This was awesome! Incredible detail and really impressive
Play game
ShadowLink Command's itch.io pageResults
Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
Theme interpretation | #59 | 3.765 | 3.765 |
Innovation | #70 | 3.471 | 3.471 |
Gameplay | #90 | 3.353 | 3.353 |
Overall | #121 | 3.441 | 3.441 |
Audio | #137 | 3.176 | 3.176 |
Graphics | #204 | 3.176 | 3.176 |
Ranked from 34 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
GitHub repository URL
https://github.com/adamgit/github-gamejam-2024
Game description
Hack servers, find vulnerabilities, use people's secrets to uncover more accounts and build a network of pwned machines.
Theme interpretation
Core gameloop - hacking one server, then movingaround the file-system looking for files that reveal secrets that uncover the passwords for OTHER servers, so the player expands over time.
Early hand-written missions involve speaking to NPCs and extracting secret passwords from them.
Thematically ... secret corporations and secret NPCs (but I only had time to implement one of them!)
Wildcards used (optional)
Let players break the rules with things like infinite lives or invincibility
Comments
This is so cool! Really nice work, I'm super impressed you were able to make this all by yourself.
I love games like this, I used to play Hacking Simulator / Darksigns and games like Hacknet and Hackmud, the interface works really well although I found myself trying to use the up arrow to go back and edit my last command repeatedly but not being able to XD, maybe that's more points for immersion than anything.
The one thing I really didn't like was I felt like it was sort of a mess with all the menus a bit. I was much more of a fan of Hacknets style where it's all in terminal and I feel like thats the vibe people want in games like this more than anything maybe?
Overall amazing I always wanted to make a game like this but I always got intimidated out knowing how much I would have to make and worrying about stuff breaking so you did a really good job for a game jam.
I was probably too optimistic in the jam, but I really wanted to have BOTH realistic terminals AND fun GUI tools (packet sniffers, network monitors - but more advanced graphical ones that are nicer than the real-world ones we have today ;)).
I feel that when a hacking game is purely in terminal that's cool, BUT ... it gets boring/tiring after a while, and what you want to do as you get further into a game is start to automate more of the drudge work, deploy your own botnets, etc. Scale up, basically.
...but I didn't get that far :D
Wow, you did a great job with the interface and feel of navigating the UI. Really cool idea and implementation :)
For a second I really thought that I was using my linux desktop, how did you even make this? Absolutely amazing, but got stuck on the common name password. Yeah, it could be somewhat difficult for people who never used a terminal before. Pretty good game overall! Planned too much but able to implement only a subset, that’s the essence of game jams, but you still did implement a lot.
Give a try to my game too!
the 'common pet name' is the only mission where you need to go outside the window - google '[pet] names]' after you find out which pet it is, and try the top 10 (or you can get some more clues from the cousin first).
As you can see: mix of half-complete design ideas went into this - 'I could have missions where the player uses google in another window!'
Crazy ambitious game. I like the idea a lot and the tools and vibes are really nice. I do think it would be fun if there was more info to find in the files or a target, like I know back in the day (and presently) a lot of people go for 'access for access sake' but it would be fun to have some fictional files to mess with. Rob criminals? Leak documents? Spy on rivals? Delete your FBI file? Get free internet for life? The possibilities are endless. I know for one month this was an insanely ambitious game and I'm really impressed with the level of polish there already, but it leaves me wanting more. Also yea, the onboarding for people who aren't already comfortable with CLI is hard. Also I found it was pretty easy to get the terminal locked in a bad state if you tried to log in with the wrong password, which could make it even harder. But this is fantastic you should be really proud of what you have here. I'd love to see it polished into something real.
I foolishly planned to do that much variety in the jam - of course reality slapped me in the face and I BARELY managed to get this much to work :D. If you look in the source code on github you can see there's a whole mission implemented (but disabled so it wont run in game) that has you hack a medical server to figure out how to fake HR records to get your friend a free sick day ... and I had a fake website for it, and company logo, and you had to explore the website to figure out the passwords etc.
So ... I would like to extend the game and try adding more over time, post jam.
I like the idea but I think its a very difficult kind of game to tackle. I am an avid developer and I feel conmfortable in the CLI but I wouldn’t expect a novice to be able to pick it up quickly. On the other hand, I felt there was no interesting challenge for me and there were many details I wish would work, like being able to navigate to directories in the terminal and lookng for stuff. Looks like most commands that are not recognized just return an echo.
Selecting the soundtrack was a nice touch but I would had made that also an “app” :)
Yep I failed at 'the first 30 seconds' -- didn't do anywhere near enough to ease people in.
Ironically I deliberately made the early servers (and your local terminal) have very few binaries to try and keep it simpler to get started. If you continue past the first 2-3 missions you get to servers that have a lot richer - e.g. file system with /home, /bin, etc and a BASH shell.
I think three big improvements would be: 1. change 'terminal' so it immediately starts with a popup of 'enter hostname to connect to', and 2. make the first 30 seconds much more hand-held, and 3. give more indication that you will unlock richer servers later.
(+4: add even more richness to the later servers. Currently they only have a filesystem and basic file-append, file-read, file-copy commands).
I really liked the soundtrack. I just couldn't do anything because I don't know any commands to put in the terminal. I sent a text to Mom but she did not reply. Is mom okay?
Yep, my bad, I really didn't make the first few missions clear enough / well explained. There's a bit of a learning cliff to get started.
I originally planned to use an LLM/AI to drive the NPCs, so I was only writing very basic keyword-based repsonses for them as a fallback in case the LLM didn't work. But I didn't get it implemented in time, so you have only the fallback :(.
To get moving, key info:
- The Documents folder has two docs - a photo of your moms/your home router - that gives you the host address, the username and the password
- ...and 2nd doc: the manual for the router - that gives you the instructions on how to use your Terminal to connect to the router, and what to do to reboot it when logged in
- From there you have to say anything to your Mom like "its done" or "yes" or "try now" - there's quite a lot of resposnes that will work
- ... then you get some more missions that involve different home-wifi routers, and a bit more social engineering talking to NPCs to extract password info ...
- ... then finally you are let loose on general servers, having to figure out passwords by looking for vulnerabilities on the servers you already have access to
I'm just a casual player, and honestly, this felt overwhelming for me. I tried to send mom a picture of the Wi-Fi password, but she never responded. I could really use a bit more guidance and hand-holding!
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.