Ruckingenur II: Reverse engineering video game

posted Aug 25th 2008 9:56am by Caleb Kraft
filed under: daily, misc hacks, security hacks

[Zach Barth] has released Ruckingenur II, the game of reverse engineering. The latest in his Games for Engineers series, it is a full game with multiple levels and live action cut scenes. Set with a military theme, the goal is to reverse engineer enemy items. Pictured above is a lock to a weapons cache.

The pixelized style is consistent throughout. Even the cut scenes have the effect. The reverse engineering is fun enough to keep you interested while you learn. There is an in game help system that keeps you on track as well. Our only suggestion is that he get some better costumes next time!

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Comments [30]

tagged: game, reverse engineering, ReverseEngineering, ruckingenur

Reader Comments

That’s really freaking awesome… a great bunch of games to teach people about component hacking. Sweet!

Posted at 12:23 pm on Aug 25th, 2008 by Louis II

I love “engineering games” (do not confuse with puzzle)…

Really wish there were more games like the ones this guy makes

Posted at 2:26 pm on Aug 25th, 2008 by visionetiks

I was very impressed with the program. I had a co-worker walk into my office to shoot the breeze right as I started the bomb level. I was looking for a pause button, anything. It took me a minute to solve each of the levels. It was well thought out and I wish there were at least twenty more levels. I’m an electrical engineer and I could recommend a couple of levels …

Posted at 2:58 pm on Aug 25th, 2008 by auburnate

A linux version would be nice.

Posted at 4:14 pm on Aug 25th, 2008 by happypiguin

auburnate: I’d love to hear what you’ve got in mind – you can find my contact information at http://zachtronics.emala.net/pivot/entry.php?id=4

Posted at 4:25 pm on Aug 25th, 2008 by Zach

happypiguin: i’ve heard it runs fine under wine if you install mono for windows

Posted at 4:26 pm on Aug 25th, 2008 by Zach

I’m stuck on the bomb level :( the other stuff was reasonably easy, I worked out how to speed the bomb up and keep resetting the triggers but ultimately I haven’t a clue, i’m more of software guy, lol.

No body tell me the answers tho, i’ll work it out!

Posted at 4:36 pm on Aug 25th, 2008 by Sly

Me 2 cant pass the bomb lvl i can reset the timer but that’s it i cant find how to use the codes on the right.
Any help?

Posted at 4:39 pm on Aug 25th, 2008 by Ikari

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!

The bomb was relatively easy, just set the enable register of the uC to 0 and pulse the point that runs between the uC and unknown chip with +5 on and off.
Then look at the register on the unknown chip and it will have a challenge, response and timer register.
While pulsing on and off, look up what response code is needed, and input that one quickly, you only have 10 seconds to do it, so be quick about it.

HERE ENDETH THE SPOILER.

Awesome game! And I look forward to more missions.
And please, make it so that you can pulse and enter hex at the same time.

Posted at 5:25 pm on Aug 25th, 2008 by henk

I enjoyed that far more than I thought I would!!

The last level was a bit of a toughie and I resisted the urge to read the spoiler to do it. Even if you’ve no experience with logic and circuitry, give this a go!

Posted at 6:44 pm on Aug 25th, 2008 by Martin

Spoilers continued.

There is no need to pulse anything, setting the enable register to low is sufficient to get the challenge.

Comments:
This is really amazing. I don’t actually know much beyond how to solder/program, but it could be done almost entirely on the basis of deductions. So it stands on its own as a brilliant and very instructive puzzle game.

That being said, it could use some documentation on what VCC/GND mean, etc. and how enable and clock pins work, so that even someone with no knowledge can get going. An interactive tutorial would be even better.

It took me a bit to figure out the interface because I assumed from intuition that I could put the probes on any part of a conducting line and have it work. If the instructions said that they needed to be placed on the gray junctions, I did not see it.

When you are editing one of the register values, it is no longer possible to move things with the mouse. This was annoying, especially with the bomb level. If you are in the middle of entering a value, and decide to move an object instead, it should just cancel the value change and let you move the object.

Sometimes in alternating between the game window and my browser window the mouse would stop functioning until I exited back to the main screen.

Mostly I am just really excited at the prospect of their being more levels. :D

Posted at 7:09 pm on Aug 25th, 2008 by Flying Alpaca

Good work Zach, congrats on the Hackaday post.

=Dane

Posted at 8:52 pm on Aug 25th, 2008 by emperor dane

Wonderful!

It’s working under linux (64 and 32) with Wine and Mono for Windows.

I’m dreaming of more and more levels and a native GNU/Linux version (but I’m a purist maybe) and even better licensed under a Free Software License in order to allow everyone to add new levels, that would be a wonderful project I would be happy to help creating levels for.

