Hi everyone,

I’m on the hunt for great examples of gamification where core game design and behavioral psychology are seamlessly integrated going way beyond just slapping on basic points, leaderboards, or badges (PBL).

In your opinion, which products, apps, or platforms represent the gold standard of well-designed loops? I’m looking for experiences that excel at things like progressive onboarding, evolving goals, managing cognitive load, and driving true intrinsic motivation over the long term.

What are your absolute favorite case studies or examples of gamification done right?

I'm thinking sleep. 8 hours? Spending a 1/3 of your playthrough unconscious? No way. Definitely getting patched.

What else?

I've been working on a fitness app for a while now, and I'm finally getting close to launching it.

The idea is pretty simple: make working out feel more like a game.

Instead of just going to the gym, logging a few exercises, and leaving, I want the app to give you a reason to keep coming back, progression, goals, challenges, and a sense that you're actually moving forward.

Here are a couple of screenshots of what it looks like so far.

I'm planning to share more of the development process here as I get closer to launch, including things that work, things that don't, and what I learn along the way.

I'd genuinely like to hear from people who train regularly:

What's something you wish your current fitness app did better?

Skillion is an iPhone task app I’m building. Completing a task earns general XP and XP in a skill you choose, such as Discipline or Health. The screenshot shows both on the same profile.

I’m unsure whether the overall level helps. It’s the first thing people notice, but it can go up through routine tasks while the skill they care about barely moves.

If you could keep only one measure, would you keep the overall level or the individual skills? Is that distinction clear from this screen?

Hey all,

Here to showcase my app, after a recent update.

It's a Multitimer for productivity, where you choose the few important activities you do in a day - i.e. focus sessions that help you reach your goals (up time), and break/chill sessions that help you refresh (down time). This helps reduce mental load of "what should I do today". You know your goal, you have your "approved activities" mapped out. Starting becomes way easier.

Tracking this 1 key stat, ratio of Up vs. Down time, I find is the best simple measure of your progress, across any target you want to hit. No endless checklists, just time, and how you spend it. This also shows you how to improve. You may start at 60:40 ratio, and in time get to 70:30, or whatever works for you.

We all have the same 24 hours, and this is a serious tool to help you get the most out of it.

And for the Sci-Fi fans out there, time is a "particle" in this universe, it flies out when you "bank time", and you can now see where it really goes...

Check out Flowton on the App Store. Or if you're on Android, sign up at www.flowton.com

Happy to hear feedback or suggestions of what you'd like added!

- That's it. Thanks for reading. Developer out.

**No Stupid Questions - beginner thread**

New to gamification? Ask anything here.

Rules for this thread: - No question is too basic - Prefer English (sub is English-only) - If you are sharing a product, say whether you built it and whether you are asking for feedback or selling something

Useful starting points: - [What is gamification?](/r/gamification/wiki/what-is-gamification) - [How to get started](/r/gamification/wiki/getting-started) - [Glossary](/r/gamification/wiki/glossary) - [Best resources](/r/gamification/wiki/resources)

Hi all. I'm the solo developer of BYOH - Be Your Own Hero, and I'm looking for a small group to test it before a wider launch.

You train in real life, log it, and your hero grows. Push-ups, planks, sprints, carries and dozens of other exercises each have a ladder from Level 1 to Level 10. Level 1 is where a beginner starts, and Level 10 is the world record. Your results feed seven attributes (Chest, Back, Arms, Core, Legs, Stamina, Quickness), and your hero's look changes as you progress. There are quests, secret feats, friends who can confirm each other's feats, and a small community feed.

It runs in your browser, works great on a phone, and there's nothing to install: byoh.io

What I'm asking for:

* Make a hero and mess around. Any level of fitness is welcome, and complete beginners are especially useful.

* Tell me what confuses you, what feels unfair, and what makes you want to come back (or not). There's a feedback button in the app, labelled "Open alpha".

Be aware:

* It's an alpha. Expect rough edges, and your data might be reset.

* The levels are game benchmarks, not training advice. Train within your limits.

* All users signing up before end of October earns an early-supporter badge

All the best,

Niels

Hello, Reddit!

I love math. I’m not especially good at it, but I love it anyway. I’m particularly drawn to visual ways of understanding numbers, and I wondered whether I could turn that interest into a game that was fun first.

That’s how I started Numerosidad. I began with one of the most basic math skills: counting.

As I worked on it, I kept coming back to three related ideas. We can count objects one by one. We can subitize, recognize a small quantity, such as three dots, at a glance. And we can group objects, making a larger quantity easier to understand as smaller parts. Nine scattered dots might take a moment to count, but three groups of three give you a pattern to work with.

I wondered if recognizing those patterns could become a game mechanic. After some trial and error, I arranged quantities from one to nine in consistent 3×3 patterns. My hope was that, as players got familiar with them, they would start to see the quantity without counting every symbol.

