Show HN: I made a website for you to travel the world in first-person POV(explordle.com)
explordle.com
Show HN: I made a website for you to travel the world in first-person POV
https://www.explordle.com/map/wor
86 comments
Thank you, this is great! One thing - I'm not in USA, and only people in USA, I guess, know those two-letter state abbreviations. I got one where I had to choose based on two two-letter codes I didn't know. Using the whole state name would make it more international.
Even for those of us in the US, this can be confusing. I had to memorize those codes a long time ago, but I haven't really used most of them in decades. For example, MI. Is that Michigan, Missouri, or Mississippi? (It's Michigan.) MS? Mississippi. MO is Missouri, which isn't intuitive unless you already know the other 2 and realize there isn't a lot of other letters they could use.
So yeah, full names is better. :)
So yeah, full names is better. :)
Have you seen the stand-up Gary Gulman's routine about the group that choose the abbreviations? It's a masterclass in comedic storytelling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLECCmKnrys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLECCmKnrys
Got it, will fix this. Thanks for your feedback!
Reminds me a lot of GeoGuessr [0], particularly the videos that top competitors make, such as Tom Davies who goes by the moniker GeoWizard [1].
[0] https://www.geoguessr.com
[1] https://www.youtube.com/c/GeoWizard
[0] https://www.geoguessr.com
[1] https://www.youtube.com/c/GeoWizard
Also City Guesser [0], which has similar POV video gameplay.
[0] https://virtualvacation.us/guess
[0] https://virtualvacation.us/guess
Very good! I like this a lot, my wife and I just spent 20 mins on it.
Thoughts:
There is too much USA, for people outside the USA. Multiple choice between different counties in the same US state becomes just guesswork, maybe that situation could be prevented. (Also, non-Americans don't know the abbreviations for most US states.)
It's too easy when the choices are too geographically diverse. Maybe the 'wrong' options could be selected based on a min + max distance from the location in the video, say 500km to 5000km.
Needs a pause button so I don't have to close the tab, or if there is one it needs to be more prominent.
Thoughts:
There is too much USA, for people outside the USA. Multiple choice between different counties in the same US state becomes just guesswork, maybe that situation could be prevented. (Also, non-Americans don't know the abbreviations for most US states.)
It's too easy when the choices are too geographically diverse. Maybe the 'wrong' options could be selected based on a min + max distance from the location in the video, say 500km to 5000km.
Needs a pause button so I don't have to close the tab, or if there is one it needs to be more prominent.
Hello, glad you guys like it! I've changed the pause/play mechanism of the game. Now when the tab is not focused, it will automatically pause the video. Is this good enough for you?
I really like it. In principle it could be like a window kept open "into the world" while working.
Given the need to interact with your site to change scenes, and that I was trying to work in another window, the constant pausing today (when another window had focus but the POV tab was still visible in its window) was a bit bothersome (clicking again to restart would change the video as well IIRC). I don't know if a setting option would help or distract.
For idle viewing, I wish there were a slide-show option to periodically change videos automatically, and also a "just subtitle country" option especially for relatives who have never been overseas from US, and could learn without extra mental overhead being forced to guess.
Given the need to interact with your site to change scenes, and that I was trying to work in another window, the constant pausing today (when another window had focus but the POV tab was still visible in its window) was a bit bothersome (clicking again to restart would change the video as well IIRC). I don't know if a setting option would help or distract.
For idle viewing, I wish there were a slide-show option to periodically change videos automatically, and also a "just subtitle country" option especially for relatives who have never been overseas from US, and could learn without extra mental overhead being forced to guess.
This is so awesome! I love it. Completely enchanting. I did 100 and got 89 right; and saw a few places I had lived =)
I had a momentary flashback to playing Carmen Sandiego when I was a kid. It think this would be a great educational tool.
Some thoughts (in no particular order)...
