Axosoft GitKraken has launched v1.0! We’re so excited to share our journey to create the best Git client on the planet. We’ve relied heavily on our early adopters and listened to all the chatter on Twitter (believe us, we heard you!)

In order to show our thanks, we’ve turned our launch party into a contest! Choose from one of 3 categories described below for a chance to get yourself some CASH to STASH, as well as some fabulous prizes (dev approved).

Check out this video and catch the kraken excitement:

Don’t skip over the contest rules at the end—they’re important. Now on to the #GKContest!

 1. Songwriting Battle

Are you a rising rap artist? An up and coming crooner? A promising pop star? Or just the most successful singer in your car? If you are (and even if you aren’t) let’s see what you got! Write a song (it can be a parody or completely original) in the genre of your choice!

Honestly, we’re kind of partial to rap, so if you want to concentrate on that, we won’t be mad.

But, whatever your cup of tea, we want you to write us a song about the Kraken! Here are some keywords you can use:

• Clone
• Push/Pull
• Commit
• Remotes
• Stash (hunk)
• Branch
• Rebase
• Cherry pick
• GUI (“gooey”)
• Command Line

Here are some parody songs we came up with. Feel free to use these as inspiration:

• “Like I’m Mergin” (“Like a Virgin”)
• “The Kraken Dance” (“The Humpty Dance”)
• “Stand By Your Kraken” (“Stand By Your Man”)
• “Don’t Let Your Babies Grow up to Be Krakens” (“Don’t Let Your Babies Grow up to Be Cowboys”)
• “Let’s Git it On” (“Let’s Get it On”)
• “Push it” (a la Salt n’ Peppa)
• “Under the Sea” (A homage to Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”)

Obviously, these are just examples. We want to see and hear your creativity, and if you are in the least bit successful, you’re in the running for a grand prize!

Prizes:

• $3,000 Clams (Yes, $3,000 U.S. dollars)
• Super sweet headphones
• GitKraken T-shirts for your entire band/crew (limit of 5)
• GitKraken guitar picks
• GitKraken stickers (limit 10)

Directions:

1. Record your song and upload it to YouTube or Soundcloud.
2. Tweet the link to us @GitKraken using #GKContest. The decision to create a music video or just upload audio is completely up to you.

Deadline:

11:59PM (Arizona time) on April 15, 2016

Evaluation Criteria:

The Krakenest* submission with the most engagement** wins! It’s up to you to share your video or song with as many people as you can to increase the amount of ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ you receive.

2. Video Game Throwdown

Who doesn’t love video games? Show us your dev skills and make a GitKraken themed game. GitKraxian? KrakenMan? KrakenKong? Super Kraken Fighter? Krakémon? You get the picture.

Use of frameworks/libraries to help speed up your development is permitted, as long as you use them fully in accordance with their respective licenses.

Phaser is a great open source HTML5 canvas and javascript library for game development. You might want to use it as a starting point.

Just let the Kraken inspire you and send us your game. You can win awesome prizes!

Prizes:

• $1,500 Big Ones (Yes, that’s U.S. dollars.)
• Playstation 4 (valued at approximately $350)
• Razer BlackWidow Chroma Clicky Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (valued at approximately $160)
• 1 GitKraken T-shirt
• 5 GitKraken stickers

Directions:

1. Come up with a strong concept using the Kraken.
2. Download the Kraken assets if you’d like to use them. (not required)
3. Create your game and post it at a link where folks can play it. It’s important your game be playable in the browser without any plugins. Newer web technologies like canvas are great—flash is not.
4. Tweet your link to us @GitKraken using #GKContest.

Deadline:

11:59PM (Arizona time) on April 15, 2016

Evaluation Criteria:

The submission with the most engagement* wins! It’s up to you to share your game with as many people as you can to increase the amount of ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ you receive.

3. Kraken Design O’Rama Challenge

By now, you’re probably acquainted with our Kraken logo. However, not sure if you’ve noticed that the Kraken has a very versatile wardrobe:

Are you inspired to design your own Kraken yet? Go ahead, you could win these awesome prizes!

Prizes:

• $750 Greenbacks (That’s U.S. dollars in case you didn’t know)
• A t-shirt with YOUR custom Kraken design
• A GitKraken messenger bag
• 5 GitKraken stickers

Directions:

1. Come up with a concept using the GitKraken logo (download here)
2. Use your slick design skills to create a .jpg or .png
3. Tweet the image to us @GitKraken using #GKContest.

Deadline:

11:59PM (Arizona time) on April 15, 2016

The Rules:

All submissions must be sent through Twitter using @GitKraken and #GKContest by 11:59PM (Arizona time) on April 15, 2016. All other submissions will not be considered. Originality is very important; no borrowing or stealing others’ work.

Contestants may enter the contest in multiple categories; however, you can only win for one category.

*Axosoft will consider your submission for relevance to GitKraken and general appropriateness. Any work deemed inappropriate for reasons including but not exclusive to bigotry, bad language, sexually explicit content, hate speech, etc. will not be considered. Keep it classy, devs.

**Engagement will be calculated as a combination of the following: favorites (hearts) on your Tweet submission, retweets of your tweet submission, and if applicable, likes (thumbs up) on your YouTube video OR favorites (hearts) on your Soundcloud file.

One submission with the highest combination of all engagement* metrics will be deemed the winner for each of the three (3) categories (song/video, game, logo), for a total of three (3) contest winners.

Scores will be calculated and winners will be selected at 11:59PM (Arizona time) on April 15, 2016. Winners will be announced on April 18, 2016.