Author Archives: The team that must be named

A Day of Triumph: Unlocking Multiple Badges in a Single Sprint !?

Posted on by

Streamlining Efficiency: The “Go with the Flow” Badge Achievement

In the pursuit of optimizing business productivity within our solution, the implementation of an ALM pipeline has been a game-changer. This automated transfer of solutions between environments not only saves significant time and effort but also ensures that both unmanaged and managed versioning packages of the solution are seamlessly transitioned. Furthermore, the integration of a Power Automate flow for the approval of deployments has elevated our operational efficiency, marking a significant milestone in our journey to “Go with the Flow.” This achievement underscores our commitment to leveraging workflow automation for enhanced productivity.

Uniting Power and Simplicity: The “Power User Love” Badge

Our solution showcases an exemplary blend of low-code platforms with pro-code customization, embodying the #ProCodeNoCodeUnite philosophy. By implementing a Power Pages site for user interface and login, coupled with a PCF component coded in React and TypeScript for a gamified course, we demonstrate the power of integrating professional coding standards with low-code solutions. This approach not only streamlines development but also opens up a realm of possibilities for creating robust, user-friendly applications.

Gamification at Its Best: Achieving the “Mario Badge”

Elevating user interaction through gamification, the implemented PCF component with interactive controllers to navigate through course levels. Each course represents a level, challenging users to advance and showcase their proficiency. This gamification aspect not only makes learning more engaging but also encourages users to level up their skills in a fun and interactive environment.

Visual Insights: The “Dash It Out” Badge

Our solution now features a Power BI report embedded within the Power Pages site, along with additional reports for user access to high scores and admins for an overview of active players and their progress. These reports, showcasing at least four graphs, gauges, or KPIs, highlight the business value of our dashboard. The integration of these visual insights ensures that both users and administrators have a comprehensive understanding of performance metrics at their fingertips.

Adaptive Excellence: Securing the “Chameleon” Badge

The responsiveness of the Power Page, adapting automatically to all devices and screen sizes, exemplifies our solution’s versatility. This inherent adaptability ensures that our application delivers a consistent and user-friendly experience across various platforms, earning us the “Chameleon” badge. It’s a testament to our dedication to creating solutions that are not only powerful but also universally accessible.

Triumph in the Trenches: Conquering the Head 2 Head “Hammer Bro” Challenge!

Posted on by

In the spirited arena of the ACDC Hackathon, Remi faced the exhilarating Head 2 Head challenge: “Hammer Bro”. Embracing the spirit of competition, he ventured into the creation of a 2D multiplayer game that not only tested his technical prowess but also his creativity and strategic thinking. The game, set within a labyrinthine platform maze, pitted players against each other in a thrilling duel of wits and agility, with missiles as their weapons of choice.

Crafting this game required Remi to delve into the intricacies of a Power Apps Component Framework (PCF) component, integrated seamlessly within a Canvas App. This technical feat allowed him to create a dynamic and interactive gaming experience, where players navigate the maze, strategizing and aiming to outmaneuver their opponents in real-time.

The development journey of his multiplayer maze game was a deep dive into the innovative integration of PCF components with React, TypeScript, and Phaser 3. Utilizing the PCF framework allowed him to embed his game directly within a Canvas App, providing a seamless and interactive user experience. By leveraging React and TypeScript, he crafted a responsive and intuitive game interface, ensuring smooth gameplay and real-time updates. The inclusion of Phaser 3, a powerful framework for building 2D games, was instrumental in bringing the intricate maze and its mechanics to life. This combination of technologies enabled him to create a rich, engaging game environment where strategy and quick reflexes are key to outmaneuvering opponents and securing victory. His approach to development was not just about utilizing these tools but mastering them to create an experience that was as thrilling to play as it was to build.

Download the game files here: https://we.tl/t-atBJGFumK3

Controls

Player 1

Move: WASD
Shoot: Space

Player 2

Move: Arrow keys
Shoot: Enter

To restart the game, press “R”

If you encounter any bugs, refresh 🙂

Seizing the Dawn: Our Quest for the Morning Glory

Posted on by

In the quiet hours before dawn, our team gathered with a shared resolve, embarking on our quest for the ACDC Hackathon’s “Morning Glory” badge. This early start wasn’t just about the tranquility that the morning offered, but it was a testament to our dedication to innovation and efficiency. As the sun rose, so did our ideas and productivity, setting a strong foundation for the day ahead. This practice not only accelerated our project’s development but also deepened our team dynamics, proving that the early bird does indeed catch the worm. Our commitment to seizing the dawn has been a pivotal strategy in our hackathon journey, embodying our ethos of discipline, collaboration, and the relentless pursuit of excellence.

