Games made progress visible. The apps promised a record of the work. Most of the ones I loved only did one of those.
I've been building mmodoro since 2020, about six years of trying to turn passion into a side project.
It's a modest setup: a timer, daily notes, and a pixel character that heads out while you focus. Name the work, start the timer, see where the day went. The web app is usable; the desktop companion is experimental.
Gamification is something I'm still learning. Duolingo is the obvious example of a product where gamification matters to its success. Marketing classes at UQAM stretched that idea for me, past video games. The one claim I'm learning toward is the mission: Gamification at its peak, for real-world benefits.
No progress you can buy, no character that sulks when you stop, no daily streak waiting to shame you after a day off. The sessions and notes stay useful even if you never look at the adventure.
I use it too, badly on some days, which is sort of the point.