Cyber_Space

Rather than reading something in plain old text, you get to fill in the blanks! You are directly involved in the customization of each story about cybersecurity. Learning has never been as hilarious!

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Inspiration

As an university student, a typical way I educate myself is by reading through articles, books, and papers. In other words, just plain old text. Here, is where my initial inspiration sparked. In the spirit of this, I thought about creating a game that would make reading about cybersecurity a lot more engaging and entertaining.

With Cyber_Space, we want to encourage cyber security awareness by allowing the users to create their own (very hilarious) stories!

Initially inspired by choose-your-own-adventure games and funny fill-in games, Cyber_Space offers 3 exclusive stories for anyone to learn about the basics of using strong passwords, the danger of shopping online and the unforeseen consequences of using public networks.

What it does

To put it simply, you have the power to customize your own adventure as you explore the world of cyber threats.

Three easy steps to have fun while learning:

  1. Choose a story.
  2. Without knowing the pre-written story at all, you blindly fill in the blanks with fun words, verbs, adjectives, etc.
  3. Read the hilarious story aloud! It is customized and riddled with words you had just filled in. An absolutely hilarious experience, and an effective way to educate yourself about the danger of cyber attacks.

How we built it

The project was built with the micro web flask framework in Python. A base template in html was used to ensure a consistent theme throughout the website. Separate html for each individual page was also implemented to customize the user interface across pages. Bootstrap was used to customize the css and improve the UX of the website. The code also takes advantage of blueprint template inheritance to pass common features to each page. To deal with user input, array variables were passed from front end to backend which allowed the game interface to work smoothly and without bug.

An additional feature is the flashing system, which gives feedback to the user in case they enter invalid information (such as entering empty values into a blank). It also notifies the user if they have successfully completed a story.

Challenges we ran into

As a software developer and not a game developer, it was a wild ride to complete the project. Initially when I thought of a typical game, it seemed like I had to have knowledge about 3D graphics or at the very least, very insane 2D game development skills to make something fun and engaging. But that didn't turn out to be the case. This hackathon challenged me to think outside the box and make something that would leave a long-lasting impression without complex technical gaming interface implementations. Although it was a challenge at first to plan the development of the project, in the end, it felt very great to make a game that aligned with my skills.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The smooth game interface is something very well accomplished as it ensures the user has a pleasant and easy experience with the game. Additionally, the idea of funny fill-in games was one that works very well with the topic of cyber security education, it had turned out to be an amazing experience both as the developer and as a player of Cyber_Space. I believe I tried my best to make something simple, yet impactful.

What we learned

During the Secureworks Cybersecurity Literacy Challenge, I had the opportunity to learn about the flask framework from scratch and implement many unique features such as the flashing system for the first time. I had a ton of fun exploring different options that would make the game itself more enjoyable. For example, while developing the game, I decided to add a bottom footer with additional cybersecurity resources to encourage users to educate themselves. In order to add the footer, I used bootstrap to explore my options and chose the most suitable style.

What's next for Cyber_Space

The three exclusive stories featured on Cyber_Space leaves the user excited for more funny fill-in stories. There is the potential to add more educational stories about different aspects of cybersecurity. It is unquestionable how big of an impact it can leave across all audiences. For example, Cyber_Space can extend it's scope by including more stories targeted towards cyber security amongst organizations and at work. To do so, we can add more entertaining stories about the niche and more advanced aspects of cybersecurity.

Finally, we can present this game in Cybersecurity or Cyber Literacy workshops at school or at work. It’s a simple game, yet it can be effective in teaching anyone about a specific topic in Cyber security. It is both educational and engaging, thus encouraging fun while learning about important issues that arise with the use of technology.

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