docs: upload a new blog named course-assignment-presentation.md

Author: alvinluo-tech

src/content/posts/course-assignment-presentation.md

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+---
+title: "Titanic Time-Rift Escape Room - Course Assignment Showcase"
+published: 2025-11-06
+updated: 2025-11-06
+pinned: false
+image: ''
+description: "A course project showcasing an interactive data science escape room game. This assignment combines storytelling with hands-on challenges in anomaly detection, survival analysis, cryptography, and outlier detection using the Titanic dataset."
+tags: ["course assignment", "data science", "python", "assignment showcase", "interactive learning"]
+category: course assignment
+draft: false
+---
+
+
+# The Titanic Time-Rift Escape Room
+## A Data Science Adventure Game
+
+---
+
+## � Live Demo
+
+**[View Game Master Guide (Live Demo)](https://sharp-cloud-uploader-nine.vercel.app/gm_guide.html)**
+
+*Click the link above to see the interactive HTML version of the game with all challenges, visualizations, and examples.*
+
+---
+
+## �🌌 Story Background
+
+### Theme: The Titanic Time-Rift
+
+**Your Role:** You are a group of time-travelers. During a routine jump, your temporal engines malfunctioned, causing an emergency ejection. You've landed on the RMS Titanic on April 14, 1912, just hours before it sinks.
+
+**Your Goal:** Your time machine is "phased," and to bring it back into your timeline, you must find **4 "Temporal Coordinate Fragments"** that were scattered across the ship during your crash-landing. You must collect all 4 and get to the rendezvous point before the ship sinks.
+
+**The Challenge:** Each fragment is hidden behind a data analysis puzzle. Only by applying real data science skills can you unlock them and escape your fate.
+
+---
+
+## 🧩 Challenge 1: The Purser's Office
+### Finding the Forged Passenger Card
+
+### Story
+You've just boarded and been caught as stowaways. You're locked in the **Purser's Office**. On the desk is a stack of passenger registration cards. To prove your intelligence and earn your freedom, you must identify the **forged card** among them.
+
+### Challenge
+- **Task:** Identify 1 forged card among 6 passenger registration cards
+- **Data:** 5 cards contain authentic passenger data from the Titanic dataset
+- **Anomaly:** 1 card is statistically impossible - a cleverly generated anomaly
+
+### Technical Details
+
+#### Data Processing
+1. Load authentic Titanic dataset (891 passengers)
+2. Filter passengers with valid fare data (Fare > 0)
+3. Randomly sample 5 authentic passengers
+4. Calculate fare statistics by passenger class:
+   - **1st Class:** £5.00 - £512.33 (median: £61.98)
+   - **2nd Class:** £10.50 - £73.50 (median: £15.02)
+   - **3rd Class:** £4.01 - £69.55 (median: £8.05)
+
+#### Forged Data Generation
+The algorithm creates **statistically impossible combinations** where the fare completely falls outside the valid range for that class:
+
+**6 Possible Anomaly Types:**
+- **1st Class:** Too high (£522-£666) OR too low (£0.50-£4.50)
+- **2nd Class:** Too high (£74-£110) OR too low (£0.50-£10.00)
+- **3rd Class:** Too high (£70-£90) OR too low (£0.50-£3.51)
+
+**Design Principle:** Zero overlap ensures the anomaly is always detectable through statistical analysis.