Posted at 9:01 pm on Aug 25th, 2008 by Bjonnh

awesome, awesome game! just finished it!
the last level involved a little bit of tense typing, i guess i need to work on my speed entering hex. :P

Posted at 9:53 pm on Aug 25th, 2008 by aspartame

This game is absolutely amazing. Very well done, extremely fun, and I can’t wait for subsequent mission packs. From an Electrical Engineering student perspective it’s very fun, but those skills aren’t really necessary to beat the levels…it’s not as though you have to calculate out input and output impedances or anything. Rather, you just have to be clever and technically inclined doesn’t hurt just for background’s sake.

I really hope this game expands to several mission packs because it really is just about the best video game I’ve ever played.

Posted at 1:37 am on Aug 26th, 2008 by Frank

The damn bomb made me jump! of course, trying to solve that one more than once kind of feels like cheating… :-)

Posted at 2:10 am on Aug 26th, 2008 by MattieShoes

Damn. 10 sec is way too short for me.
had to learn the apropriate responce code and then i was *just* fast enough :)

Posted at 4:23 am on Aug 26th, 2008 by Madouc

>>>10. Spoilers continued.

>>>There is no need to pulse anything, setting the >>>enable register to low is sufficient to get the >>>challenge.

How do you mean? On the bomb?
No way, the part on the lower left checks for a 5v pulse every second. If it does not get that it starts to count down and detonates if it reaches zero. You need to input the response to the challenge. Yes you could do it without pulsing, but you’d have to be pretty damn fast.

Posted at 4:47 am on Aug 26th, 2008 by henk

This is an excellent game! Though I would have loved to see a level editor reminiscent of the “crocodile clips” program that I use from time to time. Any chance of a public release of the source code for non commercial purposes?

Posted at 5:56 am on Aug 26th, 2008 by Sly

In response to henk, “I am fast enough!” I moved the Debugger thing and inputted the challenge before the bomb went off, it was really close but it worked, I think the pulsing solution is more elegant though

Posted at 9:02 am on Aug 26th, 2008 by uberdude

Here is a trailer for the game: http://zachtronics.emala.net/pivot/entry.php?id=37

Posted at 11:35 am on Aug 26th, 2008 by njakol

18. Me 2 cant pass the bomb lvl i can reset the timer but that’s it i cant find how to use the codes on the right.
Any help?

Dude, just read above, i posted the solution already, sheesh.

Posted at 1:28 pm on Aug 26th, 2008 by henk

Awesome game! i downloaded it this morning before uni and finished the first level before i had to leave (2nd year electrical engineering student btw) told all my mates about it when i got there and now we all cant wait for the next episode!!!

the bomb level stumped me for a while.. just couldn’t figure out how to get the challenge to change!! tho the first think i did was put the pulse generator on the detonator pad and toggle it hehe ^_^

anyways cant wait for more!

Posted at 2:37 am on Aug 27th, 2008 by Simon

grrr OK, I have been trying this bomb level awhile so i looked at the spoiler, AND THAT IS WHAT I WAS DOING… i think, I can’t get the challenge to appear anywhere. I put the Di on the debug, put the pulse in the middle and the Serial on the unknown, set enabled to 0 and nothing shows up, i tried putting the serial on after i turn on debug, i used the pulse to stop the 10 seconds, i didnt, i still cant get the challenge to appear! help!

Posted at 1:51 pm on Aug 27th, 2008 by all blown up

oooh gotta move the debug… got it!

Posted at 1:56 pm on Aug 27th, 2008 by all blown up - not anymore

I’ve done like uberdude too.

Posted at 5:52 pm on Aug 27th, 2008 by Bjonnh

That was some fun stuff. Like many others here I am a software guy though I have wanted to get more into hardware for a while now. Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for the link to the game, it was awesome and provided an hour or so of fun! Cannot wait for more.

Posted at 7:32 pm on Oct 1st, 2008 by Kevin

I’m stuck on decoding the radio transmission. I don’t really have an engineering background, but I figured out the first two… anyone want to help me out without telling me how to do the entire thing?

Posted at 1:15 pm on Oct 3rd, 2008 by lee

I don’t want to be offensive, but, I don’t see nothing about engineering in the game. Is just a game with some clues and you have to figure out things, but you don’t need engineering anywhere.

Posted at 5:36 am on Oct 5th, 2008 by clak

Clak

That is almost the definition of engineering. Taking what was learned in the past (clues) and trying to solve problems (figuring things out).

Posted at 7:56 am on Oct 5th, 2008 by BronzeG3

Ruckingenur II: Reverse engineering video game

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