Animal Crossing Exchange
At the beginning of 2020 when Animal Crossing New Horizon first came out, I found myself frustrated by the poor UX of messaging people in Facebook Groups to visit their islands to sell turnips.
So ACNH Exchange was created, as a React app made crossplatform via Ionic.
The only initial functionality was a queue system for selling turnips at islands with high turnip prices. Hosts posted their islands, and traders got into the queue. Once they got to the start of the queue, the Dodo code was revealed to them.
Due to the popularity of Animal Crossing, the user base grew to 600,000 users at one point. Functionalities were gradually expanded:
- Event queue types to host non-turnip events such as other NPCs visiting
- A host / guest review system
- Private chat rooms for each queue
- A badge system to reward in-app activities
- Security measures to prevent bad actors from harming members of the community