EchoPet is a gamified web application that transforms learning programming into an engaging and playful experience. Students learn coding languages such as Python, HTML, or JavaScript through interactive quizzes and mini-projects, while raising a virtual pet that evolves alongside their progress. Each lesson completed earns coins that can be used to feed, decorate, and upgrade the pet, which reacts to the learner’s actions, sometimes makes intentional mistakes, and even debates with other pets in classroom mode—encouraging students to explain, correct, and truly understand the code.
The inspiration for EchoPet comes from the Children’s Health Council’s finding that nearly 70% of students consider studying boring—not hard, not impossible, just boring. With the overwhelming amount of resources available today, many beginners feel lost or rely entirely on AI tools like ChatGPT to generate code without really understanding it. EchoPet was created to make coding less intimidating and more enjoyable, turning study time into playtime and helping students build intuition for programming through fun, interactive challenges.
The technologies used include Python 3.11 with Flask for the backend, HTML/CSS/JavaScript (React) for the frontend, and Ollama with the phi4 model for local AI integration. A database such as PostgreSQL or MongoDB is planned to store user progress and pet states, while gamification logic manages coins, levels, and pet evolution. Visual concepts for the pets were designed using Ibis Paint X.We are submitting EchoPet to the Make Learning Fun: Gamify the Learning Journey! track, as it directly transforms education into play and turns coding into a game that students want to keep playing.
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