teaching/serious-games

Gamification & Game-Based Learning

Students learn incident response best when they have to make the decisions themselves and live with the consequences.

Finding engaging and effective ways to teach has always been a priority for me. Over the years, game-based learning has become one of my most powerful tools for teaching incident response, problem solving, and digital and medical device forensics. It has transformed how my students learn, and it has been an incredibly fun adventure for me as an educator.

Illustration of students working together on problem-solving activities in a classroom
where it started

Twine: the gateway to gamification

Twine is an open-source tool for building interactive, branching stories, even with very little programming experience. It is intuitive and accessible, and it lets teachers design learning experiences that students genuinely enjoy.

I was apprehensive about game design at first, but learning Twine turned out to be part of the fun. Every new concept opened up more creative possibilities, and building interactive stories quickly became something I looked forward to.

01 / incident response
Into the heart of an attack

Students play incident responders in a live cyberattack, making decisions to contain threats and run the investigation. Every choice has consequences that mirror real incidents.

02 / problem solving
Mysteries to unravel

Story-driven puzzles present complex problems that students work through together, thinking critically to overcome obstacles and reach a solution.

03 / forensics
Digital and medical device cases

Simulations put students in the investigator’s seat, examining digital and medical devices and analysing evidence to solve cases in a safe, controlled environment.

where it is now

From branching stories to full simulations

What began with Twine has grown into larger platforms that put students into realistic, high-pressure environments.

Nordvakt
A simulated security operations centre. Students triage realistic alerts without being told which ones are benign, investigate incidents, collaborate across teams and build automated response playbooks. Learning and behavioural analytics let me review how students reason and make decisions, not only whether they reached the right answer.
DF acquisition game
A proof of concept that simulates digital forensic acquisition and the investigative decisions that go with it.
Containment war games
Classroom exercises where teams must contain a spreading incident under time pressure and defend their decisions.
lessons learned

What makes a learning game work

Decisions over answers. The value is in the choices students make and the consequences they face, not in a single correct response.

Realism over signposting. Real incidents do not label what matters. Good games leave students to work that out.

Motivation is not the grade. Points and badges can keep students engaged, but I keep them separate from assessment so the game stays about learning.

// game over? never
Game-based learning bridges traditional teaching and immersive experience. It builds critical thinking, problem solving and a genuine passion for the field, for students and teachers alike. If you are an educator exploring serious games for security, I would love to compare notes.