PokeExplore

About the Project

PokeExplore is a full-featured Android application built with Flutter that bridges the gap between real-world movement and virtual gameplay. Developed as part of the CS3130 Android development course, the app utilizes Google Maps for exploration, allowing players to discover Pokémon in their actual surroundings using GPS or a virtual joystick for testing. My primary focus on the team was the visual identity and structural integrity of the application. I designed and implemented a custom UI theme inspired by the Game Boy Advance era, ensuring a cohesive and nostalgic user experience across all modules. Beyond design, I led the refactoring of the codebase to improve modularity and maintainability, ensuring that state management via BLoC was implemented consistently throughout the capture and collection systems.

Engineering Challenges

01API Performance & Latency

Fetching complete data for the Pokedex required multiple nested calls to the PokéAPI, causing significant initial load times.

Solution: Implemented a local persistence layer using Hive to cache fetched data, ensuring subsequent app launches and list renderings were near-instant.

02Collaborative UI Consistency

With five developers working on separate modules, the UI initially felt disjointed and lacked a unified theme.

Solution: Took ownership of the Final UI Design, creating a GBA-inspired design system and refactoring existing widgets to ensure a consistent, high-quality aesthetic across the entire app.

03GPS Simulation for Testing

Developing and debugging location-based spawners required constant physical movement, which was inefficient for rapid iteration.

Solution: Integrated a virtual joystick and toggleable spawner logic into a hidden Debug Menu, allowing the team to simulate movement and encounter triggers from the emulator.