PicoLock

This project is is created for Carnegie Mellon University 

 Entertainment Technology Center, 2023 Fall

Tools

Roles

Role

I served as the producer for our school's game project, where my responsibilities included managing project priorities and timelines. I also played a key role in communicating with clients, ensuring their needs and feedback were integrated into our development process. Regular reporting to our project instructor was essential to track progress. In team meetings, I documented actionable items to guide improvements. 

Additionally, I hosted playtests to gather user feedback, which was crucial for refining our game. Alongside these duties, I was involved in implementing game rules in Unity, balancing both managerial and technical aspects of the project

Client

picoCTF is a successful worldwide cyber security education platform with an annual capture the flag ‘hacking’ competition. picoCTF presents real-world cyber security concepts experienced in computer systems across multiple levels interwoven into a realistically motivating storyline in the game component. Participating students will learn how to identify and address security vulnerabilities and perform real-world attacks. 

Goals for the project

PicoLock aims to create an interactive, web-based game designed to engage students with the learning objectives of picoCTF, focusing on cryptography. With a strong narrative and presentation, the game seeks to spark participants' interest in cryptography. It features compelling and fun gameplay through concept challenges, which are crafted from the domain expertise of CMU faculty and the picoCTF team. This game is accessible within a web browser and supports Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari.

Game Overview

PicoLock is a 2.5D puzzle-solving game. There are 3 levels and 21 puzzles.  Players use the mouse to interact with objects in the game, solving puzzles and directing the character.

Levels

There are 3 levels in the game. Puzzles in level 1 are inspired by classic cryptography such as Caesar cipher and Spartan cipher. Level 2 & 3 are inspired by RSA algorithm. 

Character

The inspiration of the character is old mouses, which we want to pay tribute to the classic old hardwares and celebrate the innovation of technology. And the character will be floating in the scene. The goal is to have a cute and nostalgic feeling for the player.