UniVerse

Inspiration

Studying at university can feel isolating. You're alone in your room, unmotivated, with no one to hold you accountable. We wanted to fix that. Inspired by the nostalgia of Club Penguin, we asked: what if studying felt like hanging out with friends? UniVerse was born from that idea. A virtual study lounge where Laurier students can actually see each other working, cheer each other on, and make studying something to look forward to.

What it does

UniVerse is a browser-based virtual study lounge exclusively for Wilfrid Laurier University students. Users log in with their @mylaurier.ca email, customize their penguin avatar, and join a shared 2D campus world. Students can move around with WASD controls, chat in real time, set study goals, earn XP for studying, build daily streaks, and compete on course leaderboards. There is also a Game Room with mini games like Type Sprint, CS Quiz Blitz, Debug Rush, and Math Blitz to make study breaks actually useful.

How we built it

We built the frontend using vanilla HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with a Canvas-based 2D game world. Authentication is handled by Firebase Auth with strict email validation so only real Laurier students can join. User profiles and session data are stored in Firestore. We used GitHub for version control and coordinated our work using a branching workflow. The penguin avatars are custom drawn on HTML Canvas with smooth WASD movement.

Challenges we ran into

Building a 2D game world from scratch in vanilla JavaScript was harder than we expected. Getting the whole team comfortable with Git workflows mid-hackathon was a challenge too. Managing API security and making sure sensitive credentials stayed protected took some extra effort. A lot of time went into deciding what features to cut and what to keep given our time constraints.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We built a fully working study environment in under 2 days. Firebase authentication only accepts @mylaurier.ca emails which makes it feel like a real product built for Laurier. The penguin avatars animate smoothly with WASD movement and the XP, streak, and leaderboard system actually makes you want to keep studying.

What we learned

We learned how to integrate Firebase Auth and Firestore into a web app from scratch. We also learned a lot about API key security and why environment variables matter. Most importantly we learned how to work together as a team under real hackathon pressure and ship something that actually works.

What's next for UniVerse

We want to add real-time multiplayer using Firebase Realtime Database, course-specific study rooms for classes like CP213 and EC220, Spotify integration for shared study music, and a peer tutoring feature where students can raise their hand for help. We also want to expand beyond Laurier to other universities across Canada.