Cipher Academy · Last revision: April 28, 2026

Ethical & Responsible Design

Cipher Academy is designed to be self-contained and respectful of your time, attention, and autonomy.

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Privacy

Cipher Academy is fully offline. Your activity stays entirely on your device.

• No analytics
• No tracking
• No crash reporting
• No data collection or transmission
• No third-party services

No Manipulation

Progress is based on clear rules and your choices — nothing else.

• No dark patterns
• No deceptive UI
• No fear-of-missing-out mechanics
• No variable reward systems
• No loot boxes
• No artificial difficulty tied to monetization

Respect for Your Time

The game is structured to be played at your own pace.

• No penalties for taking breaks
• No streaks to maintain
• No pressure to play daily
• All content remains accessible

Fair Monetization

The most useful ciphers for escape game players — Morse, Braille, Pigpen and A1Z26 — are completely free, with full access to all levels and game modes. No content is gated behind progress walls. Additional ciphers for enthusiasts (Maritime Flags, Semaphore, Bacon's Cipher…) are available as a single optional purchase — no subscriptions, recurring fees, urgency pricing, or time-limited offers.

Transparent Gameplay

All game systems are transparent and based on clear rules.

There are no hidden mechanics affecting outcomes, no pay-to-win systems, and no randomized progression advantages. While game challenges include randomness to support learning, the underlying rules are consistent and visible.

Accessibility

Cipher Academy is designed to be usable by players regardless of ability.

• Full VoiceOver and TalkBack support with descriptive labels on all interactive elements
• All 12 ciphers provide text descriptions readable by screen readers, including visual ciphers (Braille, Pigpen, Semaphore, Maritime Flags)
• Non-color indicators accompany color-coded statuses (mastery checkmarks, key status icons) so information is never conveyed by color alone
• Color contrast meets WCAG AA standards across all text and UI elements, with AAA (7:1) achieved for accent and primary text
• Reduced motion is respected system-wide — animations are suppressed when the system preference is enabled
• Dynamic Type is supported — text scales with system font size settings
• Game events (phase transitions, game start/end) are announced to screen readers
• VoiceOver focus is managed automatically when new cipher symbols appear

A formal accessibility audit is planned but has not yet been completed.

Safe for All Ages

Cipher Academy is designed to be safe for players of all ages, including children.

• No financial pressure: the base game is complete without payment, and the optional purchase has no recurring prompts
• No time pressure in learning mode: players progress at their own pace with no countdowns or penalties
• No social features: no chat, no multiplayer, no user-generated content, no social accounts
• No external links within the game experience
• No advertising of any kind

Single-Player & Offline

Cipher Academy is a single-player, fully offline game. There are no social spaces, multiplayer interactions, or community features — no exposure to social harm within the game.

Made by Humans

Cipher Academy is designed and developed by people.

• Development by @pidupuis, Senior Software Engineer, Bioinformatics background
• Visual design by @annkief, Senior Graphic Designer

Generative AI is used as a code and documentation assistant throughout development, but every gameplay and design decision is made intentionally by its creators.

Research-Informed Design

Being ethical and responsible also means grounding design decisions in evidence. Cipher Academy draws on cognitive science and educational research — not to replicate laboratory conditions, but to build a learning experience that is effective, transparent, and respectful of your time.

Decoding trains the brain

Learning encoding systems like Morse or Braille engages pattern recognition, working memory, and language-like decoding. Cipher Academy draws on this by combining:

• visual symbol recognition (Pigpen, Braille, flags…)
• auditory decoding (Morse code)
• interactive input (Braille Touch)

Adaptive letter selection

Each letter is chosen dynamically based on your recent answers. The system prioritizes:

• letters you haven't mastered yet
• letters you recently struggled with
• letters that are often confused with others, so you can better distinguish similar symbols
• letters that haven't been seen for a while

Level progression

Levels introduce letters gradually, building on what you've already learned. For Morse code, this is inspired by the Koch method. Across all ciphers:

• new letters are introduced in small groups
• previously learned letters remain in the pool
• practice is naturally interleaved

Our approach

Cipher Academy is research-informed, not research-prescriptive.

The design is inspired by scientific findings, but adapted for:

• short, self-paced sessions
• a fully offline experience
• clarity and usability over experimental complexity

For full methodology and references, see the Scientific References.

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This game does not track you, influence you, or observe you. It simply runs on your device, on your terms.

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This statement is aligned with the principles of the Code of Ethics for the Game Industry (ethicalgames.org).