Gamified Life: Habits Meets SNES (opens in new tab)

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14 pointslefnire13y ago10 comments

10 comments

9 comments · 3 top-level

_b8r013y ago· 3 in thread

Hasn't this already been done with Epic Win[1]?

Is anyone able to explain the differences between the two beyond cosmetics?

[1] - http://www.rexbox.co.uk/epicwin/

lefnireOP13y ago

EW is badge-based, and iPhone only. This will be traditional SNES-style, highly social, and web first - then cross-device mobile.

In all honesty, I didn't know about EW when I built this. When I saw EW after finishing the website, I thought "God damn it! Effing spot on, too" and walked home dejected. But their Android app has been long in the works, there won't be web, and in all honesty - I want something REALLY rpg. My goal with Habit is to push as many possible traditional RPG features into the app, starting with a 5-person party system, healing and all (see http://goo.gl/TvPTg)

eterpstra13y ago

+1 for web based interface. I grabbed Epic Win when it was first released, but was put off by the fact that every task had to be typed in with the iPhone keyboard. This is a huge pain if you have a lot to do in one day :D

Plus, it doesn't look like EW gets many significant updates any longer. Glad to see someone else taking a crack at this.

TeMPOraL13y ago

-1 for web-based interface. What I want is to use it off-line (why, oh why, do I need to have Internet everywhere for everything?) and have off-line access to data (e.g. to plot myself something for fun or insight).

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bromagosa13y ago· 2 in thread

Maybe I missed the point, but isn't it too easy to cheat here? I could add 40 fake ToDos each day and mark them as done. No need for them to be fake actually... I could just add eat, breathe, walk, think, work, exist, etc.

I know the point of motivation boosters is that you won't cheat because you want to improve yourself, but there are users who will cheat and that'll make the level system bogus. The most motivated users who do their homework and never cheat will lose in front of the least motivated users who never do their homework and cheat.

Am I wrong?

lefnireOP13y ago

Two things. (1) I plan to mitigate cheating where possible, for example hindering rapid-click. (2) Some players will play solo (in which you'd just be cheating yourself), and others will play in parties. I'm going to make party-building "manual", almost like a LAN party - you actually enter their user ids, and you can only have 5. No "auto-select from facebook". This way, you'll only choose close friends. The goal is for the party system to be an accountability partnership, and biggest-loser challenges amongst friends don't cheat on their weight checkins. So yes you can cheat, but due to the nature of the application I'm not worried about people actually cheating. (There won't be any global high score)

bromagosa13y ago

Thanks for the explanation, those look like good solutions.

arscan13y ago· 1 in thread

Is there an underlying story / quest that your little guy progresses through as he gets stronger? I always thought that the story component is what helped make those old rpg's great. Obviously it would defeat the purpose if you spent too much time in the game vs. actually getting real life stuff done. But I think there can be a good balance where the "grinding" aspects of the rpg are replaced with productive life activities.

I think I would rather fund that development activity than an android front end.

lefnireOP13y ago

possibility, I'll bounce that around & keep it on my mind grapes

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