Reconnectik

“Reconnectik, bridge the gap”

Introduction

Reconnectik is an innovative prototype designed to bridge the gaps in communication that often arise in today's fast-paced world. Our mission is to facilitate meaningful interactions and foster deeper connections among friends and family, regardless of geographical distance. By leveraging a unique blend of gamification and nurturing activities, Reconnectik encourages users to engage with loved ones in a fun and interactive way.

 Reconnectik is a prototype for an application where users care for a virtual plant by playing games with friends and family. As users progress through the game, their plant grows, symbolising the growth of their relationships. This approach helps overcome the challenges of initiating conversations with distant contacts, making it easier to stay connected and strengthen bonds.

By integrating a user-friendly interface with engaging features, Reconnectik aims to make reconnecting with others a seamless and enjoyable experience. Whether it's rekindling old friendships or maintaining current relationships, our platform provides a flexible and accessible way to nurture connections in a busy world.

We are She Hacks, a team of four talented and empowered women from both the University of Greenwich and King’. Each of us brought unique skills and contributions to the Reconnectik project.

• Alexandra Encarnacion:
  Alexandra had the innovative idea of which platform to use for designing the prototype and played a crucial role in its design. She also contributed valuable ideas to the project.

• Jazmyne Hisole:
  Jazmyne was instrumental in designing the games within the prototype and brought forward innovative ideas that shaped the project.

• Fatima Celorio:
  Fatima contributed significantly by bringing ideas to the project, helping with its design, and preparing the presentation.

• Estefania Osorio:
  Estefania helped generate ideas for the project, prepared the report and created the logo for Reconnectik, setting the visual identity of our brand.

Together, we formed a cohesive team that worked diligently to bring the Reconnectik platform to life, addressing the challenge of reconnecting in an increasingly isolated world.

Framing the Problem

Have you ever felt the weight of distance and time as you struggle to reconnect with loved ones?

In today's fast-paced world, maintaining meaningful relationships can be a daunting task. Whether you're the most outgoing person or the shyest, everyone faces challenges in keeping up with friends and family.

Reconnecting in an isolated world is a problem that resonates deeply with us. As individuals with families and friends abroad, we've experienced firsthand the difficulties of staying connected. It's not about lacking the desire to reconnect; often, it's simply forgetting or not knowing how to initiate a conversation after a long time. This challenge is both embarrassing and common, especially when dealing with friends who rarely respond or loved ones who require more time and effort to communicate with, like that auntie that always writes you but sometimes it takes time to properly talk to her and have a meaningful conversation.

The issue is heightened by the digital distractions that technology introduces. Devices can divert our attention away from personal interactions, leading to feelings of neglect and dissatisfaction in relationships, further complicating our connections.

By understanding the personal and broader implications of this problem, we can see that it affects not just individuals but also the fabric of our communities. Our solution aims to address this challenge by providing a platform that makes reconnecting both enjoyable and accessible.

Data Points:

• Personal Experience: As individuals with international connections, we've experienced the struggle of maintaining relationships across distances.

By sharing our personal connection to the problem and highlighting its broader impact, we demonstrate our commitment to finding a meaningful solution.

Idea Explanation

Our solution, Reconnectik, is a prototype for an app designed to help individuals maintain meaningful connections with friends and family, regardless of distance or time constraints. The core idea revolves around nurturing a virtual plant by engaging in games with loved ones. This approach addresses the challenges of initiating conversations and staying connected in a fun and interactive way.

Here's how Reconnectik works:

• Virtual Plant Care: Users start with a small virtual plant that requires care. As they play games with friends, they earn points that help their plant grow through three stages.

• Gameplay: The platform currently features games like tic tac toe and konnect 4, where users can play with friends. Winning a game earns 15 points, while participating earns 5 points, so even if you lose, you still gain something (everyone wins!). Each stage of the plant is unlocked when a total of 150 points is reached.

• Social Features: Users can view their friend list, add new friends using unique codes, and manage their profiles. This setup encourages users to engage with others, fostering connections without the need for lengthy conversations.

• Streaks: By introducing a daily streak, this encourages the user to maintain the streak and increase daily interactions with the app.  This app will encourage the continuous interaction with your friends, families and colleagues.

Reconnectik fixes the problem by:

• Simplifying Engagement: It provides a low-pressure way to reconnect with others through games, making it easier to initiate interactions.

• Encouraging Consistency: The virtual plant acts as a reminder to stay connected, promoting regular engagement with loved ones as well the importance of looking after your virtual pet.

