Android Candy: More Life Gamification

You might remember a couple months ago my mention of Habitica, which is a gamification of your daily to-do list. One of my friends on Twitter mentioned an app he uses on Android called Wokamon, which ties in with your FitBit (or any of several other "step-counter" devices). Based on how many steps you take in a day, your Wokamon grows and evolves into a larger, more powerful...well...Wokamon.

It's absurd, but it's still incredibly fun to see your steps make a little Tamagachi-like digital critter grow. The other aspect of the game is that tapping on the screen will earn you crystals, which can be used to purchase upgrades. Those upgrades make your Wokamon grow faster. You also can watch short ads to get a treasure chest full of crystals. That allows you to buy even more things and also gives the game's developers a little ad revenue for their efforts.

I have no idea whether Wokamon is something I'll keep playing with, because there doesn't seem to be much in the way of competition. Maybe that's just because I'm the only person I know in real life who uses it. Still, it's fun for now, and it has forced me to consider another project for the future—namely, how to create an automated "screen tapper" so I can earn crystals all night long while I sleep. I figure anything that helps me think of crazy future projects is worth my time. If it sounds interesting to you, just search for "Wokamon" in the Google Play store. It's free and oddly entertaining.

Shawn is Associate Editor here at Linux Journal, and has been around Linux since the beginning. He has a passion for open source, and he loves to teach. He also drinks too much coffee, which often shows in his writing.

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