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Hacked Mechanicsby timsamoff profile2017 Espionage Custom
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(based on 1 rating)
1 review — 1 member has played this game. It's on 1 wishlist.
HMLabs is a short-form hacking experience in which players must learn and use a small set of UNIX commands in order to bring down a corrupt government organization.
This game was originally developed as a test case for a thesis about real-time Interactive Fiction.
The idea behind this game is an interesting one: break into a secure system using a simulation of an actual Unix shell, with a time limit. But the actual implementation fell short.
The faux terminal has no scrollback, which is irritating, and the line editing is brittle: I managed to make it so I couldn't type at one point and had to refresh the page. The shell commands are inconsistently defined. `rm` doesn't work on anything except what you're supposed to delete; attempting to delete other files says they're "not found". Directories say they're full even after deleting all of their contents. In a longer game, little errors like this would be forgivable, but this game is so short that they really detract from the experience.
That said, the actual puzzle in this game is a nice bit of fun, and the aesthetic is good. With a bit more polishing this would make a good minicomp entry.