Maher Fawaz - MoodMiles

A mobile game about exercising to improve your mental wellbeing, currently in development for Android by a team of seven people.

Role: Programmer

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PROJECT OVERVIEW

MoodMiles is a mobile game about completing physical health activities to improve your mental health. The game was designed by a team of four graduate students at Michigan State University and I was brought on as a programmer to help bring their Figma prototype into a working product in Unity. I worked on implementation of the UI, saved games, user questionnaire, and mission functionality.

QUESTIONNAIRE

Upon the user's first time starting up, they are prompted to answer a series of questions about their physical and mental health. The answers to these questions influence how the game will play for users.

The user's answers can change their exercise goals, with plans to also change other aspects of the game, including through the use of mental wellness checks, and alternative win conditions for missions if a user has a physical disability.

I communicated with designers in order to ensure that their work was properly implemented and to address any oversights and technical limitations. I also worked closely with another programmer on the project to ensure a high quality of work.

MISSIONS

My primary contribution was the implementation of three missions into the game. The first one I did was for Snooze the sloth, in which an on-screen timer that counts down is used to help the user get the sleep they need.

The second one I did was for Dash the dog, which utilizes the user device's step counter, via Unity's new input system, to track their progress on meeting their step goals. Additionally, there is a mechanism in place that will allow the user to make progress if the app is closed, as Android step counters are set up to count the total number of steps walked since the last device restart.

The third one I did was for Bruno the bear, to track the number of calories the user has burned. Calculation of this is based on the user's weight given at the start, the speed of which the user is moving according to the devices accelerometer, via Unity's new input system, and the amount of time that has passed since the mission started.

SAVED GAMES

More recently, I implemented a save system for the game. This was my first project that I've worked on utilizing such a system, so I got to learn a lot from it.

The system is tied to a manager object that persists across scenes, and tracks mission goals, progress, and the current game state which is tracked with Booleans. All of these variables are static and are read from their respective script by the manager. Each time these variables are changed, the save data function is called to ensure an intuitive user experience and preventing data loss as much as possible.

The system is currently set up to function locally using Json files and also with Google Play Games.

UI

Designs and art for the UI were made in Figma, and I worked to implement it according to how they were designed. As this was my first mobile project, a lot of trial and error went into figuring out how to best display the game for mobile devices, ensuring that it filled the whole screen.

I utilized my phone extensively while testing the UI, as well as other functions of the game that couldn't be tested on my computer.

MoodMiles was showcased as a poster during HCI International 2025 in Gothenburg, Sweden. An abstract about the project can be found here.

If you would like to purchase a copy of this abstract, you can do so here with my affiliate link.

If you would like to purchase a copy of the book that the abstract is included in, you can do so here with my affiliate link. Below is a discount code you can use at checkout.

Flyer_978-3-031-94162-7.pdf

MoodMiles is slated to be presented at Serious Play 2025 in Rochester, New York from August 13th-15th.

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