* I had one repeat video (which I had gotten wrong the first time), and two videos of the Brandenburger Tor (Berlin).
* It's interesting how many of them have flags in the shot - were the shots selected this way on purpose? It made me think how often there are flags everywhere that we barely notice. That plus the writing system, plus which side of the road people are driving on, makes some of them fairly easy. I imagine you could make a more difficult level if you wanted to, just by increasing the number of multiple choice answers or making more of them be from the same country or region.
* I wish there was a way to share your score with friends.
Great project!
I had a momentary flashback to playing Carmen Sandiego when I was a kid. It think this would be a great educational tool.
Some thoughts (in no particular order)...
* I had one repeat video (which I had gotten wrong the first time), and two videos of the Brandenburger Tor (Berlin).
* It's interesting how many of them have flags in the shot - were the shots selected this way on purpose? It made me think how often there are flags everywhere that we barely notice. That plus the writing system, plus which side of the road people are driving on, makes some of them fairly easy. I imagine you could make a more difficult level if you wanted to, just by increasing the number of multiple choice answers or making more of them be from the same country or region.
* I wish there was a way to share your score with friends.
Great project!
* The videos will not show up again only if you guess it right
* Yes the difficulty of the game is what I'm working on next
* Sharing score with friends: I'm thinking of a daily question set and a sharable format like wordle :P
Glad you like it and thank you for your feedback!
* Yes the difficulty of the game is what I'm working on next
* Sharing score with friends: I'm thinking of a daily question set and a sharable format like wordle :P
Glad you like it and thank you for your feedback!
If you don't guess will the videos show up again and again? I'm not interested in the guessing game aspect, I just want to watch the videos.
I thought 60/100 was good but I have never left the USA.
This is one of my favorite things I’ve seen on the internet in a while. Just so awesome. One thing I think that might be improved would be to prevent some situations where for example I was given as choices something like China, Vietnam, County A in West Virginia, County B in West Virginia. It clearly was in West Virginia (too easy), but which county was too difficult.
Glad you like it! I'll try to tune the difficulty of the game.
Cool, but...
Where am I? I see a video, and some buttons for other locations.
But it doesn't show what I am looking at in the current video.
Is it a puzzle? You have to figure that out? If so, please say that somewhere.
Yes, the idea is to guess where you are. It keeps track how many you get right.
It took me a while to pick up on that. I first thought I was choosing where to go next. I then wasted a bunch of time on it. Fun.
Took me a while too. The domain (explordle) would have made it kind of obvious given the current trends of wordle clones, but I was misled by HN title which seemed to imply (imo at least) it was some kind of exploration app instead of a guessing game.
Still, enjoying it now :)
Still, enjoying it now :)
Neat. The presence of flags makes it almost too easy :-)
It seems pretty similar to https://virtualvacation.us/guess (which I just run across earlier today), except you're asked to click on a map to solve instead of using multiple choice.
It seems pretty similar to https://virtualvacation.us/guess (which I just run across earlier today), except you're asked to click on a map to solve instead of using multiple choice.
In the spirit of 'travel the world' and based on how I interpreted the city choice at first, I'd love for there to be a mode where you don't take a quiz but just choose where you go next.
I enjoy such videos, but find them problematic. I'd like to filter by bouncing-camera style vs no-bounce, or perhaps on degree of bounce. Avoiding-pan style vs slow pan vs pan vs swivel to interesting things. Interesting things can be fun, but... "fun, fun, fun, fun, zap ouch! - now I get to be queasy for an hour". So perhaps intra-video filtering, like automatic blackouts, or vr-like "given the current angular velocity, we'll gray out much of the display, narrowing the field of view to a smaller circle, to avoid sickness"? Can a plug-in see an embedded video to do optical flow? Perhaps a site already curating such videos might value-add some image analysis? Are there popular channels with moments problematic for some viewers, perhaps creating a persistent niche for a mediating middleman?
