MediSoul

MediSoul is your digital reflection in a world of zen. Meditate alongside your evolving avatar, level up together, and soon connect with others.

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Inspiration

MediSoul came to life during my battle with cancer during pandemic. As I turned to meditation to cope with chemo, I realized I needed a tool to keep me motivated. The idea of a digital companion, inspired by Gmail's Tea House theme and the serene underwater world of Abzu, took root. I wanted to create a space where users could find peace and grow their meditation practice, guided by a friendly character that evolves alongside them.

What it does

At its heart, MediSoul is your personal meditation buddy. It offers customizable sessions without the usual meditation music & soundscapes, letting you dive into your own mindfulness journey. The star of the show is the 3D character that grows and changes as you meditate more. I've added a bit of fun with streaks and levels to keep you coming back. It's all about making meditation a consistent, enjoyable part of your day.

How I built it

Building MediSoul was a journey of learning and discovery. I dove headfirst into Swift and SwiftUI, figuring things out as I went along. Spline became my go-to for creating the 3D elements, while Mixamo helped bring our character to life. The app's structure came together with a mix of self-taught coding and a little help from AI. It was a process of constant experimentation and refinement.

Challenges I ran into

This project was a rollercoaster of challenges. As a coding newbie, every day brought new puzzles to solve. Time was always breathing down my neck, especially with the Ship-A-Ton deadline looming. Spline threw me for a loop when I realized its limitations in character progression. Juggling this project with my day job was no picnic either. And let's not forget the "spaghetti code" fiasco when I relied too heavily on AI-generated solutions!

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Looking back, I'm amazed at how far MediSoul has come. From a vague idea to a fully functioning app, it's been quite a ride. I'm particularly proud of our evolving 3D companion - it's not every day you see a meditation app with a character that grows with you. The fact that I learned Swift from scratch, while dealing with health issues, feels like a major win. And somehow, I managed to create an engaging, gamified meditation experience that I hope will keep users coming back.

What I learned

Know your tools inside out: I discovered the importance of thoroughly understanding the capabilities and limitations of my chosen technologies before diving deep into development. This foresight can save countless hours of rework and frustration down the line.

Focus on the core first: I learned to prioritize building the essential features quickly. Getting the fundamental idea up and running early allows for faster iteration and improvement, rather than getting bogged down in details that might change.

AI: A double-edged sword: While AI proved to be an incredible asset in my development process, I also learned the importance of maintaining control over my codebase. AI can provide quick solutions, but it's crucial to understand and be able to modify the code it generates.

What's next for MediSoul

The journey doesn't end here. I'm excited to expand MediSoul's world with more diverse environments and a day-night cycle to match users' real-world meditation times. I'm also working on character customization based on a personal survey, making each user's experience more unique. But what I'm really looking forward to is adding a network feature. Imagine joining other souls in meditation or having them pop into your session - it's going to add a whole new dimension to the app. The future of MediSoul is all about creating a more connected, personalized meditation experience.

Built With

  • claude
  • revenuecat
  • spline
  • swiftui
  • xcode
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