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Devlog — What’s New

We continuously improve GameGuessr: new features, performance tweaks, bug fixes, and community requests. This page is updated regularly so Google and players can see we are active.

Game of the Day Reborn: Guess It, Then Pin It

Version1.10.0•
#game-of-day#geogamer#ui
  • REWORKED: Game of the Day is now a full GeoGamer round. Explore the 360° panorama, name the game in 5 tries, then pin the exact spot it was taken on the game map — scored out of 4000 (guess + pin accuracy + speed).
  • NEW: you no longer need an account to play the daily. Jump straight in, and create a free account when you want your streak, your stats and a place on the leaderboard.
  • NEW: the daily no longer costs energy. One panorama a day, free for everyone.
  • Missed the game? You now still get to pin the location for points instead of losing the round outright — the answer is revealed and the map opens anyway.
  • FIXED: the daily was secretly giving every player a different panorama, which made the shared leaderboard meaningless. Everyone now gets the exact same puzzle each day, as it was always meant to be.
  • FIXED: the daily rotation repeated the same games far too often — some came up as many as 8 times in 180 days. The draw has been rebalanced.
  • The blurred start is gone: the panorama is sharp from the first second, so you can actually explore it.
  • Daily leaderboard now ranks on your full score rather than lives and time, and opens straight from the end screen without leaving the game.
  • NEW END SCREEN for the daily AND GeoGamer: game cover, your result, an animated score and a clear breakdown of where every point came from.
  • The map phase got a proper look too — a redesigned pin-accuracy readout and a Validate button that tells you when it is ready.
  • Game of the Day now has its own card on the homepage, one click away from playing.

Main Modes Highlighted on the Modes Page

Version1.9.2•
#modes#ui#vip
  • Modes page: Custom Game, Multiplayer and Campaign now lead the page as three equal, full-size feature tiles — our main modes finally get the spotlight they deserve.
  • Custom Game: refreshed title, description and badge to reflect everything it can now do (GeoGamer, 2D, Maps, Pick Your Games).
  • Everything else (Weekly Challenge, Game of the Day, Mini-Games, Beta Test) regrouped into a cleaner secondary section.
  • VIP comparison page: fixed a display bug showing “Custom profile” as Gold-exclusive — it’s included in VIP Basic too, only animated GIF support is Gold-only.

Challenge a Friend: Async Score Battles

Version1.9.1•
#social#challenge#geogamer
  • NEW: Challenge a Friend — after a Custom Game round, generate a link that gives a friend the exact same screenshots so you can compare scores fairly.
  • Challenge rounds never touch your leaderboard stats or best scores — pure bragging rights (energy is still spent as normal, so it can’t be abused for free play).
  • Friends activity feed: winning a challenge now shows up for your friends to see.
  • End screen: challenge rounds show a “You vs. them” result panel instead of the usual score screen.

New: Custom Games — Pick Your Own Games

Version1.9.0•
#new-mode#custom-games#geogamer
  • NEW: Pick Your Games — from Custom Game settings, choose exactly which games you want in your round, with a searchable, scrollable list showing how many locations each game has.
  • Pick Your Games skips the “guess the name” step entirely — you already know it, since you picked it! Straight to the map.
  • Library: game pages now show a direct “Play Only [Game]” button for any game with location screenshots.
  • GeoGamer: rounds per game reduced from 20 to 10 across every difficulty setting, for shorter, snappier sessions.
  • Custom Game pop-up: bigger overall, with larger buttons and selection list for easier reading.

Guild Overhaul: Free to Create, Fairer Rankings, Custom Icons

Version1.8.0•
#guilds#balance#customization
  • Guilds: creating a guild is now completely free — no coin cost.
  • Guild Rankings: a guild now needs at least 3 members to qualify for the leaderboard, so a single high-ELO player can no longer top the charts alone.
  • Guild icons: VIP members can upload a custom image, VIP Gold members can upload an animated GIF — new bigger upload area with a live preview, click anywhere to choose a file.
  • Guilds page: bigger text, buttons and cards across the board for easier reading.

