The APOGEE English Press sat down with the events and lab coordinator of Postman Innovation Labs, Anshika Krishnatray, to learn about the club’s plans for the upcoming fest.
The coordinator first explained that the lab is a faculty-led initiative that is overseen by Professor Jagat Sesh Challa of the CSIS department and funded directly by Postman Inc. The lab promotes API credentials (unique digital identifiers used to authenticate a user), distributes enterprise licenses, and focuses a lot on research and development.
For APOGEE, the club is organising the 3rd edition of GameJam, a yearly pan-India game development hackathon that Postman has been organising for 3-4 years now. The event consists of two rounds: an online round where participants develop a functional game prototype, and then a specific, 24-hour-long, continuous offline hackathon on campus. Anshika highlighted that the prize pool had increased to 60000 rupees this year, making it the highest-paying hackathon of the fest. What makes this hackathon special is that participants are given full access to the internet and any AI tools. This allows them to submit very complex 3D and VR outputs.
When asked about how the club was preparing for the fest, Anshika said that preparation for the event had begun nearly a year ago to secure the necessary budget. The team hosted the event on platforms like Devpost and itch.io. This was greatly beneficial, since it caught the attention of employees at large tech giants, including Google, Amazon, and JP Morgan. These companies agreed to judge the submissions.
When asked about logistical setbacks, the coordinator pointed out a unique infrastructural issue. Many participants bring high-performance and high-end laptops that can’t be charged using the regular sockets that are present in the NAB. Hence, the club had to negotiate with the college administration to shift the hackathon to the third floor of RKIC. This makes it the first time that the RKIC is going to be open to the public, a direct consequence of the variety of electrical sockets that it has.
Addressing the potential for low participation like in the club’s events the year before, Anshika reported a great improvement. She stated that the registration numbers were higher than ever before, with teams from institutions like DTU and even IIT Ropar expected to attend. She added that the game development and events verticals had been working closely to ensure the hackathon runs smoothly, and their role involves resolving the queries of and managing the large crowd that’s going to be present on the day.
Reflecting on her own personal experience, Anshika Krishnatray shared that she joined the lab during her own first year and was one of the only first-yearites at the time. Reminiscing about the time that Postman had to work in the old workshop, she expressed her satisfaction with the high-tech RKIC building and leading a club that has now become such a major fest contributor. She attributed much of this success to the strong friendships within the core team and a highly supportive faculty IC.
Lastly, Anshika urged the general BITSian to participate in GameJam, remarking that submissions are open until April 5 and emphasising that there is a 25000 rupee cash prize awaiting the winner.