Ohhh I see.
SPOILERS
I was in the final stages of my own final project at the time so I used my experiences while writing the story and laying it out. I wrote it so that it feels like what a normal group of students would do when faced with their graduation project (despite the field) in a more realistic way.
Also yeah the losing teams facing the death penalty was probably obvious, but using the winning torture method is what I intended to keep hidden :)