Every Game Now Has Its Own Page

Version1.7.1•
#library#seo#browsing
  • NEW: clicking a game in the Library now opens its own page — cover art, platforms, release year, community rating and mystery (blurred) screenshots.
  • Library: clicking a game used to send you off to a Google search in a new tab — now it keeps you on GameGuessr.
  • Game pages include a “More Games” section for easy browsing between titles.

Social Hub: Friends, Activity Feed & Online Status

Version1.7.0•
#social#friends#guilds
  • NEW: Social hub page bringing Friends and Guilds together in one place, with quick stats for both.
  • Friends: a live activity feed shows your friends’ personal records, approved panoramas and more.
  • Friends: online status indicator — a green dot shows which friends are online right now.
  • Navbar: “Friends” and “Guilds” links merged into a single “Social” entry for a cleaner menu.

Shareable Score Cards for Every Mode

Version1.6.2•
#share#social#ui
  • Share cards: removed the copy-paste text block and made the image itself bigger — it’s the whole point of the card!
  • Share cards are now available at the end of Speedrun, EmojiGuessr, TimeGuessr and Campaign, with the mode name shown correctly on every card.

Earn Free VIP by Sharing Panoramas

Version1.6.1•
#panoramas#vip#community#help-us
  • NEW: submit 3 different approved panoramas and earn 1 month of VIP automatically — repeatable, no limit.
  • Help Us page: new progress widget showing your panorama credits and a one-click claim button once you hit 3.
  • Help Us: reordered the page so our Discord community is front and center, right above the Top Contributors leaderboard.
  • Homepage & Help Us: the “Send Your Panoramas” card got a glow-up — shimmer effect, pulsing ribbon, bolder gold border.
  • VIP Club sidebar: unified the color scheme across all 4 plans — no more clashing colors between Basic/Gold/Annual cards.

Modes Page Refresh & Mini-Games Hub

Version1.6.0•
#modes#ui#minigames
  • Modes page: redesigned into compact, scannable rows instead of a dense grid — see every mode at a glance.
  • Mini-Games: Survival, TimeGuessr, EmojiGuessr and Speedrun are now grouped into a single Mini-Games hub with a bigger, animated pop-up.
  • Visual refresh: every mode now has its own accent color and a subtle background texture for easier navigation.

Energy Rebalance: More Room to Play

Version1.5.2•
#energy#economy#balance
  • Energy: max energy raised from 3 to 5 for all free players.
  • Energy: refill price lowered from 1200 to 800 coins — cheaper top-ups across the board.

Free Multiplayer Lobbies & Ranked Mode Update

Version1.5.1•
#multiplayer#lobby#ranked#energy#balance
  • Multiplayer lobbies are now FREE — no energy cost to create or join in casual mode!
  • Ranked mode: costs 1 energy per player, deducted when the host starts the game.
  • Ranked mode is now restricted to players who have reached level 5 — no exceptions, even via invite or lobby code.
  • Default lobby mode is now Casual instead of Ranked.
  • Public lobby browser: ranked and casual tags are now more visible with distinct styling.
  • Lobby rules: the host can switch between casual and ranked in the lobby room before starting.

New Mode: 2D Games — Guess 2D games from screenshots!

Version1.4.0•
#new-mode#2d-games#gameplay#map#submissions
  • 2D Games Mode: brand new game mode — guess 2D games like Terraria, Hollow Knight, Celeste, Stardew Valley and more from their screenshots!
  • 2D Games: 10-round challenges with configurable timer (30/60/90/120s) and difficulty (Random, Progressive, or Constant 1-5).
  • 2D Games: difficulty-based scoring — harder screenshots award more points and coins.
  • 2D Games: interactive map pinpointing — when a screenshot has a game map, place your pin on the exact location for bonus points (just like GeoGamer).
  • 2D Games: full end screen with score summary, share card generation, and play-again option.
  • 2D Games: game suggestions now include all games from the main database for easier guessing.
  • 2D Games: added to the Game Library for browsing all available 2D games.
  • Submissions: players can now submit 2D game screenshots via the Help Us page, with optional map upload and pin placement.
  • Admin: dedicated 2D submissions management panel with approval/rejection workflow.
  • Multiplayer: 2D Games mode listed as 'Coming Soon' in lobby creation.
  • SEO: full structured data, Open Graph, Twitter cards and sitemap entry for the 2D Games mode.

