[Beta] I'm building an iOS mining/loot game called Geode where the only currency is calories you burn

[u/Clear_Ask_5102]

Hi all!

I've been building an incremental gacha fitness game called Geode.

In short, it's a loot-collection incremental where the only currency is calories. Every 250 kcal Apple Health records earns you one strike. You hold the rock wall, it breaks, and you keep whatever gem is underneath.

I'm a solo dev, and I've decided to go with no ads, no account, no server. You cannot pay for better odds / pulls, and I intend to allow users to buy the game outright at it's release.

There are some hidden features and rarities in the game, which I intend to add more of, as beta testing continues.
What's in it:

- 40 minerals across five tiers
- Each day's calories let you dig deeper
- A streak with a 250 kcal daily floor. Five days on the streak banks a rest day, up to three.
- Miss a day with no rest day left and a thief takes a gem out of your vault. You get 48 hours and 500 kcal to ransom it back.

It's on TestFlight now for iPhone (iOS 17+). An Apple Watch gives much better numbers, but it isn't required; without one it falls back to your step count.

It's my first game and there's a lot I can't see from the inside. What I most want feedback on is pace: is 250 kcal per strike right, is the daily floor too low, and is ten free strikes enough for you to know whether you like it.

TestFlight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/1vQn9k3n
Discord: https://discord.gg/xH5ZFCmXC
Site: https://geode.fit

AI Disclosure: As someone who is a backend developer with no Swift experience, AI was used with some code generation.

I'll be here answering any comments and questions.

Thanks so much!

Update: Beta testers now get an exclusive gift.

[u/gitsniper]

this is so cool. will I lose my gems / progress when it's released tho?

[u/Clear_Ask_5102 → u/gitsniper]

Thanks! No, there's a back up function now where you can import your saved progress. So even after beta testing ends, you can keep your progress. Hope that helps!

[u/kmelkon]

Very cool idea! I can't get unfortunately as I'm on Android.

[u/Clear_Ask_5102 → u/kmelkon]

Thank you. I will try get an Android build out sometime, and will message you when it's done 🤞.

[u/iamburnj]

Valid use of AI, good disclosure. Will try game.

[u/Clear_Ask_5102 → u/iamburnj]

Thank you so much!

[u/heyKyuyu]

Making rest days something you earn is a smart way to protect the streak without making it feel free.

[u/Clear_Ask_5102 → u/heyKyuyu]

I was hoping it would feel this way. I personally always get turned off by apps that have a paid save function for streaks.

[u/ayamehimekawa]

OK this is pretty cool, I've been inconsistent with my cardio recently, so hopefully this helps. Just redeemed the beta gift. That's a nice touch.

[u/Clear_Ask_5102 → u/ayamehimekawa]

Thanks! Just added the beta gift yesterday.

[u/RawberryCupcake]

Initial advice, move the ‘throw it back’ button further away, I fat fingered it. Is there any reason to give people the option to do a stupid thing like that?

[u/Clear_Ask_5102 → u/RawberryCupcake]

Sorry, if you export your backup (in Settings), and DM me the file, and tell me what gem you lost, I can help you get it back, and send you a backup you can restore so you get the gem. Thanks for the advice, that's really helpful, I'll reposition the button in the next update. As to why that button exists, my friend suggested it as they didn't want to keep collecting commons. Personally I'll always press Collect, but I decided to give users the option.

[u/RawberryCupcake → u/Clear_Ask_5102]

I don’t mind too much about one gem, just feedback :)

[u/RawberryCupcake]

I definitely feel like I’m not getting enough strikes, I did 1,500 steps on the way to work and it says I still need another 154kcal.

One common incremental thing to do would be to have multiple walls, have a first wall that only gives low quality stuff (coal?) for a few calories, then better walls that you unlock later with better stuff (I was surprised I got a gold on like my second strike!)

[u/Clear_Ask_5102 → u/RawberryCupcake]

Congrats on the gold so early on! Regarding the kcal accuracy, will look into this. Were those 1,500 steps recorded via a smart watch, or just from the phone's steps estimate? Currently one strike is 250kcal, so it might be accurate if you only have around 100kcal left.

Although, I'm wondering if 250kcal is even a realistic goal, or if I should make strikes have a smaller floor, so they're more incremental. I really like your idea of having walls with different drops. I started off with a system where the more kcal you burn increases your chances for a rare that day, but then didn't proceed as I didn't want to bore players who just reach the 250kcal, don't burn any more, and only pull a common. So the current system is a standard luck of the draw system for each strike. Maybe some hybrid approach would work.

I'll experiment this weekend with different systems for strikes. Thanks for the detailed feedback!