This is really cool! It isn't quite what I expected from the idea of "street view" though; it definitely has a very full map, but it seems like there are only a few specific spots where you can actually see the world (i.e. the "street view" part versus the "Google Maps" part), and it seems like there isn't any way to move when in the "world" view compared to the "map" view. I'd absolutely love to be able to scroll through the whole world like I could in Google Street View, especially if it there were more than one point in time to choose.
I love projects like this. Very cool, but only possible by completely disregarding the fact that this is illegal under copyright law. As it is, I expect this person has already painted a sizable target on their back and there's a very good change they'll be sent a take-down notice once Nintendo becomes aware.<p>I think projects like this should be allowed to exist and that eventually people will grow very tired of how restrictive copyright law is and demand changes, but until that happens, I hope these types of projects continue to be created and spread in violation of the law for as long as possible until the lawyers finally come after them.<p>It's better that we see what kinds of things we could have without oppressive copyright laws and be upset when they are taken from us than for people to refuse to start cool projects just because they are doomed to be shutdown.
Somewhat tangential but somewhat related...<p>I love the Apple TV screensavers that are basically beautiful slow moving drone shots of landscapes, which you can get for Mac too [1]. There are expansion packs too you can pay for, with 3rd party videos.<p>And I kind of want the same thing, only of high-quality 3D rendered landscapes! For me specifically, slow flybys over Red Dead Redemption 2 landscapes, and also of real-life Microsoft Flight Simulator locations. Producing such videos would save all of the cost of real-life transportation, lodging, waiting till sunrise/sunset, flying a drone... And instead of having just 40 videos on rotation, you could have 10,000's...<p>I don't have the time to build it, but it's a hobby project I wish desperately that somebody would!<p>[1] <a href="https://aerialscreensaver.github.io/" rel="nofollow">https://aerialscreensaver.github.io/</a>
This site reminds me of <a href="https://noclip.website/" rel="nofollow">https://noclip.website/</a> which lets you explore the maps of other games in 3D.
Very, very cool project! I think I actually prefer this streetview approach to the floating noclip approach, because a map + streetview that works like google maps cements the feeling that the game world is as real as my city -- here's the map in my web browser, no need to run a video game!<p>To your knowledge, are there any special tricks to store many panorama images so you could feasibly capture entire paths continuously through the map, or even entire maps for smaller games?
The How It's Made video is quite interesting, I didn't know the switch could be emulated <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYtB1rkwcfU" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYtB1rkwcfU</a>
This is the one game I wish I could wipe my memory of so I could experience it again. So many hours of enjoyment playing that game. Maybe in 10 years I’ll forget some stuff about it and it will be fresh again.
I especially like your idea because of the modern-age allusions in BotW. The Shieka-stone seems a lot like a smartphone with “apps”, that even lets you take pictures. The map in the pause menu could also be such an app, given its detailled geographical information and zooming/panning and marking capabilities. Why could it not have something like street view? :)
Very cool! I love it. Shared with my gaming group chat. Works perfectly on safari-ios too.<p>I don't know if data costs would be a concern with something like this, but I feel like the panorama images are fairly large. At least for a mobile user. You could follow a model like Google where you load a lower res panorama initially, and only load the high-res when zooming in. I looked at the github and the panorama library is Pannellum, which looks like it has a multiresolution format to do this. I've never used it but the docs make it seem simple.<p>Either way love it. I can't imagine it's very expensive but I wonder how much getting on the front page of HN costs in bandwidth.<p>Edit: looked deeper into the github and the images are hosted on imgbb. That's definitely the cheapest way to do it haha.
Woah this gave me a memory flashback to around 2002 when GTA Vice City came out. Some French guy made all-vice-city.fr.st (that link doesn't work now). It was made in Flash and was a map of vice city showing all the locations of stuff.<p>Anyway, thanks for the memory and cool map :)
In addition to this being a cool project, I love the way the loading screens work. When I click on ‘click to load this panorama’ (which showed almost immediately), I expect that loading takes a while. Thereafter, you are kept updated on the loading progress, after which the panorama immediately loads. In this manner, it is no problem to wait a few seconds. Much better than just looking at a ‘loading…’ screen.
This doesn't seem to work properly on Firefox. I'm not getting any of the features people are talking about.<p>I get a zoomable map (that just pixelizes rather than maintaining clarity) and a few spots with a weird split box icon (can't quite tell what it is) that are clickable and you can pan around on that spot.
Does anyone know how far off we are from AI being able to take several of these photospheres of close-together locations, and generate the "in-between" views for users to experience smoothly exploring the world (without "jumps")?
For me (windows, chrome or ff), it works only on the blue markers, but zooming on the map does not make it more details, and the switch to street view leaves a blank canvas.
Nice! My son really loves this game.
I think the tiles should be processed into SVG. That's only a few moments of work, but would look so much better
That just spoiled the thing that had been nagging me for years now - where was that photo with the horse statue taken?<p>Good excuse to fire that game up again, though.
Maybe the gaming industry should be regulated like pharmesuticals. Game creators are more like drug dealers in some sense. They lure people with dopamine to addict and exploit.
Linking “How was it made” straight to a YouTube video led to me closing the tab in record time. Link to a page, embed the video, and a transcript or at the very least a brief text description.