Butter Butter

Inspiration

Be compassionate," Morrie whispered.And take responsibility for each other.If we only learned those lessons, this world would be so much better a place." - Tuesdays With Morrie, Mitch Albom

We were inspired by the sheer amount of haters in the world and wanted to create something that encourages kindness. Our goal was to design an app that motivates people to perform good deeds and make the world a better place. Just like butter spreads smoothly with a knife, we want kindness to spread effortlessly, which is why we created ButterButter.

What it does

Every day, the app generates a random act of kindness for users to complete. Completing a task for the first time starts a streak, and continuing to complete tasks on consecutive days increases the streak. To make spreading kindness even more engaging, users can add friends, track their progress, and compete on a leaderboard to see who can maintain the longest streak.

How we built it

We developed ButterButter using full-stack technologies, including JavaScript, React, and CSS for the frontend and Firebase for the backend. To dynamically generate new acts of kindness each day, we integrated the Gemini API, ensuring a fresh and diverse set of challenges for users.

Challenges we ran into

As this was our first hackathon and we only have first-year experience, we encountered several challenges along the way. Our first hurdle was deciding which languages and frameworks to use and how to structure the project. Additionally, since we formed our team very late, we spent the entire first night just brainstorming and planning our project.

Some of the most notable challenges included:

Correctly integrating the Gemini API into our backend.
Developing a functional leaderboard and friends system.
Implementing a streak logic that accurately tracks dates, times, and streak resets.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Despite our limited experience and time constraints, we are incredibly proud of what we built. None of us had created a project like this before, yet we managed to develop a fully functional app in a short amount of time with no prior preparation.

Some of our key accomplishments include:

Successfully building a full-stack application with limited experience.
Collaborating effectively as a team despite the late formation.
Gaining hands-on experience with real-world development processes.
Creating something meaningful that we can continue to refine and improve together.

What we learned

This hackathon taught us valuable lessons about teamwork, project planning, and efficient development. Some key takeaways include:

The importance of early and effective planning before the event, including deciding on frameworks, UI designs, and feature scopes.
The need for better time management, as developing a competitive project requires substantial effort over the weekend (even at the cost of some sleep!).
The value of working collaboratively, ensuring that everyone understands how different components interact rather than working in isolation.

What's next for ButterButter

Moving forward, we aim to participate in more hackathons to sharpen our skills and gain further experience. As we progress through university, we plan to take on more ambitious and technical projects together, ultimately preparing ourselves for future opportunities in the tech industry.

This is just the beginning for ButterButter, and we can't wait to see how far we can take it!