Quaran.Tech

Experience contact tracing in this game (with AI, because why not)

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Inspiration

During major public health events, the public is often not aware of the duties of public health workers such as contact tracers, decreasing the efficiency of procedures such as public health mandates and "flattening the curve." This game aims to educate the public on various public health risks and how they are dealt with.

In addition, Efthimios Papadopoulos is an avid gamer and it was noticed that current games may become boring after the storyline has been exhausted. This game is an experiment in the use of large language models to enhance game experiences through the generation of alternate storylines.

What it does

Quaran.Tech is a cross-platform HTML5 game that allows players to experience the life of a public health specialist in a fast-paced environment. When days are shortened to in-game seconds, the more tedious parts of this occupation are eliminated, and we are left with the most intense and nerve-wracking decision-making.

How we built it

  • HTML/CSS/JS/jQuery was used to develop the game frontend which is hosted on Cloudflare Pages
  • The backend runs on Cloudflare Workers ensuring scalability for the long run.
  • Gemini API is used to generate unlimited new scenarios for players to experience.
  • MongoDB stores existing scenarios.
  • The .TECH domain name was utilized.

Challenges we ran into

Making a game without a game engine was more difficult than we thought. Without the abstractions of scenes and sprites, mundane commands such as showing and removing icons sometimes led to strange, difficult, and random errors.

Time was a serious constraint. We initially did not think of the LLM integration, but when we started writing the game storyline file, a new appreciation for game development was gained as we realized that writing storylines was extremely time-consuming.Therefore, we decided to integrate the AI story writing into our game, which accelerated development of the storyline, but slowed us down due to the added complexity.

...and finally, CORS issues. A lot of CORS issues.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud that we built a game in the short timeframe provided. Efthimios had never written a game before of any sort, and Heng had only experimented with some small games in easy-to-use game engines. In addition, it was our first time integrating Google Gemini into an application.

What we learned

Efthimios learned a lot of HTML and CSS techniques. From zero to hero type ah learning 😤😤😤.

Heng Ye learned the intricacies of developing game software. In addition, he learned how to utilize Gemini API, Cloudflare Pages, and Cloudflare Workers.

What's next for QuaranTech

  • Voice chat with AI characters (doctors, patients, government officials)
  • More reliable LLM storyline generation.
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