Outbreak

Outbreak is a real-world minigame made to have fun between your classes. Survivors run from "zombies", send proof videos and try not to get caught while collecting powerups.

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Inspiration

We wanted to turn the familiar high school senior assasin game into a, location-based game that gets friends moving outdoors between classes and fit the Map theme perfectly. We wanted to add another fun layer on top of senior assasin to get rid of how long games took. OUTBREAK combines the urgency of a zombie chase with a tactical map, team roles, and short evidence moments.

What it does

Players join a private six-player match as survivors or zombies. Survivors run, collect team-specific power-ups, upload short video checks, and escape through late-game extraction points. Zombies use frozen survivor pings, routes, and capture evidence to hunt them down before the shrinking play zone closes.

How we built it

We built a mobile-first React and TypeScript app with a Node/Express backend, tRPC APIs, MySQL/Drizzle persistence, and Leaflet with Mapbox API street tiles. The game uses browser GPS, camera capture, profile photos, haptics, Web Audio cues, live polling, and server-authoritative match rules.

Challenges we ran into

The hardest work was making real-world play feel fair and reliable: handling unreliable mobile GPS, keeping pings private instead of live, preventing stale state from ending games incorrectly, making media uploads fast, and keeping the map stable on mobile browsers. Another challenge was figuring out just how to get zombies to digitally be able to "tag" people without just physically touching them.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • A complete host-to-results multiplayer flow without mandatory sign-in.
  • Role-specific map intelligence, privacy rules, capture verification, and a post-match recap.
  • A 45-second head start, pressure systems, haptic/audio feedback, and clear end states.
  • A simple interface designed for play outside rather than a conventional dashboard.

What we learned

Location games need clarity before complexity: players must always know their next action, what information is shared, and when a rule has changed. We also learned that mobile browser permissions and audio require deliberate, per-device interaction design.

What's next for Outbreak

We plan to add stronger matchmaking and replay tools, richer game modes, push notifications when the app is backgrounded, clearer onboarding, and production monitoring before a broader release.

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