HN Explorer

66 comments

[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 152 ms ] thread
tomcam
Clever idea, and (thank heaven) an incredibly clear demo right on the home page. Well done! I kind of think this could be like the next 2048.
ClassyJacket
Cute.

However I assume I could out-blink the framerate of a laptop webcam ;)

Does closing one eye at a time count, or is this like Doctor Who and we just ignore the concept of winking?

nomel
I imagine drawing eyes on your eyelids would be enough.
nielsbot
Will need some kind of anti-cheating system
byronhsu1230
Yes we will think about it. Thx.
Buttons840
Trying to fool the blink detector might end up being more fun than not blinking.
mrguyorama
Do you really need it though? It would be pretty immediately obvious to the other player that their opponent is cheating.
byronhsu1230
The detector model now is not strong enough. It uses traditional computer vision concept to detect the blinking. We plan to combine deep learning to develop a more robust detector model in the future.
jgtrosh
Also, to address winking: you could define blinking as a sequence of winks. This should accommodate people with 1 eye blind though.

Wait, do blind people win this 100%?

Vinnl
Do blind people not blink?

Edit: Figured I could look this up myself. As I thought, yes, they blink - blinking clears particles and such from your eyes. (That is, unless they have trauma that prevents them from blinking, of course.)

jgtrosh
Thanks, I didn't think to look it up. I must have recalled a case where the person had such trauma and extended that to blind people in general.
333c
Too much effort. Just print out a picture of a person with open eyes.

At that point it's really just the honor code that holds us to honesty.

jpalomaki
Add heartbeat detection to verify the person is alive. [1] has one example, Google "use webcam to detect heartbeat" to find more.

[1] https://github.com/thearn/webcam-pulse-detector

adrianN
Add gaze tracking and have people look at a randomly moving dot.
[dead] ergl
Are we so irremediably used to constant surveillance that the fact that a game would check my heart rate so I don't cheat doesn't trouble anyone?

To the extent that this seems an obvious and non-problematic idea to us?

dole
Measurement of other minute facial feature movements besides blinking to detect whether it's a real person vs picture or other video?
Wowfunhappy
I think we've just discovered the real use for Apple's Face ID. Staring contest video games.
theon144
>Does closing one eye at a time count

Bah, I just tried it and it did not alleviate my urge to blink! I still want to blink afterwards. Does work it for you?

[deleted]
(comment deleted)
keyle
This is awesome! I couldn't help but think that this needs to be implemented in a chat-roulette style application. Blink and you're thrown out to the next person.
byronhsu1230
This idea is awesome! Thanks a lot. We may add it to our features in the future!
tgsovlerkhgsel
Implementing a chat-roulette style application will bring chat-roulette style problems.
miguelmota
but blinking is faster than clicking the 'Next' button when someone surprises you with their 'goods'!
failrate
PR: never blink royale

Same game, many more players at one time.

byronhsu1230
Sorry, what did you mean?
GRiMe2D
There is a new trend on games – they are implementing "battle royale" genre where multiple gamers play against everyone at once and every "killed" player will leave the arena. Winner is who stayed as the last "alive" person.

PUBG probably was the first popular PC game that was battle royale. Fortnite is currently most played battle royale

byronhsu1230
OMG That is so cool!!
kbenson
For something that might be more applicable to your application, check out Tetris 99, which is a battle royale version of Tetris that Nintendo released earlier this year. Not only does it encapsulate an interface that might work better, but it also (as I understand it) thas mechanics to link you to other players in the set so there's a bit of 1-on-1 competition where people affect each other within the larger competition to last the longest.

I can imagine this being pretty fun if, for example you could also perform some task (answer a trivia question, move the mouse through a maze, etc) that might affect others (such as blank their video feed for a few seconds, or flash it white, or apply a weird color filter). The attention and concentration might make people forget to not blink, and the altering off opponents visuals could throw them off as well.

Diti
Uh, what about Team Fortress 2 (King Of The Hill maps)?
AgentME
Usually in TF2, there's teams and respawning.
NoodleIncident
TF2 doesn't have any BR modes. KOTH is a standard arena shooter mode, with teams and respawning; "KOTH" only signifies that the objective is to control a static area in the middle of the map.

The closest that TF2 gets to a BR is its "deathmatch" or "elimination" mode, I don't remember the name, in which there is no respawning and the last person standing wins. However, this is very different from a BR; the maps are still tiny, there is no loot to upgrade your character, and there is no "circle", which is a wall of damage that shrinks to force the remaining players to move towards each other rather than staying put.

cpeterso
> Same game, many more players at one time.

Instead of two players competing head-to-head, you could have many players connected to the same page, all competing.

nielsbot
Has potential as a mobile app?
byronhsu1230
Yes. Instagram has proposed "flappy bird" not long before. We though that we can use the same technique to launch a mobile version.
martin-adams
We need a version which allows players to eat a sugary doughnut without licking their lips.
b3lvedere
That look like a lot of fun. Short simple fun.

I'd love this as a game/app to battle people on my contact list and keep high scores.

byronhsu1230
It seems that we can cooperate with messenger or line!
dysosmia
What are the chances I'll end up maintaining intense, unwavering eye contact with someone doing something lewd in half of their screen?
staticautomatic
This brings back many a bad (and hilarious) memory of Chat Roulette.
dole
Where is our computer vision if it can't even recognize cocks?
lostphilosopher
Looks like this drew some downvotes, but it gets a +1 from me. Reliable realtime "censoring" in video chat platforms _not intended for sexual content_ would make informal video chat a lot more user friendly. I'd totally video chat with random strangers, that sounds fun. I'd join a video chat group hangout (Hacker New Live, haha) but I'd prefer everyone kept their pants on. Doubly so if I'm going to join this chat at work or in public.
ltc5505
The thought of recruiting beta testers for such a service ...
jasonjayr
Given what I know about the internet, this would promptly be subject to groups of users constantly testing it to see what they could get away with before it's the recognizer catches up.
nostalgk
hey, that's machine learning baby. Sounds to me like it's a successful market.
BOBOTWINSTON
This is probably the result of poorly labeled training data.

I always get labeled as a dick. It might be because I look like I a mushroom, since I'm just a fun guy.

Quick edit since I just wrote a dumb joke: This actually looks insanely fun and is something I would share with non-tech people if it was hosted somewhere one day.

zachguo
Better put a legal notice about potential health implications, or you may get into troubles.
imdsm
For anyone looking for a link to a live site to play it:

> Becausee the detector is too slow and weak, we can not endure too many clients. Therefore, we do not deploy it to a public server now. We plan to train a robust and fast model in the future.

:(