game designer,
MAKER OF RANDOM

Personal Project Site of Mark Willett

Cyberpunk 2077 ARG

In 2020, an exciting ARG (Alternate Reality Game) was launched alongside the release of Cyberpunk. This immersive experience heavily incorporated encryption, game data obfuscation, web development tricks, and cryptography to engage players in a captivating puzzle-solving adventure. Recognizing the potential of this ARG, myself and a well-known streamer named SimplySampleText swiftly formed a team comprising passionate ARG/game solvers, programmers, and encryption enthusiasts.

Our dedicated team proved to be instrumental in unraveling the intricate mysteries of the CP2077 ARG, ultimately leading to the deployment of a significant announcement to the entire player community. This announcement unveiled a special edition Xbox, generating immense excitement among fans.

The team, which thrived on collaboration and enthusiasm, consisted of over 200 volunteers who congregated on a Discord server. Several streamers, including SimplySampleText, live-streamed the entire process, allowing viewers to witness the journey firsthand. It is worth noting that a majority of the critical work on the ARG was carried out by a select group of talented individuals.

To express our gratitude and acknowledge the collective efforts of our team members, a Special Thanks document was compiled, underscoring the valuable contributions made by each individual. This document serves as a testament to the dedication and perseverance displayed by the team throughout the ARG. Special Thanks Document

As the nature of the ARG makes it difficult to fully comprehend without direct involvement, I have compiled a small selection of random media from the project. Please refer to the document provided below to gain a glimpse into some of the intriguing images associated with this immersive experience.

We appreciate your interest in the CP2077 ARG, and we hope that these glimpses into the project’s visual aspects provide a sense of the excitement and creativity that unfolded during its development.

My contributions to the project of solving:

  • Developed a crawling script to search active directories
  • Developed a tool to analyze sound and generate images
  • Developed a tool to bruteforce passwords
  • Developed algorithm to solve passphrase encoding/decoding messages in URI
  • Detailed Document on keeping team on track in Discord

After solving the final task we changed the Microsoft Xbox homepage which showed this. We won!

Result of finishing and unlocking the ARG win condition.