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Borrel.io: Realistic borrelling experiences

Previously, borrels took place in a specific region in space-time, formed by a time-interval and a room. Because this room would usually be in compliance with the laws of physics, borrelaars would be able to filter out the conversations of interest by moving around in space. The COVID-pandemic has forced the world to borrel digitally, where conversations must either be held globally or in break-out rooms.

In this project we offer an alternative where each borrelaar can move around in our digital borrel-space, hear conversations near them and hear distant conversations softly in the background. The volume of each other participants is based on their distance from the borrelaar.

User interface

The videos of all other participants are shown in a horizontal bar in the bottom of the screen. The remainder of the screen is a canvas where each borrelaar is a point that can be moved around by either dragging or using the arrows.

Architecture

The server maintains the locations of the borrelaars. Clients send updates when they have changed their positions. Clients retrieve other borrelaars' locations and changes the volumes of their audios based on their distance.