PressStart is a full stack web application designed to connect solo gamers with a dedicated team of other solo gamers to play team based video games with.
Recently, people have found themselves stuck inside more often with extra time on their hands. Some people have decided to spend this time playing online video games, and there was a huge influx of players interested in squad based video games specifically. These are team focussed games that place gamers in a small squad (team) of 2 - 5 players and pits them against other squads of different players, often to see which squad is the last standing. Some gamers are fortunate enough to have a dedicated friend group to play with, however, for a sizable portion of the gaming community this is not the case.
A common problem for people who solo queue and get placed with random teammates is a lack of communication, loud distracting noises over the comms, or even teammates who grief which means they purposefully sabotage the team they are matched with to ruin the gaming experience for the other players. These issues can be quite frustrating and make team based gaming difficult.
The goal of PressStart is to provide a space for solo gamers to find other dedicated gamers who want to team up and play squad based video games together. Through the PressStart app, gamers can create a profile, decide a game to play, set a desired play time, and get matched with other gamers looking to play the same games around the same time. Matched players are able to share discord invite links which allows them to meet up virtually in their discord lobbies (Discord is an instant messaging/voice communication application that is popular in the gaming community).
In order to run PressStart locally, set up a database named 'press_start' and input the SQL queries contained within the database.sql file. PressStart can only be run locally at this time.
PressStart user interaction follows the structure below:
- User creates a user profile providing a profile name, password, profile picture, profile description, user play style, and a discord invite link to the user's discord lobby (this link is only shared between matched users).
- After logging in, the user is prompted to press the pulsing start button which will direct the user to select a game.
- The user can slide through the available games and click on the cover art of the one they wish to play.
- The user is then prompted to pick a desired date and time they wish to play the selected game. After the game and time is selected, the user profile, game, and time is now posted for other users to see.
- The current user is then directed to a page where they can now send other users invites to connect to their squad.
- After invites are sent, the user can return to the home screen to edit their profile or manage their squad. The user will be alerted to pending squad invites from other users by a number badge on the 'squad' button on the home screen depending on the number of current pending invites.
- When a user accepts an invite from another user, their discord invite links are now available to each other so they can connect virtually through the discord app and game together.
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