Find out how you can build cross-platform mixed reality experiences that look great with less effort – using your Unity or C# coding skills. 

Microsoft’s premier MR development event, Mixed Reality Dev Days, is coming June 8-9th (for in-person or online attendance). Along with 2-days of live-streamed sessions, we’re kicking off a hackathon where you can get expert help building your MR projects with the soon-to-be-released Public Preview of MRTK3 for Unity or StereoKit.

Who should join the hackathon and why?

Whether you are interested in targeting HoloLens or other OpenXR-supported devices like Oculus Quest, you’ll be getting hands-on with the latest open-source, cross-platform tools. To help you get started, we’ll release learning resources and offer you access to experts throughout the submission period.

We encourage you to team-up and extend your collective coding and creative skills. Attend our Welcome event in AltspaceVR to locate potential teammates or utilize Devpost’s built-in tools to connect with other hackers.

We seek to create a respectful, friendly, fun, and inclusive experience for Mixed Reality Dev Days participants. All are welcome! Please read our Code of Conduct for more information.

Which tools can I use?

For your project to qualify for the hackathon, it must incorporate the most recent publicly-available version of one of these tools:

How is Microsoft involved?

Microsoft believes that the future of mixed reality is #Open, and we are committed to making mixed reality more accessible to every developer. We hope you love these tools, which represent a collaboration between Microsoft employees and the community.

In hosting this challenge, Microsoft hopes to:

1. Get feedback on existing features and learn what functionality would be most helpful in the future.
2. Understand the usefulness of the tools to the developer community and assess the community’s interest. 
3. Introduce more people to mixed reality development. We can’t wait until MR is everywhere and we hope when you try it you’ll get as excited as we are.

What do I need in order to participate?

Prior experience with Unity (if your project will be built with MRTK) or C# with Visual Studio or VS Code (if your project will be built with StereoKit), would be helpful.

If you are building a project with MRTK or StereoKit, you can develop for any head mounted device that uses the OpenXR runtime, e.g. HoloLens 2, HP Reverb 2, Oculus Quest. If you don't have access to an HMD, you can develop using the HoloLens 2 Emulator, the Windows Mixed Reality Simulator, or StereoKit’s own simulation fallback for this hackathon. The projects must be deployable to a device for final judging.

What if I’m still not sure?

Please be our guest at the no-commitment Welcome Event in AltSpaceVR on June 15, 2022. You can join via VR or from your PC. Talk to contributors and MR experts, look for teammates, or just enjoy a chance to connect with others interested in mixed reality. Details & registration link are listed in the help section below. 

I’m in! Where do I start?

1. Register* for Mixed Reality Dev Days to stay up-to-date on news related to the live streamed sessions, the hackathon, and learning resources for MRTK3 and StereoKit. Be sure to indicate that you are participating in the hackathon when prompted. 
2. Familiarize yourself with the project and submission requirements found in the hackathon Rules.
3. If you want to start learning now, check out the resources tab for helpful links.** 
4. Design is a nuanced and highly important part of building a mixed reality experience. If you are new to MR, you may want to explore design concepts before getting started.

*You can register for Mixed Reality Dev Days anytime between May 11 and the end of the hackathon submission period (July 8). The live-streamed sessions take place June 8-9.
**Updated resources will be released during Mixed Reality Dev Days. We’ll communicate these updates via email so don’t miss Step 1!

How do I get help if I need it?

If you have a request or question and can’t find what you are looking for in documentation, try these resources for the appropriate toolkit:

• Bug or feature request?
  • MRTK: Please post to GitHub Issues for MRTK-Unity. 
  • StereoKit: Please post to GitHub Issues for StereoKit.
• How do I….?
  • MRTK: Please post your question to GitHub Discussions for MRTK-Unity.
  • StereoKit: Post your question to GitHub Discussions for StereoKit

If you’d like to talk to a human live, we'll be offering office hours sessions for you to connect with experts. 

$17,500 in prizes

• Challenge Fit
  Assesses how well the project fit the Hackathon's theme.
• Quality of Idea
  Indicates creativity and originality of idea.
• Technical Execution
  Demonstrates thoughtful execution, quality user experience, and incorporation of mixed reality concepts & features of MRTK3 or StereoKit.