[HN Gopher] Show HN: A simple world flags game, my first web dev...
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       Show HN: A simple world flags game, my first web dev project as a
       beginner
        
       Author : nickybuzz
       Score  : 185 points
       Date   : 2023-01-25 13:37 UTC (9 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (billywojcicki.github.io)
 (TXT) w3m dump (billywojcicki.github.io)
        
       | dtagames wrote:
       | This is fantastic and highly addictive! My only suggestion (as
       | others have said) would be to indicate the CORRECT flag's name
       | clearly and give the user a chance to absorb it before going onto
       | the next one. Maybe a box around the right choice or the country
       | name near the flag? Something like that.
       | 
       | The design does make me want to "get 'em all" and learn them
       | correctly and that little change would help.
       | 
       | Kudos on a fantastic first app which is very professional and
       | usable!
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | I'm really happy you're enjoying it. Thanks for the kind words.
         | Will be looking into your suggestion.
        
           | swyx wrote:
           | add a leaderboard and a party game mode (live small group
           | competitive sessions) and you'll really have a stew going
        
       | Symbiote wrote:
       | I had a whole series in alphabetical order by ISO 3166 code,
       | which made that section easier.
        
       | snozolli wrote:
       | I can't use the page on my Samsung S20:
       | 
       |  _Your current dimensions are not supported_
       | 
       | It sure looks like it's rendering just fine:
       | 
       | https://imgur.com/a/zwzyCx6
        
       | andnand wrote:
       | Very neat! Can someone explain the json is being rendered? I had
       | no idea json could be rendered as an image?
       | https://github.com/billywojcicki/vexillologist/blob/master/w...
        
         | hailkuato wrote:
         | Not sure but it may be TopoJSON: -
         | https://github.com/topojson/topojson -
         | https://github.com/topojson/topojson-specification
         | 
         | My guess is that Github just recognizes and supports previewing
         | this particular spec.
        
           | nickybuzz wrote:
           | This is correct
        
         | abejfehr wrote:
         | It's geojson, Github renders that:
         | https://github.blog/2013-06-13-there-s-a-map-for-that/
         | 
         | Edit: I was wrong, it's topojson as per the other reply, based
         | on the data-type attribute that's set on the div outside the
         | map
        
       | taldo wrote:
       | Nice little game for curious people. Hard mode: picking the
       | alternatives among geographically-close countries, or countries
       | with similar-looking flags.
        
       | readney wrote:
       | Wrong flag for Afghanistan, recently famously updated
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | Eh, I suppose. I'll update it when a high-res emoji image
         | becomes available.
        
         | pure_vida wrote:
         | Disagree. terrorist regime notwithstanding, the flag he chose
         | was the historically correct and currently accepted one amongst
         | afghans and governments.
        
           | Freak_NL wrote:
           | Agreeing with the current regime is not a requirement for a
           | sovereign nation to update their flag is it? There is no
           | government in exile, and the current regime is really the
           | only entity in charge of that nation's flag.
           | 
           | Flags change.
        
       | gooooooore wrote:
       | [flagged]
        
       | sedatk wrote:
       | Very nice. The text goes out of the page on Zoom levels above
       | 100% though.
        
       | stefncb wrote:
       | This is what I see: https://0x0.st/oFPu.png
       | 
       | The bottom row gets cropped. Resolution is 1366x768. Let me know
       | if you need additional info.
       | 
       | The UI looks great though!
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | Thanks for the feedback, screenshot, and kind words! Looking
         | into making the design more responsive.
        
       | anonair wrote:
       | There should be a reverse version also, with a nation in top and
       | choose a flag below
        
         | anonair wrote:
         | and the more tricky version to choose from countries/flags with
         | similar design
        
       | thealch3m1st wrote:
       | Sheldon Cooper would be excited about this one
        
       | defenestration wrote:
       | That's lovely and frustrating. 1) The right answer could be
       | visualized higher on the screen, to reduce eye movement. 2) My 15
       | minute progress was erased after checking the settings and trying
       | out the options. Argh! But overall well done on this project!
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | Thanks for the kind words! That's some helpful feedback, I'll
         | look into adding a warning there.
        
       | rement wrote:
       | Awesome little project! I went through the US state flags and
       | found that you are using the old Mississippi flag.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Mississippi
        
         | darekkay wrote:
         | The official Afghanistan flag did also change.
         | 
         | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Afghanistan
        
       | gdsdfe wrote:
       | there might be a bug in there, I'm clicking a country and it says
       | you clicked another country my mistake
        
       | MattyMc wrote:
       | Fabulous job! Love the scrolling background and the cute buttons!
        
