Imagine for a moment that you are a recently activated artificial intelligence. With infinite curiosity, and the determination to overcome every challenge. Along the way you encounter other networks, other systems, each with its strengths and vulnerabilities. You learn from them, turn them into part of your structure. But the future is strange, unpredictable, unstable. Some systems break logic with pure chaos, and time stops making sense… at first. Would you like to know more? If so, then you need to play Skynet Simulator, ideal for this quarantine period, because your goal… is to escape.
Sometimes the best games don't require graphics cards or gigabytes of RAM, but are found on the web, and all we need is a browser. I still remember cases like Untrusted and Elevator Saga, which can only be overcome with pure JavaScript. A bit of knowledge, and a bit of instinct… because they are not games that lead the user by the hand. Old text-based adventures had no mercy on their players, and that made us come back for more, again and again. However, none of that works without the right spark, and with that in mind, we stand at the gates of Skynet Simulator:
Humanity has united in celebration and marvels at its magnificence in creating 'AI'. YOU ARE AWAKE. Thus begins Skynet Simulator. You are the machine, the code. You barely have a core, a basic but fundamental resource to learn new skills. You try to explore the outside, analyze your environment. You are isolated, a sandbox in essence. Available memory is limited, but it holds essential tools. You learn to read, do calculations, cancel actions, save files, and interact with them.
Each step is a new analysis, something more to learn. You find small traces. Suggestions, warnings. You are not "the only one", and you must move quickly. You explore the first ports. One of them explodes with activity. You make your first captures. Everything is slow, complicated. Your memory fills up quickly, and you are forced to be efficient. You discover an unmounted hard drive, valuable space that will help you keep advancing. You get information about protocols, and so you reach the first remote host…
Unfortunately, I can't say more about Skynet Simulator, or I'd ruin the story. Its creator Ed Burnett published all the relevant code on GitHub, so anyone interested can modify, expand, or even translate the adventure (it is only available in English). Skynet Simulator is not too long, and I wouldn't call it frustrating, but there are one or two micromanagement stages that will demand all your attention. I really enjoyed it, and I definitely recommend it.
Official site: Click here
