Maher Fawaz - MoodMiles

A mobile game about exercising to improve your mental wellbeing, developed over six months for Android by a team of seven people.

Role: Programmer

Available on Google Play Store

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, mission functionality, and push notifications.

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

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. The game saves every 10 seconds to ensure an intuitive user experience by preventing data loss as much as possible.

Saves are set up to function locally using Json files and also with Google Play Games. The final iteration takes into consideration issues that may arise from sending too many API requests to Google Cloud for saving games. There is also a system for resolving differences between local and online saves.

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.

PUSH NOTIFICATIONS

Similar to other mobile apps, I created a reminder notification that is sent to the user in the morning if they used the app the day prior. This is to help with user retention and engagement. It went through a few different iterations, both functionally and visually, before I settled on the final version of them.

This was the first mobile game I've ever worked on and my first major project where I was primarily a programmer. It challenged me and my existing skills and knowledge in a lot of unique ways, while providing learning opportunities. I learned how to set up UI in Unity for a mobile screen, while also learning about how to take into consideration the breadth of Android devices and their differences in features and usage. I learned of various ways to test the game on my own phone, some being more efficient than others. Learning to create a saved games system, especially one that worked locally and online and with conflict resolution, was a massive undertaking and I'm proud of the script that I wrote for it. I look forward to taking these lessons into future projects.

MoodMiles was presented to Michigan State University alumni and donors in March of 2025 as part of the Uncommon Will, Far Better World campaign at the Multicultural Center on campus.

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 was presented at Serious Play 2025 in Rochester, New York.

Serious Play_v1.pptx

A one sheet for MoodMiles was showcased to Michigan State University alumni as part of the 25th anniversary celebration of the Game Dev program in September of 2025.