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  Live gameplay, reviewing and stamping an email for rejection.

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  Initial view of the office.

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  Title screen.

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  Reflection screen, see what emails are suspicious and why.

Inbox Inspector

Inspiration

We wanted to create a fresh spin on the game Papers, Please that tackles a real-world problem: spotting phishing attempts. Pitt has mandatory cyber security training that we all found quite boring, so we thought to ourselves, what if we can make it fun? Our idea was to turn it into an interactive, fast-paced game where players have fun while also learning how to pick up red flags and become a more cautious internet user.

What it does

Inbox Inspector presents players with a steady stream of incoming emails. Some are legitimate, others are cleverly crafted scams. The player must decide which emails are safe and which are malicious. Correct decisions are rewarded; mistakes lead to humorous, over-the-top “penalties.” Over time, the emails become more subtle and harder to judge, mimicking real-life phishing tactics. The player learns from their mistakes, with live feedback, and becomes more phishing-literate.

How we built it

We used the GameMaker Studio for the full stack of game development, including texturing/modeling, all game logic, and the user front end. We had two people work on making textures/animations, one work on development, and one work on music.

Challenges we ran into

Crafting realistic yet safe phishing examples was tricky. We had to make emails convincing without using actual malicious content. Balancing the game’s difficulty so that it’s engaging but still educational also required iteration. Also, acting under hackathon time pressure while struggling to beef up the gameplay loop was a challenge.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

When giving this game to by brother with ADHD, he was able to play it for over six and a half minutes - which is nearly unheard of for him, let alone in something centered around email cybersecurity. We’re proud of turning an unexciting topic—email security—into a fun, playable experience, building a gameplay loop that can very easily be expanded upon. We also think that the title screen looks really good.

What we learned

We learned how to simulate real phishing tactics responsibly, how to communicate subtle security cues to players, and how game mechanics can reinforce educational goals. We also improved our teamwork under time constraints and our ability to prototype quickly.

What's next for Inbox Inspector

The core mechanics are polished and complete thanks to this twenty-four hour marathon, and now all that's left is the fun part, expansion. What's next for Inbox Inspector is beefing up the game with significantly more scenarios, storylines, and character models to make the game feel fresher and fresher upon each play. Ideally, it gets to a point where the education is so heavily decorated that anyone can learn and have fun.

Built With

• gamemaker