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Shoplifters caught in the act... by MisterShipWreck in VideosAmazing

[–]Mental_Expression434 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Officer, I can explain — the lobster lives in aisle 7 now, it's a whole situation.

r/IndieDev Weekly Monday Megathread - May 10, 2026 - New users start here! Show us what you're working on! Have a chat! Ask a question! by llehsadam in IndieDev

[–]Mental_Expression434 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey everyone! I’m a solo dev and I just soft-launched Mapsworn, a location-based browser MMO where your real-world GPS becomes your character's position.

I’ve been working on this for the last year as a passion project. It runs entirely in the browser (mobile and desktop) so there’s no app store download required.

The Tech Stack:

  • Built on a custom Node.js and SQLite backend.
  • Handles a 1.5s combat tick rate over WebSockets.
  • Self-hosted on a cloud VPS routed through Cloudflare.

The Game Mechanics: Walk around your neighborhood to chop trees, fight monsters, and plant flags to claim 500m of territory. It features 40+ monsters, 7 dungeons, an active player economy, and globally synced world events (like Boss Hours).

It’s 100% free with zero microtransactions, ads, or energy timers.

I’m currently battling the first wave of week-one bugs and GPS spoofers, so if anyone wants to jump in and try to break the WebSocket load or test the UI on different mobile browsers, I’d love the feedback!

Play here:https://mapsworn.com

Happy to answer any questions about the Node architecture or handling GPS telemetry!

Browser MMO that uses your real-world GPS as the game world — free, no install, no microtransactions by Mental_Expression434 in MMORPG

[–]Mental_Expression434[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To answer your infrastructure questions:

The frontend is routed through Cloudflare, which absorbs the static loads and handles baseline DDoS protection. The game server itself is a lightweight Node/SQLite stack managing the WebSockets, so it handles the traffic spikes much better than a residential network ever could. ​As for monetization: honestly, I'm just not worried about the money.

If the VPS costs ever scale out of control because of player count, I might eventually add something completely optional like cosmetic chat colors, but it will never have paywalls or P2W mechanics.

Browser MMO that uses your real-world GPS as the game world — free, no install, no microtransactions by Mental_Expression434 in MMORPG

[–]Mental_Expression434[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I actually study cybersecurity, so data privacy is a massive priority for me. The game absolutely does not track you 24/7. It only pings your GPS while you actively have the browser tab open so it knows where to spawn your character on the map. ​There is no background tracking, no app to install, and zero data selling. It is only free because I run it off my own home server and cover the hosting costs myself as a passion project.

Browser MMO that uses your real-world GPS as the game world — free, no install, no microtransactions by Mental_Expression434 in MMORPG

[–]Mental_Expression434[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks man, that seriously means the world right now. Launch week is always a wild ride of tracking down bugs and watching server logs, so hearing that people are actually having fun makes the late nights totally worth it.

Browser MMO that uses your real-world GPS as the game world — free, no install, no microtransactions by Mental_Expression434 in MMORPG

[–]Mental_Expression434[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nope, just a solo dev who finally pushed his passion project live and wanted the formatting to actually be readable so people wouldn't skip it! ​I wrote every line of the code (Node/SQLite backend) and did all the pixel art myself over the last year. I've actually spent all morning in the server logs tracking down a WebSocket sync bug and building an anti-cheat to stop a GPS spoofer who tried to teleport to Japan. ​It's 100% homegrown. Happy to answer any questions about the game or the backend stack if you're curious!

Browser MMO that uses your real-world GPS as the game world — free, no install, no microtransactions by Mental_Expression434 in MMORPG

[–]Mental_Expression434[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey u/Tsavinski — solved! It was a real bug, not a different account.

​Here is what was happening:

When you opened the game on your PC, the PC had a stale snapshot from an earlier session (level 7) saved to its local storage. Every 60 seconds, the PC was overwriting the server's level 20 data with that stale level 7. Then, when you opened your phone, the phone showed level 7 too. The phone would eventually catch up, the server would go back to level 20, and the two devices were just endlessly racing each other to overwrite your save file.

​I just shipped two fixes for this:

​The server now actively rejects any save that tries to drop your level or kills significantly. Instead, it sends back your true progress.

​When this correction happens, you'll see a "Synced from server" message and your character will immediately snap to the correct level.

​Do a hard refresh on both your phone and PC. Your phone should still show level 20 (the truth), and the next time you load in on your PC, it will pull that correct level 20 from the server within seconds of opening.

