Travis Iles

Cyber Guardians

An adventure game that teaches kids about online safety, with one floating island per topic. I designed it and built the prototype's dialogue and animation systems, so characters react to what the player chooses to say.

Role
Designer and developer, with a cyber-security expert
Discipline
Game, Animation
Year
2025
Tools
Unity, C#, Blender
Low-poly robot characters and a spaceship on a pastel island

Each island covers one real topic: passwords, scams, using AI responsibly, privacy, and cyberbullying. Players explore and talk to the characters who live there, with a companion called Digit who gives hints and reinforces what they’ve learned. A cyber-security expert checked the content so the lessons are accurate, not just friendly.

Each dialogue choice triggers a different reaction from the character.

Characters that react

The idea was that a character’s reaction teaches more than a warning message. Dialogue trees carry metadata that triggers animation changes, so a line can make a character nod sadly, look surprised or break into a dance. Expressions are driven by Unity Animator blend trees, so moods shift smoothly instead of snapping between poses.

Digit, the companion character, offering a hint

Designed to be gentle

The world is low-poly and pastel, so even topics like scams and bullying feel safe to explore. It’s low-pressure: feedback is immediate, hints are optional, and every island ends with a short summary. The design also plans for adjustable difficulty, subtitles with scalable text, high-contrast UI and colour-blind-friendly palettes.

A pastel low-poly island Animated props reacting to the player

Where it’s at

On hold, with a full design document and working prototypes of the dialogue, animation and companion systems. If it comes back, the next steps are a classroom pilot, tools for teachers, and islands covering newer online risks.