Inspiration
Hide & Spot was inspired by camouflage games and viral “can you find it?” clips that turn viewers into active participants. I wanted to combine that instant visual hook with user-created challenges that naturally fit Reddit.
What it does
Players upload or choose a background, place and paint an object to blend into the scene, then publish it as an interactive challenge. Other users race to spot the hidden object with the fastest time and fewest incorrect clicks.
How we built it
I built Hide & Spot with Devvit Web, React, TypeScript, Canvas 2D, Redis, and Reddit media uploads. The editor handles object placement, rotation, painting, eyedropper color sampling, pan, zoom, and final challenge rendering directly in the browser.
Challenges we ran into
The hardest parts were preserving image quality during publishing, keeping paint and eyedropper behavior accurate under zoom and rotation, and making large user-uploaded images perform reliably on desktop and mobile. Reddit media handling, Canvas export limits, and interactive post state also required careful testing.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
I am proud that the project now supports a complete loop from creating and publishing a camouflage challenge to finding, rating, commenting, and reusing backgrounds. The painting system also preserves the object’s form while letting players match colors directly from the scene.
What we learned
I learned that strong social game design depends as much on the sharing and replay loop as on the core mechanic itself. I also learned how important coordinate systems, Canvas compositing, media optimization, and mobile gesture handling are for a browser-based creative game.
What's next for Hide And Spot
Next, I plan to improve moderation, ranking, anti-cheat, image quality, and discovery for the best-rated and hardest challenges. I also want to expand the object library and make the gallery and reuse flow even faster.
Built With
- canvas-2d
- devvit-web
- html
- react
- reddit-media-uploads
- redis
- typescript