I've accidentally discovered that adjusting the sound volume from the keyboard exposes the title of the video in the popup: https://imgur.com/gallery/K3oUFlb
I often watch POV walking/biking videos when working out indoors (rambalac for Japan, prowalk tours for Italy/Europe, watched walker for London, …) and thanks to your site I’ve found a couple more channels I was not aware of: could you maybe have a page where you list all the channels you are using (with maybe the amount of videos from each)?
From a gaming standpoint maybe I would show the source button only after the user has made a guess, as well as having an auto play button that can be disabled in case the user just wants to play random POV videos as screensaver or keep watching for a while after guessing.
From a gaming standpoint maybe I would show the source button only after the user has made a guess, as well as having an auto play button that can be disabled in case the user just wants to play random POV videos as screensaver or keep watching for a while after guessing.
This would be super incredible inside a vr headset like quest. But i think the video resolution must be scaled a lot like 4k at least, 8k preferably for it be meaningful.
I actually did have an app that was kind of similar and it used to make you exercise in streets of paris, etc in first-person pov but the video resolution was so bad it just didn't work. But i am sure there will be a huge demand for this in vr as it gets more popular.
I actually did have an app that was kind of similar and it used to make you exercise in streets of paris, etc in first-person pov but the video resolution was so bad it just didn't work. But i am sure there will be a huge demand for this in vr as it gets more popular.
This kind of video content in VR is of almost no interest to me as long as it remains 'flat' (2D in wraparound)-- once you've seen videos in true stereoscopic 3D, everything else pales in comparison. That may not be an issue for most people, but I know I'm not the only one. It kinda seems like most of the reason to use a VR headset instead of just a wide monitor in the first place.
I'm sure it's possible to do some kind of software based interpolation/upscaling (not sure what term to use here) to convert 2D to 3D, but I don't know how involved that process would be.
I'm sure it's possible to do some kind of software based interpolation/upscaling (not sure what term to use here) to convert 2D to 3D, but I don't know how involved that process would be.
This is amazing. I think it'll make a good party game also, especially if the attendees are well-traveled or international.
edit: Would be amazing if you added a competitive mode also, where two or more parties would get the same series of videos (randomly generated from a unique URL or something). And see who can get the most points out of 100 or so. Even better of the options are labeled A-D and randomized so groups in the same room can discuss which one they want to pick without leaking information
edit: Would be amazing if you added a competitive mode also, where two or more parties would get the same series of videos (randomly generated from a unique URL or something). And see who can get the most points out of 100 or so. Even better of the options are labeled A-D and randomized so groups in the same room can discuss which one they want to pick without leaking information
Team game is a good idea, will think about this.
Love this kind of walking around videos (I watch them in an old VR headset when I cannot fall asleep). I see it uses videos from YouTube, are they collected in a playlist somewhere? :)
This is my favorite channel on this subject https://www.youtube.com/c/rambalac
This is my favorite channel on this subject https://www.youtube.com/c/rambalac
Glad you like the game and thank you for the source :) I'll try to add them into the game.
Very neat, it reminded me of the below link, which shows videos of driving through cities, while playing you a matching radio station from the area. https://driveandlisten.herokuapp.com/
i love the idea.
unfortunately probably due to my slow connection i get an extremely low resolution on the video making it very difficult to recognize any details because everything looks blurry. i'd rather have less or slower video but at a higher resolution. 360p at least. 480p would be better.
also, please check the browser language. due to my location i get city names in a language i can't read.
also, please check the browser language. due to my location i get city names in a language i can't read.
Thank you for the feedback! The game now checks browser language and redirects accordingly.
Awesome work! First time I played I got 50/55, generally I look for signs on the street, apart from the architecture of the place, how the people look and what language they speak. Naturally the US seems to be overrepresented, but on 4 of the questions I got wrong I was undecided between two american counties.
