Oracle Grove

A storybook council of three animal guides, each with a voice, weighs your tough decision. Glowing roots show where they agree, and you keep a page that says: this choice is yours.

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Inspiration

Hard decisions keep us up at night. Most tools either list generic pros and cons or tell you what to do, but these choices mix logic, risk and feelings, and the choice is yours. For the Enchanted Grove theme, we wanted help that feels like a hand-painted storybook, not an app.

What it does

Open a book, write your decision and name two options. Three original characters step out of a snowy grove and each advises in its own voice: Quill the owl (logic), Ember the hare (risks) and Willow the deer (feelings). Glowing roots grow from each one and merge where they agree, blooming at the option most of them lean toward. You keep a page with their advice, one next step, and the line "This choice is yours." It is a thinking aid, not professional advice. [If someone writes about a crisis, it shows a gentle page with the 988 lifeline instead.]

How we built it

  • 3D book: React and GSAP. Pages turn with shading, lift and shadow, and the book falls from the camera onto the snow.
  • Art: ink-and-watercolor characters and scene [made with generative AI tools, directed and edited by us], with the characters animated in code.
  • Council: [Gemini] returns each creature's advice and leaning as JSON that drives the UI.
  • Voices: [ElevenLabs gives each creature its own voice.]
  • Roots: animated SVG paths generated from the AI's output.
  • Stack: React, Vite, TypeScript, GSAP, Howler.js, Vercel.

Challenges we ran into

  • Making a page turn feel like real paper.
  • Keeping three AI-painted characters consistent.
  • Keeping the tone warm, never preachy, and clear that the choice is yours.
  • Hiding generation time behind a "the creatures are listening" moment.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • A book that feels like an object, not a slideshow.
  • Roots that turn three opinions into one picture you can read at a glance.
  • [A full working loop: question, advice, voices, roots, keepsake.]

What we learned

Small details like a snow puff, a blink or a page-turn sound change how much people trust a tool. Good AI design is also deciding what the AI should not do.

What's next for Oracle Grove

More characters, more languages, a mobile reading mode and printed keepsakes.

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