• Rekindling relationships: By focusing on shared activities, Reconnectik helps build stronger bonds and shows loved ones they are valued, even when time is limited.

Overall, Reconnectik offers a unique blend of gamification and nurturing activities to help people overcome the challenges of maintaining relationships in today's fast-paced world.  

Implementation

Integration of Reconnectik Components:

• Frontend:

  • User Interface: Intuitive design for interacting with the virtual plant and playing games.

  • Gameplay: Users engage in games like Tic Tac Toe, earning points for their plant's growth.

• Backend (not implemented yet).

• Database (not implemented yet).

• Integration: the integration fosters a user-friendly experience that encourages engagement and meaningful connections (still needs to be implemented).

Challenges

During the development of Reconnectik, we faced several challenges that tested our team's creativity and time management skills. Here are some of the key hurdles we encountered and how we overcame them:

• Multiple Ideas with Limited Time: Initially, we had a plethora of ideas but limited time to implement them. We decided to focus on designing a prototype for an app, which allowed us to showcase the core concepts of Reconnectik effectively.

• Game Development: Creating functional games for the prototype proved challenging. To address this, we prioritised developing two games, Tic Tac Toe and Konnect 4, to demonstrate the gameplay aspect of our platform.

• Time Management: The need to deliver a solid prototype whilst enjoying the hackathon experience was a significant challenge. We managed this by organising our time efficiently and prioritising tasks to maximize our output within the given timeframe.

• Scope Definition: Deciding how much to implement within the limited time was difficult. We resolved this by focusing on the essential features that would best convey the value and potential of Reconnectik.

By addressing these challenges, we successfully created a prototype that captures the essence of our project and demonstrates its potential for fostering meaningful connections.

Your Time Usage (Optional)

Managing our time effectively was crucial during the hackathon. We began with a scavenger hunt to bond as a team, then brainstormed ideas, deciding to focus on designing the interface and creating a prototype due to time constraints. Three team members worked on the interface, while one created the logo and started the report. After a break at 5 PM, we resumed work in the evening, dividing tasks to finish the design and complete the report and presentation. We worked until a reasonable hour, ensuring rest to maintain productivity. This approach allowed us to deliver a solid prototype, complete the report, and prepare a compelling presentation while maintaining a positive team dynamic.

Accomplishments

Here's a concise summary of our accomplishments:

We are proud of several key accomplishments from our hackathon experience:

• Successful Prototype Development: We designed and developed a prototype for Reconnectik, showcasing our idea of using a virtual plant to encourage social engagement through games.

• Effective Time Management: We prioritized tasks effectively, completing a functional prototype and preparing a compelling presentation despite time constraints.

• Learning and Growth: We gained valuable skills in teamwork, time management, and creative problem-solving, along with experience in designing user-friendly interfaces and integrating backend logic with frontend interactions.

These accomplishments highlight our ability to collaborate and deliver a solid project under tight deadlines.

Business/Monetization Strategy (Optional)

Currently Reconnectik has no monetisation strategy, but we were planning on improving this part in the next steps.

Next Steps

To further develop Reconnectik, we have outlined a series of enhancements that would transform our prototype into a fully-fledged, deployed product. Here's a roadmap for future improvements based on different timeframes:

Short-Term (Next Hackathon's Worth of Time):

• Diversify Virtual Objects: Introduce a variety of virtual objects such as animals, cars, and additional plants to make the app more inclusive and engaging.

• Expand Game Library: Develop a range of mini-games to cater to different interests and preferences, enhancing user engagement.

• Enhance User Interface: Implement a randomised friend suggestion feature on the home page to encourage more interactions.

Medium-Term (One Month):

• Customisable Themes: Allow users to choose from multiple themes, ensuring a personalized experience.

• Search Functionality: Implement a search feature to help users find specific friends or connections.

Long-Term (One Year):

• Advanced Game Development: Create more complex games and stages, potentially including a full greenhouse or garage for collecting virtual items.

• Accessibility Features: Incorporate features for visually impaired users, such as high contrast modes, and support for multiple languages to increase accessibility.

• Community Building: Integrate social features like activity feeds and chats to foster a sense of community among users.

• Feedback Mechanism: Implement in-app feedback to continuously improve the user experience and app functionality.

By addressing these enhancements over time, we aim to transform Reconnectik into a comprehensive platform that not only encourages social engagement but also provides a rich and inclusive user experience.