Inspiration
We knew we wanted to do something fun but nerdy, and Fermi questions fit the bill! We decided to turn solving these questions into a game on Android so it can be downloaded and played anywhere. We specifically chose environment-focused questions in order to highlight the absurdity of modern consumption and treatment of hamsters.
What it does
This project will give you five random Fermi questions, take your answers, and give you a score at the end. It also features beautiful art!
How we built it
We used Android Studio in Java for the bulk of the programming and connected a Firebase database to store the questions.
Challenges we ran into
Where do we start... We faced several issues connecting the database to the rest of the app - one major one was because we had never worked with an asynchronous API before, which led to some problems accessing the database's contents. We also dealt with some issues in making sure our interface constraints stayed in position and in keeping our app from crashing from inconsistencies in different versions of Firebase. Also, none of us had ever used Android Studio, Java, or Firebase before, so learning how to effectively implement programs with them took a long time.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
For a while (read: until half an hour before the submission deadline), we didn't think our app was going to work - but, unexpectedly, against all odds, we struck upon a solution to every problem at the same time! It was really satisfying to finally see everything come together in the end.
What we learned
We've definitely learned a lot about Android Studio and Java! Learning how to use them and building the app in the 24 hours given was a challenge, though rewarding. We also learned more about connecting databases to programs and more about the actual function of apps, i.e. interfaces and the user experience.
What's next for Fermidable
First and foremost, we'd like to improve overall gameplay by making the game more responsive to different situations - for instance, in feedback to user answers. We also want to add user accounts and a leaderboard in the future. Also, to make the game more varied, we would like to add more categories of questions to choose from and more questions for each of these categories.
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