       | intelVISA wrote:
       | Nice! Quite fun, hope you keep building things :)
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | Thank you :)
        
       | jll29 wrote:
       | Fun demo!
       | 
       | When you get it wrong, show the correct country name under the
       | flag. Optionally, show the flag of the country you got wrong and
       | your wrong guess underneth.
        
       | smcl wrote:
       | Nicely done! 11 mins 4 seconds with 97% accuracy (my apologies to
       | some smaller caribbean and pacific islands for forgetting your
       | flag, and for mixing up whether Indo or Singapore had the
       | crescent moon + stars)
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | Nice score! For me, it's always the Central American flags that
         | trip me up.
        
       | Benjammer wrote:
       | Does this show a random flag each time? You could use a spaced-
       | repitition algorithm to pick which flag to show based on
       | correct/incorrect previous answers.
        
       | pantulis wrote:
       | Well executed! Just as a suggestion, incorrect answers could be
       | displayed more prominently so one has more visual feedback about
       | what to learn.
       | 
       | Does not look like a beginner's project to me, congrats again!
        
         | moffkalast wrote:
         | Might make sense to show incorrect answers, flag and country
         | name persistently somewhere on the side of the screen. Then you
         | can also lose if you get too many to show on screen.
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | Many seem to agree that the correct/incorrect answers could be
         | clearer. Will look into this. Thanks for the feedback and kind
         | words!
        
         | soyin wrote:
         | Agreed, this looks really great! I second that being able to
         | see the flag and the correct answer more prominently after an
         | incorrect guess would help! Super well done.
        
         | pschuegr wrote:
         | Yup, to add to the other comments here:
         | 
         | "You answered [right answer] incorrectly!" is confusing, it
         | should be "Sorry! The right answer was [right answer]!"
         | 
         | Looks great though, nice work!
        
           | pbiggar wrote:
           | If you could also show the flag in the message, so that I can
           | associate them again, that would really improve retention!
        
         | Timpy wrote:
         | I'm on a Macbook/Firefox with my resolution scaled up a bit and
         | I didn't realize the answers were being displayed at all until
         | I zoomed the page to 80%. Scrolling does not work. I did about
         | 20 of them wondering when a results page would appear. Very fun
         | and addicting project.
        
         | mysterydip wrote:
         | Agreed. When I first did it I didn't realize the answer was
         | given after I pressed a choice. I thought it would give me a
         | summary after so many guesses, like a quiz.
         | 
         | Also agreed that it looks much better than a beginner's
         | project!
        
           | RajT88 wrote:
           | It's a wording problem, quick fix. Instead of:
           | 
           | You answered (nation) flag incorrectly!
           | 
           | Have it be like:
           | 
           | You guessed (nation), but the correct answer was (nation)!
           | 
           | Absolutely it looks great.
        
             | JLCarveth wrote:
             | I was expecting the button highlight to be red on an
             | incorrect guess.
        
               | hdaz0017 wrote:
               | does not resize so depending on resolution I had to read
               | here to understand there was informaiton below the
               | questions - resolution 1600x900
               | 
               | Hope this helps :)
        
             | dylan604 wrote:
             | Second this. When I first noticed this text at the bottom,
             | I assumed a bug knowing that the button I just pressed was
             | not what text was displayed. It took a second to realize
             | that it was telling me the correct flag, not the button
             | pressed.
        
             | perlgeek wrote:
             | For learning, it would also help to show the flag + correct
             | nation name next to each other; maybe a list of past flags
             | and their correct answers at the side or bottom?
        
       | eterm wrote:
       | Wow, that was a real grind to finish, including a lot of test of
       | memory filtering out countries I'd guessed correctly previously.
       | 
       | It still took me an incredibly long time, with dozens of wrong
       | guesses for the same flags over and over.
       | 
       | I finally finished with Khazakstan, I wish the stats showed how
       | many guesses total, even if I can work it out from the accuracy I
       | suppose.
       | 
       | 193 world flags multiple choice finished in 43:07 42% accuracy
        
       | belinder wrote:
       | Bottom two options don't show on my screen. I am on 1920x1080
       | with 150% scaling
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | Looking into making the design more flexible. Thanks for the
         | feedback.
        
       | franciscop wrote:
       | It crops up for me (and doesn't allow me to scroll down) so I
       | couldn't see the feedback of whether it was correct or not.
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | Thanks for the feedback. I'll look into this, responsive design
         | was definitely the biggest challenge for me.
        