I have tried it three times and I find this way of teleporting very pleasant. I am particularly bad in geography, but it seemed to me that the places of some videos were sometimes particularly easy to identify. It's good when you feel lost.
And the three times around the twenty videos I had a bug (with Firefox). And lost all my progress.
Will look into the bug. Thank you for the feedback!
It should be interesting to have a seed system so that you can challenge other people.
This is perfect for a distributed team game via Zoom - if you can find a way to facilitate group guessing via mobile phone while the videos are shown on a video conferencing screen then I believe you have a hit on your hands.
Team game...good idea, will think about this.
Pretty easy. I'd would try adding a hard mode where the 3 wrong cities are geographically close to the correct city. So guessing "Asia" isn't enough to guess correctly.
Really cool experience and lots of fun while training/testing one's powers of observation and deduction. Did you harvest the clips manually?
I enjoyed watching this narrative-free stroll in exotic locales. I think this would be a great site to relax to before bed. Please add more places :)
This is really cool!
I got carried away playing, was super fun. Nice one OP!
I got carried away playing, was super fun. Nice one OP!
This is really neat. I think if you had the geoguesser style of map or head-to-head competitions, it could really take off in the twitch streaming world.
I watched somebody walk around in the rain at night for 10 mins before realizing this is Wordle-but-with-videos. Very peaceful.
This is awesome thanks! One thing I noticed is it's really US centric. Usually in my choices I got 4 USA locations and one non US place.
More places will be added, thank you for the feedback!
This was a lot of fun, thank you!
I especially appreciate the "Stay" button.
Really clean implementation -- nicely done!
I especially appreciate the "Stay" button.
Really clean implementation -- nicely done!
Never ever ever ever initiate audio on the web without positive intent from the user.
I got 32 out of 33 :)
The scripts, weather and the people are the telltale clues.
Yeah, I had a similar score. It is way too easy, I'd say. I often had video segments that gave the answer away: a skyline with skyscrapers, and a list with one mega city and three random unknown towns, I had the Eiffel tower, and several signs with the location name. I know that the last can't be filtered out, but maybe the selection of the three wrong choices needs to be made a bit more... similar?
Good work otherwise though, very nice!
Good work otherwise though, very nice!
Beyond cool, thanks for this
When I click on a city it shows videos from a different city. On firefox
Well done... I can see a multi-user competition mode too (e.g. Kahoot!)
Good ice-breaker too.
Good ice-breaker too.
Could you add a setting to disable "autoskip"?
FFS this is so addictive.
Can see teams doing this as a fun icebreaker
The cherry blossom video is incredible.
This is lovely. Thanks for sharing!
This is fantastic, well done!
nice, where did you get the videos from?
The videos are all hosted on youtube.
Which explains how I can cheat sometimes... When I go to the lockscreen on my phone I can see the title of the video.
I wasted 20 minutes on it. Cool!
This is pretty fascinating!!
Maybe you could you make it so people can add a place. I guess upload to youtube, geo-tag it. It would be fun to get to add your place to the game.
I would like to try with a VR headset
I would like to try with a VR headset
On the [home page], there is a link to a [submission form].
[home page]: https://www.explordle.com/
[submission form]: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfD6VZ0xPYcqk-oEAD6...
[home page]: https://www.explordle.com/
[submission form]: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfD6VZ0xPYcqk-oEAD6...
cool site, confusing UX.
At first I thought it was offering me a choice between 4 random places to go next. That would also be awesome.
Thank you for the feedback, will fix.
thought that way too :-)
When the app is playing audio & titles visible read:
- "unmuted" "visible"
instead of
- "mute", "hide".
Button/label showing current state of the app is better than how the state will change via the button.
- "unmuted" "visible"
instead of
- "mute", "hide".
Button/label showing current state of the app is better than how the state will change via the button.
Tried clicking source and got an error:
https://www.explordle.comhttps//www.youtube.com/watch?v=qArF... not found