choco

Choco is a video calling platform where you can hang out with your friends in a relaxed and simple-to-use manner. Choco offers unique environments that users can interact with seamlessly during calls

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Inspiration

Our first goal with Choco was to build a simple-to-use, account-less platform where anybody from anywhere could get on a call together in a matter of seconds. During the pandemic, we would often get on video calls with our friends to catch up and relax. We would frequently jump around from from platform to platform to accommodate the preferences of each caller. This slowly became frustrating as we would have to keep track of different social media platforms, managing different accounts for each one of them, and keeping all the platforms updated.

Our second goal with Choco was to build out an immersive platform for video calling. We felt as if platforms like Zoom, Webex, Teams, or even Discord didn't have that fun factor built into it. We wanted something where we could get on a call and really feel like we were studying together, or eating together.

What it does

With Choco, we created the VIDEO CALL METAVERSE (NFTs in the future). In Choco, there are spaces users can choose to go to, like as a study room, a cafe, a bar, etc. Each space is unique. Each space contains various objects users can interact with to simulate the vibe you would get in the real-world. For example, in our study room, users can start a Pomodoro Timer, or read the different books on the shelves. Hover on the different items to try and find all the available actions! A group of friends can quickly join a given space, play some music, chill, study, eat, and enjoy some vibes. The goal is to have a common place for everyone to enjoy together. Friends can have fun in a cozy environment while searching for easter eggs that we left around. They can also study or watch youtube videos on their own. Just like in a real library!

How we built it

React + Twilio API + NodeJS. The mentors were really useful as well as their workshops.

Challenges we ran into

Lack of sleep, procrastination, Twilio, school work, debating what to order with the ubereats voucher

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Honestly, really fun to build out and to have a legitimate voice call. Deployed a working version. It was super fun to get familiar with Twilio and to have deployed a fully working web application.

What we learned

Twilio, WebRTC, Serverless, avoid procrastination, sleep is important (don't do all-nighters kids, it's 8h30am and i need sleep.)

What's next for choco

In the future, we would like to implement more features for the users to enjoy. Different maps would be included, each with their own respective themes and special animations. We definitely want to add the option to play music for the whole group to hear, as if a radio was playing in the room. Fun traits can also be added, such as voice filters depending on your location and interactions with the environment. The goal is to have fun and the possibilities are endless!

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