StudyArcade - Snake Flap

Inspiration:

I noticed a common trend in class: almost my entire grade plays Snake or Flappy Bird during CFS instead of doing their homework. I decided to bridge that gap. By combining addictive games with academic material, the game becomes the reward for studying, and studying becomes the only way to stay in the game.

What it does:

Study Arcade - Snake Flap allows students to input their own custom study questions or use pre-made decks to play arcade classics. If you crash in Snake or hit a pipe in Flappy Bird, you must answer a flashcard correctly to "Revive" and keep your streak alive. Get it wrong, and it’s Game Over.

How I built it:

The project was built for macOS using Xcode. SpriteKit: Used to handle the high-speed physics, collision detection, and frame-by-frame movement of the snake and bird. SwiftUI: Used to build the "Manage Library" interface and the high-contrast instruction overlays. SwiftData: Used for the underlying database to ensure your questions and personal high scores are saved locally on your machine.

Challenges I ran into:

A major challenge was getting the colors and images to stay consistent while keeping the actual "movingness" of the snake and bird smooth. I had to make sure that when the game paused for a quiz, it didn't "glitch" or move the character while the you are busy typing your answer.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of:

Coding it

What I learned:

I learned a lot about macOS file systems and UI interaction, specifically how to make a File Import button that allows the app to read external text or PDF files and automatically turn them into playable game content.

What's next for StudyArcade - Snake Flap:

New Games: I want to add a Pac-Man version Visuals: Adding more customization options for bird skins and snake trails.

Built With

• xcode