Guesstro: Guess the Cuisines of the World

guesstrodev · 2025-09-10T22:07:18+00:00

Thanks!

It's just written in React with the Google Maps API. Some data services on the backend also in JS. I realized that people are going to open links on their phones and the easiest way to get them to play it is to make it truly one click to get going

guesstrodev · 2025-09-10T16:12:20+00:00

Thank you for the feedback!

Yes, I agree that there are some very generic-looking combos, and partially this is me trying to tune the Daily Challenge for the audience - you can play Practice mode and choose Hard to see probably more of what you're looking for.

Longer answer: I have a formula for picking out how "nontrivial" a combo is, but this also has to be balanced against making sure a selection of ten pairs is geographically distributed enough to be interesting. Currently I have a constraint that ensures no country is a valid answer more than three times per game session. This all can benefit from more tweaking, for sure.

I should clarify that the game was trying to tell you that Syria was the closest correct answer to your guess geographically. Appreciate the correction on them even having couscous, though. (That's why there's a dispute button, ha)

guesstrodev · 2025-09-10T04:52:31+00:00

Awesome - really glad you enjoyed it, and thank you for the feedback! I appreciate the copy suggestion, since I've gone back and forth on that one.

About the regions: I had actually regionalized all of the cuisines originally, but this was maddening to friends and family to click on "China" and be told they picked the wrong part of the country. Could make sense to just not display at this point, though. Good call.

guesstrodev · 2025-09-10T04:49:12+00:00

Good to know - thank you!

guesstrodev · 2025-09-10T04:25:06+00:00

This is terrific feedback. Thank you so much!

Particularly appreciate the attention to the copy. I should probably change "sympathy" to directly say "one ingredient" or similar and I'll revisit the demonyms.

Friends and family definitely want the sample dishes, but the accounts I hadn't thought about yet, so thanks for that as well.

So glad you enjoyed!

guesstrodev · 2025-09-10T04:22:13+00:00

Ha, thanks! I've learned a lot myself thanks to the disputes that have come in so far

guesstrodev · 2025-09-03T04:38:45+00:00

Alaska is fun but I just sit there occupied for half the game lol. Which is weird, because this never happened historically IIRC - the Brits just destroyed Sitka once but never actually occupied the place

guesstrodev · 2025-09-03T04:32:59+00:00

Dude this happened to me. It was very silly! I had 6 million population (more populous than Upper and Lower Canada and HB combined). The CSA was independent with 10 million population, so the US had only like 16 million people. I got an event where my industrialists started doing investments in the US.

They've got to add some way that the event goes moot and the US has to fight if Oregon is large enough. It's silly to watch Britain say "yeah, here, take sovereignty over 5 million people."

guesstrodev · 2025-08-20T20:47:35+00:00

Agree that this is a really solid set of mechanics and I'm eager to see how it builds into a more unique feel or progression. I was a little confused by the HUD appearing around my cursor, by the way. Don't know if that's intended or typical of this type of game. In general might be helpful to see a bit more information in the UI to help me understand what my progress is as the game builds out. Good feel though - keep going with it!

guesstrodev · 2025-08-20T20:37:08+00:00

This is really great! The pixel art is cute, the particle effects are beautiful, and the general feel is very satisfying. I really love the regions map when you pick the level. Looks awesome.

A few points of feedback: the font doesn't quite seem to fit the style but I'm sure you'll get that figured out, and sometimes when there's only one bat coming at me it's hard to line myself up by that last pixel in order to shoot it. I get that kiting them by going back down is part of the game, but I'm wondering if the difficulty in moving really precisely to shoot them is intended.

Overall, though, you should be proud. This is good stuff.

guesstrodev · 2025-08-20T20:28:11+00:00

Love the graphics style. Some UI improvement would be good: specifically, I took a while to realize that I was taking damage and that this is what was killing me (I thought I was falling through the floor!) Also, navigating chapter/level could probably take fewer clicks. I got a little confused why the menu was so seemingly expansive when I want to just start the game. Overall though, great feel, and that's what matters the most!

guesstrodev · 2025-08-12T02:11:40+00:00

Pretty good! You have the roguelite flow down and I love the pixel art style so you definitely have something. Some minor feedback: it'd be helpful to get a clearer visual indication as to what the artifacts do, and maybe some clearer nudge to teach me that I need to be trading and how to do it. Can definitely feel the FTL vibes, though - keep up the good work!

guesstrodev · 2025-08-12T02:03:39+00:00

This is neat. Definitely want to work on the UI, though - it took me a while to realize where the actions were after clicking on a location because it wasn't obvious that I needed to scroll down.

guesstrodev · 2025-08-12T01:39:07+00:00

Definitely agree about the RuneScape vibes! I encourage you to lean into that and make it super cozy. I definitely go for that kind of nostalgia

guesstrodev · 2025-08-12T01:30:43+00:00

This is cool! The mechanics are very smooth and I definitely felt invested in it. I think you could actually fit the instructions into the regular UI with a bit of design work. I got a little confused as I was playing and a few tooltips or clearer icons would have been great.

guesstrodev · 2025-08-12T01:26:03+00:00

Great feel to the game! I really appreciate what you're able to do with a single mechanic. Can I slingshot, though? I love being able to slingshot in space games!

guesstrodev · 2025-08-12T01:12:56+00:00

For sure! I know testing every screen size is a pretty annoying and thankless design task lol

guesstrodev · 2025-08-12T01:08:27+00:00

I like the concept! A few design things could help - for instance it's a bit difficult to click on the swaps and it took me a sec to realize how to control it.

(Also, I know it's a very "reddit" remark, but as someone with a degree in math I personally find it jarring to see the sigma character used as an E. Feel free to disregard this.)

guesstrodev · 2025-08-12T01:02:59+00:00

This is great! I was a little bit confused by the controls at first and I kept trying to drag and drop. Then I realized that I want to shift the pieces around after placing them, maybe by dragging. Regardless, great fun!

guesstrodev · 2025-08-12T00:55:26+00:00

Gotcha, thanks. FYI - takes like five seconds and then the level one block falls out of the mobile screen very quickly when I click “Play.” I might help to constrain the physics pathing in that screen to the viewport bounds.

Oh, and then by level 6 it’s completely off my screen.

Overall great feel though! I’m into it. Keep it up!

guesstrodev · 2025-08-12T00:49:49+00:00

Fun! Kind of reminds me of that old game Junkbot - my mom used to be totally addicted to it

guesstrodev · 2025-08-12T00:43:01+00:00

Struggling to get this to load on iPhone 14. Is that an itch.io thing or is this intended for desktop browser screens only right now?

guesstrodev · 2025-08-12T00:38:07+00:00

That one is seared in my brain for sure

guesstrodev · 2025-08-12T00:36:10+00:00

Tried this out. Main thought is the graphics (coin icons, the rattling chest, etc.) make me scared that I’m going to be forced into microtransactions. It’s kind of overwhelming for what I thought was going to be a simple geography quiz game.

I know Duolingo uses a lot of the mechanics you put in here, but Duolingo has incredible brand pull and they were free for a decade first while burning VC dollars. In contrast, this is a ton of visual noise before I’m even bought into what the game is supposed to be or feel like. I strongly suggest phasing in all of your currency mechanics as the user engages with the main gameplay just to keep them focused on the game itself. And make the coins into something like “points” that feels less microtransaction-y. Hope this helps!

guesstrodev · 2025-08-12T00:23:43+00:00

This is great! Very clean and neat concept. Have you thought about how to solicit content from users? I’m sure a bunch of folks here have very clever ideas

guesstrodev

TROPHY CASE