Optimising your productivity has been a hot topic in recent years. We can see an abundance of book releases telling you how to stop procrastinating and how you can use your time to its fullest potential, the rising popularity of the pomodoro technique, aesthetic study videos that show you that studying can be an enjoyable activity and even a lifestyle for some, productivity routines from the most successful people and many more! The gaming industry has picked up on those trends and indie developers have released or are working on games to help you structure your work time, relax, and stay focused. A popular example is Virtual Cottage with its simple and charming concept. But are there more games like Virtual Cottage?
Being a full-time postgraduate research student and having two additional jobs where I work from home, managing my work time is essential for me. My personal preferences are an environment with non-distracting background sounds or music (I just can’t focus when it’s quiet), and being able to use a pomodoro timer. The pomodoro technique is a method where you set a timer for a focus session where you work without distractions on your tasks. When the time is up, an alarm will ring and you take a break for a set amount of minutes, then return to your work in focus mode once again. How many minutes of focus and break time you want to use is up to you, but most people prefer a range of 20-30 or 50-60 minutes for focus time and 5-10 minutes of break time.
I recently went on a search for productivity games on Steam in order to find the best one and in this article I want to show you the apps/games that I found and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. As with most games, the ranking of the game would highly depend on your own preferences and needs so this collection should be understood as more of a comprehensive list than a ranking.
Let me know if you found your new favourite productivity game here!
Virtual Cottage
Virtual Cottage is one of the most popular games in the study community (with player counts skyrocketing during the first month of the covid-19 pandemic!) and one of the first recommendations you will usually get.
• Price •
Virtual Cottage is free to download!
• Introduction and Setup •
The game is very simple, you get an isometric view of a small cottage with a small character sitting at a desk, facing away from you, and working on something. When you load the game, you can set a focus timer and ask the game to play a sound when the time is up.
• Ambience •
The game colours and light change as the day progresses in real time. The changes are very subtle and tasteful and I particularly enjoy the fairylights at night. There is no way to change the time of day in-game.
The cottage feels cozy and it is basic enough to not be distracting while you work.
• Customisation •
You can toggle between a cat and dog pet to keep you company, choose whether you want to enjoy the sounds of rain, snowfall, wind, or a soothing fireplace! Virtual Cottage comes with 25 different lo-fi tracks that you can play while you work. You can remove songs from the in-game playlist (you can toggle them back on later) but you cannot add more tracks from your own library. There is an optional music DLC available on Steam, which adds 24 additional tracks composed by LØNÆR.
• Timer •
Virtual Cottage only offers a simple timer with an optional pleasant alarm sound when the timer runs out. There is no option to set focus timers and break timers and put them in a sequence.
• To-Do List •
Virtual Cottage offers a simple to-do list in which you can add tasks, change them, and mark them as done. There is no system to establish priority or define sub-tasks for processes.
• Performance •
Virtual Cottage is simple and lightweight and can easily run in the background while you work on your tasks.
• Final Comment •
Virtual Cottage is great if you are looking for an easy to use, beautiful, and free timer to help you structure your work day. The ambient sounds are of great quality and I find myself using them more than the lo-fi music, which can get quite repetitive during the day. This free and lightweight options comes with restrictions, but the features it has are well developed and nice to use.
Cozy Time
Cozy Time has a similar approach to Virtual Cottage with an isometric room setup where you can watch a little character work while you work on your own tasks.
• Price •
Cozy Time costs £2.09 on Steam as of today.
• Introduction and Setup •
After launching the game, you get to choose what you want to work on today and set a timer both for focus and break time. You can choose whether you want to hear a sound when the time is up for focus and break time and choose whether you want to count focus pause towards your time worked.
• Ambience •
Cozy Time focuses on light pastel colours and a friendly appearance. The room is very detailed and the atmosphere is relaxing. The ambience changes during the day, either with real time or locked to a time that you choose. This game also checks the box for cute fairylights that come on at nighttime. The character moves from the desk to the sofa during break time, which is a nice little detail.
The ambient sounds in the game are mostly environmental sounds, with choices ranging from birds to wind and rain sounds. The quality of the sounds is only mediocre.
• Customisation •
Cozy Time offers a range of customisation options. Players can change the background colour or choose their own image to add to the game. The game also has an in-game store where you can redeem flowers for visual changes to your room or a new pet. You earn flowers by being in focus time, 60 minutes of focus earn you 20 flowers. Cozy Time has multiple playlists with lo-fi music that you can choose from and build your own playlist. It is possible to add music from your device so you can completely customise what you want to listen to!
• Timer •
The timer in Cozy Time is a bit more advanced with different settings for focus and break time. The alarm sound between sessions is very pleasant. Unfortunately it is not possible to loop the timers and you have to manually start a new session every time break time is up.
• To-Do List •
Cozy Time has a to-do list that saves across multiple sessions. You can add tasks, mark them as done, and remove them. There is no feature to prioritise or declare sub-tasks.
• Performance •
Cozy Time is a bit heavier on the CPU than Virtual Cottage and can slow your PC down if you have other demanding applications open at the same time. This will depend on your device and how you use it.
• Final Comment •
Cozy Cottage is a decent upgrade to the concept of Virtual Cottage, with timers for both focus and break and the option to customise your room as you accumulate focus time. Virtual Cottage also has a calendar where you can track how much you used focus time in the past. If you value features like these, the low price of the game will probably be worth it for you.
Chill Corner
Chill Corner is a virtual place to relax, listen to music, play in-game minigames and decorate your room.