+
+### Player Experience
+- **Display:** 6 passenger cards (Name, Class, Age, Sex, Fare, Embarked)
+- **Hint:** Box plot showing authentic fare distributions by class (min, max, median)
+- **Solution:** Compare each card's fare against the box plot to find which falls outside the expected range
+
+### Visual Examples
+
+**Box Plot Hint Chart:**
+
+![Challenge 1 Box Plot - Fare Distribution by Class](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alvinluo-tech//advanced-programming-titanic-game/main/hint/challenge_1_boxplot.png)
+
+*Caption: Statistical visualization showing min, max, and median fares for each passenger class*
+
+---
+
+**Game Interface Screenshot:**
+
+![Challenge 1 Game Interface](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alvinluo-tech//advanced-programming-titanic-game/main/examples/challenge_1.JPG)
+
+*Caption: Players see 6 passenger cards and must identify the forged one*
+
+---
+
+### Example from Generated Game
+
+**Real Passenger Cards (5):**
+1. West, Mrs. Edwy Arthur - 2nd Class, £27.75
+2. Charters, Mr. David - 3rd Class, £7.73
+3. Asplund, Miss. Lillian Gertrud - 3rd Class, £31.39
+4. Rice, Master. Eugene - 3rd Class, £29.12
+5. Maisner, Mr. Simon - 3rd Class, £8.05
+
+**Forged Card (1):**
+- **Ryerson, Miss. Emily Borie - 2nd Class, £100.76** ❌
+- **Why it's impossible:** 2nd class fares range from £10.50-£73.50, but this card shows £100.76, which is **far above the maximum**
+
+### Reward
+**✨ Temporal Coordinate Fragment 1 ✨** - Hidden beneath the forged card
+
+---
+
+## 🧩 Challenge 3: Decipher the Lifeboat Code
+### Survival Probability Analysis
+
+### Story
+You've reached the **Lifeboat Control Room**. The control console demands a mysterious **4-digit binary code** to activate the final escape system. You must deduce the code based on passenger survival analysis from Titanic dataset clues.
+
+### Challenge
+- **Task:** Predict which of 4 passengers survived (1) or perished (0)
+- **Data:** 4 passenger cards with Name, Pclass, Age, Sex, Fare, Embarked
+- **Output:** A 4-bit binary code (e.g., "1001")
+
+### Technical Details
+
+#### Data Analysis
+Players are provided with two analytical tools:
+
+**1. Survival Probability by Sex & Pclass**
+
+| Sex | Class | Survival Rate |
+|------|-------|----------------|
+| Female | 1st | 96.8% |
+| Female | 2nd | 92.1% |
+| Female | 3rd | 50.0% |
+| Male | 1st | 36.9% |
+| Male | 2nd | 15.7% |
+| Male | 3rd | 13.5% |
+
+**Insight:** Female passengers and higher-class travelers had a strong survival advantage.
+
+**2. Survival Probability by Age Group**
+
+| Age Group | Survival Rate |
+|------------|----------------|
+| < 10 | 61.3% |
+| 10–20 | 40.2% |
+| 20–40 | 38.8% |
+| 40–60 | 39.4% |
+| 60+ | 26.9% |
+
+**Insight:** Younger passengers had slightly higher chances of survival.
+
+#### Code Generation Logic
+- At least 1 survivor and 1 deceased among the 4 passengers
+- Players analyze each passenger using survival statistics
+- Form binary code: `1` = likely survived, `0` = likely did not survive
+
+### Player Experience
+- **Display:** 4 passenger cards
+- **Hints:** Interactive survival rate charts (heatmap + bar chart)
+- **Solution:** Apply statistical reasoning to predict each passenger's fate
+
+### Visual Examples
+
+**Survival Rate Heatmap (Sex vs Pclass):**
+
+![Challenge 3 Heatmap - Survival Rate by Sex and Pclass](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alvinluo-tech//advanced-programming-titanic-game/main/hint/challenge_3_sex_pclass.png)
+
+*Caption: Heatmap showing survival probabilities based on gender and passenger class*
+
+---
+
+**Survival Rate Bar Chart (Age Groups):**
+
+![Challenge 3 Bar Chart - Survival Rate by Age Group](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alvinluo-tech//advanced-programming-titanic-game/main/hint/challenge_3_age_group.png)
+
+*Caption: Bar chart displaying survival rates across different age groups*
+
+---
+
+**Game Interface Screenshot:**
+
+![Challenge 3 Game Interface](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alvinluo-tech//advanced-programming-titanic-game/main/examples/challenge_3.png)
+
+*Caption: Players analyze 4 passenger cards with survival statistics to deduce the binary code*
+
+---
+
+### Example from Generated Game
+
+**Passenger Cards:**
+1. **Fox, Mr. Stanley Hubert** - 2nd Class, Male, Age 36
+   - Prediction: `0` (Male, 2nd Class = 15.7% survival rate)
+   
+2. **Goldsmith, Mrs. Frank John** - 3rd Class, Female, Age 31
+   - Prediction: `1` (Female, 3rd Class = 50.0% survival rate)
+   
+3. **Warren, Mrs. Frank Manley** - 1st Class, Female, Age 60
+   - Prediction: `1` (Female, 1st Class = 96.8% survival rate)
+   
+4. **Nye, Mrs. (Elizabeth Ramell)** - 2nd Class, Female, Age 29
+   - Prediction: `1` (Female, 2nd Class = 92.1% survival rate)
+
+**Correct Code:** `0111` ✅
+
+### Reward
+**✨ Temporal Coordinate Fragment 2 ✨** - Unlocked from the lifeboat console
+
+---
+
+## 🧩 Challenge 4: Letters from a Stowaway
+### Monoalphabetic Cipher Decryption
+
+### Story
+The Captain has called you to the deck with an urgent mission. Telegrams have been intercepted from the ship's Marconi machine—there's a **stowaway** on board! The dastardly stowaway has scrambled one telegram using a mysterious code. The Captain has created a list of 10 suspects. Can you decipher the letter and identify the stowaway before they get away?
