Broken Bonds

MEET THE TEAM
GAME INTERFACE

Inspiration

We wanted to create a game that teaches financial literacy in a way that’s immersive, urgent, and emotionally engaging. Inspired by Papers, Please, we imagined a world where economic sabotage is a form of cyberwarfare, and you're the last line of defense. By combining real-world scam patterns, live interactions, and macroeconomic events, we saw an opportunity to turn financial education into a strategic, high-stakes experience.

What it does

Broken Bonds is a web game where you play as the financial advisor to a nation under cyber attack. Your job is to review citizen financial profiles, engage in real-time chat and simulated voice calls, and determine whether they’re legitimate or part of a foreign scam campaign. Every correct decision strengthens your country’s economy, whereas every mistake weakens it. As the game progresses, critical economic events challenge your strategy and force you to adapt. The stakes rise, the pressure mounts, and the line between truth and deception blurs. The game teaches players how to spot red flags, understand basic financial principles, and think critically under pressure.

How we built it

We built the game using React with JavaScript and TypeScript, and used Gemini to power the live chat and call interactions. The logic behind scam detection and economic impact was custom-coded to reflect real-world patterns. Everything runs in-browser, keeping the experience fast and accessible.

Challenges we ran into

Integrating Gemini for realistic chat and call interactions was tricky. We had to fine-tune prompts to avoid generic or repetitive responses. Getting the AI to respond contextually while keeping the gameplay tight took a lot of trial and error. On the GitHub side, we ran into editing access issues that slowed down collaboration. Some team members couldn’t push changes or review code without manual permission updates, which led to delays and confusion. We also faced merge conflicts and version mismatches, so we had to stay disciplined with commits and communication to keep everything stable.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We built a full game with live chat and call mechanics in just one weekend. We got Gemini to respond contextually, making scam detection feel real and tense. Despite GitHub access issues, we stayed coordinated and shipped a working demo that teaches financial literacy in a fresh, engaging way. The best part? For some of us, this was our first-ever hackathon.

What we learned

We got better at managing GitHub as a team by solving access issues, handling merge conflicts, and staying organized. For some of us, it was our first time building a full-stack game, and we learned a ton about React and Gemini API.

What's next for Financial Crimes Unit

We could explore ways to integrate real-time economic data into the game, allowing players to make decisions based on actual conditions in a specific country and time frame. This would make the experience even more immersive and relevant, and turn financial literacy into a live simulation of global economics. We also want to expand the storyline, add more scam types, and refine the AI interactions to feel even more human.