The Midnight Oil Burns Bright

Posted on by

As the clock strikes 11:30 PM at the ACDC Hackathon, most would expect energy levels to dwindle and motivation to fade. Yet, within the confines of our workspace, the ambiance tells a different story—a tale of unwavering determination and remarkable team spirit that defies the late hour. This post is a testament to our journey, not just towards developing an innovative solution, but in pursuit of two distinct badges: “Remarkable Team Spirit” and “Thieving Bastards,” each emblematic of our ethos and strategy.

Remarkable Team Spirit

In the shadowy hours of the hackathon, when most are battling the weight of exhaustion, our team’s spirit only seems to amplify. It’s 11:30 PM, yet the air is electric with enthusiasm, a clear contender for the “Remarkable Team Spirit” badge. This extraordinary energy isn’t accidental but the result of our collective resolve to support, motivate, and inspire each other relentlessly.

How do we keep this spirit alive? It begins with recognizing each member’s contributions, celebrating small victories, and maintaining a culture of positivity and resilience. Music, laughter, and occasional breaks rejuvenate our minds, ensuring we stay motivated and focused. Our secret sauce? A shared vision that transcends individual goals, binding us in the pursuit of excellence.

Leveraging Legacy: Thieving Bastards

Transitioning from the vibrancy of our team dynamics, our journey also embraces the essence of the “Thieving Bastards” badge—our strategic decision to integrate third-party solutions into our project. Tasked with creating a game reminiscent of the iconic Super Mario, we initially grappled with the complexity of game logic and mechanics. The breakthrough came when we decided to not reinvent the wheel but to stand on the shoulders of giants.

Enter Phaser—a third-party library for React that became our game-changer. Phaser offered us a treasure trove of pre-defined game mechanics that we could employ out of the box, significantly accelerating our development process. This strategic move underscored the importance of leveraging existing tools and APIs, allowing us to focus on innovation and creativity rather than getting bogged down by the nitty-gritty of game development mechanics.

Koopa’s AI Challenge

Posted on by

Are you a noob in using AI for work, school or other everyday tasks?

During the hackathon, we will develop a gamified training app for AI newcomers, focusing on engaging users with retro-style graphics and playful animations. The app will feature interactive tutorials on AI tools like CoPilot and image generation, incorporating a competitive game element for users to score points, while ensuring learning effectiveness remains paramount. We’ll leverage a React front-end with Azure and Dataverse back-end to manage course progression and user data.

Core objective

Our core objectives are to create an immersive and enjoyable learning platform that demystifies AI for beginners through gamification. We aim to build a comprehensive educational experience that not only teaches the fundamental concepts of AI but also provides hands-on experience with practical applications in the Microsoft suite. Our goal is to foster a competitive yet educational environment where users are incentivized to deepen their understanding of AI tools, promoting both individual learning and collaborative competition. Ultimately, we strive to produce a product that is accessible, engaging, and continuously adaptable to the evolving landscape of AI technology.

The style of the game will be a retro super mario theme, where the user will be able to move between objects aka challenges and interact with them. Each challenge the user encounter, will give point if they manage to finish it. While moving in the platform world, the user will also be prompted with basic AI knowledge, to learn and understand how to interact with it. Challenges will both be in-game interactive experiences and out-of-game tasks like using copilot within the Microsoft environment.

Solution details

  • Power page for hosting the game
  • PCF component for the actual game
  • Dataverse tables for storage – Challenges, Users, Progression
  • Model driven app for administration of data
  • Power BI reports for easy data insight

Early delivery

Until 12:00 pm on thursday, Pzl Plumbers has gotten their environment up and running, implementing tables into dataverse that will store the information about users, their points and information regarding the challenges. Power platform pipelines are also configured to our three ALM enviroments (dev, uat, prod). Devops projects has been created for code repos and task management.

They have had some minor struggles with setting up the PCF component for the game, which will be implemented within their Power Page, but its coming along and the team spirit keeps shining as always!