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531 points kuberwastaken | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.001s | source

I sometimes pick up random projects just because I can, this was one of those times. I made it as a week long project a while back this year but never shared here, so thought to go for it haha.

I created a game inspired by Doom and the backrooms called The Backdooms under 2.4kb in minified html. (for reference, this entire post would be around 1.8kB haha) I had to use a not popular way of using GZip with Zlib headers (had to write my own script for compressing it, also in the repo) to eventually convert it a size 40 QR code that works right in your browser using Decompressionstream API.

This is of course a very oversimplified description of it, using a lot of the same technologies that DOOM had but combining it with infinite seed based map generation in 2.4kb (QR codes can only store 3kb, which includes changing formats) was pretty hard.

Here are some links about it if you want to nerd out and read more:

Repository Link (MIT License): https://github.com/Kuberwastaken/backdooms

A Hosted (slightly improved) version of The Backdooms: https://kuberwastaken.github.io/backdooms/

Game Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QWPr10cAuGc

My Linkedin post about it: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7295667...

(PS: You'd need something like https://qrscanner.org/ or something that can scan bigger QR codes and put the text data onto your browser to play it)

My Blogs documenting the process and development in detail:

https://kuberwastaken.github.io/blog/Projects/How-I-Managed-... https://kuberwastaken.github.io/blog/Projects/How-I-Managed-...

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giarc ◴[] No.43730024[source]
I scanned on an iPhone using native QR code scanner and it says "no usable data found".
replies(3): >>43730090 #>>43730091 #>>43730638 #
kuberwastaken ◴[] No.43730090[source]
Hey thanks for checking it out! You'd need something like https://qrscanner.org/ because most phones suck at scanning larger QR codes.

Also, it won't work on your phone, can't put in that compatibility with size restraints, sadly.

replies(2): >>43730228 #>>43731224 #
iainmerrick ◴[] No.43730228[source]
You mean the game doesn't work on mobile at all?

What kind of device do you use to scan the QR code, then?

replies(3): >>43730407 #>>43730484 #>>43731327 #
1. kuberwastaken ◴[] No.43730484[source]
Nope it doesn't, you can use any QR code scanner that takes image input! I would've loved to include smartphone controls but that would take a LOT of extra bandwidth.