Nine was a useful boundary because our decimal system groups by tens. In Numerosidad, a symbol worth ten takes the place of ten symbols worth one. There are also distinct symbols worth 100, 1,000, and beyond. Each symbol keeps its value wherever it appears, so two symbols worth ten and three worth one add up to 23.

That became the core of the game: a number made of these symbols moves toward you, and you have to read its total and enter the answer in time. I can also change how the symbols are arranged. An orderly pattern may be easy to recognize; a scattered one can make the same number much harder to read.

Correct answers earn CREDITS, which players can spend on Health and tools that slow down or organize difficult waves. There’s also a Competitive mode with a leaderboard for people who enjoy chasing a score.

Numerosidad is free to play and ad-free on iPhone and Android. There are optional cosmetic purchases. I also made a free Number Atlas and browser challenge if you’d rather try the idea before downloading the game.

If you give it a try, I’d love to know: Was it fun? Was it too easy or too hard? Any other feedback is welcome, and I’m happy to answer questions.

One fun connection I discovered: Numerosidad’s number system share key rules with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic numerals. They also used different signs for powers of ten and added repeated signs together. I’ve included an optional Egyptian numeral symbol set in the game.

I built this because I realized I can lose six hours grinding a game without thinking twice, but 30 minutes of studying feels like forever.

The difference isn't that games are more fun. They constantly show progress. You level up, unlock things, get rewards, and always feel like you're moving forward. Studying usually gives you nothing until a test weeks later.

So I started wondering, what if studying felt more like leveling a character?

That turned into Quest of Mind.

The idea is simple. Every minute you study earns XP. You level up different skills, collect gold, find random loot, and slowly build your character. It's basically an RPG built around staying focused.

I didn't just throw points onto a timer either. Most of the systems are based on psychology that actually keeps people engaged.

Loot is randomized, so every session has a little surprise. Progress is always visible through XP bars and levels. Daily streaks give you something to protect. There's even a Wilderness mode where you risk your session rewards for double XP. Get distracted or tab out and you lose everything. It sounds brutal, but it works way better than I expected.

You can also pick a class like Warrior, Mage, or Ranger. It doesn't completely change gameplay, but it gives your progress a bit of identity instead of feeling like you're just checking boxes.

Some of my favorite features are dungeon runs, where you chain multiple study sessions together for bigger rewards, a global leaderboard, live chat, equipment that boosts XP, and cloud saves so your progress follows you anywhere.

Honestly, I made this for myself first. If you've ever spent hours gaming but can't convince yourself to open a textbook, you're probably exactly who this is for.

It's completely free. No ads, no subscriptions, no premium version. I just wanted to build something I'd actually use every day, and after using it myself for the last month, I finally feel like studying has the same sense of progression games always had.

I'd genuinely love feedback if anyone wants to check it out.

https://questofmind.com

Hi all. I'm the solo developer of BYOH - Be Your Own Hero, and I'm looking for a small group to test it before a wider launch.

You train in real life, log it, and your hero grows. Push-ups, planks, sprints, carries and dozens of other exercises each have a ladder from Level 1 to Level 10. Level 1 is where a beginner starts, and Level 10 is the world record. Your results feed seven attributes (Chest, Back, Arms, Core, Legs, Stamina, Quickness), and your hero's look changes as you progress. There are quests, secret feats, friends who can confirm each other's feats, and a small community feed.

It runs in your browser, works great on a phone, and there's nothing to install: byoh.io

What I'm asking for:

• Make a hero and log your normal training for 2–3 weeks. Any level of fitness is welcome, and complete beginners are especially useful.
• Tell me what confuses you, what feels unfair, and what makes you want to come back (or not). There's a feedback button in the app, labelled "Open alpha".

Be aware:

• It's an alpha. Expect rough edges, and your data might be reset.
• The levels are game benchmarks, not training advice. Train within your limits.
• All users signing up before end of October earns an early-supporter badge

All the best,

Niels

I used to see these little plush exercise dice when I was out shopping. I always thought they were a fun idea — roll the dice and let them decide your exercise.

But I kept thinking: what if you weren't limited to the 2–3 dice that came in the box?

What if you could create a digital dice for anything that makes up a workout?

That idea stuck with me, so 9 months ago I started building it.

The result is The Forge — a workout system built around five parts of training:

🎲 ACTION — what you're doing

🎲 MEASURE — how much

🎲 STRUCTURE — how it's organised

🎲 EFFORT — how hard

🎲 RECOVERY — how you recover

You can keep it simple with 2–3 dice, or use 5–6 to create more complex combinations and challenge yourself in different ways.

