The problem Blocs - Virtual Spaces solves
Boring Discord Servers
-
Ever since 2020, Events are going online! This calls for a revamp of our event infrastructure as more and more events are held online or hybrid.
-
Discord servers are not a good interface for hosting events, they can get overwhelming, un-navigable boring as the size of the event grows.
- What we're trying to do is we're making a virtual, but an extremely visual representation of an event, A virtual Space for events
- You can visualize and "live" the event just like offline events.
- We created a 2D map that mocks the real environment of an event.
- Some of the key features include:-
- VIRTUAL ROOMS
- Rooms for All Webinars
- Rooms for Minor Events
- Rooms for Sponsors
- Rooms for Networking
- THEMED MAPS
- All events are different, which calls for the need to be able to build UIs that cater to the needs of the events
- You can make your own map for your events
- INTERACTIVE OBJECTS
- These virtual spaces can have interactive objects, when a user visits these objects they respond with premade templates.
- Examples:
- Zoom Bots - create zoom meeting links, instantaneously
- FAQ Bots - Ask anything about the event!
- Advertisment Bots
- EVENT LEVELS
- Phases of the events can be categorized as game levels
- Ex: Level 2 == Hacking phase
- This gives a direct visula cue of whats going on in the event!
Challenges we ran into
- Making a virtual world sounds exciting, but, it's complicated!
- Under the hood this a 2D Realtime Multiplayer RPG Game!
- We faced a lot of challenges while selecting the right Game engine to get the work done.
- Lots of reading the documentation was done.
- Everything had to happen in REALTIME
- We had to learn about WebSockets and implement complex server-side logic using the same.
- Lastly, choosing a good name was a pain in the B.