The irritation
Google Earth already feels like the largest game map ever made. I wanted to find out whether a browser extension could turn that sensation into an actual cockpit.
GameBuildingIn development
Earth Fighter
A Chrome extension that turns Google Earth into a cockpit by layering pilots, targeting, radar, and networked play over the globe.
- Current state
- Building — In development
- Jack’s role
- Game design, Browser instrumentation, Multiplayer prototyping, Interface design
- Find it in the workshop
- Arcade & Menagerie · Globe cockpit cabinet
Built because…
The real build story.
What I built
I built a Manifest V3 extension that observes the Earth renderer and adds pilots, radar, targeting, a heads-up display, and a multiplayer relay.
The hard part
The host application was never designed as a game engine, so camera state, rendering behavior, extension isolation, and multiplayer state all require careful adaptation.
Under the casing
Proof, not decoration.
Build evidence03 items
- A working Manifest V3 extension over Google Earth
- Cockpit HUD, targeting, radar, and pilot presence
- A relay-backed multiplayer experiment rather than a prerecorded mockup
- Chrome MV3
- TypeScript
- WebGL instrumentation
- WebSockets
- Google Earth
Scope of work
What I owned.
- Game design
- Browser instrumentation
- Multiplayer prototyping
- Interface design
No victory-lap math
Outcome and lesson.
Where it landed
The prototype demonstrates the core premise inside the real Google Earth experience, including a working flight interface and shared pilot presence.
What stayed
The web contains unlikely game engines if you understand their seams. A strong prototype proves the feeling first and postpones the infrastructure that does not.
This project has a physical address.
In the playable workshop, Earth Fighter lives in the Arcade & Menagerie as a globe cockpit cabinet. You can inspect it without unlocking anything.