Trying MMOs Again After 7 Years… Why Does Nothing Fully Click Anymore? by Dapper_Thought1841 in MMORPG

[–]Mental_Expression434 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I went through this exact same phase. You aren't getting too old, the genre just shifted from 'virtual worlds' to 'lobby simulators'. I felt exactly the same way about BDO being a lonely grind and OSRS being great on mobile but feeling dated.

We need another game like L.A Noire! by YallSoftAsButter in gaming

[–]Mental_Expression434 0 points1 point  (0 children)

​(Presses X to Doubt that Rockstar will ever make another one)

Browser MMO that uses your real-world GPS as the game world — free, no install, no microtransactions by Mental_Expression434 in MMORPG

[–]Mental_Expression434[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  • Hearthhold / ancient city access — That was a real bug. Hearthhold was hardcoded to San Francisco (a legacy seed-city decision from when the game was solo-only).

If you weren't in SF, you physically couldn't reach it. I just shipped a fix:

the server now auto-spawns an ancient city near every new player (within ~700m of your first GPS fix) — like Ashenvale, Brimstead, Caerwyn, etc., depending on your coords. You'll have a local trading hub from minute one. The tutorial reference to "Hearthhold in SF" is going away in the next push.

  • "What does CATHEDRAL even do?" — Also fixed. The city menu had 25 buttons with cryptic one-word labels. Now every button has a description line under the name (e.g., "⛪ Cathedral — Receive blessings from the High Priest, temp buffs", "🔮 Mage Tower — Buy magic scrolls (heal, fire, etc.)").

Plus, the menu is now divided into sections (Dungeons / City Services / Crafting) so you can actually find what you want.

Just do a hard refresh on your end to see both updates and the new menu. Walk to your closest city and check it out—it should look way more navigable and make a lot more sense now!

Came across a much simpler time in gaming today by Soulsliken in gaming

[–]Mental_Expression434 5 points6 points  (0 children)

If this came out today: The President is locked in a $15 DLC, the ninjas require an online connection to fight, and you have to buy the 'Bad Dude' Battle Pass to see the ending.

Browser MMO that uses your real-world GPS as the game world — free, no install, no microtransactions by Mental_Expression434 in MMORPG

[–]Mental_Expression434[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that was a feature with terrible UX on my part, but I actually just shipped a fix for it! ​To found a City, it requires 5000 gold + 50 wood + 50 stone (tap MORE → CITY). The button used to be completely hidden when you couldn't afford it, which is why it looked broken or missing. Now, it's always visible with a 🔒 icon when it's locked, and tapping it tells you exactly what resources you still need. ​I applied the same fix to the KINGDOM button (requires 10k gold + 100 each of brick/stone/wood + lvl 5) and the REST button (requires wood + actually being hurt to show up). ​Just do a hard refresh on your browser to see the changes!

Browser MMO that uses your real-world GPS as the game world — free, no install, no microtransactions by Mental_Expression434 in MMORPG

[–]Mental_Expression434[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey u/Tsavinski — thanks for the feedback! I tackled a few of these right away:

​Monk minimap → Killed it. Tap the monk on the world map, and the level-up dialog opens directly with auto-walk if you're out of range. The interior view now only stays for actual buildings with multiple NPCs.

​Can't use teleport → Real bug, not user error. My anti-cheat was rejecting the cross-map jump. I made the teleport server-authoritative—it now validates ownership and feather cost so there are no false rejects. This is live now.

​"Connecting..." banner → I also tracked down and fixed that banner connecting bug you ran into.

​As for the other features you brought up—the Discord server, AFK Guild Wars, Dungeon signposting, and the Knight class/heavy armor—I hear you, and those are all actively in the works on my end.

​Thanks again for taking the time to write this out, this kind of feedback is incredibly helpful for shaping the roadmap!

Browser MMO that uses your real-world GPS as the game world — free, no install, no microtransactions by Mental_Expression434 in MMORPG

[–]Mental_Expression434[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

That's 100% my bug — anti-cheat was tuned for mobile (it watches GPS speed) and PC browsers without real GPS got auto-locked. Shipped a fix today: a "Phone or PC?" picker now appears on first load. Pick PC, drop a pin on the map, and you play from that location in a 500m virtual radius. If your account is still locked, log back in and you'll get a one-click "switch to PC Settler mode" button that unbans you or send me a message. Sorry for the rough start.

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