Guess Boo

We transformed the classic game of Guess Who to an app you can play with your Snapchat friends where all the game characters are your mutual friends' Bitmojis

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Inspiration

We were inspired by a Gatorade Snap Ad campaign where they created mini-game within Snapchat in which the user swipes up and plays an 8-bit version of a tennis game. This campaign was insanely successful and we thought we could mimic this approach of creating an entertaining mini-game that also serves as a non-intrusive advertisement.

What it does

We've transformed the classic game of "Guess Who" to an Android app you can play with your Snapchat friends where all the Guess Who characters are your mutual friends' Bitmoji Avatars.

How we built it

Our stack has a java front end with a scaledrone messaging service in middle connecting the 2 devices with google firebase hosting our assets. We started by having a functioning UI with the correct layout and buttons with minimal functionality. After we were satisfied with the UI we began adding functionality to each of the UI features. With the basic functionality, we began enhancing performance. We started with having the picture assets save locally on the device but as we moved into later cycles of the design cycle we integrated google firebase.

Challenges we ran into

The first challenge we ran into was deciding on a stack. While react native has the advantage of running cross-platform we were unable to have everyone's environment set up. We later moved to a regular java android implementation sacrificing robustness for feasibility. The next large problem we ran into was having the snap login kit crash the app upon sending a request. Our initial plan was to use solace cloud to host a messaging broker and having the client connect and have the messages flow back and forth. As a result of limitations imposed by android studio, not allowing us to have our client run on the main thread and the platform not working when running asynchronously, therefore, we decided to move towards scaledrone messaging.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're very proud of what we were able to accomplish in such a short time period and it is very fulfilling to see a concept transform into an actual functional product. We're proud of implementing various services and feature that we were completely unfamiliar with, into our product. These features include a scaledrone powered messaging service, various features from SnapKit, fire-base cloud service and many more. We also invested considerable time in extraneous aspects of our projects such as creating a logo and website.

What we learned

From a technical aspect, we advanced our knowledge in Android app development and Java, and learned how to implement APIs and other features from sources that we never used before. We also improved our collaborative abilities and have come to appreciate the importance of teamwork and coordination.

What's next for Guess Boo

We are extremely passionate about this project and we have a bunch of future plans. We'd like to fully integrate it into Snapchat and convert it into a Snap Ads Web View game. Additionally, we'd like to add 3D Bitmojis that would allow users to rotate the Bitmoji Guess Who characters. Finally, we believe AI could be implemented that would allow the user to play alone, against the AI. The AI would be able to scan the Bitmoji features and answer and ask questions accordingly.

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