Textbook dating sim

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Study question
Bad ending

Inspiration

Textbooks are often seen as dry, impenetrable walls of information. Students dread opening them, and a common refrain during finals week is:

"I'm buried in my studies... I'm basically in a relationship with my books."

We decided to take that phrase literally. We were inspired by the fun, often cheesy mechanics of visual novels and dating simulators. We asked ourselves: What if studying wasn't a chore, but a pursuit of affection? What if your Organic Chemistry textbook could actually be charmed? We wanted to create a game that turns the pain of cramming into a bizarre, memorable academic romance.

What it does

Textbook Dating Sim is an interactive visual novel where the player's primary goal is to successfully romance their actual study materials. The game prompts the player to type in the name of the exact textbook they are currently using. The Gemini API then generates a unique character profile, personality, and dialogue style based on that subject matter.

How we built it

We built "Textbook Dating Sim" using a combination of modern web technologies, AI integration, and robust collaboration tools:

AI Backend: The core of the personalized experience is driven by the Google Gemini API. It analyzes the input textbook name and dynamically generates all dialogue, study questions, and responses.

Frontend Interface: The UI is crafted with HTML and CSS, focusing on a clean visual novel aesthetic. All game logic, state management, and UI updates are handled by vanilla JavaScript.

Challenges we ran into

Prompt Engineering was another major hurdle; making sure the AI would only return valid code required extensive testing and specific "forcing" instructions in our prompt. Creating an AI personality that was consistently in-character while also providing factually correct study questions was a fine line that took multiple iterations to perfect.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

🏆 Successfully creating a completely novel game concept that marries AI with a personalized "Dating Simulator" mechanic.

🎨 Developing a clean, polished, and thematic UI that fits the academic visual novel vibe perfectly using zero external CSS frameworks.

What we learned

We learned the AI prompting skills, and sprite generation skills, as well as a respect for the coding languages we used.

What's next

This is just the syllabus! In the future, we hope to implement:

[ ] Dynamic AI Image Generation: Add an API to create dynamic, subject-accurate visual sprites for the textbooks, moving beyond placeholder emojis.

[ ] Full Semester Mode: Expand the story beyond three rounds into a full "semester" of dates with midterms and finals based on their respective chapter content rather than the entire textbook.

[ ] Adaptive Learning: Track user progress to generate study questions personalized to their weak points, making the game a genuine educational tool.