+
+### Challenge
+- **Task:** Decode an encrypted letter and identify the stowaway from a list of suspects
+- **Given to Player:**
+  - An unencrypted intercepted letter
+  - An encrypted letter (same sender, different content)
+  - A list of 10 possible suspect names
+  - An automatic decoder (optional hint)
+- **Goal:** Decrypt the message to reveal passenger information (class, fare, age), then match to the correct suspect
+
+### Technical Details
+
+#### Encryption Method
+- **Type:** Monoalphabetic substitution cipher
+- **Key Generation:** Randomly shuffled 26-letter alphabet
+- **Example Mapping:**
+  - Plain:  `abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz`
+  - Cipher: `qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm`
+
+#### Algorithms Required
+1. **Encryption algorithm** - Substitute each letter according to cipher key
+2. **Key generation algorithm** - Randomly shuffle alphabet to create cipher key
+3. **Passenger selection algorithm** - Ensure selected passenger is unique in the dataset
+4. **Message splicing algorithm** - Embed passenger information into the encrypted letter
+5. **Decoder algorithm** (optional hint) - Help players break the cipher
+
+#### How to Solve
+1. **Compare** the unencrypted letter to the encrypted letter
+2. **Find common phrases** between the two (big hint: "R.M.S. TITANIC" and "APRIL 12, 1912" at the top of both)
+3. **Map letters** - Determine which cipher letter corresponds to which plaintext letter
+4. **Decrypt the message** - Use the discovered mapping to decode the encrypted letter
+5. **Extract information** - Find passenger details (class, fare, age) in the decrypted message
+6. **Match to suspect** - Select the correct name from the list of 10 suspects
+
+### Player Experience
+- **Display:** Two letters side-by-side (one encrypted, one not)
+- **Hint:** Optional automatic decoder tool
+- **Solution:** Pattern matching and frequency analysis to break the cipher
+
+### Visual Examples
+
+**Game Interface Screenshot:**
+
+![Challenge 4 Game Interface - Cipher Letters](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alvinluo-tech//advanced-programming-titanic-game/main/examples/challenge_4.JPG)
+
+*Caption: Players compare the intercepted letter with the encrypted letter to break the cipher*
+
+
+---
+
+### Example from Generated Game
+
+**Intercepted Letter (Plaintext):**
+```
+R.M.S. TITANIC  
+MARCONI WIRELESS SERVICE  
+APRIL 12, 1912
+To Mr. David Smith
+Good afternoon, I have snuck aboard this mighty vessel. 
+Now time to implement my darstardly plan!
+Yours Sincerely,
+
+A Guest of the Deep
+```
+
+**Encrypted Letter (Ciphertext):**
+```
+c.s.r. yfytbfd  
+stcdibf lfckhkrr rkcufdk  
+tecfh 12, 1912
+sq rkdcky thftr fr sc jtskr sictb
+
+t mxkry ia yvk okke
+```
+
+**Solution Process:**
+1. Notice "R.M.S. TITANIC" → "c.s.r. yfytbfd"
+2. Map letters: R→c, M→s, S→r, T→y, I→f, etc.
