Sheepify

Inspiration

The idea for Sheepify came to us naturally during our first evening at the hackathon: all of us exhausted, venting about college stress, sleepless nights, and the long flights some teammates took just to get to San Francisco. We realized how normalized burnout has become and how rarely rest is celebrated. So we thought: in a world where good sleep is undervalued, why not build something that rewards it? In a world obsessed with productivity, we wanted to flip the script and build something that rewards slowing down – something warm, pixelated, and peaceful.

What it does

Sheepify gamifies healthy sleep habits. Each time you log a good night’s rest, you earn virtual sheep that produce wool over time – your in-game currency. The better your sleep quality (based on duration and consistency), the more rewards you collect. You can spend wool to personalize your farm, unlock new sheep types, and grow your cozy little dream world. In future updates, we plan to introduce a friends leaderboard, so for once, people can compete over who sleeps best, not who sleeps least. Powered by ClaudeAI, Sheepify also features Sheepy – your cheeky sheep companion who summarizes your dreams, congratulates you for sleeping well, and lovingly roasts you when you stay up too late.

How we built it

We built Sheepify with React Native and Expo for the mobile frontend, FastAPI for the backend, and SQLite for data storage. Our frontend uses TypeScript and Zustand for smooth state management, while the backend handles user profiles, sleep scoring, and wool generation logic. The visuals were a big part of the process — we designed custom pixel art sprites, animated them frame by frame, and created a consistent 8-bit interface using a purple-themed palette (#3d1b6b) and retro fonts like Press Start 2P.

Challenges we ran into

This was the first hackathon for everyone on our team – and none of us had ever touched React Native or built a mobile app before. It was a huge learning leap, but we embraced the messy, beautiful process of debugging and figuring things out as we went. Some features we were really excited about didn’t quite make it to the finish line — like our 2-frame sheep animations, which kept overloading the app and causing hilarious amounts of lag. Still, we learned a ton from those hiccups and can’t wait to get them running smoothly in the next version of Sheepify.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re really proud of how much we pulled off in such a short time. On the backend, we built a working login system and leaderboard, introducing a social element that turned Sheepify into a multiplayer experience – way beyond what we first imagined. On the frontend, we’re proud of how much personality we brought to the UI. Almost every inch of the app is filled with hand-drawn sheep, clouds, and dreamy little details, all made using free online paintbrush tools. It feels playful, cohesive, and uniquely ours. Most of all, we’re proud of our persistence – pushing through connection issues, endless debugging, and, ironically, a serious lack of sleep. Even the rain and looming deadlines couldn’t stop us from building something we truly love.

What we learned

We learned how to build a mobile app from scratch, adapting our code to meet both iOS and Android requirements – a challenge that pushed us way out of our comfort zone. Along the way, we figured out how to merge the frontend and backend effectively, and how to decide which one to prioritize when deadlines were tight. We also discovered how to blend art and engineering – incorporating custom design and hand-drawn visuals directly into the codebase to make the app not just functional, but genuinely fun and visually appealing. Most importantly, we learned to embrace the process of learning and failing, and to value the skills, creativity, and connections we built more than chasing perfection. Sheepify taught us that great projects grow where curiosity and collaboration meet.

What's next for Sheepify

We have big dreams for Sheepify (pun intended). The next step is bringing our world even more to life – starting with smoother animations, unique sheep skins, and new visual effects to make every user’s farm feel personal. We also plan to build an in-app marketplace, where players can trade or purchase upgrades using their hard-earned wool. Beyond that, we want to expand the social side of Sheepify – adding more multiplayer interactions, friendly competitions, and maybe even midnight prank calls you can buy with in-game currency to “encourage” your friends to go to sleep. At its core, we want Sheepify to grow into a cozy little ecosystem – part wellness tool, part game, part chaotic sleep club – where rest and connection go hand in hand.