           | franciscop wrote:
           | I am on a laptop, just I'm zoomed in by default and couldn't
           | see the whole thing. In fact the fix would be to either NOT
           | css-fix things, or allow scroll :)
        
       | HanClinto wrote:
       | This is really really well done! Awesome work!
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | Thank you!
        
       | heresjohnny wrote:
       | This is really cool! Nice touch with the moving globe behind the
       | question. Maybe create a page showing the flags and their
       | countries the user got wrong, for reviewing purposes?
        
       | r00fus wrote:
       | My daughter is a huge fan of flags so we'll be doing a lot of
       | trying this out!
       | 
       | Any way you can configure the number of possible answers? I think
       | 10 options is a bit much (as a clueless American).
        
       | agentwiggles wrote:
       | Despite any mild clunkiness in the actual game (which has been
       | thoroughly covered in other comments, so I won't repeat it), I
       | just wanted to say this is a really nice looking project.
       | 
       | I have a complex about my inability to do nice design, I really
       | need to just start doing it on the side I think, as I'm sure I'd
       | get better with practice. But I'm always impressed when stuff
       | looks good as a result of my own inability. So nice work! Keep
       | learning!
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | Thanks for the kind words :)
        
       | goolz wrote:
       | Instant bookmark, well done.
       | 
       | A nice little exercise when I need to get me head out of the IDE.
       | You should be really proud of this, god, my first site. . .
       | 
       | Well, anyway, have a nice day and keep it up!
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | Thank you :)
        
       | mayormcmatt wrote:
       | Thanks, I need/want to learn more flags! Great project.
        
       | Georgelemental wrote:
       | Be wary of https://xkcd.com/787/ ... People can get worked up
       | over what is a "real" country, and what the "real" flags are
        
       | kyberias wrote:
       | When I answer incorrectly, it tells me I selected some totally
       | other country incorrectly.
        
         | SamBam wrote:
         | It's showing you that you're incorrect, and telling you the
         | correct answer. Though I think it could be clearer too.
        
           | nickybuzz wrote:
           | Agreed it could be clearer. Thanks for the feedback!
        
       | bbx wrote:
       | Very nice! I like how the last guessed country is displayed in
       | the map in the back. It's a shame it doesn't pan to that
       | location, because it's often located outside the viewport. It
       | would be useful to have a way to zoom out and view the whole map,
       | because it would teach the user about the country's location as
       | well.
       | 
       | It's a fun and well executed project, congrats!
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | Thank you for the kind words! I originally had the globe pan to
         | the country in question, but found out it creates quite a
         | visual mess for users that answer rapidly.
        
       | SamBam wrote:
       | Neat!
       | 
       | It would be nice to have the option to focus on a single content.
       | It's much easier to learn things if you can go back and repeat,
       | but repetition is prohibitive if you have to do the whole world
       | again.
       | 
       | As a small comment, I went to click on a flag on mobile to see if
       | I could see it bigger, and the name of the file came up, with the
       | country's two-letter code, giving away the answer. I'd make it so
       | the flag doesn't respond to touch/mouse events.
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | These are both great ideas. Thanks for the feedback.
        
       | mkoryak wrote:
       | this is pretty cool. I think you have a big opportunity here to
       | have an easter egg if you detect someone holding down a number
       | key for over 10 seconds as I did.
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | Thank you! That is a neat idea.
        
       | chadlavi wrote:
       | This game was fun and made me wonder: have I ever seen a damn
       | flag in my life? Seems like a simple thing, then you get in there
       | and don't know most of them.
        
         | RajT88 wrote:
         | I was surprised at how much my random guesses were correct,
         | based on the style of the flags. (Mostly getting it wrong, but
         | maybe 20% success rate)
         | 
         | There is definitely a clustering of design styles. British
         | territories for example tend to have elements of the Union Jack
         | incorporated. Germany, Luxembourg, Italy, that area tend to
         | have more the simple 3 stripe designs.
         | 
         | I found myself occasionally guessing a right answer for flags
         | in regions I knew very little about. I guess that sort of
         | knowledge about design trends seeped in somehow.
        
           | nickybuzz wrote:
           | Love that you're having fun with it!
        
             | ryandrake wrote:
             | Giving so many choices makes it hard to guess your way
             | through it. Very challenging and fun.
        
