Byte ya matez
Hack24 is a 24-hour coding competition run by Tech Nottingham, based in Nottingham city centre.
Teams of up to four people pitch ideas and build them into something real – all within a single overnight sprint. While I was at UNiDAYS, our team entered. I was the interface designer. Nobody really slept.
My role
Our team consisted of developers and API specialists, with me handling all the interface design and contributing to the concept.
The brief we chose was set by Esendex – simple in theory, ambitious in practice. I designed the full UI, built the loading animation myself, and created the interaction mechanics that brought the concept to life visually – all within 24 hours.
The brief:
Esendex challenge
The aim of the brief was simple:
“Make communication (and the world) better!”
Bonus points were on offer for teams that integrated Esendex products. We used the Esendex Multi-channel API, which let users interact with each other via their mobile phones.
Paired with a mapping API, it gave us everything we needed to build something genuinely fun.
The concept:
Zombies vs Humans
We built Byte Ya Matez – a real-world game of tag played across the city using your phone. Players are assigned to one of two teams: Zombies or Humans.
The aim is simple – chase and tag members of the opposing team before they get you. When one team runs out of players, the game restarts.
Scattered across the city map are Power zones, Safe zones and Dead zones – each shifting the balance of the game and giving teams a reason to coordinate, move and communicate.
Tagging another player was done by tapping your phone against theirs with NFC (Near Field Communication) active – a neat physical interaction that made the digital game feel genuinely real-world.
Key challenges:
Designing a full app UI in 24 hours
Challenge
There’s no time for iteration in a hackathon.
Every design decision had to be made quickly, confidently and with the end user in mind from the start.
Solution
I kept the interface focused and purposeful. Every screen had one job.
The visual language was bold and immediately readable – something that needed to work outdoors, on the move, under pressure.
Key challenges:
Making the game feel alive
Challenge
A map with dots on it isn’t exciting.
The interface needed to communicate urgency, momentum and personality – especially given the Zombies vs Humans theme.
Solution
I leaned into the concept visually. The loading animation featured a zombie crawling across the bottom of the screen while the app loaded – immediately setting the tone.
Status indicators showed live player counts for each team, updating as players switched sides. Notifications kept players informed about what was happening around them in real time.
Key challenges:
Communicating NFC tagging visually
Challenge
The act of tagging another player via NFC needed a satisfying visual payoff – otherwise the mechanic would feel flat.
Solution
I designed the tagging interaction screen to give clear, immediate feedback when a player had been caught – introducing a little bit of struggle for the player trying to escape making the moment feel impactful rather than just a tap on a phone.
User interface:
Loading animation…
Rather than a generic spinner, I built a custom loading animation – a zombie crawling across the bottom of the screen while the app content loads.
It set the tone immediately and got a reaction from everyone who saw it.
User interface:
Status bar
Live counters showed the current number of Humans and Zombies in play, updating in real time as players were tagged and switched teams.
At a glance, players could see how the game was going.
User interface:
Notifications
The game kept players informed throughout – alerts about nearby players, zone updates and team status changes.
No game is complete without a well-timed notification telling you a zombie is around the corner.
Byte ya matez
Hack24 is a 24-hour coding competition based in Nottingham City centre.
Teams of up to four people compete for some awesome prizes by starting with innovative ideas and building them into new things.
My role
Nottingham Hack24 is an annual student hackathon organised by Tech Nottingham and focuses on tech innovation, coding, and collaboration.
The event is typically a 24-25 hour overnight hackathon open to students. encouraging projects in software, hardware, games, websites, and more, with no prior experience required.
Whilst working at UNiDAYS our team decided to partake in the event, I was the interface designer of the project.
Hack24:
Esendex challenge
TBC
“Make communication (and the world) better!”
Teams received bonus points for using Esendex products.
We used the ‘Esendex Multi-channel API’. This allowed users to interact with each other using their mobile phones.
When paired with the mapping API, this allowed the team to create a virtual game of ‘tag’ that could be used with friends across the city.
Esendex challenge:
Zombies vs Humans
The aim of the game is simple; Chase and Tag your friends around your area. You get allocated a team; Zombies or Humans. As soon as there are no more players for one team left, then the game restarts.
There are ‘Power’, ‘Safe’ and ‘Dead’ zones where you can call out to your friends to help each team to take advantage and swing the pendulum of your side to win the game.
You tag a friend by tapping your phone on the other players device, making sure NFC (Near Field Communication) is active.
User interface:
Loading animation…
I decided to create a fun twist on the loader for the app. In the true spirit of zombies, the body would crawl across the bottom of the screen whilst the page loads.
User interface:
Status bar
These are the status indicators showing the number of players currently on each team. As players swap between groups; the Humans or Zombies counters change.
User interface:
Notifications
No game is complete without relevant notifications explaining the situation of yourself and friends within your area.