Campus Quest

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Inspiration

We’re glued to feeds that keep us indoors, comparing, refreshing, never arriving. Beyond the Feed asked: what if the next dopamine hit came from stepping onto campus instead of opening another app? Campus Quest is that answer—a playful loop that pulls students offline and into places that matter.

What it does

Real-world campus quests — Check in with device GPS + a photo; Gemini confirms you’re actually there (Library, Rec Center, Career Center, Student Union, Hackathon, and more). Open world — Explore a pixel woodland campus, place your house, build, and make the map yours. Friends & visits — Social progress that points you toward people and places, not infinite scroll. Progress that feels earned — XP, levels, coins, shop cosmetics, rankings, and streaks for showing up IRL. Guided first run — A tutorial that walks you from the world → quests → shop → friends → rankings.

How we built it

Next.js + TypeScript, Auth0 sessions, Tiger Data / PostgreSQL (Timescale), Phaser open-world client, and Gemini for photo evidence—so quests can’t be completed from the couch.

Challenges we ran into

Trusting “I was there” without QR theater: geofencing noisy phone GPS, keeping photo checks fair (no stored images—hash + verdict only), and making the world feel fun enough that leaving the feed feels like winning, not homework.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Real presence, not pretend check-ins — Campus quests require device GPS near a campus pin and a photo Gemini can match to that place. No QR codes, no “complete from the dorm.” An actual open world — A Phaser campus you can walk, build, and inhabit—not just a form with points. A full loop in one weekend — Quests → coins/XP → shop cosmetics → friends/visits → rankings, tied together with Auth0 and a real PostgreSQL/Tiger Data backend. Theme-true product — Campus Quest doesn’t fight doomscrolling with another feed; it rewards showing up at the library, Rec, Union, and beyond. Demo-ready polish — First-visit tutorial, geofenced Texas Tech pins, and a path from login to “I did something IRL” that judges can feel in minutes.

What we learned

Trust is the hard part — “Were you really there?” means wrestling GPS noise, photo relevance, rate limits, and not storing images—only hashes and verdicts. Social ≠ social media — Friends and streaks work better when they point people outside the app, not deeper into a scroll. Scope beats spectacle — Shipping one believable IRL verification loop + a playable world beat stacking half-finished features. AI is a referee, not the game — Gemini makes evidence fair; the fun is walking campus, building your plot, and competing with friends. Integration is the product — Auth, DB, game client, and verification only click when the player journey is one story: leave the feed, earn the reward.

What's next for Campus Quest

More campus pins and quest types, stronger friend visitation loops, and polish so any university can drop in their map and pull students beyond the feed for good.