Around Us

Welcome to Around Us -- hide and seek, but for fully grown and fully functional adults. Explore the world around you with a new lens and take your hiding and seeking skills to incredible new heights.

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Inspiration

Hide and seek is a great game. As kids, it helped us explore the world around us in unexpected ways as we searched for the best spots, . "Was a great game" may be a more appropriate descriptor, though, because the hide and seek scene for those above the age of 10 is severely lacking. We were inspired to rekindle that sense of exploration by creating a computer-assisted variant of hide-and-seek that can appeal to all ages!

What it does

Around Us lets you play hide-and-seek anywhere, with a few twists:

  • Various power-ups can be used at the tap of a button, letting you escape tricky situations or interfere with other players
  • Power-ups can be picked up during the game at various locations in the real world
  • Seekers have a passive ability to see the direction of the nearest player, adding to the intensity of gameplay
  • Compatible with both mobile and normal web browsers, so you can sprint around with your Laptop out

How we built it

We used a typescript backend along with an HTML, CSS, and javascript frontend to display a fast and malleable user interface. While the frontend manipulated our implementation of the Google Maps API and controlled the UI, the backend focused on managing our netcode and gameplay architecture. We also relied on Figma for prototyping the UI, as well as brainstorming ideas beforehand.

Challenges we ran into

  • Tons and tons of CORS errors
  • Setting up a reliable web domain
  • Difficulties incorporating typescript modules with a client-side bundle compatible with browsers

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Working through a ton of socket.io errors
  • Creating a cohesive UI/UX in a short time period

What we learned

  • Netcode can be scary, but well worth the reward!
  • Figma is awesome
  • There's a lot of great tools within the javascript ecosystem
  • Staying up all night can be fun!

What's next for Around Us

More power-ups, more game options (limited play radius enforced by Maps API, custom ability scaling, etc) and a more stable lobby joining system, etc.

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