"GameShell" interactive game for learning Linux shell commands

Change directories... save the world.

A new project has been released which seeks to teach people how to use a UNIX style shell… via a game-like experience.

Dubbed “GameShell”, the developers describe it this way on their GitHub page:

“Teaching first-year university students or high schoolers to use a Unix shell is not always the easiest or most entertaining of tasks. GameShell was devised as a tool to help students at the Université Savoie Mont Blanc to engage with a real shell, in a way that encourages learning while also having fun.”

Installing GameShell on most POSIX-y platforms is extremely simple, as is “playing” it: with the experience is broken down into individual missions — with each mission teaching a new Shell concept or command.

Kudos to the developer! Very cool to see this type of interactive (and fun) tool for teaching people how to work with UNIX-like systems.

What follows is an example of a GameShell session (in this case, Mission 1).

  ____                      ____  _          _ _
 / ___| __ _ _ __ ___   ___/ ___|| |__   ___| | |
| |  _ / _` | '_ ` _ \ / _ \___ \| '_ \ / _ \ | |
| |_| | (_| | | | | | |  __/___) | | | |  __/ | |
 \____|\__,_|_| |_| |_|\___|____/|_| |_|\___|_|_|

                             _
                           _/ \
          _               /    \
         / \_   __       /\/\  /\
        /    \ /  \     /    \/  \
       /\/\  /\    `--./.'-    `-.\
      /    \/  ' ^ _    _  _
    /\ ____..      YY  Y     _   |~  _
   /._/  _ \_        Y  Y   [_]--'--[_]
  / / .'/#\_ `-.    Y  YY   |'|""`""|'|
    .-_/#@##\  `\"" ' Y     | | /^\ | |
   " "'"''"'"'''" '         |_|_|I|_|_|

Press Enter to continue.

  ___________________________________________________________________
 /  __                                                           __  \
|  /  \   Welcome to GameShell!                                 /  \  |
|\ \   |                                                       |   / /|
| \___/|  Using and administering a computer running a         |\___/ |
|      |  Unix-like operating system (e.g., Linux, BSD or      |      |
|      |  macOS) requires using a command line interface       |      |
|      |  called "shell". In this game you will learn how      |      |
|      |  to use the shell by journeying through various       |      |
|      |  missions that will teach you to perform standard     |      |
|      |  tasks such as:                                       |      |
|      |    - creating directories,                            |      |
|      |    - creating, viewing and editing files,             |      |
|      |    - searching for files satisfying certain           |      |
|      |      criteria,                                        |      |
|      |    - running and interrupting programs,               |      |
|      |    - etc.                                             |      |
|      |                                                       |      |
|      |  During your adventure you will need to visit         |      |
|      |  locations, interact with people, and find various    |      |
|      |  objects. However, you have to keep in mind that      |      |
|      |  these are standard directories, programs, and        |      |
|      |  files (often with random contents). So, for          |      |
|      |  example:                                             |      |
|      |    - "build a hut" means creating a directory         |      |
|      |      called "Hut", and                                |      |
|      |    - "put a coin in your chest" means moving a file   |      |
|      |      called "coin" to a directory called "Chest".     |      |
|      |                                                       |      |
 \     |_______________________________________________________|     /
  \___/                                                         \___/


Press Enter to continue.


  |                                                   |
--+---------------------------------------------------+--
  | Run the command                                   |
  |     $ gsh goal                                    |
  | to discover your first mission.                   |
  |                                                   |
  | You can check the mission has been completed with |
  |     $ gsh check                                   |
  |                                                   |
  | The command                                       |
  |     $ gsh help                                    |
  | displays the list of available (gsh) commands.    |
--+---------------------------------------------------+--
  |                                                   |

[mission 1] $ ls
Castle  Forest  Garden  Mountain  Stall
[mission 1] $ cd Castle/
[mission 1] $ ls
Cellar  Great_hall  Main_building  Main_tower  Observatory
[mission 1] $ cd Main_tower/
[mission 1] $ ls
First_floor
[mission 1] $ cd First_floor/
[mission 1] $ ls
Second_floor
[mission 1] $ cd Second_floor/
[mission 1] $ ls
Top_of_the_tower
[mission 1] $ cd Top_of_the_tower/
[mission 1] $ ls
[mission 1] $ gsh check

Congratulations, mission 1 has been successfully completed!