Deple

The Problem

Widespread political polarization is an issue throughout the modern world. At every turn with algorithmic media your thoughts, ideas, and stereotypes can be reinforced by the media you consume. This creates a hostile environment where sides begin to form, and violence can appear to be the only solution.

Widespread Polarization

According to Pew Research Center (2025) : 80% of Americans say republicans and democrats cannot agree on "basic facts"

Partisan hostility has sharply increased as well:

Metric	2016	2022
Republicans with very unfavorable views of Democrats	47%	72%
Democrats with very unfavorable views of Republicans	35%	65%

Our Story

We've each encountered polarization that motivated us to create this app.

John

Growing up, my view of the opposite political position was perhaps closer described as "the enemy" than some set of ideas. What drew me closer to reason was exposure to both high quality arguments for opposing ideas, and faithful representations of my own positions in context of those refutations. Ultimately, gaining a sense for epistemology led to a greater sense for empathy. My aim in this project was to foster faithful discussion and lead people away from this unfortunate mode of thinking.

Andrew

This project spoke to me because of the problem it attacked. I see polarization all over campus, and amongst friends. An overall hostile attitude to ideas that challenge your view at all. I want to challenge peoples ideas, and get them thinking of the person next to them as a human not as a political ideology.

Josh

I thought this project would be beneficial because I’ve always enjoyed engaging in discussion and hearing different perspectives. However, I recognize that many people don’t share that same inclination, and I believe the world would be more productive if we encouraged clearer and more open discourse.

Our Solution: Deple

Deple is a mobile game that presents the first step towards depolarizing our world to craft a new culture of empathy and understanding.

The Game

Our game features, Deples: cute alien creatures complete with their own personality, background, and worldview to make decisions

Xalvorn	Zorblox	Jym'mi	Catheron

Our game crafts a daily scenario where players log in much like wordle to try and decipher what our Deples will decide. Players must place themselves in the shoes of Deples to view the world like them, practice makes perfect, and Deple provides daily practice towards looking at problems with a new perspective, the key towards depolarizing our world.

How we built it

Tech Stack

Frontend - Next.js (TypeScript) with Tailwind CSS and Framer Motion for animations. Built mobile-first with drag-and-drop character assignment powered by @dnd-kit.

Backend - Python Flask REST API handling scenario logic, alien data, and answer validation harnessing Google's Gemini for complex decision making

Database - MongoDB storing alien characters, their traits, planet alignments, and scenario data.

How It Works

The Flask backend serves alien and scenario data from MongoDB to the Next.js frontend on load. Players drag and drop alien characters onto floating planets to solve each short moral dilemma. On confirmation, the frontend posts each character-planet pairing to Flask, which validates answers against the stored alignments in MongoDB and returns hints for incorrect placements.

Challenges we Faced

Frontend:

Creating a scalable and intuitive user interface
Collaboration between frontend and backend teams to ensure clean functionality
Managing our expectations under strict time constraints

Backend:

Prompt engineering with Gemini to model Deple decision making
Managing Gemini's limited token rate with async functionality
Parsing Gemini output to pass it to the front end for deterministic results

What's next for Deple

Phase 1 - Scenario Generation Workflow Polish an architecture to craft unqiue daily scenarios for players to interact with

Phase 2 - Personalized Deples Introduce a FIFTH Deple built around willing players own submission's of their world views to get real peoples views reflected

Phase 3 - An Empathetic World Deple becomes a widespread daily activity that crafts a culture practiced at looking at ideas from opposing points of view