finLife

Inspiration

We were inspired by the "Curb-Cut Effect": the idea that when you design for the most extreme challenges, you create a better experience for everyone. Many kids grow up believing money is something only adults understand — a system full of rules, numbers, and consequences that appear without explanation. For children who are curious, energetic, and impulsive, this can quickly turn into frustration or self-doubt. We realized that traditional banking systems fail these kids not because they lack potential, but because the systems lack empathy for how different brains process value — they need better tools that help them understand why their choices matter. Instead of asking kids to follow financial rules they didn’t create, we wanted to give them a space to experiment safely, see the impact of their decisions, and build momentum toward their own goals. By building an inclusive financial playground, we are moving away from boring text and "invisible" numbers toward a high-engagement, visual system that translates dollars into tangible trade-offs. This project is about empowering kids to feel capable with money early on — not by simplifying life, but by making financial systems feel intuitive, meaningful, and human.

What it does

In FinLife, you guide your character through the challenges of everyday living. Your main goal is to balance your finances, health, and happiness by making smart choices in different locations around town, between what they NEEDS vs. what they WANTS. Each scene—like the bank, department store, clinic, grocery, and home—offers unique actions so that you can manage your savings and spending:

In the department store and grocery, you buy items that affect your well-being and budget.
The clinic helps you maintain your health, but at a cost.
At home, it is your initial start and of the weeks following.

Every action you take changes your character’s stats, such as money, health, and happiness. You must plan ahead, spend wisely, and take care of yourself to succeed. Your journey is shaped by your decisions—will you thrive or face setbacks? The choice is yours in FinLife!

How we built it

We built it using JavaScript and Phaser.io, a game framework that facilitated our design. We also used aseprite to create sprites and other pixelart used in our game, and itch.io to download sets of pixelart objects used in our game. We used GitHub to code as a team.

Challenges we ran into

One challenge was using Phaser.io, just because it was a brand new framework for all of us. It took us a while to understand the system, but once we caught on we completed our work fairly quickly. Thankfully, we didn't struggle at all with the other technologies used, since we have experience with them. One of our main challenges was designing a game mechanism that truly worked in our favor while still delivering meaningful financial education. Many ideas that sounded engaging on paper became confusing or overwhelming once we considered how children actually interact with games and learn through play. We had to rethink and redesign our initial approach multiple times to ensure the mechanics reinforced learning naturally, without relying on long explanations or complex rules. Being mindful of kids’ attention, impulse-driven decisions, and need for immediate feedback pushed us to simplify the system and focus on a smaller, clearer core loop that connects choices to visible outcomes.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are so insanely proud of the fact we actually finished our project. Yes, it is pretty simple, but for people who created a game in one day with a brand new framework and with no experience making games or participating in hackathons, we were very proud of ourselves.

What we learned

We learned how fast things can get done when we collaborate, and delegate tasks evenly. This also encouraged us a lot more because if we really struggled with or hated one thing, someone else was willing to work on it. We also learned how to build a basic game! None of us have ever made a game before so this was a brand new experience for us and it will definitely be the basis for many upcoming projects.

What's next for finLife

Depending on our feedback, we might continue developing it and making a lot more engaging, or....we might scrap it. The important part was that we learned a lot and experienced something new, but what's really in store isn't something we can say for now!