Design. Direct. Ship.
The first Forge for creators.
Forge 1 and 2 belonged to the engineers. Forge 3 belongs to the creators, designers, filmmakers, motion artists, social and ad-makers. For one day you run a full creative studio out of your laptop, with AI as your crew and ship a portfolio-grade piece in six hours.
You have always made things look good. Now make them in six hours, with AI as your crew.
This is the first Forge built for designers, filmmakers, motion artists, social creators and ad-makers, the people who decide how a brand looks, moves and feels. For one day you run an art-direction desk, a VFX house, a motion team, a social desk and a copy room out of one laptop, powered by the AI tools rewriting creative work in 2026.
You will ship a finished, portfolio-grade creative piece in a single sprint using Higgsfield, Google Flow (Veo + Nano Banana), Figma, Adobe and Meta tools, plus the wider creative-AI stack. The brief is real. The clock is real. The judges are working creative directors. The exact creative brief drops on Sprint morning, you arrive having mastered the tools; we hand you the problem.
Most hackathons ask: can you code? Forge 3 asks: can you make people feel something, fast?
| The usual hackathon | Forge 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it's for | CS / engineering students | Designers, filmmakers, motion, social & ad creators |
| What you ship | A repo and a demo | A finished film, prototype, campaign or ad, reel-ready |
| What's judged | Does the code run | Does the work move people and did you wield AI with craft |
| The AI role | The thing you build | The crew you direct |
| You walk away with | A certificate | A real portfolio piece, cash and a shot at an NMG creative seat |
If you live on Behance, Dribbble, Instagram and CapCut, this is your Forge.
Seven tracks across the five disciplines of modern creative production.
The exact brand and message drop on Sprint morning. You choose your track in advance so you arrive with the right tools mastered.
AI Brand Film
A 30-60s cinematic brand film. Direct AI video, score it, voice it. Judged on storytelling, craft and command of cinematic camera.
Concept to Prototype
Take a real problem to a clickable, on-brand Figma prototype. Judged on usability, flow logic and visual polish.
Social Campaign with Motion
A three-piece set, Reel, carousel and story. Judged on hook craft, format fluency and cross-piece consistency.
AI Ad Creative for a Real Brief
An agency-style brief; ship three on-brand ad variants built to convert. Judged on brand fit, persuasion and AI-disclosure compliance.
The VFX Shot
Invent one jaw-dropping shot, a product bullet-time reveal, an impossible transition. Judged on technical command and wow-factor.
The Talking Brand Avatar
A believable AI spokesperson delivering a 20-30s script. Judged on character consistency, lip-sync quality and script.
Remix the Real Brand
The capstone: a mini integrated campaign across at least three domains, a UI touchpoint, a film, a social piece and an ad. Judged on coherence of the whole.
A real 2026 creative studio: required anchors, plus a wide encouraged shelf.
Most of it has a free tier, but command of the tool matters far more than the price of your plan. Higgsfield is mandatory for the film / VFX / motion tracks (A, E, F).
Higgsfield
AI video, VFX, cinematic camera control (70+ motion presets), Lipsync Studio, consistent characters (Soul ID). Free daily-credit tier; shared paid seats on event day.
Google Flow (Veo 3.1 + Nano Banana)
Filmmaking workspace, top-tier AI video plus the best free AI image/edit model. The strongest free-for-students story.
Figma (+ Make / Agent / Dev Mode)
UI/UX backbone, prompt-to-UI, prototyping, handoff. Full Pro features free on the Education plan for verified students.
Encouraged shelf (pick per craft): Adobe Firefly / Premiere Generative Extend / After Effects · Meta Edits · Runway Gen-4 · Kling 3.0 · Luma · Pika · Hailuo · Midjourney · Ideogram · Recraft · ElevenLabs · Suno · CapCut · Topaz Video AI · Canva Magic Studio.
The schedule
| 09:00 | Check-in · stack verification · asset kit issued |
| 09:30 | Ignition briefing · creative-AI methodology · judging walkthrough |
| 09:50 | Brief drops · real brand brief + asset pack · tracks confirmed |
| 10:00 | Build window opens · 6-hour countdown · mentors on the floor |
| 13:00 | Catered lunch · builders, mentors and judges together |
| 14:00 | Mid-sprint review · rough cuts / first drafts |
| 17:00 | Submission lock · files frozen |
| 17:30 | Finalist showcase · 4-min screening + 3-min Q&A |
| 20:00 | Champions announced · prizes + NMG creative offers |
How you used AI, not just that you did.
| Creativity & Originality | 25 |
| Craft & Technical Polish | 20 |
| Storytelling & Communication | 15 |
| Effective Use of AI Tools | 15 |
| Brand Fit / Brief Relevance | 15 |
| Presentation & Process | 10 |
Bonus (judge discretion, +5): cultural / viral potential, shareability and trend awareness.
A portfolio piece, cash and a shot at an NMG creative seat.
Champion
Cash prize (revealing soon) + NMG creative offer + certificate + Skool + featured on NMG Labs channels.
Runner-up & 3rd
Cash prize (revealing soon) + NMG offer + certificate + NMG Labs Skool membership.
Every builder
A finished real-brief portfolio piece, certificate, Skool membership and a standing invite to future Forges. Track Bests (A-G) recognised. Girls-in-Forge prize continues.
Cash prizes revealing soon, announced before Sprint Day. As with every Forge, the real engine is the career outcome.
Who can build
- Final-year and recent-graduate students from Delhi NCR colleges in design, fine arts, animation, VFX, communication / visual design, mass communication, advertising and allied creative fields. Strong portfolios from other years considered on application.
- Build solo or in a Pod of up to 3, a director + designer + editor team is welcome. Prizes and NMG offers go to individuals and Pod members alike.
- Bring your own laptop (and phone for mobile editing), chargers, headphones and any accounts you already have.
The standard
- Your submission must use the required anchor tool(s) for your track (Higgsfield mandatory for A, E, F).
- All work produced during the sprint window. Pre-built assets, templates and stock must be declared.
- AI-generated content must be disclosed in your submission notes.
- Submit by the 17:00 lock: final files + one-page rationale + your 4-minute pitch.
- Zero tolerance for plagiarism, harassment or passing off others' work as your own. Violations = disqualification.
Direct the crew. Register for Forge 3 · Edition 1.
Pick your track, master the tools and ship a portfolio-grade creative piece in one day. We will email you the check-in details before Sprint day.
Questions?
Forge Captain: Ayush Gupta · labs@nmgdigital.com · response under 24 hours.
Forge Sprint 03 · Creative Digital Production with AI · 11 July 2026 · NMG Gurgaon · An initiative of nmg.labs by NMG Technologies.