+3. Build complete cipher key
+4. Decrypt hidden message revealing passenger identity
+5. Match to suspect list
+
+### Reward
+**✨ Temporal Coordinate Fragment 3 ✨** - Hidden in the decoded message
+
+---
+
+## 🧩 Challenge 5: Identify the Saboteurs
+### LLM-Generated Cryptic Clues & Outlier Detection
+
+### Story
+Two time-traveling imposters have taken the final temporal fragment and hidden it. A friend at Time Traveling HQ sent a transmission naming these imposters. However, enemy time travelers intercepted and warped the transmission. Now it only contains cryptic hints. Furthermore, the imposters added hints to non-saboteur passengers. Your task has two parts.
+
+### Challenge Part 1: Decode Cryptic Messages
+
+#### Task
+- **Given:** 4 cryptic messages generated by LLM
+- **Data:** 2 real passengers + 2 fake passengers from a suspect list
+- **Goal:** Identify which passenger each cryptic hint refers to
+
+#### Example Clues
+- **Clue 1:** "She moves quietly through folded hours, stitching torn timelines with grace. Her touch repairs what the centuries unravel, though she herself remains a patch upon the fabric of memory."
+  - **Answer:** Rugg, Miss. Emily
+
+- **Clue 2:** "He pens the minutes like chapters, his words binding moments that refuse to stay still. Yet even he cannot edit the fate that writes itself between his lines."
+  - **Answer:** Novel, Mr. Mansouer
+
+- **Clue 3:** "A gentleman who counts shadows instead of stars, claiming to chart constellations no one else can see. His maps lead only in circles, drawn with ink that fades before dawn."
+  - **Answer:** Cartwright, Mr. Silas (FAKE)
+
+- **Clue 4:** "Her laughter rings like chimes at the edge of perception—sweet at first, then hollow. Those who follow her melody find themselves wandering through echo instead of song."
+  - **Answer:** Bellamy, Miss. Cora (FAKE)
+
+### Challenge Part 2: Expose Data Anomalies
+
+#### Task
+The enemy time-travelers forged database entries for the imposters, but entered anomalous family data values for siblings/spouses (`SibSp`) and parents/children (`Parch`).
+
+#### How to Solve
+- **Display:** Box-and-whisker plots for both `SibSp` and `Parch`
+- **Analysis:** Compare each suspect's family counts with the rest of the Titanic passengers
+- **Detection:** Passengers whose values lie far outside the normal range (outliers on box plots) are the forged, fake records (the imposters)
+- **Conclusion:** The others, whose data fall within typical ranges, are real passengers
+
+### Player Experience
+- **Part 1:** LLM-generated riddles requiring creative interpretation
+- **Part 2:** Data visualization analysis (box plots)
+- **Solution:** Combine linguistic reasoning with statistical outlier detection
+
+
+
+### Reward
+**✨ Temporal Coordinate Fragment 4 ✨** - Recovered from the imposters
+
+---
+
+## 🎯 Game Summary
+
+### Learning Objectives
+This escape room teaches essential data science skills through immersive gameplay:
+
+1. **Anomaly Detection** (Challenge 1) - Statistical distributions and data validation
+2. **Predictive Analysis** (Challenge 3) - Probability and correlation analysis
+3. **Pattern Recognition** (Challenge 4) - Cryptography and string manipulation
+4. **Outlier Detection** (Challenge 5) - Box plot interpretation and NLP reasoning
+
+### Technical Stack
+- **Language:** Python
+- **Libraries:** Pandas, Seaborn, Matplotlib
+- **Data:** Titanic dataset (891 passengers)
+- **Output:** JSON data + HTML visualization
+- **AI:** LLM integration for cryptic clue generation
+
+### Success Criteria
+Collect all **4 Temporal Coordinate Fragments** by solving data challenges, repair the time machine, and escape before the Titanic sinks!
+
+---
+
+**🚢 The clock is ticking... Can you escape in time? ⏰**
+