Becca Meyer - Bite Quest
New York has a line problem, and the small businesses that make this city so great are suffering because of it.
Core trick
GPS-tracked walking unlocks restaurant stamps, with listings drafted from NYC open data and permit filings.
Tags
Description
New York has a line problem, and the small businesses that make this city so great are suffering because of it. There's a handful of viral restaurants pulling huge crowds while a Peruvian bakery open since 1994 sits empty a block away. Bite Quest is the game that makes sure these stories get the visibility they deserve. Think of Bite Quest as the Pokemon Go for restaurants. It turns New York into a city sized board where you explore one cuisine at a time and every first bite unlocks a badge for that country, one of hundreds. Each listing centers the business around the story: who owns it, where the family is from, how long they have held that corner, the dish they are known for, all written on the fly by GPT-6 Astra from NYC open data, permit filings, and storefront photos. The payoff is more neighborhoods seen, more cultures tried, and more small businesses still open next year because people finally walked in.
README excerpt
# Bite Quest NYC A food discovery game that helps people find independent NYC restaurants through their food, people, and stories. Explore a stylized 3D New York map with a rat chef companion, discover restaurants, collect illustrated cuisine stamps, and share a food passport with friends. ## Features - Interactive Three.js map with NYC building geometry and restaurant markers. - Restaurant stories, signature dishes, directions, and a want-to-try list. - Cuisine badges, trails, XP, and downloadable passport cards. - Lunchboxes progressed by foreground GPS walking. - Progress saved locally in the browser. ## Run locally With Python 3 installed, run from this folder: ```sh python3 -m http.server 4173 --directory dist ``` Open http://localhost:4173 in your browser. No build step or npm install is required. The app includes its Three.js dependencies in `dist/vendor`. ## Project structure - `dist/world.js`: 3D map and character rendering. - `dist/app.js`: screens, interactions, and local progress. - `dist/businesses.js`: restaurant content. - `dist/story-content.js`: cuisine artwork mappings and progression content. - `dist/passport.js`: passport cards and sharing. - `dist/walking.js`: GPS walking progress. - `docs/STORY.md`: project mission. ## Prototype status This is a hackathon prototype. Logged bites are self-reported; they do not verify purchases. Sample offers and demo rarity information are not verified merchant promotions or a citywide census. Progress stays o