Sortopia

Start Screen
Conveyor Belt
Machines
HomeUI

✨ Inspiration This is my first year at a hackathon, and I wanted to challenge myself with something meaningful. The idea for Sortopia came from my interest in both environmental sustainability and fast-paced puzzle games. I wanted to create a game that challenges players’ reflexes and decision-making while teaching them about recycling, composting, and renewable energy. Watching videos about how solar panels, wind turbines, and hydropower work inspired the idea of linking weather conditions to gameplay mechanics.

📚 What I Learned While building this project, I learned a lot about: Game design: How to create a core loop that keeps players engaged. Dynamic difficulty: Balancing conveyor speed, item complexity, and weather changes. Feedback systems: Using animations, sounds, and visual cues to communicate the game’s state clearly. Programming logic: Managing item sorting, machine switching, and scoring all at the same time.

🛠️ How I Built It Planning: Sketched out the conveyor, bins, and machines, and wrote down the core gameplay loop. Weather & Energy Mechanics: Created different weather states and linked each to a specific machine that powers the conveyor. Sorting System: Added tap controls for items and assigned correct bins for trash, recyclables, and compost. Feedback & Visuals: Animated the conveyor, machines, and weather effects so players could immediately see when something worked or went wrong.

⚡ Challenges Machine switching tension: Making the 2–3 second delay feel fair but still challenging required trial and error. Sorting accuracy vs. speed: Balancing rewards for fast sorting without letting random guesses inflate scores. Visual clarity: With many moving elements, it was tricky to keep the screen clear and intuitive.

✅ Conclusion This project helped me combine educational content with engaging gameplay. I’m proud of how the core loop encourages players to think quickly while also learning about sustainability.