DataFables

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Inspiration 🌟

We’ve all noticed how technology can captivate kids, leading to the rise of the “iPad kid.” Many digital games prioritize entertainment over learning, reducing attention spans and limiting opportunities for 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 and 𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁.

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀, like DataFables, show how creativity, education, and fun can be combined. Our goal was to create an educational game for young children that sparks creativity, keeps them engaged, expands their vocabulary, and rewards their progress with achievements along the way.

What it does 🎮💡

1. 𝗖𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗲 & 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲: Pick from 6 story genres, create a custom protagonist, and make decisions that change the story, giving each reader a unique adventure.
2. 𝗘𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀: Users select their age range, and the platform tailors stories to match Lexile levels commonly associated with that age, ensuring content is age-appropriate and engaging. Kids can also practice pronunciation and receive instant feedback, helping them improve literacy and speaking skills as they read.
3. 𝗔𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 & 𝗥𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀: Completing stories earns XP and in-game coins, which can be spent on accessories, outfits, and other customizations to personalize their character.
4. 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆:: Supports 10 different languages, making stories inclusive and accessible to children worldwide.

How we built it 🛠️👨‍💻

• 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗱: Powered by Snowflake as DataFables’ structured facts backbone, with real-time Snowflake REST API queries pulling the most relevant, verified educational facts for each topic and age group at story generation time. Those facts ground Gemini for story + image creation, while VectorAI DB reinforces vocabulary through semantic “struggle-word” recall and spaced repetition. ElevenLabs adds multilingual narration, and SafetyKit ensures every story is child-safe before delivery.
• 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱: A Next.js + React app styled with a custom pixel art palette and Pixelify Sans / Silkscreen fonts to evoke a cozy indie game aesthetic. Features a fully multilingual UI (10 languages), an interactive chibi character designer, and a branching choose-your-own-adventure story viewer.
• 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻: Inspired by Stardew Valley and classic RPGs; warm earthy tones against a pixel bedroom image create an inviting, storybook feel that makes data literacy approachable for all ages.

Challenges we ran into 🚧

• Getting the RAG pipeline to feel fast — semantic search through VectorAI DB, fact retrieval from Snowflake, and Gemini generation all happen in sequence, so we had to optimize each hop to keep story generation from feeling slow.
• Making AI-generated stories genuinely age-appropriate across 10 languages required more than translation. Tone, vocabulary, and sentence complexity all had to adapt, and prompting Gemini consistently across all of them took significant iteration.
• Keeping the pixel art aesthetic cohesive across dynamically generated chibi characters with hundreds of clothing and accessory combinations without visual clashes.

Accomplishments that we're proud of 🎉

• A working end-to-end pipeline where a child's curiosity, a single topic, triggers semantic retrieval, grounded generation, and narrated audio delivery in seconds.
• A fully multilingual experience across 10 languages that goes beyond UI translation to actual story generation in the child's language.
• Building a character designer, achievement system, and shop on top of an AI story engine, turning what could have been a simple chatbot into something that feels like a game.

What we learned 🧠📚

• Semantic search changes what "relevant" means. Keyword matching would have missed half the interesting facts. Vectors taught us that meaning is more important than exact words.
• Prompt engineering for children's content is its own discipline. Safety, tone, reading level, and narrative structure all compete in the same prompt.
• Gamification isn't decoration. The achievements and shop emerged from realizing kids need a reason to come back, not just a reason to start.

What's next for DataFables 🚀

• Personalized learning paths that track which topics a child has explored and proactively suggest adjacent concepts to guide curiosity over time.
• Teacher and parent dashboards showing what facts a child has encountered, what vocabulary they've learned, and which genres they gravitate toward.
• Expanding the knowledge base with curated, curriculum-aligned facts so DataFables can complement classroom learning.
• Multiplayer story mode where two kids co-author a branching story together, each controlling a different character.

Built With

• css
• elevenlabs
• gemini
• html
• javascript
• python
• snowflake
• sql
• typescript
• vectorai