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Obscura Academy

Inspiration

The world of Alternate Reality Games (ARGs), internet mysteries, and cryptographic puzzles has captivated curious minds for decades. From the infamous Cicada 3301 puzzles to the Zodiac Killer ciphers, cryptography has always been at the heart of some of the most intriguing unsolved mysteries.

We wanted to create a beginner-friendly, interactive platform that introduces people to basic cryptography and coding in a way that feels like solving a real puzzle. Inspired by the now-defunct Game Detectives Academy, Obscura Academy is designed to help users develop problem-solving skills and prepare them for real ARG challenges in a fun and engaging way.

What It Does

Obscura Academy is an interactive learning platform that teaches users basic cryptography and ciphers used in ARGs, hacking, and online puzzles. Users can:

• Learn cryptography basics (Caesar Cipher, Vigenère Cipher, Substitution Ciphers)
• Solve cryptographic challenges where they decrypt messages to uncover hidden secrets
• Interact with The Oracle, an AI-powered assistant that provides explanations and generates encryption challenges
• Explore real-world cryptographic history and how it connects to internet mysteries

This academy is perfect for beginners, puzzle solvers, and anyone interested in encryption, hacking, and digital forensics.

How We Built It

• Frontend: Streamlit (Python-based interactive UI)
• Backend: Python (Handles encryption and decryption logic)
• AI Integration: OpenAI's GPT-4o-Mini for an interactive chatbot, "The Oracle"
• Challenges: Predefined cryptographic challenges (Caesar and Vigenère ciphers)
• Deployment: Streamlit Cloud

We used Streamlit to create an engaging, easy-to-navigate UI, combined with Python-based encryption algorithms to provide real cryptographic learning experiences. The Oracle AI was integrated using OpenAI’s API to act as a mentor and challenge creator for users.

Challenges We Ran Into

1. Ensuring AI-generated cryptographic challenges were correct: Initially, the AI was hallucinating incorrect encryption instead of following cryptographic rules. We fixed this by providing a predefined set of encrypted messages and instructing the AI to use only these.

2. Customizing Streamlit’s sidebar and navigation: By default, Streamlit orders pages alphabetically, so we had to find ways to control the page structure and navigation.

3. Handling API Limitations: Free-tier AI models had quota limitations, so we switched to GPT-4o-Mini.

Accomplishments That We're Proud Of

• Successfully built an interactive, beginner-friendly cryptography learning platform.
• Integrated AI (The Oracle) to provide cryptographic challenges dynamically.
• Created a real ARG-inspired learning experience, bridging the gap between cryptography and internet mysteries.
• Overcame technical challenges with AI-generated encryption to ensure correctness.
• Made a fully functional prototype within the hackathon timeframe!

What We Learned

• Cryptography is both an art and a science – Teaching it interactively requires balancing theory, hands-on practice, and storytelling.
• AI needs structured guidance – Without constraints, even powerful models hallucinate incorrect cryptographic outputs.
• Streamlit is a fantastic tool for rapid prototyping – It allowed us to create an interactive UI quickly and efficiently.

What’s Next for Obscura Academy?

• Expand the challenge library – Add more complex ciphers like Playfair, Rail Fence, and modern cryptographic techniques.
• Build a "Decryptor" tool – Let users encrypt and decrypt their own messages interactively.
• Enhance AI Interaction – Improve "The Oracle" by making it more adaptive to user responses.
• Introduce ARG-like puzzles – Add multi-step decryption challenges leading to hidden messages.
• Leaderboard & User Accounts – Track progress, reward users for solving puzzles, and add competitions.
• UI Enhancements – Improve design with custom themes for an immersive experience.

Built With

• chatgp
• openai
• python
• streamlit