Where
https://nikhaldimann.com/whence
What
A game of guessing random locations on Earth based only on satellite views
Stack
Google Maps JS API, Vue.js
Notes
Perhaps obviously, the popular game GeoGuessr inspired this hack, where you move around Street View to guess your location. It’s fun enough that they managed to spin it into a whole franchise, complete with a paywall and professional leagues. I remember when it was a simple free game, years ago.
Having worked a lot with satellite imagery over the last years, I had carried around this idea for a long time – applying a similar game mechanic to just satellite views rather than Street View. Scoring is based on how close your guess is and how many times you zoomed out.
During my brief research into similar games I also found the Map Zoom Quiz. In my view they made a fatal design decision to have players type in their answer. That makes it too hard, plus reaching for the keyboard in a game like this just feels wrong. Whence is still hard but you do get points for making an educated guess. I also observed I got better at it over time as I indeed learned to differentiate the world’s terrains more precisely and to latch onto specific clues (agricultural landscape looks very different in Asia vs North America!).
I didn’t face any real technical challenge during this – roughly two days of programming and game design, then one day of UI design and polish. The Google Maps API is mature and rich yet simple, and it was really comfortable to use with an appropriate Vue wrapper. I think I spent a disproportionate time on UI design and game design, both disciplines out of my comfort zone of course. I’m still not satisfied with the UI. It’s particularly awkward on small screens but I got tired of fiddling with it.
How does this hack tie into the lockdown condition? Just think of it as virtual travel, since real travel hasn’t been in the cards for most of the world recently. But really, it was just an idea that I had been stuck in my head for quite some time and I needed to scratch the itch.
Salt Mines 