SightQuest

Inspiration

Traveling to a new city is exciting, but it’s also overwhelming. Tourists and newcomers often default to the same crowded landmarks or endlessly scroll through maps and reviews, unsure where to go next. At the same time, people walk thousands of steps every day without those steps feeling meaningful. Fitness apps track movement, but they don’t inspire exploration. Travel apps recommend places, but they don’t motivate movement.

SightQuest was inspired by a simple question: What if every step you took in a new place unlocked a sense of discovery?
We wanted to transform walking from a passive activity into an engaging, game like experience that encourages curiosity, exploration, and presence in the real world.

What it does

SightQuest is a gamified, location aware exploration app that turns walking into an adventure.

Users earn progress by taking real world steps, which unlock quests tailored to their location. Instead of telling users exactly where to go, SightQuest guides them through discovery hence rewarding movement, curiosity, and exploration. The result is a system where users feel motivated to walk more, explore more, and experience places more deeply.

How we built it

SightQuest was built end to end during the hackathon with a focus on speed, scalability, and user experience.

A modular backend handles quests, step tracking, and progression logic
A clean, mobile-first frontend ensures low friction for first-time users
Location and step data power dynamic, real-world quests
A flexible architecture allows new cities, quests, and reward systems to be added without rework

We designed SightQuest not as a one-off demo, but as a foundation for a real product that can grow beyond the hackathon.

Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was balancing accuracy and fun. Step tracking needs to be reliable, but the experience must still feel rewarding and game like. Designing quests that feel engaging without overwhelming users, especially in unfamiliar locations was another major hurdle.

Time constraints forced tough decisions. We had far more ideas than we could implement, so we had to stay disciplined and focus on features that delivered the most impact. Coordinating a team under hackathon pressure also required clear communication and rapid iteration.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Building a fully functional, end to end product in hackathon time
Creating a clear and compelling product narrative that unites fitness, travel, and gaming
Designing a system that motivates real world behaviour, not just screen engagement
Delivering a polished, intuitive experience that feels like a real startup MVP

Most importantly, we’re proud that SightQuest solves a real problem in a creative and human-centered way.

What we learned

We learned that great gamification isn’t about points or badges, it’s about psychology! Motivation comes from progress, discovery, and autonomy. We also learned the value of scope control: shipping a focused, cohesive experience is far more powerful than building too many features.

On the team side, we strengthened our ability to collaborate under pressure, make fast decisions, and align around a shared vision which are all essential skills in real world product development.

What's next for SightQuest

This is just the beginning. Next, we want to:

Introduce personalized and adaptive quests based on user behavior
Add social and group challenges for shared exploration
Partner with cities, museums, and local businesses to unlock real world rewards
Use machine learning to dynamically generate quests that balance distance, difficulty, and discovery

SightQuest aims to become the default way people explore new places, one step, one quest, one story at a time.