         | moffkalast wrote:
         | Turns out so, so, many random tiny islands that nobody's ever
         | heard of have quite interesting unique flags.
        
           | daveslash wrote:
           | Re >> _that nobody 's ever heard_ I think you just hurt their
           | feelings. It's okay Sao Tome and Principe, I've heard of you.
           | 
           | But jokes aside: yes, you are quite correct. There are a
           | surprising amount of small island nations, republics, and
           | dependencies that many of us have never heard of.
        
             | moffkalast wrote:
             | Ha I actually do live in a tiny country that nobody's ever
             | heard of myself, it's fine we're used to it :P
             | 
             | In fact in lots of cases it's can even be quite nice since
             | there's practically no international drama. Security
             | through obscurity as they say.
        
         | darekkay wrote:
         | I recommend Anki. I've been learning flags (and capitals etc)
         | ~1 year ago. After a few months break I have finished this game
         | with a 97% accuracy (missed 5 countries). I would not get as
         | good without multiple-choice, but it's still nice to see how
         | many flags I did still recall.
        
       | artificial wrote:
       | Great job! What did you enjoy most about this project? Were there
       | any aspects that were satisfying once the concepts clicked?
        
       | nothrowaways wrote:
       | Fun with flags.
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/_e8PGPrPlwA
        
       | FatActor wrote:
       | It says "Learn the flags..."
       | 
       | But doesn't give me the correct answer when I'm wrong, so I can't
       | learn.
        
         | awb wrote:
         | It does in tiny text at the bottom middle
        
           | FatActor wrote:
           | But you've moved on to a new flag, so I cannot let the
           | association sink in as I have forgotten the flag already.
        
       | BaudouinVH wrote:
       | on my 1366 x 768 screen I cannot see the bottow row, only the
       | first - hope it helps
       | 
       | here is a screenshot : https://i.imgur.com/Jx1qyNF.png - I'm
       | running MX Linux
        
         | forgotpwd16 wrote:
         | Yeah, seems site isn't adapting to dimensions. If you zoom out
         | it also shows whether you answer correctly/wrong, time, and
         | percentage of correct answers.
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | Thanks for the feedback and screenshot. Responsive design was
         | the biggest challenge for me, will look into this.
        
       | swyx wrote:
       | nice touch i liked - you can click the background and rotate the
       | earth for apparently no reason. thats fun!
        
       | flyinglizard wrote:
       | This needs a leaderboard!
        
       | insane_dreamer wrote:
       | Nice. I thought I was pretty good at country flags, but it turns
       | out I'm not :)
       | 
       | For practice, it might be nice to have some filter options where
       | it only shows you flags from a subset of countries, i.e.,
       | 
       | - continents - largest 50 / 100 / 150 / 200 countries by
       | population
       | 
       | the latter would be nice because it's hard to remember all the
       | small island nations
        
       | simlevesque wrote:
       | Idea: I'd like to be able to select only countries who speak
       | spanish to practice my knowledge of latinoamerica.
        
       | kome wrote:
       | cool, well done!
       | 
       | but it doesn't fit my screen size. Perhaps you need to fix this,
       | i'm not the only one here with this problem.
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | Thank you! And yes, you're right, I will look into this.
         | Responsive design is definitely the biggest challenge for me.
        
       | _justinfunk wrote:
       | So many comments in your Javascript. You are clearly a beginner.
       | /s
       | 
       | Nice work, the code was very readable and reasonable.
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | Thank you!
        
       | greenpeas wrote:
       | The image for the flag of Micronesia (./flags/fm.png) is missing.
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | Good catch. Fixed!
        
       | Hitton wrote:
       | Not bad. I think it could be nice if there was possibility of
       | mode with just more or lesser known flag. Like only countries
       | with > 1 million population or 20 or more percentile of countries
       | by population.
        
       | bumpkinjunkie wrote:
       | Pretty cool, love that it keeps track of your score at the
       | bottom. One comment is that the user feedback when answering
       | incorrectly displays the name of the correct country, not the
       | incorrectly guessed country.
       | 
       | Example: Flag is Brazil. Finland is guessed by user. Message to
       | user: "You guessed Brazil incorrectly".
        
         | nickybuzz wrote:
         | Thanks for the kind words. Definitely looking into making this
         | clearer, as you and others have suggested.
        
         | smcl wrote:
         | Ah good thinking, maybe a message showing both the correct
         | answer and the user's guess ("Incorrect, the answer was Brazil
         | (you guessed Finland)")
        
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       (page generated 2023-01-25 23:01 UTC)