Profile card customization, lobby stats & homepage improvements

Version1.3.2•
#profile#stats#lobby#homepage#performance
  • Profile Card: players can now choose which 2 stats to display on their card (Level, Games, ELO, Best Streak, Accuracy, Wins).
  • Profile Card: stats are now consistent everywhere — same dynamic display on profile page, leaderboards, friends list, lobbies, etc.
  • Lobby: game answers are now recorded in player stats (accuracy, games played).
  • Homepage: added 'My Stats' slide to the profile slider with a quick preview of Level, ELO, Games and Best Streak.
  • Homepage: fixed profile slider navigation — all 3 slides (Profile, Stats, Friends) are now properly accessible.
  • Stats page: added a shortcut link in the homepage bottom bar for quicker access.
  • Performance: stats page queries (multiplayer, lobby, campaign, weekly, ranks, submissions, battlepass) are now cached in session (5 min TTL) to reduce database load.
  • Database: optimized player_answers table — stores only player_id, is_correct, difficulty and timestamp.

Campaign mode becomes the main experience

Version1.3.0•
#campaign#modes#navigation#seo
  • Campaign: now the recommended starting point with Training and Survival modes that unlock as you progress.
  • Modes page: Campaign replaces Classic as the featured mode, highlighted with a 'Start Here' badge.
  • Navigation: all game modes now redirect back to the Campaign page for a unified experience.
  • Brand page: updated to reflect Campaign as the premier game mode on GameGuessr.

FAQ page redesign and improvements

Version1.2.4•
#faq#design#navigation#content
  • FAQ: complete redesign with animated gradient mesh background, floating particles, and cyber glow effects.
  • Content: updated contact email, corrected game modes descriptions, added contextual links throughout answers.
  • Navigation: added FAQ link to footer, links now direct to specific mode pages.
  • UX: fixed card expansion behavior - now only the opened FAQ expands without affecting adjacent cards.

Ad policy compliance: CMP, 404 cleanup, anti‑adblock UX

Version1.2.3•
#ads#policy#cmp#modal#multiplayer#ux
  • Consent: integrated Google Funding Choices CMP and ensured it loads before any ad calls (index, multiplayer).
  • 404 page: removed AdSense to keep error pages ad‑free per policy.
  • Multiplayer: removed hidden/automatic ad refresh pattern.
  • Anti‑adblock: replaced coercive wall with a centered, modes‑style modal offering ‘Enable ads’, ‘Go VIP (ad‑free)’, or ‘Continue’; remember dismissal for 24h.
  • Overlay robustness: reparented the modal to body to truly center over the whole viewport and fixed z‑index layering.

Season 2 Launch - Battle Pass Reset & Fresh Start

Version1.3.1•
#battlepass#season2#progression#reset
  • Season 2: Battle Pass officially launched with all players starting fresh at level 1.
  • Level Reset: all user levels reset to 1 and experience reset to 0 for a fair Season 2 start.
  • Season 1 Archive: all Season 1 levels permanently saved in user profiles (S1_level column).
  • Battle Pass UI: improved reward card spacing and layout for better visual clarity.
  • Future Features: Season 1 leaderboards and profile displays coming in upcoming updates.

Multiplayer sync, end screen, and security

Version1.2.2•
#multiplayer#sync#ui#security
  • End screen: fixed sides (you on the left) and winner/loser colors; round-by-round summary aligned.
  • Multiplayer: ensured no duplicate game appears in a match across difficulties.
  • Profile cards (VS): increased spacing and added subtle glow.
  • Stability: removed legacy get_player_data.php request.
  • Guests: increased visible energy from 5 to 15 (only when not logged in).

