EECS4700

The year is 2024, and data rules the world. Our story takes place in a large Canadian city identical to, but not explicitly, Toronto. In light of revelations about NSA PRISM, world governments have been increasingly spying on their own citizens to “close the surveillance gap” with the United States, and Canada is no exception. While there was outrtage at first, the years have led people to grow accustomed to the loss of freedom, Most people tell themselves that so long as there aren't secret police on every corner and people disappearing in night, everything must be okay. For them, life continues as it always has.

However, there are others that have more reason to fear for their privacy. A small percentage of humans are born with psychic abilities, usually manifesting around puberty. The vast majority are capable only of minor acts of clairvoyance and telepathy, though some have more dangerous abilieties such as forcing their will on others. Since many of our social structures are predicated around people not being able to read minds, the consequences of releaing these individuals to the world would be unpredictible and dire. In Canada, keeping psions secret is the responsibility of CSIS's Central Psionics Unit (CPU). While it used to be that all but the most dangerous psions were publically discredited, the “surveillance gap” led to the Untraceable Initiative: “recruiting” young telepaths to create data channels through the “mental fog” that permeates the world. This allow the CPU to transfer information without rival hackers being able to detect or decipher the information through non-psychic means.

It is for this reason our protagonist finds themselves being unceremoniously shoved into the back of an unmarked van on the way home from school.

Faceless, voiceless, and genderless, the protagonist serves primarily as a player surrogate. The only solid facts is that they are 16 years old, come from a loving middle-class family, and had no idea they were psychic before the abduction. Their power have been slow to develop, leading the CPU's psychic evaluators to rate them as a weak telepath. However, the protagonist is actually very powerful, able to steal and alter people's memories, which they learn to do over the course of the game. The protagonist's primary motivations are to escape from the facility, rejoin their family, and develop their psionic talents.

Kernighan is a CPU agent responsible for keeping and training recruits of the Untraceable Initiative. He is a caucasian male in his early fourties who is just beginning to grow bald. He is not actively cruel to his charges, but has little patience for anything that gets in the way of the mission, including emotions. He has especially little patience for One-One, insisting on calling her “Eleven” and tiring of her constant provocation. He sees the initiative as an unfortunate necessity to stop the more dangerous psychics from running amok. His primary goals are keeping his charges under control, completing the CPU's missions, and preserving national peace.

Her real name is Ada King, although only she knows that. A 18 year old female, she became aware of her psychic abilities and the greater psychic community two years before the start of the game and ran away from home to avoid capture. She was found and captured six months prior to the satrt of the game, although the CPU did not link her to her previous identity. One-One is a minor clairvoyant, which allows her to recieve and translate data packets from the mental fog, so she usually serves as the primary sink for the player's programs.

Her assumed name is the binary representation of the number three, making a pun on the word “free” to reflect her belief that knowledge grants freedom. A firm member of counter-culture, she is strongly opposed to authority and hates how complacent Canada has become to increased surveillance. She enjoys seeing how far she can push Kernighan, whom she always calls “Ritchie”. As the more experienced psychic, One-One takes on a big sister role to the protagonist, showing them the ropes, helping them develop their power and skill, and eventually using them to break out. Her primary goals are escaping from the initiative, rejoining the underground psychic community, and undermining the CPU.

The protagonist awakens at the Initiative facility. Kernighan greets the protagonist coldly, explains the situation, and introfuces them to One-One. One-One insults Kernighan, prompting him to leave them alone briefly to get to know each other. One-One expresses condolences for the protagonist's situation, and explains psychic powers and programs. Kernighan reenters, unappologetic for cutting the bonding short. Kernighan gives the player a tutorial mission, and he and One-One walk them through it.

The player completes missions for the CPU, sending information across the city. The protagonist learns how to route, pack, and unpack packets and use if statements. Eventually a mission requires the protagonist to find data that isn't actually present in the stream, whereupon they find they have the ability to manipulate data. Kernighan is unaware of how the task was accomplished, but One-One is. One-One urges the protagonist to keep this ability secret while encouraging them to use their power to undermine the CPU and look for information that may aid their escape.

Following One-One's advice, the player uses their data manipulation abilities to subvert the intent of the missions they receive. With One-One providing the written mission descriptions. The player learns to use advanced comparators, binary operations, and loops. The protagonist and One-One figure out that most of the data they are handling is being used to track and evaluate other psychics. They form a plan to alter the data to fake a masssive incident that would require the majority of the CPU's staff to handle, giving them a window to escape.

The protagonist learns how to fetch data directly from people's brains, letting them steal building plans and access codes from guards. Once their plan is ready, the protagonist and One-One mainpuate a warning system to fake a public attack by a group of powerful psychics. The player learns to handle strings, use assignment operations, and build a binary counter.

Once the coast is clear they make their escape, only to be stopped by Kernighan at the front gates. Desperate, the protagonist interfaces with Kernighan's mind, creating the final puzzle; where the player must sift out information pertaining to the CPU's operations.

On the protagonist's suceess, Kernighan is helpless to stop his charges, but warns them against using the infromation they found to take down the CPU, as they are necesssary to stop the most dangerous psychics from causing havok. One-One is dismissive of this warning, and kicks him in the face before escaping with the protagonist.

Once they reach a safe distance, One-One informs the protagonist that it would be too dangerous for them to return home, and that it would be safer to stay together and rejoin the underground psychic community. Despite this being against the protagonist's wishes, they have to choice but to accept, with the hope that one day they may still return home.

The following is a list of terms and concepts students should know, broken down by grade level. All of the following information is taken from the government curriculum found here, beginning at page 36 http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/computer10to12_2008.pdf:

Each grade level builds on the last, so only new concepts are listed in upper years.

- data Types (ie numbers, strings)

- constants vs. variables

- order of operations

- assignment operators (a = b) and relational operators (a < b)

- boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)

- store and manipulate data

- 2+ simple branching choices (if, if-then-else, if-then-elseif-else)

- simple loops

- trace simple programs

- integers vs. float

- strings vs. 1D arrays

- boolean variables

- input processing

- nested structures (ie if() { if() {} } )

- subroutines, functions, and methods

- identify errors in code

- code validation through test cases

- flesh out code from a skeleton

- manipulate string data

- data conversion (eg String to Int)

- code reusability

- sorting algorithms (bubble, insertion, and selection sorts)

- 2D arrays

- recursion

- comments and documentation

- work under a timeline

- encapsulation

- searching algorithms (linear, binary)

- read/write from/to external files