Animus

Background

The project derives its name from the Animus, a virtual reality machine in the Assassin’s Creed series. The Animus enables users to explore their ancestors’ memories in three dimensions, reliving their experiences. Similarly, this project is inspired by the idea of reliving experiences, which are at the heart of human connections, bonding, and memory-making.

On a personal note, this project allowed me to build upon the framework I developed in Project Cyclone, taking it to new heights and reliving the thrill of creating something innovative and useful.

The project was developed for the 2016 Discovery Gradhack event, a three-day hackathon focused on developing cutting-edge solutions for Discovery Vitality services, with gamification at its core.

Result

This project got joint first place in the event.

Objectives

Discovery’s core objective was to develop a solution that integrates gamification features for Discovery Vitality. This raised a crucial question: how to encourage user interaction and engagement? Our response was to design a platform that fosters user connections, enables group formation, and facilitates experience sharing.

Technology Stack

• Front-end: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery
• Back-end: PHP
• Database: MySQL
• Framework: LAMP stack
• Version Control: Git
• Security: Data validation and encryption techniques
• Hosting: Afrihost
• Documentation: Markdown

Features

Real-time chat

Users can chat with each other in real-time, either publicly or privately. This includes private messages to other users, as well as public and private group chats.

Event calendars

Users have a unique calendar, groups have group calendars, and official events have their own limited feature calendar.

Administrator dashboard

Contains analytical information about user engagement and activity on the platform. Administrators also have the ability to set the time interval for the data they want to view. Data can also be exported to Microsoft Excel, CSV, or PDF.

Administrative functionality

Administrators can manage users, groups, and events. They can also view user activity related to certain events and groups if there are reports of inappropriate behavior. They have the ability to ban users, disband groups, and cancel events.

User groups

Users can create their own groups and invite others to join. Groups can be public or private. Group owners can manage their groups and events. Each group has its own chat and calendar which integrates with the user’s calendar.

Profile customization

Users can customize their profiles with a profile picture, cover photo, and a bio. They can also toggle which sections on the website they want to see and toggle between various prebuilt themes, and font styles. They can also set their own time zone, which is used throughout the website and does time zone conversions automatically.

Gamification

Users can earn points by participating in events, chatting, and engaging with other users. Points can be used to unlock achievements and badges. Users can also earn points by participating in the Discovery Vitality program official events. Points can be redeemed at an official event for prizes. Leaderboards are also available to see who has the most points.