Persistent Badge System & Score Tracking

🎮 Enhancing User Engagement with Achievements

Backend progress is a critical component in building engaging and rewarding user experiences. In our latest development sprint, we've focused on a significant enhancement: the implementation of a Persistent Badge and Achievement System. This isn't just about slapping some icons on a profile; it's about creating a lasting record of user accomplishments that fosters motivation and replayability. Previously, our badges were a bit like shooting stars – they appeared, but they didn't stick around. Now, we've engineered a robust solution using a Many-to-Many database relationship, ensuring that every badge earned is permanently recorded. This fundamental change required a complete overhaul of our API to manage badge assignments effectively, and we've meticulously integrated these new capabilities across all five of our game modules. Furthermore, we've ironed out a pesky logic bug in the Morning Routine module where scores weren't accumulating as expected, ensuring a smoother and more accurate experience for our players. This update represents a leap forward in how we track and celebrate user achievements, making every victory, big or small, a permanent part of their journey.

⚙️ Backend Architecture: The Foundation of Persistence

At the heart of our persistent badge system lies a carefully designed backend architecture. We've introduced two new models into our model/candyland.py file: CandylandBadge and CandylandUserBadge. The CandylandBadge model is straightforward, storing the unique name and icon for each badge, acting as a master list of all possible achievements. The real magic happens with CandylandUserBadge. This model serves as an association table, meticulously managing the Many-to-Many relationship between users and the badges they've earned. This means a single user can earn multiple badges, and a single badge can be earned by many users, all efficiently tracked. Complementing these models, we've expanded our API in candyland_api.py with new endpoints. The POST /save_badge endpoint is the workhorse here. When a user earns a badge, this endpoint is called. It first checks if the badge definition exists in our CandylandBadge model; if not, it creates it. Then, it checks if the user already possesses that badge to avoid duplicates, and finally, it records the association in the CandylandUserBadge table. For retrieving earned badges, the GET /get_badges endpoint efficiently queries the database to return a JSON list of all badges associated with the currently logged-in user. We've also updated the POST /save_score endpoint to ensure that score persistence is handled correctly, integrating seamlessly with our new achievement logic. This robust backend structure is the bedrock upon which our engaging new achievement system is built, ensuring reliability and scalability as we continue to grow.

🖥️ Frontend Integration: Bringing Achievements to Life

To make the persistent badge system truly impactful, seamless frontend integration is paramount. Our frontend API, located in static/js/candylandApi.js, has been significantly updated to communicate with the new backend endpoints. We've introduced a new function, saveBadge(badgeName, badgeIcon), which elegantly handles the POST request to our /save_badge backend endpoint. This function is the bridge that allows game modules to signal when a badge has been earned, passing the necessary badge details for persistence. On the display side, we've added the viewBadges() function. This function is responsible for making a GET request to the /get_badges backend endpoint, fetching the JSON list of earned badges for the current user. Once the data is received, viewBadges() processes it to dynamically render the user's collection of achievements on the frontend. This ensures that users can always see their hard-earned progress. This two-way communication between the frontend and backend ensures that earning badges feels responsive and that users can instantly see their accomplishments reflected in their profile, reinforcing the value of their engagement with our platform. The user experience is paramount, and these frontend updates are key to making our new achievement system feel rewarding and intuitive.

🎮 Module-Specific Enhancements: Tailored Achievement Tracking

Implementing a persistent badge system isn't a one-size-fits-all endeavor; each game module requires tailored integration to make sense of its unique gameplay and reward structure. Our team has diligently updated all five game modules to incorporate the new badge-saving logic and address any module-specific issues. In the Morning Routine module, we not only fixed a critical bug where scores weren't incrementing correctly, especially after high initial scores, but also integrated saveBadge calls for achievements like "Perfect Morning." This ensures that consistent effort is recognized. For the Work Maze, we've added saveBadge calls for achievements like "Speed Runner" and "Navigator," rewarding both efficiency and exploration. The Whack-a-Bug module now assigns badges based on specific score thresholds, making high-score chasing even more rewarding. In Hot Chocolate, we wrapped the core logic within DOMContentLoaded event listeners. This crucial step resolved lingering rendering issues and ensured a smoother user experience. Additionally, badge saving has been integrated based on specific dialogue choices, adding another layer of depth to achievement tracking. Finally, the Finale Party module has seen a significant enhancement with the implementation of fetchAndDisplayBadges(). This function dynamically fetches the user's earned badges from the database and renders them into the UI, providing a central and impressive showcase for all their achievements. Each module's integration is designed to feel natural and enhance the specific gameplay loop, making the pursuit of badges a compelling part of the overall experience.

🧪 Testing and Verification: Ensuring Flawless Functionality

Thorough testing is the final, indispensable step in deploying any new feature, especially one as central to user engagement as a persistent badge system. To ensure that our implementation is robust and reliable, we've devised a clear testing protocol. The process begins with simply playing any of the game modules, for instance, the Work Maze. The key is to actively meet the criteria for at least one of the newly implemented badges. Once an achievement condition is met, the next step is to verify that the backend call to save the badge was successful. This can be easily done by checking the browser's developer console; you should see logs indicating that the badge was saved. The most crucial test, however, is to confirm the persistence of these badges. After earning and saving a badge, players should navigate to the Finale/Party page. Here, they'll find a new button or link, "🏆 Achievements." Clicking this button triggers the fetchAndDisplayBadges() function, which retrieves the user's earned badges from the database. The final confirmation comes when the specific badges earned in earlier steps appear correctly displayed in the achievement grid. This end-to-end testing process verifies that badges are earned, saved persistently, and displayed accurately, guaranteeing a smooth and rewarding experience for all our users. A well-tested feature is a feature that players can trust and enjoy.

For more insights into building robust backend systems and user engagement strategies, consider exploring resources from Microsoft Azure or AWS Developer Blogs.