It Comes in Waves

Inspiration

Made in tribute of Domestic Violence Awareness month in October; our game aims to educate players on the warning signs of/psychology behind abusive relationships through real-world examples.

What it does

Our program is an interactive public service announcement (PSA) that highlights the complexities of domestic violence and abusive relationships. Through storytelling and decision-making, it demonstrates how abusive behaviors can develop gradually, why they can be difficult to recognize, and how challenging it can be to leave once someone becomes trapped in an abusive relationship.

How we built it

We built our application using React, Vite, and JSON, while incorporating AI tools such as Grok and Claude to assist with development.

Our team came together early in the hackathon and began brainstorming potential ideas. Once we agreed on a concept, we divided responsibilities based on our strengths and interests. Some team members focused on developing the storyline, structure, dialogue, and character interactions, while others worked on the technical implementation of the application.

By dividing these responsibilities, we were able to work collaboratively to bring our interactive story to life.

Challenges we ran into

One of the challenges we faced was deployment, although we were able to resolve those issues fairly quickly. Another obstacle was not having the full script prepared beforehand, which slowed down technical development as we worked to implement the story alongside its creation.

We also faced the challenge of developing a creative, coherent, and meaningful storyline that accurately represented such a deep and sensitive topic. Additionally, not having a clear plan of action from the beginning made it difficult to coordinate certain aspects of development. Despite these challenges, we adapted, collaborated, and worked together to bring our vision to life.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

One of our biggest accomplishments was successfully exploring a variety of topics related to domestic violence and incorporating them into our storyline to highlight the different forms abuse can take. We are especially proud of creating an interactive experience that encourages players to recognize and reflect on these complex issues.

Another major accomplishment was building a fully functioning web game in less than the allotted hackathon time. Despite the challenges we faced, we were able to turn our ideas into a working application that combines technology, creativity, and social awareness.

What we learned

Throughout this project, we gained a deeper understanding of the psychological factors behind domestic violence, including how abusive relationships develop, why harmful behaviors can be difficult to recognize, and why leaving these relationships can be so challenging.

On the technical side, we learned how to effectively incorporate AI tools into our development process, using them to support brainstorming, problem-solving, and coding. We also gained valuable experience collaborating as a team and balancing creative storytelling with technical development under a tight deadline.

What's next for Comes in waves

Our next step is to expand our program beyond romantic relationships and make it accessible on both a local and international scale. Many people may not recognize when they are experiencing unhealthy or abusive relationship dynamics. Our goal is to help people identify these patterns through interactive storytelling.

In the future, we hope to explore workplace, platonic, and familial relationships. The program could also serve as an educational resource in universities, where students can analyze scenarios and write about them, or in therapeutic settings, not as a diagnostic tool, but as a way to illustrate and discuss unhealthy relationship dynamics.

Ultimately, we want to create an accessible platform that promotes awareness, education, and meaningful conversations about abuse in its many forms.