 

Actually, most contests, of this type, are idea grabs mostly, I'd be surprised if it wasn't...that said only such talk will work... you'll see they'll have to publish something soon.

I know someone who helped organize such contests before and have been told that..it's much cheaper than paying for your own firm's research and development.

It'd be nice if they would offer tech help to all participants and I don't mean by just allowing us to use the HoloLens.

 

Be reasonable, people. Microsoft and Unity would never partner up just to organize a scam to steal ideas (which on their own aren't even that valuable in the first place). They probably were just overwhelmed by the response and things got out of control quick. This is the first contest of this kind that they organized and it's likely they are scrambling to get everything running properly, ceasing to respond because setting new deadlines obviously isn't working in their favor - better to just focus on actually getting things done.

Let them take their time, we'll know the results eventually.

 

They can late, they can anything but they should to announce to us, what they are working. And we should not post to ask about something on this forum. It should be public.

 

Any news at all? Did anyone get the mail? @Tiago-Moraes Did you buy that hololens or were you sent that?

 

For the previous contest, Microsoft contacted all winners by email, and asked them to say nothing until the Microsoft's official reply.
I think all winners already got a email.