• Price •
Chill Corner is free to play!
• Introduction and Setup •
After loading Chill Corner, you are prompted to choose a category for your activity, set your timer and choose whether you want an alarm after the session or not. You can also disable the in-game minigames to reduce distractions if you want to.
• Ambience •
The game has a soft 3D style with small animations of the character and the animations. You can change the image behind the window and the weather to change the ambience of the game. The atmosphere feels relatively homely but also a little stiff. The quality of the music and ambient sounds can be a little rough at times.
• Customisation •
Chill Corner offers a lot of customisation in the game. You can choose from different characters and pets (some are paid DLC), choose from two pre-made rooms or make your own. You earn coins automatically while in the game that you can spend on objects that you can then place freely in your room(s).
• Timer •
The timer in Chill Corner is a simple timer where you can only define the time until the alarm rings, you cannot distinguish between focus time and break time or loop the timer.
• To-Do List •
Chill Corner has a to-do list that you can use to input tasks and mark them as done. You can optionally save your to-do list if you wish to keep it. There is no function to prioritise tasks or create sub-tasks.
• Performance •
Being a 3D game with animations, the game requires a few more resources than a simple timer and to-do list. Depending on your device, you will notice your computer slow down if you have other demanding apps open.
• Final Comment •
Chill Corner offers an expanded experience and a good amount of visual customisation for players. I like the fact that you can optionally play minigames, for example during break time. The whole app feels a bit clunky though, a lot of features are hard to find and the quality of the audio could be better. If decorating a room and having a customisable character is more of your thing though, Chill Corner could definitely be the right game for you!
The Legend of Pomodoro
The Legend of Pomodoro chooses a more gamified approach to productivity. The main game concept consists of collecting resources through focus time, and then upgrading your farm, your character and embarking on adventures!
• Price •
The Legend of Pomodoro has a free Demo, the full version costs £5.89.
• Introduction and Setup •
The Legend of Pomodoro has a traditional game start screen where you can press start to start playing. You can also change the language of the game in this place.
• Ambience •
The Legend of Pomodoro is a pixel game with simple pixel graphics and a top-down view of a farm plot. In another screen, you can watch your hero during their adventure in the wilds, slaying enemies and progressing slowly.
• Customisation •
The Legend of Pomodoro has few customisation options for how it looks but the upgrades you can buy with the tomatoes you earn during focus time will change the way the game works accordingly. This game focuses more on mechanics than looks.
• Timer •
The Legend of Pomodoro has a great customisable timer. You can select different times for focus time and break time and even create your own custom pomodoro cycle by combining different settings. This is the most advanced pomodoro timer I have seen in a game to date.
Once you have started the timer, the game has an optional focus mode that can help you to stay away from the many distractions that the game has to offer!
• To-Do List •
The Legend of Pomodoro does not have a to-do list but you could use the description feature of the pomodoro sessions to indicate which tasks you want to do in which session.
• Performance •
The Legend of Pomodoro is relatively lightweight and could probably run well in the background even if you are using other applications to do your work.
• Final Comment •
I really like that The Legend of Pomodoro is taking a more gamified approach to productivity. Those who like idle games are probably going to love the game and perhaps gain a lot of motivation to get their work done if they can then enjoy spending their rewards! The daily rewards in-game also support regular use of the game.
Spirit City [in development]
Spirit City is the new and promising upcoming release in the productivity game sphere this year. While the game is still in development, I played a playtest version of the game and will report on the state of the game based on my experiences from the playtest.
!!! Please keep in mind that playtest features are not final and that there will be changes, additions, and fixes in the final version !!!
• Price •
unknown
• Introduction and Setup •
When you first start launching Spirit City, you will be greeted by the beautiful room that is your home in this game! You can then choose to just start working using the timer in the bottom right corner or move on to customising your experience. Using the tools on the right hand side and the music/sounds on the bottom.
• Ambience •
The ambience in Spirit City is very whimsical and aesthetic. I love how the light shines through the window and how the high-quality sounds work together to create an immersive experience. When you toggle on one of the sounds with a little sparkle icon, the room will change accordingly. For example, if you turn on rain, raindrops will be visible on the windows and the mood will change. If you turn the fireplace on, you can see the relaxing flames in the little stove on the right.
• Customisation •
Spirit City allows you to fully customise your avatar to make the character more identifiable. You can choose between realistic colours to make a digital version of yourself or create the perfect study buddy with alien colours – it’s up to you! You cannot change how the room looks but you can choose to have your character sit at the desk, on the bed, on the windowsill or in front of the fireplace.
You can choose to listen to lo-fi music from different playlists or pause the music and enjoy a variety of ambient sounds to fit your needs.
• Timer •
The pomodoro timer in Spirit City lets you set focus timers and break timers and choose how many sessions you want to do today. This offers the flexibility to work session by session or structure your entire work day in one go.
• To-Do List •
The to-do list in Spirit City lets you add tasks and mark them as completed. There is currently no way to set priorities or create sub-tasks.
• Performance •
The performance is a pretty big issue in Spirit City at this stage of development. The game uses a lot of resources and most devices will struggle to open many other apps in addition to the game. This is something that needs to be optimised as the development of the game progresses.
• Final Comment •
Spirit City is an extremely promising game that could easily become my go-to game for work days. The atmosphere in this game is excellent and I love that players can create their own avatar to study alongside with. The user interface looks great and it is easy to find what you are looking for. I’d love to see further optimisation of the game’s performance in future updates as well as a way of showing both the timer and the to-do list at the same time.
