Elemental Adventures

Inspiration

As a biochemistry undergrad, I have had my fair share of grinding through complicated Organic Chemistry mechanisms and Physical Chemistry math-heavy equations. But once I was done and I looked back at what I had learned, I could fully appreciate the beauty and the magic in the field of chemistry. So as soon as I learned programming, I had planned to make a program that would help teach students chemistry in an exciting way. This project has been a long time coming.

What it does

Elemental Adventures is a deck-building turn-based battle game, where you combine the elements and compounds to create powerful reactions that help you fight your foes and protect yourself from their blows. The game teaches which chemicals react together and which are more potent and aggressive than others. The game is balanced around classical deck-building card game tactics as well as strategies involving a balance of acids and bases.

How we built it

I used the React framework for JavaScript with TailwindCSS to build the project. This allowed me to set up an interactive web app quickly to match the pace of the Hackathon while also giving me plenty of flexibility in terms of styling and interactive feature programming.

Challenges we ran into

I am a relatively new javascript programmer, so challenges involving a deep understanding of the structure of JS-based web apps were plenty. However, I had a lot of fun learning from my mistakes and I think my experience during this super fast-paced competition has taught me a great deal more than my past adventures in this field.

Accomplishments we are proud of

The goal of this project is to show young learners an easier and more enjoyable way to learn science and I hope it gets to make a positive social impact.

Notes on shortcomings

I quite love the pixel-art style, especially for small-scale games I think it brings in a cozy feeling. I would have loved to draw all the assets I used in this project as I have tried to do in my previous projects. However, due to the short interval of this competition, I had to heavily rely on open-source artwork from generous pixel art creators on the internet.

What's next for Elemental Adventures

There are still some bugs to fix to improve the experience of the player and I have plans for many more levels. A lot more elements and compounds are waiting to join the adventures and maybe someday I can extend to Organics as well.