Bitcamp is a place for exploration. You will have 36 hours to delve into your curiosities, learn something new, and make something awesome. With world-class mentors and hundreds of fellow campers, you’re in for an amazing time. If you’re ready for an adventure, see you by the fire!

..so goes the Bitcamp event’s website. As of writing, right now, teams of geeks are competing with each other to hack together something original and cool in a 36 hour window. And one team particularly frustrated with the lack of anything Star Wars related currently available, is taking the matter into its own hands and producing a game based around the franchise’s Episode 1 (spit!) Pod Racing sequence.

In a post by team lead ‘FCFounder’ to /r/reddit he states:

Hey All,
I’m at Bitcamp this weekend, University of Maryland’s Hackathon. My team and I think that it is taking too long for the next Star Wars game to come out. While we wait in anticipation for Battle Front we thought it would be a good idea to make a Star Wars game quickly and live stream it. We are making an Oculus Rift Podracing Game. I will be 3D Modeling and building the environment while my teammate programs the course. Check out the stream and tell your friends.

As of writing, the team have got stuck into 3D modeling a podracer, which is beginning to take shape. It’ll be interesting to see how workable the demo is once the 36 hours is up. Perhaps we’ll see a public release if it’s good enough, although given the franchise is a magnet for potential copyright litigation, perhaps not.

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Based in the UK, Paul has been immersed in interactive entertainment for the best part of 27 years and has followed advances in gaming with a passionate fervour. His obsession with graphical fidelity over the years has had him branded a ‘graphics whore’ (which he views as the highest compliment) more than once and he holds a particular candle for the dream of the ultimate immersive gaming experience. Having followed and been disappointed by the original VR explosion of the 90s, he then founded RiftVR.com to follow the new and exciting prospect of the rebirth of VR in products like the Oculus Rift. Paul joined forces with Ben to help build the new Road to VR in preparation for what he sees as VR’s coming of age over the next few years.