Orbit

Inspiration We noticed that in everyday life — whether on campus, at events, or in shared spaces — people often need small, immediate help (a phone charger, a ride, directions, a spare hand) but feel awkward asking strangers. We wanted to build something that makes helping feel natural, fun, and rewarding. Drawing from the idea that we're all orbiting the same spaces, we created Orbit — a gamified, space-themed mutual aid app that turns real-world help into missions among a constellation of connected people.

What it does Orbit lets users broadcast "signals" — requests for help with varying urgency — to nearby people. Potential helpers can scan for active signals on an interactive space map, where each mission appears as a planet sized by the requester's trust score and animated by urgency level (critical signals pulsate rapidly, medium ones glow steadily, and low-urgency ones remain calm). Once someone accepts a mission, both parties enter an active mission page with real-time messaging, live distance tracking, and a meeting-point map. After a mission is fulfilled, the requester sends a custom thank-you message, both users earn stardust (scaled by difficulty), and their trust scores update — building a visual constellation of their connections over time.

How we built it Frontend: React + TypeScript + Vite, styled with Tailwind CSS and shadcn/ui components, all wrapped in a retro space-pixel aesthetic. Backend: Lovable Cloud (powered by Supabase) for authentication, real-time database subscriptions, and edge functions. Real-time features: Supabase Realtime for live messaging, mission status updates, and location sharing between matched users. Geolocation: Browser Geolocation API for distance calculations and live position tracking during active missions. Gamification: A custom trust system (0–100 scale with named ranks), stardust economy with urgency-based rewards, and an unlockable badge system tied to milestones. Mobile-ready: Capacitor integration for potential native app deployment on iOS and Android. Challenges we ran into Concurrency control: Preventing multiple users from accepting a mission simultaneously when only one slot remained required database-level race condition handling with atomic checks. Real-time sync: Coordinating live location updates, message delivery, and mission state changes across multiple users without lag or stale data. Planet collision avoidance: Rendering dozens of trust-scaled, urgency-animated planets on the scan map without overlaps — while keeping distance-based positioning meaningful — required a custom force-separation algorithm. State management across pages: Ensuring users could navigate away from the waiting room (e.g., to the shop) and return without losing their active request or incoming messages. Accomplishments that we're proud of A fully functional real-time matching system where requesters broadcast signals and helpers accept missions with live distance tracking and in-mission chat. The constellation map — a visual social graph where every completed mission strengthens visible connections between users, making your help history feel tangible. A trust and ranking system that starts everyone at 50 (Captain) and meaningfully differentiates reliable helpers through a non-linear visual scale. Stardust rewards that scale with mission urgency, creating a real incentive to tackle harder requests. The entire space-themed UX — from pulsating critical-urgency planets to pixel-art aesthetics — that makes helping people genuinely fun.

What we learned Real-time multiplayer coordination is hard — race conditions, stale state, and edge cases (like abandoned missions) require careful defensive programming. Gamification needs balance: too little reward and nobody engages, too much and it feels hollow. Tying stardust to urgency and trust to ratings created a natural feedback loop. Visual design matters for engagement — the space theme isn't just decoration; it gives users a mental model (signals, orbits, constellations) that makes the app intuitive. Building for demo-readiness taught us to seed realistic data and think about the full user journey end-to-end.

What's next for Orbit Push notifications so helpers get alerted to nearby signals even when the app is backgrounded. A stardust shop where users can spend earned stardust on cosmetic upgrades (custom planet skins, beacon colors, profile frames). Skill-based matching that surfaces missions aligned with a helper's strengths and levels up their skill tree. Group missions with coordinated multi-helper workflows for larger requests. Native mobile deployment via Capacitor to iOS and Android app stores. Reputation portability — letting users carry their trust score and constellation history across communities (campuses, events, neighbourhoods).

Built With

• lovable