Next Tale

How we built it

AI Stack:

• Google Gemini (gemini-3-pro-preview) for story generation with a memory system
• ElevenLabs for voice narration, music generation, and voice cloning
• Leonardo AI for images and video

Platform:

• React + TypeScript frontend with TikTok-style swipe feed
• Supabase Edge Functions (Deno) for serverless AI orchestration
• PostgreSQL with row-level security

Observability (Datadog):

• Custom withLLMTrace() wrapper on all LLM calls
• 3 detection rules: error rate, rate limits, service degradation
• Real-time dashboard with request volume and error tracking
• Incident management for actionable alerts

Challenges we ran into

1. Story Memory System - Maintaining character consistency across 6+ chapters required building a custom memory architecture that tracks characters, plot threads, and emotional arcs
2. Datadog Integration - Implementing agentless LLM observability without SDK support required reverse-engineering the API payload format
3. Feed Performance - Rendering rich media content in a smooth swipe feed needed careful optimization and lazy loading

Accomplishments that we're proud of

• Generate a complete 6-chapter interactive story with images in under 60 seconds
• Full observability pipeline without any SDK dependencies
• Voice cloning that lets users hear themselves sing AI-generated songs
• Gamification system with quests, points, and progressive feature unlocks

What we learned

• LLM applications need observability from day one—costs can spike 10x from a single bug
• Story memory is crucial for narrative coherence; stateless generation produces inconsistent characters
• Detection rules should be actionable, not just alerting

What's next for Next Tale

• AI-Powered Social Matching - Connect users based on content preferences
• Creator Monetization - Revenue sharing for popular content creators
• Universal Token Economy - In-app currency for premium features and tipping
• NFT Content - Mint generated content as collectibles
• Real Connections - NFC-based verification for authentic networking

Built With

• css
• datadog
• deno
• elevenlabs
• google-gemini
• postgresql
• react
• supabase
• tailwind
• typescript
• vite