Each team will develop a Rails-based online shopping app for a very, very specialized selection of purchasable things. Each app will have a combination of typical shopping-app features and niche-specific features.
niche
/niCH,nēSH/
denoting products, services, or interests that appeal to a small, specialized section of the population.
The niche-specific features must be highly original and will give your team’s app its special “personality”.
Features Required for All Shopping Apps
There are certain things that your team’s app must have:
Item descriptions with pictures that an admin can edit (including image uploads).
Item prices that can be adjusted by the admin.
Item quantities in stock that automatically decrease as items are sold and that can be adjusted by the admin.
A persistent cart from which a signed-in shopper can add/remove items.
Checkout features that collect payment and shipping/delivery/pick-up/etc. info and update the cart, item quantities, etc.
Features for browsing/searching/filtering item descriptions based on item attributes.
Product reviews by purchasers that include both a quantitative score and qualitative comments (including image uploads).
Your team’s shopping-app features should not be limited to just the above things, but it must include all of the above.
Help from an Axolotl Expert. Axolotl experts can register with the system but must be confirmed by an admin. Confirmation must involve review of credentials. Purchasers can post questions (including image uploads). Only users who have made a purchase may do so, and the system must use/link to their purchase data. Axolotl experts can view a stream of questions and can respond to the questions. Back-and-forth interactions can follow from a question. A user can view an organize all their questions. An expert can view and organize all the questions to which they have responded.
Chartreuse – Corpse Flowers Forever
Sell corpse flowers (titan arum), a species of plan with a huge flower that gives off a powerful scent of rotting flesh. Only plants that have reached the inflorescence stage of their lifecycle are sold.
Attributes:
Inflorescence Size
Values: Small (2-4ft), Medium (5-7ft), Large (8-10ft)
Putridity
Values: Mild, Moderate, Strong, Overpowering
Color
Values: Light, Medium, Dark
Special Features:
Stinky Scavenger Hunt. The app hosts an ongoing scavenger hunt in which purchasers travel around to visit each other’s corpse flowers and share pictures in the app. A purchaser can register their purchased corpse flower to be part of the hunt, including the corpse flower’s location in the world and how to visit it. A purchaser can view listings for all the registered corpse flowers. A purchaser can declare that they have visited a corpse flower by posting a picture. A leader board shows which users have visited the most with a listing of each’s pictures/visits. The system must use user purchase data for this feature.
MotU Unitard Trading Post. A purchaser can declare that a purchased unitard is available for trade. The system must use/link to purchase data. One purchaser can propose a trade with another purchaser. The proposal includes the proposer’s offered unitard(s) and a selection of the proposal recipient’s listed unitard(s) for trade. Purchasers have a trade proposal inbox and can have back-and-forth negotiations. Once a trade is acceptable to both parties, it can be accepted.
Golem Competition Organizing. A popular thing to do with golems is to pit them against one another in competitive games—both physical and intellectual. Customers who have purchased at least one golem may propose a competition event, including date, location/venue, and the games in which the golems will compete. An admin must review and approve (or reject) each proposal. Approved events are visible to all users. A customer can register their previously purchased golem to compete in an event (must use purchase data). Once a competition event has ended, it is commemorated on the website with photos, winners, etc.
Indigo – Talky Trees
Sell magical talking trees that are able to converse on various topics.
Attributes:
Size
Values: Small (5-24ft), Medium (25-39ft), Large (40-60ft)
Language
Values (sample): English, Spanish, French
Conversant with Topic
Values (sample): Pop Culture, World History, Science
Special Features:
Decorative Tree Space Contests. A popular thing for people to do with their talky trees is to create pleasant spaces for hanging out with their trees by decorating the trees and surrounding them with furniture and decor. The app runs periodic photo contests in which customers submit photos of their decorative tree spaces. An admin can start a new contest with a submission deadline. All purchasers can see open contests. For each contest, a tree purchaser can submit up to one entry per tree purchased, with each entry including photos and descriptions of their spaces. Once the deadline passes, no new submissions are accepted. Admins judge the contest and declare a winner. Each completed contest is memorialized on the website with the winning picture.
Magenta – Crystal Ballers
Sell magical crystal balls that imbue the user with paranormal abilities.
Paranormal Skills Mastery. The Paranormal Ability Accreditation Ministry (PAAM) accredits masters of paranormal powers by administering mastery exams. A crystal ball purchaser can register a public-facing verified accreditation portfolio (must use purchase data). A user can schedule an accreditation exam for a particular paranormal power with a PAAM master (including which power is to be tested). PAAM masters must be confirmed by admins (involves credential review). Once the test is completed, the PAAM master records the result in the system. If the test is passed, the user’s portfolio will show that they have been accredited as a master of the paranormal power.
Orchid – Galactic Shipyard
Sell spaceships and starfighters from the Star Wars universe.
Attributes:
Starship Class
Values (sample): Starfighter, Freighter, Cruiser
Crew Capacity
Values: Small (1–5), Medium (6–20), Large (21–50), Very Large (50–100)
Armament
Values (sample; may be multiple): Laser Cannons, Proton Torpedoes, Ion Cannons
Special Features:
Starship Design Contest. Admins can start a new contest with a submission deadline. Purchasers can propose one new starship design per contest. Starship proposals can include text descriptions and image uploads. Following the submission deadline, there is a public viewing period in which users can view a stream of proposals and can “like” their favorite proposals. Finally, there is a judging phase in which admins can review proposals (including their like counts) and ultimately declare a winning proposal. Contest winners are commemorated on a page that features their designs.