PawthFinder

Inspiration

Pawthfinder started as a silly idea during one of my classic late-night overthinking sessions — the kind where my cat stares at me like I’ve lost it while I spiral into random thoughts. I realized how often my brain jumps from one idea to another, just like a word ladder: one small change, and suddenly I’ve gone from “cat” to “existential dread.” That’s when it clicked — what if I could turn that chaotic thought process into a game? My cat became the mascot, my wandering thoughts became the gameplay, and Pawthfinder became my way of turning overthinking into creativity. It’s part brain-teaser, part cozy comfort, and completely a love letter to the tiny creature who sits beside me through all my ideas.

What it does

How we built it

The project is built using Devvit, Supabase, Redis, HTML, and CSS. Supabase manages the structured data — word ladders, synonyms, and hints — while Redis powers real-time leaderboards for quick ranking updates.

Challenges we ran into

One of the biggest challenges was maintaining clean data relationships between ladders, synonyms, and hints without triggering duplication or constraint conflicts in Supabase. Handling network instability and strict RLS policies also required several rounds of debugging and schema refinement. Another challenge was tuning the gameplay experience so that it balanced difficulty and fun — rewarding close guesses through synonyms while keeping every ladder solvable yet surprising.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The game has been tried and enjoyed by a lot of friends and early testers who loved the concept.

It’s genuinely interactive — players think, laugh, and sometimes overthink their way through each ladder.

The cute cat mascot instantly grabs attention and gives the game its cozy, relatable charm.

Randomized word ladders ensure every session feels fresh and reduces repetition, keeping players engaged longer.

What we learned

Through Pawthfinder, I learned how to blend creativity with structured technical design. I gained hands-on experience in relational database modeling, real-time systems with Redis, and frontend polish using HTML, CSS, and React. I also learned how small user-experience decisions — such as hint pacing and leaderboard dynamics — can make a huge difference in engagement. Ultimately, Pawthfinder taught me how to build something technically robust yet deeply playful.

What's next for PawthFinder

Built With

• css
• html
• javascript
• redis
• supabase
• typescript