AI Alibi

Welcome to AI Alibi! This is an interactive, multiplayer whodunnit game designed for the EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classroom. It uses generative AI to create a unique, engaging, and collaborative learning experience.

This project is being developed as part of "Digital Tools and Technology in the Young Learners' EFL Classroom" course at the University of Augsburg.

Live Demo: alibi.mutlucan.dev

Core Concept

The game challenges students (as "detectives") to solve a simple, age-appropriate mystery. To do this, they must collaborate as a team to question a cast of four unique witnesses. The witnesses are all powered by a generative AI (Google's Gemini API), which responds in character and provides clues (and red herrings!) based on a secret, pre-generated story.

Teams must gather enough evidence to correctly identify the culprit and their motive.

Features

• Dynamic Story Generation: A unique crime, culprit, and set of witness profiles are generated by the AI for every new game.
• Interactive AI Witnesses: Players engage in live, natural language conversations with AI characters who have their own distinct personalities and memories.
• Two Game Modes:
  • Classic Mode: A collaborative, turn-based mode for the whole class working as a single team (ideal for a single projector setup).
  • Race Mode: A real-time, competitive mode where multiple teams race in isolation to solve the crime first.
• Teacher/Moderator Controls: A full moderation panel for game setup, customisation (language level, theme), and real-time monitoring.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: Vue.js 3 (Composition API)
• Build Tool: Vite
• Backend & Real-time Database: Firebase
• AI Model: Google's Gemini API
• Package Manager: pnpm

Project Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18+ recommended)
• pnpm installed globally: npm install -g pnpm

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone [https://gitlab.com/mutlucany/aialibi.git](https://gitlab.com/mutlucany/aialibi.git)
   cd aialibi

2. Install dependencies using pnpm:

   pnpm install

Running the Development Server

This command will start a local server with hot-reloading.

pnpm dev

Compiling and Minifying for Production

This command builds the static files for deployment.

pnpm build

Locally Previewing the Production Build

This command starts a simple local server to preview the production files.

pnpm preview