Astea sponsored this year’s edition of HackTUES. The hackathon for high-school students took place on October 9–11 and focused on environment and society. The topic was received with enormous enthusiasm by the contestants, all aged between 14 and 18. Their creative ideas and impressive coding skills produced an amazing collection of working applications, including: a game where you grow your virtual pet tree, a marketplace for recycling, and even a medical e-dossier.

All of this was conceived, designed, and implemented within 48 hours. Astea’s award went to TrashSmash, the game in which the hero destroys smelly cans of non recyclable trash with his mighty sword. The twist is in the player’s ability to level up by doing actual physical exercises, such as running 100 meters for more speed and doing push-ups for more strength.

We were genuinely impressed by the potential of this next generation of developer rock-stars and look forward to next year’s hackathon.”