The Mobile Game Where Real Life Is the Ultimate Win
Disclaimer: This is “NOT “ a clickbait title.
In a world where screen time has skyrocketed and mental health concerns are on the rise, a group of passionate CMKL freshmen set out to flip the script. Their mission? To create a mobile game that doesn’t just entertain but also promotes healthier lifestyles. This ambitious project combines health, gaming, and social connectivity, driven by the belief that the addictive nature of games can be used for good. But beyond the technical frameworks and design sketches lies a story of learning, resilience, and insightful reflections—shared candidly during a recent interview with the team and their advisor, Ajan Justin.
The project centers around a health-focused mobile game designed with Unreal Engine 5, combining real-life activities with in-game progress. Players earn rewards not by grinding levels on their screens but through actual healthy habits like walking, engaging socially, and answering trivia questions that keep the mind sharp. Characters in the game, inspired by endangered species like axolotls and sand cats, grow stronger as players improve their real-world health, creating a powerful metaphor for personal growth.
One of the most significant technical challenges the team faced was diving headfirst into Unreal Engine 5 without prior experience. “We jumped straight into using Unreal Engine with no background in game development,” shared one of the students. The learning curve was steep, but the team saw this not just as an obstacle but as an opportunity to explore endless possibilities.
Interestingly, the project is also deeply rooted in psychological theories. The students drew heavily from B.F. Skinner’s operant conditioning model, focusing on positive reinforcement to encourage healthy behaviors. “We give rewards or points to players to increase the likelihood of repeating health-related behaviors,” one team member explained. This approach transforms mundane tasks like walking or drinking water into rewarding activities, reinforcing habits through immediate in-game gratification.
But with the goal of promoting health through a game, the elephant in the room was clear: How do you prevent the app itself from becoming just another source of screen addiction? The team tackled this by designing gameplay loops that require players to engage with the real world.
“The key is withholding in-game rewards unless players practice healthy, non-screen activities,” they noted.
The idea is to create a symbiotic relationship between the game and the player's lifestyle, where progress in one fuels growth in the other.
When it comes to monetization, the team acknowledges the challenge of keeping the game fair for all users. They are considering a balanced approach with options like locking some story content behind modest paywalls (e.g., $1 for new chapters), limiting character selection with purchasable characters, and offering customization options through a simple storefront for non-game items to personalize avatars. This model aims to ensure that paying for extras enhances the experience without giving unfair advantages in gameplay.
Ultimately, this project isn’t trying to ‘fix’ screen time or pretend technology isn’t part of our lives, nor is it about creating the lesser of two evils where screen addiction is justified by good intentions. Rather, it’s about meeting people where they are by using the very same tools that often distract us to actually help us grow. The team recognizes that technology, in isolation, cannot drive meaningful change, but it can be designed to support the habits and mindset shifts that matter. As one student put it, “If it actually works and helps users, then it has a lot of potential.”
Coming from a junior writing this, I cannot wait to see the project blossom, transforming not just digital characters but real lives along the way. To the reader, stay tuned for what our CMKL freshmen cook up in the next article!
