Audio Exploration: Hacking Game Research
Section 2: Hacking Games
Different Uses of Hacking in Games
Gunpoint
Gunpoint is a stealth puzzle game developed by Suspicious Developments and released in 2013. The player plays as a spy to break into guarded buildings to steal data for clients using high tech spy gadgets.
Hacking
The player has a crosslink device that allows them to access the wiring of the buildings to hack into them. The player can rewire light switches to electrocute guards, mess with lifts and hack firearms. Players usually begin by hacking terminals around the building and attempt to make a sneaky exit through the subway.
Obstacles
Some of the obstacles included are patrolling guards, locked doors, security cameras and security alarms. These can all alert the protagonist’s presence to the guards who will then try to attack the player.
Weapons
As well as hacking, the player has a number of gadgets to help them through each mission. These include Projectile Trousers that allow them to jump a lot higher than would normally be available to reach high ledges or break through windows. Sticky Gloves that allow him to climb up walls and across ceilings. He also has a Trench coat that protects him against fall damage.
Upgrades
Players can upgrade their skills and abilities between levels using money earned from missions.
Invisible Inc
Invisible Inc is a turn based hacking game allows the player to pick a character and hack their way through a selection of story based missions. Developed by Klei Entertainment and released in 2015.
Hacking
Hacking requires a power resource that depletes the more the player hacks. They can hack surveillance cameras, locks and drones. These are decided by your upgrades.
Obstacles
There is a timer on screen during the missions. The player cannot run out of time but the more time they take the more guards arrive and more security systems activate. The player cannot take them all out and so the game becomes a race to see how fast they can get in and out. Maps are randomly generated so the player will never know where their objective and exits will be. Failure in the game is harsh, any player left in the mission is labelled as Missing In Action and must be rescued in another mission.
Weapons
Weapons can be enhanced and bought throughout the game. They will help in the final mission. They can equip tazers and guns for non-lethal and lethal takedowns and also buy spy gadgets to help shut down systems and programs.
Upgrades
The player can choose which character to play as and what special abilities they have, these can grant more power resources to allow the player to hack more for example. There are 10 characters available to choose from to decide how the game will be played.
Watch_Dogs
Watch_Dogs is a third person open world game starring a protagonist who joins a hacking group called the Watch_Dogs to fight against their data being tracked by a dystopian American government. Developed by Ubisoft and released in 2014 it wasn’t very well received due to a graphics downgrade and a lacklustre hacking system.
Hacking
Aiden Pearce, the protagonist has a mobile hacking device that allows him to hack into the electrical grid and systems of the city Chicago. He can access people’s identities, stop mobile connections an listen into phone calls. He can also hack into cameras to see the city, stop trains, raise barriers, cut off electricity.
Obstacles
He cannot control everything in the city though, he can detect whether an issue is about to happen such as a crime based on hacking into online profiles of nearby people which raises a meter on a crime probability bar.
Weapons
As well as hacking, he can also stealth around in environments to avoid detection, as well as hiding behind cover. He also has a parkour ability, allowing him to traverse environments quickly and aid in running from the police.
Upgrades
Aiden can upgrade his device with a skill tree that allows him to access many upgrades.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is a third person open world action adventure game where the player plays as a person accessing the animus to control one of their ancestors in the Caribbean. Developed by Ubisoft and released in 2013.
Hacking
The player can hack into other colleague’s desks when they are out of the animus. They are blackmailed by another colleague to do this and the hacks consist of a set of 3 minigames. These have 3 levels of difficulty. These minigames consist of a Sphere Combination (the player has to move a ball around a sphere to get it to the right place), a Prime Number Combination (the player has to choose a combination of prime numbers to add up to a certain number, a Data Stream (the player has to cross over paths without being hit or going off screen)
Obstacles
In the Sphere Combination, the obstacles include the fact that the ball will always go directly to the end of the path, meaning they can’t stop mid path to change direction. On the Data Stream obstacles include the streams moving up and down, if the player hits the top or bottom they have to restart. If they hit a moving red line they have to restart. If they land on a white line whilst it is unconnected they lose where they are and must restart.
Uplink
Uplink is a game where the player is tasked with hacking into other computers on a simulated computer. It was developed by Introversion Software and released in 2006. It quickly became a cult classic and started an interest in hacking games.
Hacking
Players play under an alias on a computer joining an agency of hackers for hire. Hacking abilities include altering records on networks, stealing data, deleting files. As players progress they discover programs to upgrade hacking rigs allowing them to hack into more secure networks. If players failed, they would have their machine and bank account emptied and taken by the police.
Obstacles
One of the obstacles the player must overcome once the hack has been complete is to remove any trace of them before they leave. It aims to be as realistic as possible. This is done by bouncing their connection over a series of servers and then deleting access logs from machines. If the players fails they restart from the very beginning.
Upgrades
Players gain currency which can be used to upgrade pieces of software, they can buy additional modules and tools to help bypass devices such as Firewalls and Proxies. They can also buy Trace Trackers, Crackers and Decrypters.
Hacking in Real Life & Potential Game Adaptations
I am researching hacking methods use by real hackers to see how they could potentially be adapted into using sound to add a sense of realism to the game. This should hopefully inspire some good puzzle ideas too.
Keyloggers
Keyloggers are software that records the keys a user presses on their keyboard. It can be used to gather personal information such as bank account numbers and passwords so that they can access your bank account or personal files. It can be used by software or hardware to allow a hacker to record the keys pressed. Software tends to target programs already installed whereas hardware targets keyboards and sensors.
Game Adaptations
Could be used to record sounds played by a computer when hacking, the player could then remotely listen to the sound from a mobile device.
Denial of Service
This hack takes down a website or server by overflowing the site/server with traffic until it is unable to process all the requests and crashes. These are increasing in size and use Botnets and Zombie Computers which sole purpose is to overload the server.
Game Adaptations
Could be used by pressing a key multiple times on a server to overload a system and crash it, allowing them to then access when it is overflowed.
Phishing
Phishing is a replication of popular sites which users are given links to access tricking them into thinking they have accessed the correct site. For example, a hacker can send out an email pretending to be their bank and tell them they must log on onto the link attached, the user then inputs their details believing it to be their bank and now the hackers have their log on information.
Game Adaptations
Could be used by accessing a computer and sending an email to the user’s colleagues, asking them to give them the password for something like a door.
Virus/Trojans
These are software programs that are installed onto the user’s system that then sends the users data to the hacker. They can lock your files, give the user fraudulent advertisements, divert traffic and spread the virus through the network.
Game Adaptations
This could be used as a standard virus, the player hacks into the computer using one of the other techniques and this is how they then access the final data they want.
ClickJacking/UI Redress
ClickJacking and UI Redresses are where the hacker hides the UI where the user is meant to click. It is common amongst app downloads and film torrenting websites. It can be used to earn more money on advertising as the user has clicked the link but a lot use it to steal personal information.
Game Adaptations
This could be used to send an advert out to an employee on a computer to get them to click on the advert which then allows the virus from the previous adaptation to be downloaded.
Resources Used
http://store.steampowered.com/app/206190/Gunpoint/
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/11/29/best-hacking-games/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/243970/Invisible_Inc/
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2015/05/12/invisible-inc-review
http://store.steampowered.com/app/243470/Watch_Dogs/
https://www.giantbomb.com/watch-dogs/3030-38538/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/242050/Assassins_Creed_IV_Black_Flag/
http://www.gosunoob.com/ac4-black-flag/computers-hacked-puzzles/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/1510/Uplink/
https://www.giantbomb.com/uplink-hacker-elite/3030-389/
https://fossbytes.com/hacking-techniques/