API reorganization & Performance optimizations

Version1.2.1•
#architecture#performance#security#multiplayer
  • Major refactoring of all project structure for better organization.
  • Multiplayer fixes: corrected score synchronization, ELO calculation, and finished state bugs.
  • Security enhancements: added comprehensive input validation across all API endpoints.
  • Library page optimization: implemented search debouncing (300ms delay) to prevent lag when typing.
  • UI improvements: fixed input focus after wrong answers in multiplayer, translated notifications to English.

Shop removal & Energy purchase system

Version1.2.0•
#major-update#shop#economy#energy
  • Removed shop page - simplified economy to coins only.
  • Removed all potion types from game modes, battle pass, and daily bonuses.
  • Battle Pass: 100 levels now reward coins only (progressive scaling).
  • Daily Bonus: Simplified to coins-only rewards.
  • NEW: Buy energy directly from navbar (+1 energy for 300 coins).
  • Added '+' indicator next to energy counter with hover effects.
  • Refined energy '+' badge and purchase popup to match Modes page style; removed coins x2 indicator from menus (still active in-game only).

Multiplayer invitation system overhaul and UX polish

Version1.1.3•
#multiplayer#invitations#ui#cursor
  • Fixed critical bug: multiplayer matches no longer start without the invited friend accepting the invitation (added notification verification).
  • Auto-cancel system: when player 1 quits the waiting room, the invitation is automatically cancelled and removed from player 2's notifications.
  • Improved Cancel Game button: better styling, fixed clickability issues with proper z-index handling.
  • Mobile improvements: fixed scroll issues in multiplayer game page, adjusted overflow properties for smooth navigation.
  • Notification page: reduced excessive spacing (200px→120px padding) and hidden empty AdSense containers.
  • Custom cursor: implemented special select cursor (static/cursor/select.cur) across all clickable elements on multiplayer pages.
  • Session management: filtered cancelled game sessions from pending challenges list.

Devlog layout, policy spacing, and liquid glass footer

Version1.1.2•
#devlog#ui#mobile#footer
  • Devlog: switched to a vertical card list (pavés), newest first, with improved spacing under the navbar.
  • Privacy & Refund: lowered titles and content so they sit comfortably under the fixed navbar on all breakpoints.
  • Footer: universal ‘liquid glass’ theme (transparent + blur) that blends with every background; added rounded top corners.
  • Navbar (mobile): centered burger and tightened XP bar height to fit; adjusted small-phone overrides to avoid jump.

Performance polish and footer fixes

Version1.1•
#performance#ui#seo
  • Fixed compact footer rendering on Help Us page (proper stylesheet inclusion).
  • Added Devlog page with SEO to showcase ongoing activity.
  • Improved sitemap and internal linking for better crawlability.
  • Small CSS refinements aligned with Modes page visuals.

Navbar mobile UX, spacing, and policy pages redesign

Version1.1.1•
#navbar#mobile#ui#pages
  • Mobile/Tablet: XP bar now visible and fixed inside the navbar across edge breakpoints; increased z-index for streak flames and event banners; auto-hide floating elements when menu opens.
  • Tablet: Eliminated the in-between range where the navbar was mobile but XP bar hidden (extended breakpoint up to 1024px).
  • Classic & Multiplayer: Added extra spacing below the fixed navbar so content doesn’t touch the header on small screens.
  • Classic: Unified Back button position with GeoGamer and cleaned invalid inline markup.
  • Navbar: Capped profile avatar size defensively to prevent oversized images (page-level CSS can’t inflate it).
  • My Subscription: Fixed issue where navbar avatar appeared gigantic due to global avatar rule collision.
  • Privacy & Refund Policy pages: complete visual redesign to match Modes page (purple gradient, glass cards, consistent typography).