These productivity games make completing your to-do list fun

If you believe me, and I know many of you do, you may already be familiar with productivity games. These games motivate you to complete tasks, progress on projects, and maintain good habits using many tried-and-true coping mechanisms – all hidden in a cloak of cute creatures, customization, and soothing music.

But there are plenty of productivity tracking games that prove to be more of a hindrance than a help. Some are so addictive that they’re actually distracting, others are full of ads, and others simply fail at the most important element of a good productivity game: motivating you to complete real-world tasks to progress in the game.

I’ve tested dozens of digital productivity tools with varying degrees of gamification over the years (most of them before my diagnosis). The only two I recommend – Spirit City: Lofi Sessions And Virtual Cottage – fits seamlessly into my workflow and gives me the nudge I need to complete certain tasks without the software becoming cumbersome or, worse, just adding another task to the pile. I don’t use any of these tools every day. Instead, I run it on a second monitor or in a small window when I’m having a really hard time concentrating, my to-do list is getting confusing, or I’m just bored with the work I’m doing.

Spirit City: Lofi Sessions Includes a range of tracking, focus and productivity tools such as to-do lists, customizable Pomodoro timers, habit trackers, background noise that can be turned on and off, a diary and lots of lo-fi beats to study and relax. The functionality itself is excellent, with useful hotkeys for adding list items and the option to upload your own music or play music from a YouTube channel. But it really shines in its design and characters.

The goal of the game, in addition to completing your real-world tasks, is to attract ghosts by spending time in the game. The level of distraction and procrastination involved in game prep is ideal for people like me – when I first started the game, I spent about 10 minutes designing my character and room, and playing around, whether I wanted horns or a halo; an iced coffee or a hot matcha at my desk. But to buy more cosmetics you need coins, which means you have to complete real-world tasks and attract ghosts.

The Spiritdex is full of clues (which you can get more of as you complete quests and pomodoros) on how to find spirits: “Note: I heard of a spirit that loves boba tea. It’s a great pick-me-up when my energy is waning from typing for days!” For example, to attract this ghost, I placed my character at the desk with a cup of boba and watched to see if the Spiritdex reported that I had started the ghost to attract something that takes some time – a perfect opportunity to knock something off your to-do list.

Once you’ve lured them in, you can adjust your mood and you can let them sit with you as you work in play, whether you’re sitting by the fire on a starry night or reading by the window in the rain. The game manages the difficult balance between intrigue and distraction very well, finding ways to keep the player coming back without giving the player too many in-game tasks.

Where to play: MacOS, Windows

Virtual Cottage of DU&I is a much simpler, smaller version of Ghost town – and it’s completely free. If you don’t have a gaming PC, this is probably the right option for you as it is a lightweight game that can run in a small window alongside your other programs.

When you start the game, a window will ask you to enter what you want to focus on today, be it work, studying, writing, or something else. Then you program how long you want to concentrate and check whether you want a sound when your timer runs out. That’s it – your time has begun.

While you work, you can watch your little avatar sitting at his desk and working. You can hesitate for a few minutes by fiddling with the settings: cat or dog companions, hair color, skin tone, and sliders that let you adjust ambient sounds like a thunderstorm or a crackling fire. There’s also a music player with 27 lo-fi songs, which are fine – but I usually opt for my own music or just listen to the sounds of rain.

Virtual Cottage doesn’t push incentives on you, but rather gives you something nice to look at while you work and a pleasant tool for tracking your to-do list. If you prefer to work for longer periods of time at a time, this may be an even better option Ghost townwhich allows you to level up and unlock more game content in the background.