Dverse Commons
Future Software Technologies
Semester programme:Complex Software Systems
Research group:Future Software
Project group members:Yunuz Yunuz
Mihail Hristov
Lisa Diepstraten
Rik Baselier
Project description
The project explores how a modular digital platform can support collaborative decision-making through an interactive, real-time game experience. The central design challenge is to transform Commons, a discussion and consent-based decision game, into a scalable implementation within the Dverse ecosystem. This means supporting live multiplayer sessions, voting, deck and card management, localization, user profiles, and data-driven reflection while keeping the experience accessible for workshop participants. The project also investigates how AI-assisted card generation can help facilitators create relevant Kairos discussion cards for different cases. By combining a Nuxt frontend, FastAPI backend, WebSockets, persistent storage, and reusable platform services, the project tests whether Commons can function both as a usable decision-making tool and as a first practical implementation of Dverse's broader modular communication platform.
Context
The project is situated in the domain of digital collaboration, educational technology, and participatory decision-making. Commons is designed for groups that need to discuss complex situations, compare perspectives, and make collective choices in a structured way. This can apply to education, research workshops, organizational teams, community projects, and design sessions where participants must reason together rather than simply vote individually.
Within this context, Dverse acts as the broader research platform. It investigates modular, decentralized, and AI-supported communication tools that can bring people and intelligent systems together. Commons was selected as a first practical implementation because it needs many platform capabilities at once: real-time interaction, identity, session management, shared content, persistence, localization, and meaningful feedback from user activity.
The project also connects to the domain of serious games. The game format makes discussion more approachable while still producing useful information, such as voting patterns, accepted or rejected cards, and unresolved concerns. This makes Commons both a facilitation tool and a test case for building reusable digital infrastructure for collaborative decision processes.
Results
The most important product outcome is a working full-stack version of Commons within the Dverse ecosystem. The prototype includes a Nuxt frontend, FastAPI backend, real-time WebSocket synchronization, game lobbies, player joining by PIN, voting, vote history, deck and card management, authentication, user profiles, localization, and persistence through MongoDB and Redis. This is valuable because Commons is no longer only a design concept or isolated prototype; it now functions as an integrated digital tool that can be demonstrated, tested, and extended.
A second important outcome is the reusable platform foundation. The backend uses an entity-component-system structure for game state, making players, cards, decks, votes, and history more modular. This supports the Dverse goal of building reusable communication and collaboration capabilities rather than a single-purpose application. The project also includes AI-assisted Kairos card generation, which shows how intelligent systems can support facilitators by helping create discussion material for new cases.
The main insight is that Commons is a strong first implementation for Dverse because it stresses many platform requirements at once: live interaction, shared state, identity, content ownership, multilingual use, and data-driven reflection. Another insight is that serious-game mechanics can make collaborative decision-making more concrete. Voting outcomes and unresolved objections help groups see where agreement exists and where further discussion is needed.
The project has been validated mainly through technical validation and prototype demonstration. Automated backend tests cover core services, game flow, authentication, ECS behavior, Redis configuration, deck/card logic, vote history, and AI card service behavior. The frontend has been built successfully and includes implemented user-facing flows for gameplay, deck management, profiles, localization, and poster/demo routes for stakeholder presentation. This validation supports the claim that the system is technically feasible and suitable for realistic demonstration.
Based on Technology Readiness Level positioning, the project fits around TRL 5 to TRL 6. It goes beyond TRL 4 because the separate technical components are integrated into a functioning prototype. It approaches TRL 6 because the prototype can be demonstrated in a relevant environment, such as a booth, classroom, or stakeholder session. However, it is not yet TRL 7 or higher because it still needs broader user testing, production hardening, deployment validation, accessibility review, and long-term use in real operational contexts.
About the project group
Our project group consisted of four developers with educational backgrounds in different areas of ICT, mainly Game Design and Media. Because of this diversity, each team member brought a different perspective to the project, combining creative, technical, and user-focused skills. We worked in an agile, sprint-oriented way, dividing the project into smaller tasks and regularly reviewing our progress. Throughout the project, we collaborated closely on design, development, testing, and problem-solving. The project lasted for 15 weeks, and each team member spent approximately 4 days a week working on it.