Drrys

Inspiration

We started with one simple observation.

Most students don't actually hate learning—they hate the way studying feels.

Today we're surrounded by apps like TikTok, Instagram, and games that constantly grab our attention with instant rewards. Studying is the complete opposite. You spend hours studying and the reward only comes after weeks in an exam.

That made us ask ourselves:

How can we make students actually enjoy opening a study app every day?

That's how Drrys started.

What it does

Drrys turns studying into a journey instead of a daily task.

Every subject becomes a tree that grows as students stay consistent, so instead of feeling like they're stuck, they can actually see their progress.

Students are also guided by Coco, a friendly companion that keeps the experience encouraging and fun.

But we didn't want to build just another gamified app. Everything inside Drrys is connected to real learning techniques like Active Recall, Blurting, Spaced Repetition, and the Feynman Technique, so students are learning smarter, not just collecting points.

If someone misses a day, the app simply adjusts the study plan instead of punishing them, making it easier to stay consistent.

How we built it

We started by designing the entire user experience and planning every screen before writing any code.

Once the designs were ready, we used Codex and GPT-5.6 to turn them into a real application. They helped us build the interface, implement features, connect different parts of the system, debug issues, and improve the overall code quality throughout development.

We used Supabase to handle authentication, the database, and backend services, while Vercel was used to deploy the application. Throughout the project, GitHub helped us manage version control and collaborate efficiently.

Using Codex and GPT-5.6 significantly accelerated our development process, allowing us to focus more on creating a better learning experience instead of spending time on repetitive coding tasks.

Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was time.

We discovered the competition only three days before the submission deadline, so we had to design, build, test, polish, and prepare everything in a very short amount of time.

Another challenge was finding the right balance between gamification and real learning. We didn't want Drrys to feel like just another app with points and badges. Every feature had to support scientifically proven learning methods and help students build lasting study habits.

Despite the limited time, Codex and GPT-5.6 helped us move incredibly fast, allowing us to focus on building a polished product instead of spending hours on repetitive development tasks.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud of how much we achieved in such a short time.

We discovered the hackathon only three days before the deadline, yet we managed to design, build, test, and present a complete working product from scratch.

More importantly, we learned a lot about building real applications. We spent hours researching how students learn, what actually motivates people, and why so many study apps fail to create lasting habits.

Instead of solving a simple problem, we chose a difficult one. We dug deep into learning psychology, motivation, and effective study methods until we truly understood the problem before building the solution.

This hackathon wasn't just about writing code—it changed the way we think about product design, AI-assisted development, and creating technology that can genuinely improve people's lives.

What we learned

This hackathon taught us that great products are never built by one person alone. Teamwork was one of the biggest reasons we were able to turn an idea into a working application in such a short time.

We also learned how powerful AI-assisted development can be. Codex helped us move much faster by handling repetitive tasks, debugging, and generating code, which allowed us to focus on the product itself instead of spending hours on small details.

Another lesson was that using the right tools makes a huge difference. By combining Codex, GPT-5.6, GitHub, Supabase, and Vercel, we built and deployed a real application much faster than we could have using traditional development alone.

Most importantly, we learned that in the AI era, developers shouldn't be afraid to use every tool available. AI doesn't replace creativity—it gives you more time to solve real problems and build better products.

What's next for Drrys

This is only the beginning.

We want to keep improving Drrys to help as many students as possible build better study habits and actually enjoy learning.

Our next step is to add even more proven learning strategies, such as Mnemonics, Mind Maps, Interleaving, and other evidence-based techniques that make studying easier and more effective.

We also plan to add more AI features, smarter personalization, better progress tracking, and new gamification mechanics that keep students motivated without becoming distracting.

Our goal is simple: Turn studying into a journey that students look forward to every single day.