Saving Satoshi Pitch: A sci-fi educational bitcoin coding epic

We made an intro video for you:

▶️ Watch the Saving Satoshi pitch video

Watched it? Awesome, let's continue...

The mystery

The year is 2139. The very last bitcoin is slated to be mined in two weeks. For months, a final countdown has been taking place in Satoshi Square for the last block when there will officially be no more bitcoin issued.

And then suddenly, the network goes offline. Payments worldwide stop.

In the midst of the crisis, someone senses an opportunity. The mysterious and world-renowned computer scientist Dr. B.S. Wrong steps into the spotlight. He claims that, lo and behold, he's been Satoshi Nakamoto all along, and until further notice, the 21 million cap has been lifted, and the network will issue 1 million bitcoin every day indefinitely.

There is a knock at your door, and when you open it, a yellowed age-weathered envelope has been left for you. Inside, you discover the first clue of the most important mission of your life.

And so begins your journey to save Satoshi…

Why

Bitcoin development has a recruiting problem. Bitcoin is so different that it can be hard to find a welcoming technical entry point. So while bitcoin is serious, this game is designed to be fun. Saving Satoshi is a light-hearted first point of contact for developers of all ages curious about bitcoin development. Saving Satoshi has a mix of technical text and code-based challenges, but the challenges should be doable for anyone with basic coding skills.

Lesson examples

We initially focus on two chapters that teach visitors about basic concepts around transactions, hashing, and mining. For an archive of further lesson ideas, see this page.

Lessons we have fleshed out so far:

Transactions
- Using an explorer
- Finding hidden messages in transactions
Hashes
- How hashes are created
- How hashing is used in mining
- Writing code to find hashes that start with X zeroes
Mining
- Hash rate
- Mining pools
- Nonces & nonce spaces
- Block rewards

Storyline

Coding exercises are wrapped in a science fiction story set in 2139 that takes users through some of the most important moments in the history of bitcoin. The story unfolds as the user progresses through the chapters and challenges, inviting them to keep learning. We have a rough storyline and various ideas that we are looking to refine in the coming weeks.

Experience

Our goal is to create an immersive experience that draws visitors in through rich visuals and seamless interactions. Users are invited to get started right away, without much explanation, with the first chapter serving as a tutorial that introduces the story and learning mechanics. Watch the pitch video at the top of the post for a prototype walkthrough, and find the designs here.

The images used to illustrate the story are generated via AI art tools (DiffusionBee). Avatars used in the design are from Alexa's Deconstruct-Do Bitcoin+Tech library.

Dr. Greg B.S. Wrong may or may not look like this.

Credit: Jarol. Is there anything he can’t create with DALL-E?

Development

Saving Satoshi is a react-based website using Contentlayer for content management. Code and development will be public on Github within the next few days in this repository. For a quick update on the development status, see the following video:

If you don't see a video embed here, watch it here: Saving Satoshi development update #1

Core Team

Christoph Ono - bitcoin design open-source contributor

Stacie Waleyko - bitcoin core contributor, previously Casa

Adam Jonas - Chaincode Labs

Juan Sebastian Marulanda Sánchez - Developer, previously Kumuly

Thank you to the other contributors that helped out during the Bitcoin Designathon and Legends of Lightning.

Special shoutout to John Tinkelenberg for coming in at the eleventh hour to help with the storyline!

Project's roadmap and next steps

We are looking to launch a V1 of the experience that includes 2 chapters by the end of the year.

Below is a sample of things on the roadmap:

Develop the front-end further
Extract the lessons and put them into their own repository so that we can edit the content independently from the platform.
Authentication using private keys
Real-time collaboration with other players via public keys
Built in REPLs (possibly with repl.it)
Collaborative challenges
More advanced lessons for learners looking to go deeper
Generate updated imagery via AI art tools once the storyline has been refined further
User testing and feedback gathering to refine the experience

Thank you so much for your interest in our project. If we put our heads together, maybe we stand a chance to defeat Dr. B.S. Wrong and save Satoshi.

To be continued...