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Show HN: Online Town – A better way to gather online

hn.town.siempre.io

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Re: Show HN: Online Town – A better way to gather online

#11
I've been looking for something like this for the past couple of weeks, so I'm super excited to try it.

Another thing I think would be great would be shared virtual backgrounds depending on where on the map you are. My team has tried to hack this together manually (standups taking place with everyone having a background photo of our abandoned office space,etc) but an automated zoom plugin or similar would be great.

Re: Show HN: Online Town – A better way to gather online

#12
post #2

Hi HN! One of the creators here. It's a cross between Zoom x Pokemon. You only get audio and video from people you're standing next to, and as you walk away from them, the video fades away and the audio drops off. With current video chat apps, you lose many of the dynamics of real life meetups. In particular, you lose the ability to have multiple people in the same shared space having multiple conversations. In real…

not sure nothing happens when I get close to someone. Using Firefox 69 Dev edition on a desktop without webcam but with mic

Re: Show HN: Online Town – A better way to gather online

#13
Sounds similar to a product called iSee out of Australia used in school systems there.

"iSee is just like being in the real world, where your voice fades out with distance and you walk around to talk to others and look at what interests you."

[1] https://www.iseevc.com.au

Re: Show HN: Online Town – A better way to gather online

#16
post #2

Hi HN! One of the creators here. It's a cross between Zoom x Pokemon. You only get audio and video from people you're standing next to, and as you walk away from them, the video fades away and the audio drops off. With current video chat apps, you lose many of the dynamics of real life meetups. In particular, you lose the ability to have multiple people in the same shared space having multiple conversations. In real…

Hi. I think this is a great idea - particularly as I'm unable to visit my girlfriend and 4 stepkids in the lockdown (I don't live with them), and I've been having meals with them (Saturday breakfast is a 'thing') via standard video call.

Just tried online town (I'm on Firefox 75 on Windows) with my girlfriend (she was on her ipad), and I could see my video in a box, and she could see her video in a box, but we couldn't see each other. The fade in/out worked on distance, but only of the box - no audio or video of each other.

She was also initially unwilling to enter the room as she thought she'd be in a room with three men (from the sample image given when visiting a room link) - I know it says 'on the left there's an example', but maybe that might need replacing?

Really great idea, though, and much needed at the moment!

Re: Show HN: Online Town – A better way to gather online

#18
Sococo has a similar idea. I've tried it in a few places and for some reason it never really sticks. Maybe we're doing it wrong.

I understand the map is supposed to be NYC. I would use something more people friendly (you don't need car-centric roads when there are no cars!) with more greenery. Right now the map feels a bit odd to me, a bit like a post-apocalyptic world. Maybe that's appropriate for the current time.

Re: Show HN: Online Town – A better way to gather online

#19
post #4

Really cool idea. I've been thinking a lot about how to have a party online (zoom parties are inevitably terrible), and this seems like a great step towards recreating real-world social experiences

Also try out Mozilla Hubs:

https://hubs.mozilla.com/

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