HTML-based puzzle/riddle sites?
I have fond memories of trying to solve HTML/text-based riddles on sites like WeffRiddles when I was growing up in the mid-late 2000s. The premise of the site is usually pretty simple: the landing page represents "level 1", and you had to find the correct URL to get to level 2, 3, and so on. The "puzzle/riddle" aspect usually involves inspecting the underlying HTML and looking through clues given in the source code, then using those clues to piece together the URL for the next stage.
It was always fun hanging out on forums and sharing clues about how to solve the level that everyone was stuck on. Also, being a kid back then, frankly I felt like a Hackerman™️ whenever I'd have to inspect the page source, paste it into Windows Notepad, then set font size to 1pt because I thought there was an ASCII art pattern hidden in the HTML. Good times.
Sometimes I get the urge to play these things again, but besides WeffRiddles which I know by name, I don't really know what this type of game is called. The closest "modern" example I can think of is /dev/esc, which is more like an online escape room than a long-form riddle site.
Does this ring a bell for you? Any other fun ones that you remember playing? And what the hell do I type into Google to find more of these?
Both start really easy and get fiendishly difficult. Levels will take you weeks to solve and require hilarious levels of nerd to solve. Ouverture Facile is my personal favourite as it was my introduction to this genre, but I'm not sure if it's still solvable, as it is mostly flash and some content was on other sites that are no longer around.
Notpron is a ton of fun, I think it’s what OP is looking for. I haven’t heard of Ouverture Facile but I’m also looking to play these style games again after the password game showed up recently so I’ll check it out.
I think someone is working on a modern remake. I’ll see if I can hunt down a link.
Edit: Turns out the first link I found was the remake. The old flash one is who knows where.
Ahh thank you, notpron is definitely the name I was looking for. I think I ran into it after WeffRiddles and heard it was the more popular one, but never got around to it. I'll give it a shot, thanks!
Was the same for me but with Ouverture Facile. Got into that first, but everyone seemed to only known Notpron. Gave it a go a few years back though and it’s deffers worth it.
notpron blew my mind when I found it in the 2000s. It felt so mysterious. I remember spending hours trying to figure out a riddle, only to be taken to the next page where I would feel lost again. No surprise I loved Myst.
I still seem to have working bookmarks in Firefox for the first hundred or so levels. I solved it together with my brothers or friends. That's a good memory for the nostalgia thread...
(Also a Myst lover.)
Man I'd say the Tim Tang Test but looking at that website again I can't in good conscience recommend it to anyone, the creator is absolutely overboard about how no one is allowed to look for hints or get help ever in any capacity and you have to swear you would N E V E R and sign up for an account etc. Kinda gross.
https://neal.fun/password-game/ was on here and on Hacker News recently, and I found it pretty fun.
I feel like the password game fits the spirit of what OP is looking for even if the mechanics are a little different.
That dang chicken...
Yeah I enjoyed The Password Game, though it was more ridiculous and silly than the old school ones I was thinking of, but still clever, so definitely in the spirit.
It's not quite the same, but it's close ... OverTheWire is a whole collection--and also a nice portal into many other similar collections--of server security wargames.
Edit: Start with Bandit ... it's mostly about guessing/deducing the correct password to advance to the next screen/level, while learning SSH, Linux terminal, bash, and related Hacker-ish skills along the way.
There's Charl0tte. Not hugely in depth (been a while since I played it but I don't recall there being any source code involved) but it tells a neat story in a neat medium and had me surprisingly gripped.
Oddpawn was a lot of fun and very similar
https://oddpawn.com/.
I really enjoyed the scripting game Untrusted.
I think A Dark Room counts more of an idle game, right? That being said, wow this brings back some nostalgia!