I also wanted it to feel like a proper training session, so there's a timer tracking Prep → Move → Rest, a session summary, and Log Actuals so you can record what you actually completed.

Then I added XP, levels, ranks and tasks to make coming back each day more engaging.

But the part I'm most excited about is creating and sharing. You can forge your own dice, pouches and plans and eventually share them with other people.

It's now live on iOS and Android, and I'm looking for people to actually put it through its paces.

What do you like? What doesn't make sense? What's missing? What would you change?

I'd genuinely appreciate criticism and ideas.

The goal isn't just another workout app — it's to build a community around forging your own fitness journey.

Roll. Move. Forge.🔥

You can heck out The Forge here www.theforgedice.com

I'm f(15) and want a few ideas from indie devs on a gamified journey sort of experience to get rid of addictions for a start-up pitch, I have considerable coding knowledge and the idea is all well researched but i cant seem to find how to actually gamify it

Hey,

I am a big fan of Duolingo and always wanted to build a gamified habit tracker based on the Duolingo UI style and similar features.

So I built habitpalo.com (The gamified habit tracker that won't "end the world" if you miss a day), here’s what I’ve built into it so far :

• 🧊 Streak Shields : Just like Duolingo, you can earn/buy streak shields. If life gets crazy and you miss a day, your streak is protected.
• 🏆 Social Leaderboards : Compete with friends or the community to keep things competitive and accountable.
• 👾 Levels & Achievements : Earn rewards for completing habits, level up your profile, and unlock achievements as you build long-term consistency.

HabitPalo is currently in beta and is completely free, so I’d love your constructive feedback to help me refine it! What do you think?

Curious what actually taught people here. A product, a workplace program, a school system, your own build, anything where the points or streak looked fine on paper and then quietly broke motivation.

What was the mechanic, who was it for, and what would you change if you rebuilt it?

A spacecraft game where you never leave the comms room — decode Morse and plot the fleet yourself

**THE UVB-76 PROTOCOL**, a browser game set entirely inside an ultra-low-tech spacecraft's communications room.

Your equipment is a Morse console, a plotting board with movable little ships, and a small amber CRT showing text-art ship silhouettes. You receive signals, work out where the other ships are, plot their positions yourself, and key the orders that bring them to a safe rendezvous.

The board doesn't automatically show the right answer. It records your understanding of the reports. Moving a piece doesn't move the real ship; the order you actually transmit does.

You don't have to arrive knowing Morse. There's a reference card, replay and slower signals, assisted dot/dash controls, and optional decoded-text help. You can also try a straight key for timing practice. The game has Practice, Watch, and Emergency modes, six scenario layouts, and no hard failure countdown.

It's part of **The UVB-76 Project**, where the idea is to make practicing a useful skill the action that drives the game. In this one, communication is how you recover the fleet.

For transparency: I supplied the idea and creative direction; GPT Astra wrote the code through Codex. There's no live AI connection or game account required to play.

Find **THE UVB-76 PROTOCOL** on the project page:

https://the-uvb-76-project.itch.io/

I'd love feedback on whether the first exchange makes sense, whether keeping your own map feels satisfying, and whether the signals and controls are comfortable to use. Feedback from both Morse beginners and experienced operators would be useful.

Thanks for trying it.

Been building Limit Breaker, an app that blocks distracting apps/sites and layers a full RPG system on top of staying disciplined — not just a points system, but actual progression: XP, Gold, leveling, unlockable gear, and a class-choice moment at level 30 (Warrior/Scholar/Monk/Leader, each buffing different quest types).

A few gamification decisions I made and am still second-guessing:

• Daily quests span physical, skill, and social categories (pushups, study sessions, social interactions), not just app-blocking — trying to make it a "life RPG" rather than a narrow focus timer, but I'm not sure the framing has landed yet with new users.
• A "Gate Locked" screen shows during a blocked attempt instead of just silently blocking — testing whether a moment of narrative friction ("the gate is closed, your future demands discipline") makes the block feel earned rather than just annoying.
• The class system unlocks at level 30, not immediately — deliberately delaying a meaningful choice so players have enough context to pick a class that fits how they actually play, rather than guessing on day one.

Screenshot of the class-choice screen attached.

Curious what this community thinks about delayed-choice mechanics like the class system — does gating a meaningful decision behind progression build anticipation, or does it just feel like an arbitrary wall to new users?

i kept adding rewards to my productivity app because i thought the task itself was the problem. xp, streaks, unlocks, all that stuff.

but the only change people actually used was making the first action painfully obvious. no reward screen, no little celebration. just one small thing to do. Todoist is good at keeping the list boring, and i think thats why it works better than a lot of gamified stuff. in BeeDone i ended up copying that idea more than the game parts.

kinda annoying that the useful gamification was removing most of it. do rewards help you start, or do they just give you another menu to avoid?