Subversed

When I built Task Kits, I was trying to solve one annoying problem: how to maintain a power dynamic and keep it all written down so you remember.

To get going in SubTasks, you need to create tasks, point values, rewards and punishments, all tailored to your taskee. And it's a lot to do! It’s like, ‘Welcome to the app, please create a whole economy.’

I made the first Kits so people could grab a starting point and change it. Then the public library started filling up with setups people had designed around their own relationships, motivations, schedules and oddly specific needs.

I went through it recently expecting to find a few clever task ideas. I ended up taking notes on how people were designing the whole experience.

tessa-a kept a beginner setup small enough that you can understand it in a minute. gola built a service-focused economy that gives extra initiative its own value, which is the kind of detail game designers obsess over. Then I found catcat22’s solo self-care Kit, where the points system helps create a little dopamine around taking care of yourself.

So this week, I’m sharing with y’all the three Task Kits I kept thinking about afterward (I wish I’d made them!), and I might even take a few of those ideas for our own dynamic!

Rob

A Kit that lets you start already

Beginner Kit by tessa-a

Three tasks, two rewards and three punishments. You can understand the whole setup in a few minutes and start using it before you’ve somehow turned ‘let’s try this app together’ into a two-hour administrative meeting.

I have a tendency to keep adding things when I design a system. Another reward tier sounds useful. Maybe the tasks need categories. Now we need rules for bonus points and somehow I’m maintaining the Federal Reserve for two people.

This Kit knows when to stop. It gives a new tasker enough structure to start learning what motivates their taskee, which is more useful than trying to design the perfect economy before either person has completed a task.

See the Kit →

Somebody built a proper little economy

gola’s service-focused Kit

More than 500 people have downloaded this one, and I can see why.

The clever part is how it handles initiative. Standard service earns points and can also earn demerits, while work taken on voluntarily earns points without carrying the same downside. The reward shop then offers different sizes of payoff so there’s usually something within reach.

That sounds like a small detail until you think about what it teaches the person playing inside the system. Expected work stays clear, extra effort gets recognized, and the taskee doesn’t have to guess whether anybody noticed.

This is the sort of Kit that makes me want to sit down with the creator and ask how many versions it took to get there. You can tell it was built for a specific person because the mechanics are doing more than keeping score.

See the Kit →

Self-care deserves loot too

catcat22’s solo ADHD self-care Kit

This one has seven tasks and two rewards, and the creator describes it as a personal setup for earning some dopamine while keeping themselves healthy.

That’s the whole idea. Taking care of yourself can be difficult when the reward is distant and your brain has already wandered off to something more interesting. A points system gives the effort somewhere to go, and eventually there’s something waiting in the shop that you picked because you know it’ll work on you.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how SubTasks can support people who are doing this alone. This Kit shows how useful that can be with a handful of tasks and one person who understands the problem they’re trying to solve.

See the Kit →

Go poke around

The public Task Kit library has dozens of setups now, and some of the most interesting ones solve problems I never would’ve thought to design for.

That’s what I like about this whole thing. Every tasker knows one person’s brain better than I ever could, so the library slowly becomes a collection of games built for an audience of one.

If these gave you an idea and you’re still staring at the blank screen, the Build Your Kit generator can help you get a first version moving.

And if you’ve built a Kit you’re proud of, send it to me. I have a feeling the best one in the library is still sitting somewhere I haven’t clicked yet.

Come say hi

Subversed is the newsletter from SubTasks  ·  subtasksapp.com

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