Remarque

Header and our slogan
We have 4 of those sections, with art and writing that explains our mission and the main features of our website
A testimonial section for users that had a positive experience on our website
We provided links and info to resources that can help a child in need
We have games we made that populate our games section so users can de-stress.
Our chat

Inspiration

For most people, school is just a place where they learn and socialize. However, for youth dealing with abusive families, school is often the only option to take a break from the pain. With the shelter-in-place order continuing to extend as time goes on, these kids are suffering with no escape. We wanted to make something easily accessible that can help those kids relieve some of that stress, make friends, and encourage them to seek help. This is where Remarque comes in. Inspired by the French word for sticky note, Remarque represents a small reminder that you’re worth something.

What it does

Remarque operates on 3 principles: educate, destress, and connect. Since most people don't know that there are so many resources out there that can help them overcome their tough situation, our Info section is designed to teach our users about where to seek help. Our games section is intended to take the user's mind off of whatever is going on, so they can focus on something else while having fun at the same time. Last but not least, we want our users to know that they are not struggling alone, and there are plenty of other people who can offer advice on how they've gone through those situations, so we want them to network with each other.

How we built it

We built the frontend with HTML, CSS, and Javascript, the chat with Vue.js, and we built the backend with python and SQL. We tried connecting the backend and database with firebase, but we were not able to get it working in time.

Challenges we ran into

Github had a nightmarish learning curve for the team members that weren't familiar with it, but we persevered and got the hang of it. In addition, we were going to host our website on github pages, but we realized we needed a database, and we were scrambling to figure out how to host our website. On top of that, we had no experience building a website with a backend database like this one, and we had to learn a brand new programming language called SQL. In the end, we struggled with setting up firebase because it didn't recognize our data.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are really proud that we were able to build so many games in such a short period of time. We were also able to make a chatbox that we can type into. Lastly, we are really proud of our teamwork because we each contributed a substantial amount to the project, and there isn't just one person carrying the whole team. Everyone took advantage of their different skillsets and combined it into a great project.

What we learned

Github was very helpful for version control, but merge conflicts and the amount of commands were challenges for us. We learned that backend web development is very essential to a website like this, even though the work is not visible. We also learned about SQL, which we have never used before.

What's next for Remarque

Remarque has a lot of future potential, and here is a list of improvements that we want to add. First, since a lot of kids don't have a trusted guardian to help them with homework, we want to add some practice problems on topics so they can prepare for their tests and also chat with people who can help. Next, we want to continue our mission of helping kids even after quarantine ended, so it would be helpful to add a map with all the places they can go to for help. Also, the chat feature is still in development, but once we get that polished, we want to add timestamps to people's chat history. Finally, single player games are going to get stale eventually, so we wish to put some multiplayer games up there so gamers can get a fresh new challenge every time.