Chimera was a social app project I started developing early 2011. The objective was to build an app framework which could be deployed in a short amount of time, be cheap to adapt, and have the flexibility to serve multiple instances.
Essentially the application allows a social login function where users sign in with Facebook, Twitter or Foursquare, and can experience content alongside commenting and inline tweeting. We built location in too, incorporating Facebook Checkins and Foursquare; to give the ability for clients to reward or serve content based on various parameters
The app it’s self runs on Zend, is robust and compatible. It can be set up via 1 configuration file, and be adapted through Smart PHP in various templates. All in all it can take as little as 20 minuets to get it going, and can be framed in a Facebook tab, standalone on a site, or developed for mobile to run in apps or mobile browser.
We started with intending the application to serve a richer form of redemption of music downloads or album streaming, and the first version came in the form of a video experience for Hurts. Other variations prove more powerful though, some ideas for implementation:
- Creating a chat environment for live streaming
- Creating a location based treasure hunt (you can add multiple checkin conditions)
- Giving a special offer or content to users who have checked in to a location
- Creating an album listening party
Future version updates:
- Building the Twitter functionality on to @anywhere API
- Giving the option to condition entry on user ID to merge campaigns with promotions
Check the demo out here, we’re doing a few more versions to display in the next couple of months before starting work on v2.
fyi. The name Chimera came from the Greek mythological creature, credit goes to Nick Collins for helping out with the decision. The theory behind it is from the creature having many heads and 1 body, and the application have many variables of usage all based on 1 core set of programming.
