Hunting for dragons at Klis Fortress

This is the way

The [Side Quest] series features “developer-adjacent” short stories and adventures.

I wrote this piece to give software developers some 🥂🥳🎊. No extra notes, no “it would also be cool if …” — just a pure celebration of their work.

I wrote it because a recurring theme in every post-mortem at every company I’ve ever been at has been the lack of proper acknowledgment for major milestones.

I’d like to do something to help reverse that trend so when I come across something truly fun in the wild, I’m going to do my best to express my appreciation for their contributions.

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If you couldn’t tell by my subtitle (“This is the way”) referencing the wrong show, I have never seen, nor have any desire to start watching, Game of Thrones. And whenever someone implores me to watch it, I reference this image ⤵️

This was my experience watching LOST (and Homeland) and sorry, I’m still too scarred from those experiences to voluntarily walk into that trap again. So many hours down the drain. Sigh.

But Ali and I just spent two weeks vacationing in Croatia (where they filmed a lot of GOT) and it is physically impossible to ignore it while there. You’ll encounter hoards of tour groups led by guides with binders full of screengrabs doing their worst @filmtourismus impression, excruciatingly awkward re-enactments of people yelling “SHAME” at each other, and souvenir shops filled with iron throne tchotchkes and Jon Snow t-shirts. Most of it is kitschy and shameless (pun intended) but there was one film tourism moment that made me giddy with joy. Yes, you read correctly — giddy.

Technology done right

At the top of Klis Fortress is a metal tower that looks like one of those telescopic viewfinders where you put fifty cents in to get a closer look at distant objects or landmarks. However, upon closer inspection, I discovered that it is a self-powered, QR code-activated, remote camera booth with built-in augmented reality effects.

What the what?

My first thought when seeing this was honestly, “This looks dumb.”

I mean, come on, it’s an oddly shaped metal tube drilled into the side of a cobblestoned 2000-year-old fortress that sits on a pass between two mountain ranges. There’s little to no cell service and it doesn’t look like it’s been serviced in years so who knows if it’s even going to turn on! Plus, where is the camera on this thing and where do I stand, and UGH, I don’t even watch this show but oh my god it is so hot and humid that I can feel the skin under my skin cooking SO CAN WE PLEASE GET THIS OVER WITH AND FIND SOME SHADE?

But guess what? I’m the dumb one because this thing turned out to be an incredible amalgamation of technology. None of the usual nonsense of fumbling about trying to figure out how to use a foreign device in a foreign country. It just… worked.

1. You scan the QR code

2. You stand in front of the camera.

3. The tower gives you a preview and a countdown.

4. The tower takes the photo.

5. The tower sends the photo to your phone.

That was it! Here are the results:

It was such an unexpected joy to use that I made Ali take three photos. THREE!
For context, this is my normal face when I’m asked to take ONE photo 😅 ⤵️

This is also the face of a man who stupidly wore a long-sleeved shirt in 95-degree weather with 60% humidity. Like I said earlier, I’m the dumb one. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Somebody spent time on this

There’s a lot of love that goes into making anything (especially technology) so simple to use. I’m sure there were plenty of opportunities to cut corners to meet whatever deadline they had, but it didn’t feel like they took any.

There was no tedious training module you had to memorize before using. There was no “first-time user” confusion where you accidentally hit the wrong button four screens in and now had to start from the beginning again. There was also no Ponzi scheme where you download a “simple” app only to be asked to download 200 megabytes of extra content for the actual museum content (an actual thing that happened at another museum 3 days prior).

I repeat — THIS IS THE WAY.

Bravo Lookat team, Bravo

So yes — this self-powered, QR code-activated, remote camera booth filled me with so much joy that it made me irrationally happy.

Unfortunately, from the looks of it (no pun intended this time), it appears that the Look@ team might no longer be around since they have not posted an update in quite some time. But I’m hoping they see this and know that their products are still making an impact — even on top of a 2000-year-old fortress.