I made a game you can play without anyone knowing (no visuals/sound) (apps.apple.com)
The game uses your phone’s Haptics in order to play a rhythm of “Tiks” (haptic vibrations). The user then has to try and recreate the timing of the rhythm they just felt by tapping it anywhere on the screen. It sounds easy, but getting the timing right is tricky, and so it usually takes a couple tries before your able to get it right.
The inspiration for the game came from wanting something to do in a really boring presentation. It would have been disrespectful to look at my phone, but I also needed a distraction. I typically hold my phone in these kinds of scenarios, and fiddle with the case, when it occurred to me: what if there was a game I could play just holding the phone anywhere (under a desk, in my pocket, to the side, etc.). Sometime later Tik! was born :)
I would love your feedback on it. The game is paid, but if someone would like a promo code to try it please let me know below. Link: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6720712299
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(To redeem, click on your profile icon, go to “Redeem Gift Card or Code” and enter the code. Each promo code is one time use only, so to anyone else reading this please ask for one in a new comment if you would like one!)
However, I also really have to wonder: "I needed a distraction" - smartphones have apparently conditioned us to consider boredom absolutely intolerable. I'm note sure that's a good thing.
Think about all those times before you had a phone that you would read the ingredients to hand soap while on the toilet!
>humans have disliked boredom since forever.
Maybe I'm unusual, but if I go too many days without spending a significant fraction of my time doing things I dislike, then my mental health starts to decline. Specifically, I start to lack motivation and drive with the result that I spend less time pursuing and more time procrastinating (or resting when I don't need rest).
(Doing something risky works just as well as doing something painful or uncomfortable in keeping me out of this particular bad mental place. It doesn't have to be a risk of something terrible happening: it only needs to feel not totally safe in some juicy way, not to be objectively dangerous.)
Also, I wish I knew what I just wrote when I was still a young man.
I also see this as something nice for someone who is already conditioned to be super stimulated. Instead of scrolling instagram for example, this could be nice since at least you don't get the typical level of stimulation and eye strain..
It is also a lot less stimulating than something like social media since it has no sound / screen. :)
I am happy that writing haptic or game brings it up though!
Here is ur code! Promo: WJJAYWH6KTEK
(To redeem, click on your profile icon, go to “Redeem Gift Card or Code” and enter the code. Each promo code is one time use only, so to anyone else reading this please ask for one in a new comment if you would like one!)
Where can I sign up for notification of a future Android (specifically Kindle Fire [Kids+]) release?
Maybe it works best by giving you a few bars of a tune and you make the percussion up to fit?
Whatever, I think there's something there.
It would be possible to use the touch screen for multiple inputs split into large regions, multiple fingers, etc.
If I ever release Tik! on android in the future I will reply back on ur comment again here ;)
I think it would be nice to have some UI when you first open the app, so you can at least learn how to play it. It's kind of hard to figure out what you're doing wrong when you tap and what success should look like.
Also, are there any difficulty levels? It feels like the very first sequence is kind of hard.
From what you are saying, I am assuming you bought the app (if so thank you!). When you first open the app (and every time after you completely close it from the background), there is a "?" at the top right. If you click it, it has a guided tutorial that explains in detail how the game works.
Please let me know if you have any other questions though and I can answer them here. If you are struggling a lot with a specific sequence, just close the app completely and re-launch it and the sequence will change.
I tried to set it at a difficulty that would not be too hard or easy. If it is consistently too hard though please let me know and I will make changes :)
But this worries me a little bit: "I also needed a distraction" - is it really a good idea to treat our brains this way? Why do we need distractions all the time? Why is boredom so intolerable? Also, you can simply just think about stuff, you don't have to feed your compulsion loop.
Thinking about stuff is also a distraction. And for some people there’s nothing to solve, really, as they’re okay where they’re at in life.
That’s why I feel like you’re projecting a bit; it’s not intolerable, it’s just… nothing. So if you have no other option, why not play a game?
I’m currently not in the camp of “nothing to think about” - I could sit for hours and do nothing except think. But there were (and will be) times in my life where that would not feel good - I wanted experiences!
That's the question though, do you not have any other options? Things that are more gratifying and contribute to your development than some brain-dead game?
When you take everything from the brain, and sit silently, it starts to remember. Oh, the plants, the presentation I'm going to give, financials for the month, remaining tasks at the office, etc. Maybe some worse issues which bother you but you try to ignore.
Escaping into some distraction from these uncomfortable thoughts is always marketed as the norm, the way it should be, but it's not. One should prioritize mental discipline over fidgeting and dopamine hits, IMHO.
