Terminal

The Command Line Murders

You only have to look through these pages to see that the command line is being used more than ever. This is the opposite of what many of us thought would happen as graphical environments became more efficient and easy to use. Instead, the minimalist, distraction-free terminal, with its remote convenience and low resource use, are fueling a command-line renaissance. This can be a bit intimidating for people who may want to use the command line but perhaps lack the agency or confidence to learn its sometimes unforgiving ways. This is where The Command Line Murders can help.

The Command Line Murders, through necessity, is a text-based game where you need to discover the perpetrator. The brilliant idea behind this is that it's not a standalone game or binary you need to run but is instead a game that exists entirely within the filesystem. The first thing you need to do, for example, is clone the repository or download and unarchive the ZIP file. The next step is to then type cat instructions in the root directory to set the scene and read your next steps. To then solve the mystery, you need to navigate through the top-level directories describing the crime scene, the directories interviews, and all the locations they mention. There are over 600 of these files in total, which is a substantial body of work, and one that the developers should be proud of, especially considering the narrative thread that ties everything together. If you get stuck, there's a comprehensive cheat sheet (in Markdown, and as a PDF) that works just as effectively as a command-line guide outside of the game. But when you do successfully make it to the end of the game, not only will you know the solution, you will have also, almost inadvertently, mastered the command line.

Project Website

https://github.com/veltman/clmystery

The Command Line Murders is a brilliantly constructed set of over 600 files that teach you to use the command line while you solve a murder mystery.