Submerge

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  Main screen where users put in their main task and the steps leading to that task.

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  Egg hatching animation that happens every time a certain score is reached.

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  One of the animals that can be hatched from an egg. Animals differ per sea zone.

Inspiration

Our inspiration came from the challenge of actually starting and staying consistent with your goals. A lot of people today either have trouble starting a goal, saying "I'll do it tomorrow", or struggle to stay consistent on their own terms. We wanted to create something that reminds the user what their goals are and use positive reinforcement to push them to become a better version of themselves.

What it does

Compared to a simple task manager app or to-do app, Submerge tracks your progress in live time to send you messages based on what you have or haven't done. If you're on a streak, Submerge will send you positive messages to make sure you stay motivated on working on a goal. If it notices that you've taken a break, it will kindly remind the user that they have a goal to be reached. It can give messages such as "Just 5 minutes for today" to try to help the user get their motivation to work on a goal. As you complete more goals, you will unlock more zones on the sea, each containing their own group of sea animals. These animals will hatch from eggs and contain different rarities to further help the user stay motivated to work on something.

How we built it

The front end is built with pure HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript to ensure it’s lightweight and feels premium. We used FastAPI and SQLite for the backend to handle cloud state persistence and the global leaderboard. The animations are driven by a mix of CSS transitions and JavaScript physics to create a smooth, floating underwater feel.

Challenges we ran into

The challenges that we ran into were managing real-time state sync between the local PWA and the cloud server without interrupting the user experience, which was tough. As well as making the Discord bot be able to ping you after time away with motivation to come back and finish your task.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are incredibly proud of the atmosphere. The custom typography, the swaying animations, and the 'slot-machine' style animated depth counters all come together to create a cohesive world. We also successfully implemented a real-time cloud-sync system that bridges the gap between local storage and a remote server seamlessly.

What we learned

We learned a ton about the power of micro-interactions—how small details like a particle burst or haptic feedback can massively boost user satisfaction. We also discovered how to sustain that engagement long-term by implementing gacha-style reward mechanics to keep the experience exciting and unpredictable.

What's next for Submerge

We want to add more interactive 'Zones' with unique boss-style goals, a 'co-op dive' mode where friends can descend together.

Built With

• css3
• fastapi
• html5
• javascript
• oracle
• rsync
• sqlite