A curated list of tutorials/resources for hacking online games!
From dissecting game clients to cracking network packet encryption, this is a go-to reference for those interested in the topic of hacking online games. I'll be updating this list whenever I run across excellent resources, so be sure to Watch/Star it! If you know of an excellent resource that isn't yet on the list, feel free to email it to me for consideration.
| Title/Link | Description |
|---|---|
| KeyIdentity's Pwn Adventure 3 Blog Series | A series of blog posts detailing various approaches to hacking Pwn Adventure 3. |
| How to Hack an MMO | An article from 2014 providing general insight into hacking an online game. |
| Reverse Engineering Online Games - Dragomon Hunter | An in-depth tutorial showing how to reverse engineer online games via the game Dragomon Hunter. |
| Hacking/Exploiting/Cheating in Online Games (PDF) | A presentation from 2013 that delves deeply into hacking online games, from defining terminology to providing code examples of specific hacks. |
| Hacking Online Games | A presentation from 2012 discussing various aspects of hacking online games. |
| For 20 Years, This Man Has Survived Entirely by Hacking Online Games | A hacker says he turned finding and exploiting flaws in popular MMO video games into a lucrative, full-time, job. |
| Hackers in Multiplayer Games | A Reddit post discussing hacking in multiplayer games. |
| Reverse Engineering Network Protocols | A very helpful comment from a Reddit post inquiring about reversing network protocols. |
| Deciphering MMORPG Protocol Encoding | An informative discussion from a question on Stack Overflow. |
| Reverse Engineering of a Packet Encryption Function of a Game | An informative discussion from a question on StackExchange. |
| Title/Link | Description |
|---|---|
| How to Hack Local Values in Browser-Based Games with Cheat Engine | This video teaches you how to find and change local values (which might appear as server-based values) in browser-based games. |
| Reverse-Engineering a Proprietary Game Server with Erlang | This talk details advantages Erlang has over other languages for reverse engineering protocols and analyzing client files. A live demo showcasing some of these tools and techniques is also given. |
| DEFCON 19: Hacking MMORPGs for Fun and Mostly Profit | This talk presents a pragmatic view of both threats and defenses in relating to hacking online games. |
| Title/Link | Description |
|---|---|
| Game Hacking | Game Hacking shows programmers how to dissect computer games and create bots. |
| Attacking Network Protocols | Attacking Network Protocols is a deep-dive into network vulnerability discovery. |
| Practical Packet Analysis, 3rd Edition | Practical Packet Analysis, 3rd Ed. teaches you how to use Wireshark for packet capture and analysis. |
| Exploiting Online Games: Cheating Massively Distributed Systems | This book takes a close look at security problems associated with advanced, massively distributed software in relation to video games. |
| Title/Link | Description |
|---|---|
| Guided Hacking | Discussion of multiplayer and single-player game hacks and cheats. |
| UnKnoWnCheaTs Forum | Discussion of multiplayer game hacks and cheats. |
| MPGH (Multi-Player Game Hacking) Forum | Discussion of multiplayer game hacks and cheats. |
| ElitePVPers | Discussion of MMO hacks, bots, cheats, guides and more. |
| OwnedCore | An MMO gaming community for guides, exploits, trading, hacks, model editing, emulation servers, programs, bots and more. |
| Title/Link | Description |
|---|---|
| Pwn Adventure 3: Pwnie Island | A first-person, open-world MMORPG developed specifically to be hacked! You might also be interested in Pwn Adventure 2, which is Unity-based. |
| Minetest | An open source, multiplayer voxel-based game and game engine. (A Minecraft clone, basically.) |
| Xonotic | An open source, arena-style multiplayer FPS. |
| Nexuiz | The open source, multiplayer FPS game Xonotic is based on. |
| AssaultCube | An open source, multiplayer, FPS. |
| List of Open Source Games | A large list on Wikipedia of open source games, both single-player and multiplayer. |