I was really looking forward to the release of EpicWin for iPhone. Ever since it was first announced, I thought that it might be interesting to see whether an RPG-based productivity app could shake things a little bit in the App Store. Yes, the App Store is full of crappy “business” and “productivity” apps; on the other hand, there are some exceptional tools like OmniFocus and Things that lead the mobile GTD revolution.
Still, many people find these apps boring. They don’t get things done with them because they don’t feel motivated enough. You missed your daily review? You get a badge on the homescreen. And they don’t get things done.
EpicWin is meant for all those people who want to be productive but haven’t found the right iPhone app yet. By making your to-do list feel like a quest, can EpicWin really change the way we organize and complete our tasks?
EpicWin is a good app, but I expected a little bit more from the first release. Let me just throw the bad stuff out there now: it doesn’t support the Retina Display, it doesn’t have any sounds, the app feels weird (engineering-wise) sometimes. I know that the devs are working on the first two (though it would have been a wise choice to delay the release and come out with a complete 1.0 version), but as far as the code is concerned I don’t know what else can be done. Basically, the app uses OpenGL so the scrollbars and scrollviews are “fake”. As Mike Rundle noticed last night, this leads to very odd UI implementations. What does it mean when using the app? Scrolling is somehow “strange” and feels “innatural” (for the iPhone standards) here and there, the top search bar in the Quests screen disappears under the character / compose bar every once in a while. I hope that the developers will find a solution to these issues in the future updates.
That being said, the app is good. The main concept is: you choose a character, you customize it, you enter tasks and complete them to unlock loots and level up. It’s an incentive to getting things done which is a first on the iPhone, and I’m pretty sure will convince many users to reinvent their workflow. With a few considerations, though. EpicWin is not a GTD app, nor it fits in the Pomodoro philosophy. It’s a very basic to-do list application that allows you enter an item with a due date, an “epicness” value (basically, points you get when completing an action), a “context” (does the task belong to Strenght, Stamina, Intellect, Social or Spirit?) and a repeating option. As you check items off you move forward in the map view and unlock loots. You can share your achievements on Twitter and Facebook.
EpicWin is simple both as an RPG and a to-do list app, but the mix of these two elements makes the app feel fresh and innovative. EpicWin won’t persuade hardcore OmniFocus users to change their beloved workflow, nor it will make RPG gamers go out and say that this is the best thing ever happened to iPhone gaming in 2010. Still, it perfectly shows how it’s still possible to be unique by combining elements no one thought could be a good fit together before. From this standpoint, EpicWin is a great app.
EpicWin is available at $2.99 in the App Store.