I know not every problem in life have a solution, and battling with some problems is hard. But running away from any and every problem is not the solution.
Congrats on the release. :)
However, sometimes when we are stuck in a boring situation, it's less about being meaningfully free and more about feeling stuck with nothing to do.
In this kind of a senario, Tik! would be a better option and less stimulating than something like instagram for example, since although your mind is busy, it's not overstimulating your brain with information.
Just my thoughts on the topic, please let me know if you agree or have anything to add on :)
In many ways ADHD isn't so much a disease as an incompatibility with modern office life. It isn't "healthy" for most people to sit in an office all day, but ADHD-like people, it is a very real struggle. One mitigation is distracting a part of your brain with some activity while doing something else. There is nothing at all wrong with this.
You might as well be saying writing with your left hand is unhealthy and recommending exercises to force yourself to write with the "correct" hand.
I don't see where the commenter mentioned morality. Where do you see this?
It is not immoral in the slightest for anyone, and especially if you have ADHD. In fact if this is something someone could use to help with their ADHD that would be incredible. I was just saying that I get where the original comment is coming from as well.
Hope this clears things up!
It’s like telling someone with depression/anxiety to “get over it”.
This game is basically a digital fidget—it doesn't actually prevent you from being there in the meeting, but it does provide the little bit of background simulation that some people legitimately need in order to stay sane working a desk job.
(No affiliation)
/s
https://www.amazon.com/Wenqik-Cushion-Vibrator-Pressure-Acti...
That's enough wtf for me, I'll leave the Internet for a while.
This notebook was filled with cartoons and illustrations representing what occurred during the meeting and it looked like I was diligently taking notes. Definitely helped me focus and stay tuned-in to what was going on in the meeting.
90% of people who claim adhd, add, autism, ocd, ptsd or other 'neurodivergence' these days either self-diagnose, or let themselves be conditioned to think this by feedback from other people and their arm-chair diagnoses. This is a damaging state of mind. Either get professional evaluation or free your mind and learn to be still. You can't imagine how much time and effective use of that time you can get from simply learning to do nothing without being bothered by it.
Diagnosing these things is _very difficult and takes a lot of time_ even for a professional with tons of experience. For some people, they need multiple different professionals to evaluate them over a period of (many) years before a somewhat accurate diagnosis is yielded depending on the ailment!
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misbaha
[1] https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/the-happiness-lab-with-dr-la...
But sometimes it is worth it to want to have somme fun and not be bored, and in those kinds of scenarios Tik! can help!
It is also a good alternative to staring at a screen since it is not as stimulating, so it can be used at a time where someone would normally scroll instagram for example if the user wants to use it like that.
1. Use “you’re“, not “your”, for “you are”. It is wrong in the first “screen” image in your App Store listing.
2. Use an ellipsis — three dots, “…”, never two dots. This is in two images in your listing.
Feedback: it's pretty difficult even at the first level. As a distraction, even just easy 2-3 beat patters might be good to start with. So having difficulty levels would be great.
Maybe the difficulty comes from the strength of the haptic engine, but not sure how to easily change that (somewhere in Settings app I'm sure).
That is really nice feedback. The main thing that impacts the difficulty is how off the user's taps can be from the exact timing, and I tried to set it at a level that is not too easy/hard - but that is good feedback and will definitely look into it!
Till then, I would suggest tapping along to the haptics as they occur just to get a feel for the timing. After a couple of tries it should get easier..
Thanks again for trying it out!
For example, I like to take time off with no music or phone and just walk around sometimes and choose to be mindful, but other times I have already had a long day and don't want to be mored more..
Let me know your thoughts too though..
Have you looked at the resulting file to see what uses up the space? Perhaps it can be reduced further?
It is quite fun, I like rhythm games.
To all the people replying why i asked for a promo code: They offered it in the first place, so why can't i ask for it?
Am I the only one that can’t help seeing irony here? Search for a constant attention and distraction may not lead to a better mental condition, if not making worse as subsequents boring times will be even more boring.
Here’s some alternatives some phoneless can engage while staring at a speaker:
- imagine another life for the speaker
- mentally check your grocery list
- build inner abs, perineum and other hidden muscles
- wank yourself from a hidden hole in you pocket
- think what where the outcome and what you could have done differently in previous social interactions
- my favorite : deeply concentrate on all noises, voices sounds that does not come from the speaker itself.
Also congratulations, AFAIK this is a novel game ideas. Being bored leaded here to creativity.
right in the opening post.
Hyperbolic top level comments with phrasing like "the number of people" to make it sound large and extreme and calling it "appalling" when the author is offering promo codes in their post and people are subsequently requesting them is the actual bad behavior here.