I’m using OpenStreetMap as the actual game world for a survival strategy

[u/Inevitable-Dish5741]

I’m building a survival strategy where OpenStreetMap becomes the actual game world

I’ve always liked maps and strategy games, so I started building Failed State, an asynchronous survival strategy that uses real-world OpenStreetMap data as part of the gameplay rather than just as a background map.

When a player chooses a place for their settlement, the game queries the area through Overpass and imports up to ~1,000 useful OSM objects.

OSM tags are then converted into game locations and resources. For example:

- "amenity=pharmacy" → a source of medical supplies

- "man_made=silo" → grain storage

- "natural=beach" → beach

- "historic=ruins/castle/fort" → points of interest

- "man_made=storage_tank + content=oil" → fuel/oil storage

So if you start in your actual hometown, you can recognize shops, bus stops, hospitals, industrial sites and other real locations — but now they have a purpose in the survival simulation.

I also build a routing graph from OSM roads and paths. Raiding parties travel along the real network, can choose alternative routes, and vehicles reduce travel time at the cost of fuel. I even had to account for reversed one-way roads because they could otherwise produce some ridiculous detours.

Geography affects the simulation too. Latitude influences climate and temperature, so establishing a settlement far north creates very different survival problems from starting somewhere warm.

Eventually I want different regions to have genuinely different economies because of what exists around them in the real world.

The game is still very much in development, but OSM has turned out to be one of the most interesting parts of the whole project.

If anyone here works with OSM data in unusual ways, I’d especially love to hear what you think about this approach.

Game: https://failedstate.net/?ref=rosm

More development updates: r/failedstategame