Buzz Chat

Mock-up of site

Inspiration

We really connected with the struggle of balancing stability and surprise during a pandemic. Thinking about what we missed most during these times, we agreed that we wanted to meet and talk to new people. We wanted to create a welcoming and safe environment for people to bond and fill this lack of spontaneity. We also know how easy it is to get lonely with a newly-limited social life, so we wanted to find a safe way to grab a drink with a stranger and enhance the at-home experience.

What it does

Upon sign in, a user can choose to make instant connections (5 minute chats with strangers) or engage in themed chat rooms (up to 5 people). These can be filtered by interests and topics with options to lengthen chats or add peers as "Buzz Buddies" if you sparked a genuine bond. You can also "Pour it Forward" by buying a stranger a drink, or buy your new Buzz Buddy's next drink!

How we built it

The website was developed in Pycharm in HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Version control was managed in GitHub, and the site was pushed with Netlify.

Challenges we ran into

Had issues formatting our page and setting up the initial repository. After many hours, we managed to make a site that looks pretty good!

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud of the combination of skills on our team that we could implement. From artists to engineers to programmers, we found this experience to be very unique and exciting.

What we learned

Web development is hard but rewarding! We are grateful for the opportunity to advance these skills, but it was definitely a challenge. We learned that teamwork really makes the dream work, and having a diverse team is beneficial.

What's next for Buzz Chat

We are considering implementation of VR chats at various themed locations (ie: beach). Additional ideas are microtransactions, avatars, and themed backgrounds.