About the Project
Inspiration
Many young people grow up navigating money, credit, and financial systems without clear guidance or accessible explanations. This gap is especially visible for kids from immigrant or underserved communities, where financial systems may work differently from what their families are familiar with.
This inspired us to create a goal-based interactive experience that removes fear and confusion around credit and reframes it as something understandable, approachable, and empowering.
What it does
Credit Crust teaches financial concepts such as saving, borrowing, and repaying in a fun, easy to understand manner. Users learn about credit scores, credit limits, and responsible financial actions by completing tasks and making decisions—through making pizza! Making pizza serves as a simple, familiar metaphor for real-life goals—buying groceries, planning ahead, and managing limited resources. Positive actions lead to growth in credit scores and limits, giving users immediate feedback while reinforcing good financial habits.
How we built it
We built the project as a web-based game, working collaboratively across design, logic, and implementation. We started by sketching the user journey and core learning goals, then translated those into a clear system of states and progression.
We integrated the Gemini API to handle dynamic responses and guide the flow of the experience in a way that feels conversational and intuitive, allowing users to learn through interaction rather than static explanations.
The front end was designed to be clean and approachable, with clear visual indicators for progress such as credit score growth, available actions, and unlocked content.
Throughout development, we divided responsibilities while continuously reviewing each other’s work to ensure consistency in both functionality and user experience.
Challenges we ran into
One of the main challenges was balancing simplicity with meaning. We needed mechanics that were easy to understand and implement within a hackathon timeline, while still accurately reflecting how credit works in the real world.
Another challenge was language and framing—avoiding terminology that felt intimidating, overly academic, or exclusionary. We spent time refining both the mechanics and the wording to ensure the experience felt welcoming and empowering, without labeling or oversimplifying the audience.
Finally, coordinating development and design decisions under time pressure required constant communication and prioritization to ensure a cohesive final product.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
- Successfully translated abstract financial concepts into intuitive mechanics for users with no prior exposure.
- Built a fully functional web-based interactive experience under a tight hackathon timeline.
- Created a system of positive reinforcement that encourages learning through engagement.
- Coordinated a team effort to ensure both design and development were consistent and high-quality.
What we learned
Through building this project, we learned how powerful positive reinforcement can be in teaching financial concepts. By designing a system where credit score and credit limit only grow through responsible actions, we saw how learning can feel motivating rather than intimidating.
We also learned how to translate abstract financial ideas—like credit limits, repayment, and score growth—into mechanics that are intuitive for users with no prior exposure. On the technical side, we gained experience designing clear game logic, managing application state, and coordinating frontend and backend development under tight time constraints.
What's next for Credit Crust
- Expand the experience to include more financial scenarios, such as budgeting for multiple goals or managing unexpected expenses.
- Add personalization features so that users can see how their actions impact their virtual financial profile over time.
- Refine the Gemini API integration to offer more dynamic guidance and adaptive feedback based on user choices.
- Explore additional gamification elements to increase engagement and motivation.
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