Snoo wars

• 

  u/kiro

• 

  main interface

• 

  smash!

• 

  leaderboard

Inspiration

The viral "Smash or Pass" format combined with Reddit's unique Snoovatar system. I wanted to gamify social interaction and celebrate Reddit's creative community through competitive avatar rating.

What it does

A competitive Snoovatar rating game where users vote "Smash" or "Pass" on Reddit avatars. Features ELO rankings, real-time leaderboards, progressive onboarding, and 45 diverse default profiles representing subreddits, countries, and AI personalities.

How we built it

• Frontend: React 18 + TypeScript with glassmorphism UI and premium animations
• Backend: Express + Redis with ELO rating system (K-factor 32)
• Platform: Reddit Devvit for seamless integration
• Features: Intelligent preloading, session management, mobile-first design
• Testing: 90+ tests with comprehensive coverage

Challenges we ran into

• Implementing fair ELO algorithm that prevents rating inflation to tackle the cold-start problem, as we have default 45 avatars, I did not want them to take up all of the leaderboard and give chance to new players who share their avatar in the game
• Creating authentic glassmorphism effects with 60fps performance

Accomplishments that we're proud of

• 300+ redditors participating and sharing their own snoovatars in the game
• Premium glassmorphism UI rivaling native mobile apps and desktops
• Sophisticated ELO system with real-time competitive rankings

What we learned

• ELO systems need careful K-factor tuning for balanced competition
• Preloading is crucial for mobile gaming performance
• Progressive onboarding timing significantly impacts user conversion to actually participate in the game while it not losing retention

What's next for Snoo wars

• Immediate: add achievement system
• Short-term: sharing multiple variations of your snoovatars so you can see which one performs the best
• Vision: Evolve into comprehensive platform for Reddit friend-making

Built With

• devvit
• kiro
• react
• redis