Context for non-Aussies: Tuesday is Melbourne Cup, the one horse race the whole country stops for. Every office runs a sweep, meaning everyone puts in a few dollars and draws a random horse from a hat. I run a small free tipping app and someone asked if it could do the sweep. It could not, so I built it. Then I built a public practice race so people could see what the wheel does before they trust it with their office. The practice race: tap a wheel, get one of twelve past Cup winners, tap Run the race, and a race caller we invented called Vicky calls it. Gordo is in the box with her and backs a loser every single time. Six recorded races so it is different each go. About 30 seconds, no sign up. Stack and the two hard problems: Next.js on Vercel. The voices are generated from scripts we wrote, and the rule I set myself was that Vicky has to sound like an Australian race call without sounding like any real caller. Harder than it sounds. The other problem is phones refusing to play audio until the user taps something, so the entire race is choreographed around the one tap on the wheel, with a muted clip played inside the tap to unlock sound for later. What has actually happened: adults who try it say the voice is a bit cringe. Kids replay it ten times and ask for more Gordo. I did not build this for kids. I am now wondering if I did. Try it: https://tribepicks.com/melbourne-cup/race?ref=krdsp (sound on for the full effect, mute button top right, and a no-callers version via the link at the top of the page). Questions I would love honest answers to: Did you replay it? If yes, why, if no, what stopped you? Voice: keep, cut, or make it skippable by default? Does the 30 seconds feel long? Did it make you curious about the sweep tool it sits on, or did you not notice there was one? Race is Tuesday 3pm Melbourne time. I will come back Wednesday with how many people ran it and whether anyone used the sweep tool.   submitted by   /u/tpkm216 [link]   [comments]