AfaqGeography

The challenges were mainly that it was difficult to display all the tiny islands in a way that reflects their actual location but also having them be somewhat visible. For this quiz I chose all the countries in Oceania, and I'm considering adding other notable islands in an expanded quiz.

What’s a geography misconception you had for way too long?

A country’s size, location, borders, capital — anything.

Maps have a way of humbling people.

Oceania has been one of the hardest regions to design quizzes for — managing the small islands is tricky.

I’ve just updated the map quiz to improve clarity and make selecting islands easier, sharing a short clip below.

Would love thoughts on whether this feels more approachable.

#buildinpublic

I’m still figuring out the best way to score mastery and which map layers I can add.

I’m working on a new map feature that will serve as the entire geography progress tracker.

The idea is that the map shows mastery, lets users favorite places, shows weak areas, and links directly to study sections.

If you were using this feature, what would you want to see?

Clip 👇

#buildinpublic

Hey! Right now the way I'm showing mountain ranges and deserts and such are either coloured outlines or just coloured shapes over the map, they aren't even entirely accurate because they're simplified into more basic shapes. I want to make them more accurate to fit the actual location of the biomes.

What’s a geography misconception you had for way too long?

Could be a country’s size, location, borders, or even a capital city.

Maps have a way of humbling you.

Been building out physical geography quizzes for Afaq — mountain ranges, rivers, lakes, forests, deserts.

Functionally they work, but I’m not happy with how these features look on the map yet.

Curious how others think these should be visualized.

Feedback very welcome 👀
#buildinpublic

I would be curious about that too! I have yet to get a user base to test with and I'm hoping to draw some attention with my updates here. Any feedback is welcome!

Afaq’s been evolving fast lately (new game modes, analytics, challenges), and the old logo just didn’t feel right anymore.

Quiet update, but one I’m excited about:

I refined the Afaq logo to better reflect what the app’s becoming — less “map tool,” more “learning game.”

Still exploring the balance between playful and clean, but this feels closer.

Thoughts welcome 🙂

#buildinpublic #geography

Hey James! What I'm aiming for with the drill is to target the areas where most mistakes were made. I'm storing the number of mistakes for particular countries/regions to help identify what seems harder for the user. In the example I showed I'd previously done the region and did poorly.

Yes! I think the structured daily goal is a way to get users motivated as opposed to being left with a lot of lessons to pick from. With the drill as well the focus is on weaker areas to add targeted practice.

Built a new Focus feature in Afaq.

Every day, users get a small set of tasks:
• review
• take a test
• drill one weak area

It’s meant to remove decision fatigue and keep learning consistent.

Sharing a clip below 👇
(also… brand update coming soon 👀)
#buildinpublic

Hey! I found that the plane of coordinates I was using was not consistent between the trace of the user and where the actual river path was drawn. The coordinate mismatch was preventing my scoring logic from accurately measuring the distance. After that, I played around with different weightings.

Thanks for your response! I'm using the distance from the actual path as part of the criteria. I'm comparing them to the actual paths of the river which I'm rendering to follow the real path of the river for the most part. I'm also using length and start and endpoints as part of my criteria.

Small update on the River Trace quiz.

The scoring system is starting to behave — not perfect, but definitely more consistent.

In the clip are examples of:
• a near-correct path
• a very off-path attempt

It’s already feeling real.
Curious what people think 👀

Clip in the reply.
#buildinpublic

Trying a new game in Afaq: River Trace.

The idea — follow a river’s path from A to B — get rated on how accurately you traced it.

Scoring is... not behaving😅

Here's an early look, I’m curious how people feel about drawing/precision tasks in learning games.

Clip in the reply👇
#buildinpublic

What’s a country you were shocked to learn borders way more (or way fewer) neighbors than you expected? 👀🌍

Mine was DR Congo — no idea it was connected to that many places.

What’s a country you didn’t realize was that big or that small until you saw it on a map? 😂🌍

Mine was Madagascar. Way bigger than my brain expected.

What’s a country you were absolutely sure you knew the location of… until someone asked you to point it out? 😂🌍

Mine was Ghana for way too long.

I think the reply should be there. Is it not showing up for you?

Sharing a look at another game in Afaq: Survival Run.

You’re given a country to find on the map — the game goes on until you miss.

I’m considering a global leaderboard for longest streak / best time, but curious how people feel about that.

Clip in the reply
Always open to thoughts🌍
#buildinpublic

Hey! Thanks for your comment.

I'm using React/TypeScript for web, and I'll capacitor inititally to wrap it for the mobile version, so the approach is a bit different:

For grid layouts the app uses CSS Grid and Flexbox with Tailwind CSS classes. For the map quizzes, it uses SVG with D3.js.