If you feel me, and I know many of you do, you may already know what productivity games are. These games encourage you to complete tasks, make progress on projects, and maintain good habits with plenty of tried-and-true coping mechanisms – all masked in a cloak of cute creatures, customization, and soothing music.
But there are countless productivity tracking games that prove to be more of a hindrance than a help. Some are so engaging that they even distract you, some are full of ads, and some simply fail at the most important element of a good productivity game: motivating you to complete real-life tasks to progress in the game.
I’ve tested dozens of digital productivity tools over the years (most before I was diagnosed), with varying degrees of gamification. The only two I recommend – Spirit City: Lofi Sessions And Virtual house – fit seamlessly into my workflows, giving me the push I need to complete certain tasks without making the software cumbersome, or worse, just another task to add to the pile. I don’t use any of these tools every day. Instead, I activate them on a second monitor or in a small window when I’m really having trouble concentrating, or my to-do list is getting clunky, or I’m just bored with the work I’m doing.
Spirit City: Lofi Sessions
Spirit City: Lofi Sessions includes a slew of tracking, focus, and productivity tools like to-do lists, customizable pomodoro timers, habit trackers, background noise you can turn on and off, a journal, and loads of lo-fi beats for studying and relaxing. The functionality itself is excellent, with handy keyboard shortcuts for adding list items and the ability to upload your own music or play music from a YouTube channel. But it really shines in its design and characters.
The aim of the game, in addition to completing your real tasks, is to attract ghosts by spending time in the game. The amount of distraction and procrastination involved in setting up the game is ideal for people like me. I spent about 10 minutes designing my character and my room when I first started it up, toying with whether I wanted horns or a halo; an iced coffee or a hot matcha at my desk. But you need coins to buy more cosmetics, which means completing real tasks and attracting ghosts.
The Spiritdex is full of clues (of which you can get more as you complete tasks and pomodoros) on how to find ghosts: “Hint: I’ve heard of a ghost who loves boba tea. It’s a great boost when my energy runs out from typing all day!” To lure that spirit, for example, I would sit my character at the desk with a cup of boba and see if the Spiritdex reports that I have started to lure the spirit, which takes some time – a perfect opportunity to knock. something off your to-do list.
Once you’ve lured them, your ghosts can be customized and you can choose to have them sit with you while you work on the game, whether you’re kicked by the fire on a starry night or sitting on the windowsill reading while the raining outside. The game executes the difficult balance between intrigue and distraction very well, finding ways to keep you coming back without giving the player too many in-game tasks.
Where to play: MacOS, Windows
Virtual house from DU&I is a much simpler, smaller version of Ghost city – and it’s completely free. If you don’t have a gaming PC, this is probably the option for you, as it’s a lightweight game that can run in a small window alongside your other programs.
When you start the game, you’ll be asked in a window what you want to focus on today, whether it’s work, studying, writing, or something else. Then you program how long you want to focus and check whether you want a sound when your timer is ready. That’s all: your time has begun.
While you work, you can see your little avatar sitting at his desk and working. You can delay it for a few minutes by fiddling with the settings: companion dog or cat, hair color, skin color, and sliders that let you adjust ambient sounds, like a thunderstorm or a crackling fire. There’s also a music player with 27 lo-fi songs on it, which is fine, but I usually opt for my own music or just listen to the rain sounds.
Virtual house doesn’t shove stimuli down your throat, but rather gives you something fun to look at while you work and a nice tool to keep track of your to-do list. If you prefer to work for longer periods of time, this may be an even better option Ghost citywhich allows you to level up and unlock more in-game stuff in the background.