Treasures: The Adventure Update
A little over a year ago, the very first version of Treasures was released.
Can you believe it? I barely can. What started out as a dream and test-flight for the earliest form of mkstack slowly matured into a true, worldwide treasure hunting adventure.
As of writing, there are over 300 geocache listings across relays. A treasure for most days of that year, scattered across the Earth, each waiting to be found.
And today, I’m here to announce the largest update to Treasures yet: The Adventure Update.
The Adventure Update
I’ll go through some of the most important changes in brief.
Complete Site Redesign
Here is what the very first iteration of the site, “nostrcache”, appeared as:
Here is what Treasures looks like today:
The site is especially nicer on mobile, with a greater emphasis on utilizing limited screen real estate to the greatest potential.
Little Guys
As part of these updates, I want to give an extra special thank you to KrakenM for their work on these lovely new mascots. Look at them, being rascals on the home page.
Adventures
Now, for the namesake of the update - Adventures! Adventures are user-curated treasure hunts with a focus on local events, collections, or themes.
Each adventure is a proximity-based, curated list of geocache listing events with the option to provide UI and map themes for viewers.
For example, here is a set of treasures hidden around the Texas Renaissance Festival grounds:
And here, a set of Fallout: New Vegas themed treasures that follow key locations of the courier’s journey through the mojave:
Adventures bring treasure hunting to the next level. By creating curated experiences, you become the writer of your very own story in the real world. A legend for those that seek glory to follow... or a great way to send people to see some cool places in the area.
Your choice, your rules, your adventure!
Compass
Treasures now has a magic treasure compass built right into the application. Tap the compass symbol in the bottom nav (or the compass icon on a particular listing) and your phone will guide you to the treasures closest to you:
The compass uses your phone’s location and sensors to provide real-time feedback on which direction to go. A great utility for those looking for a quest marker to aide their journey!
New Treasure Types
Treasures can now have modifiers placed on them to enhance the challenge (or fun):
These modifiers allow for new forms of interaction with geocaching, allow creative hiders to distribute art, real world quests, or even create a “winner take all” challenge.
Notifications
Treasures will now notify you when someone has interacted with one of your listings via found logs and notes:
Themes
In addition to light, dark, and adventure mode, Treasures now supports two additional themes:
Mojave
As shown in the earlier adventure, a western mojave theme for adventurers wish for a nuclear winter.
Ditto
That’s right! Your favorite Ditto theme will now appear in Treasures. This theme option appears if you have an active profile theme on Ditto, setting it will make Treasures look as cool as you’ve imagined.
Additional Changes
Treasures also experienced a series of other quality of life updates such as:
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Full English, German, Japanese, and Thai translation support.
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Saved drafts for listings in-progress.
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If offline, listings are saved automatically and published automatically once a connection is available.
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Offline GPS for places with limited network connectivity.
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d-tag based URLs for easier discoverability (e.x., https://treasures.to/d/476231)
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Printable rules cards for containers to explain the basic of Treasures and geocaches to any would-be new finders.
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A full in-app How To guide - https://treasures.to/how-to
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Improved coordinate input support for manual coordinates.
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Haptic feedback for various interactions.
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Auto-updated queries based on viewed location in the map.
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…and many bug fixes and/or near-invisible improvements.
Zapstore Release
Finally, Treasures is now an app on the Zapstore - get it today!
https://zapstore.dev/apps/to.treasures.app
(Other app stores soon(tm).)
Now you can enjoy Treasures wherever you go, be it a PWA or persistent app. Good times!
Thank You
To those who have used, provided feedback for, contributed to, or have helped in any way with Treasures in the last year… I want to personally say thank you.
Thank you for believing this idea, the spirit of adventure, or whatever whimsy may have brought you here.
The world may be full of treasures, but you are the greatest treasure of all. I hope you’re ready, too, as there is still more to come.
Let this past year be the first chapter in the greatest story yet.
Adventure awaits!!
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