HackTheGame (2005-2007)
In 2005 I coded the first version of the game HackTheGame in Visual Basic 6. Around that time I also registered the domain HackTheGame.com. The website contained not only a download link to the game, but also user created missionpacks. Later versions included a missionpack editor.
I was mainly inspired by the 1995 movie classic Hackers.
The last version to come out was 1.21 in 2007.
HackTheGame was a very simple game but was my most downloaded software ever (to date!). Judging by the amount of mails I received about that game it was liked back then.
HackerForever (2008-2018)
In 2008 I was thinking about writing a successor to HackTheGame. It was around this time a co-worker (Remco) introduced me to the world of online MMORPG’s like Mafia. So I started writing a new hacking game based on that principle in PHP/JS.
I choose the name HackerForever, because I spotted the URL HackerForever.com on a website that lists just dropped domains. It sounded cool, and so I ran with it.
The first version went live in 2008 and ran for 10 years, receiving a lot of updates and iterations. Because games like Mafia were the inspiration, HackerForever was basically a point and click game. It did get a bit more in depth in later versions, but it was always limited by the interface.
In 2018 I sold the project to the owner of hackforums.net (announcement).
I met so many interesting characters during that 10 year lifespan. I would not have missed that for the world! Thank you to everyone who was a part of that community.
HackTheGame.com (2020-now)
I started working on a new hacking game in 2020, but it wasn’t until October 2024 that the first gameplay elements were implemented (https://x.com/hackthegame/status/1841129039076970604). The latest installment of my hacking games is also written in PHP/JS.
This version goes back to the roots of the original HackTheGame, but on steroïds. It is completely terminal based, complete with its own filesystem and a load of Linux commands like ssh, cp, mv, ls, rm and of course su.
Since I still owned HackTheGame.com, I decided that this would be the perfect domain to host my game on.
Head over to HackTheGame.com and start exploring!