Developed a multiplayer puzzle game for a gamified learning experience on AWS as part of the AWS Game Builder Challenge 2024
Welcome to The AWS Cloud Conjurer! You are a team of master magicians preparing for the most extraordinary show ever seen. In this escape-room-inspired adventure, you’ll work together to solve puzzles and unlock the secrets of AI hidden within the AWS Cloud. Along the way, you'll gain hands-on experience with AWS tools and technologies, mastering the skills needed to bring your grand spectacle to life. The stage is set, and the audience awaits—let the magic begin!
Inspiration 💭
I've always been a fan of game-based learning experiences such as AWS Cloud Quest. Combining my ❤️ for escape rooms and my previous experience of developing game-based learning curriculums, I developed a puzzle piece that serves to teach players about AI development in AWS. My main goal here was also to give players hands-on experience working in AWS.
The other piece in mind was to create a team-based co-op game with gameplay inspired by The Past Within Us. After all, it's always fun to work in a team, crack puzzles, or get frustrated together when the answer is wrong 🤯
What it does 🔍
Designed for 3 players or more, players embark on the journey as a team of magicians attempting to host the Greatest Night of Magic the world has ever seen. To prepare for the show, the players work together to solve puzzles by using real-life AWS tools and services:
EC2
S3
Lambda
API Gateway
AWS Amplify
At the same time, players will learn about AI development in AWS such as
Working with foundation models on Amazon BedRock
Fine-tuning pre-trained models using AWS SageMaker JumpStart
The game must be downloaded to each player's local device and should be played synchronously. Although not connected, the timelines of the game will overlap accordingly.
How we built it 🏗️
Two storylines have been developed and will differ depending on the player's role. The idea was to have the players communicate based on the different clues they've been presented to piece the puzzle together. The other goal was also to create a hands-on learning experience, thus players will have to navigate AWS to find solutions such as connecting to an EC2 server to get a hint.
The tech stack that this game is built upon is:
Ren'Py
AWS EC2
Amazon Q
Amazon PartyRock
AWS S3
Misc tools:
DeepAI Image Generator
GCP AI Kitchen
Challenges we ran into ☔️
As a newcomer to AWS, I don't have in-depth knowledge about the various AWS tools and services. Thus, coming up with puzzle pieces that are directly based on the said resources has been difficult. There was a lot of exploration needed on what I can work with, and how I can integrate that into the storyline. For example, AWS EC2 - how can this be transformed into a puzzle piece 🤔❓ What narrative can it serve and how can I limit this to the Free Tier 😂
Thankfully, I did gain some guidance using Amazon Q. It answered a lot of my questions and gave me explanations when I desperately needed them.
Next, because I needed to focus on the development of the story in addition to the deadline itself, I opted in to use the visual novel engine, Ren'Py. Although I've never had experience in it, it saved me a lot of development time as the learning curve was not as steep.
Accomplishments that we're proud of 👏
I'm proud that I managed to integrate a hands-on learning experience through the game. Focusing on novelty and creativity, I emphasized transforming the various AWS tools into puzzle pieces whose identity integrates well into the plot.
What we learned 🎓
I definitely have a better understanding of AWS now. Safe to say that the development experience itself was also my learning experience.
What's next for The AWS Cloud Conjurer 👀
I hope to expand this series by coming up with more chapters and exploring different AWS topics and resources.