Cyber Security is Fun!

That’s what we think here at 404 Productions. Okay, maybe we’re not that far deep into it (yet!), but at the very least we think cyber security is easy to get into and get started. Unfortunately, not as many people see it the same way as we hope.

That’s why we’re making a game to ease people into it! In collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University Cylab, we’ll be creating an introductory game to be used in picoCTF 2022, a cyber security competition.

Introducing… Katalyst!

Katalyst is a game designed and developed for picoCTF 2022, a cyber security competition that attracts a wide variety of players. Included in those players are people who are very new to cyber security, and who haven’t been introduced to basic concepts that many cyber security enthusiasts are familiar with. That’s where we come in.

Our game teaches some core concepts of cyber security, such as using some command-line interface commands or parsing ASCII code. Players will learn techniques which will help them throughout the rest of the picoCTF 2022 competition, and perhaps even further beyond that.

Of course, we don’t expect players to be engrossed with cyber security from the start. That’s why we’re bringing in all the fun of a standard game, and teaching through clever abstractions and mechanics analogous to other media that the players might have experienced before. They’ll get to parse ASCII through escape room puzzles, learn python coding rules through organizing commands, and more! Throughout the game, they’ll learn the knowledge to solve beginner security questions. By the end, they’ll be ready to try tackling even more advanced questions.

We are 404 Productions

We are a small team of 5 developers who have a passion for cyber security. We also love games. We are combining the two to create a wonderful blend because we want to share the joys of cyber security with a larger audience. We’ll be working hard all Fall 2021, so we hope you enjoy our work as much as we will enjoy making it!