In Spring 2017, The Octalysis Group opened a design challenge on Habitica gamification to fans and experts. The challenge: use the Octalysis Framework and the Strategy Dashboard to analyze Habitica — a popular gamified productivity app — and recommend concrete product improvements backed by the science of gamification.
Several submissions were so strong that Yu-kai Chou decided to share them publicly. Ivan Milev’s entry was among the finalists. His deck maps Habitica’s features onto all eight Core Drives, including Core Drive 7: Unpredictability & Curiosity and Core Drive 5: Social Influence & Relatedness, then uses the Octalysis Strategy Dashboard to recommend product changes.
Today, Ivan Milev is Associate Partner for Eastern Europe at The Octalysis Group. Below is the Core Drive map he drew of Habitica, what it shows about where the app’s motivation comes from, and his full slide deck.
Speed Run Notes
- Ivan Milev’s finalist entry maps Habitica’s features onto all eight Core Drives of the Octalysis Framework, from boss fights and badges to guilds, pets and hero death.
- Habitica leans hardest on Core Drive 2 (Development & Accomplishment): gold and silver, experience levels, quests, boss fights, a progress bar and badges.
- On his map, Core Drive 1 (Epic Meaning & Calling) and Core Drive 7 (Unpredictability & Curiosity) carry a single element each: “improve your habits” and item or egg drops.
- The Octalysis Strategy Dashboard then ties those mechanics to desired actions, win-states, rewards and business metrics. The challenge asked entrants to use it to recommend product changes.
In This Article
Author Credibility: Yu-kai Chou
Yu-kai Chou created the Octalysis Framework after studying gamification since 2003 — years before the term entered mainstream vocabulary. As a Human-Systems Architect & Behavioral Designer, his framework has been applied by LEGO, Microsoft, Porsche, Coca-Cola, Salesforce, and MrBeast, impacting over 1.5 Billion Users.
Chou has taught the Octalysis methodology at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Tesla, Google, BCG, and IDEO.
His work has been cited by Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Wired, US Department of Energy, NIST, NSF, NCBI, US Department of Education, ClinicalTrials.gov, and 3,700+ more academic publications. Explore his books here.
How Ivan Milev Mapped Habitica onto the 8 Core Drives
The first job in any Octalysis analysis is an honest inventory: take every feature the product already has and decide which Core Drive it actually pulls on.
Ivan’s inventory of Habitica fits on a single slide.
| Core Drive | Habitica elements on Ivan’s map |
|---|---|
| Core Drive 1: Epic Meaning & Calling | Improve your habits |
| Core Drive 2: Development & Accomplishment | Silver and gold, experience levels, quests, boss fights, progress bar, badges |
| Core Drive 3: Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback | Item combinations, character development and attribute points, character appearance, writing your own tasks, creating your own rewards |
| Core Drive 4: Ownership & Possession | Avatar, virtual goods (items), collection sets of pets and mounts |
| Core Drive 5: Social Influence & Relatedness | Feedback from other players, parties, guilds, tavern chat |
| Core Drive 6: Scarcity & Impatience | Gems, eggs, hatching potions, food |
| Core Drive 7: Unpredictability & Curiosity | Item and egg drops |
| Core Drive 8: Loss & Avoidance | Incomplete tasks lead to hero death (loss of level, gold and equipment) |
Five of the eight Core Drives carry three or more Habitica features each, while Core Drive 1, Core Drive 7 and Core Drive 8 carry one apiece.
That shape is the starting point for every recommendation. A thin Core Drive 7 matters in a habit app, because once the drop tables are familiar there is little left to wonder about before tomorrow’s check-in.
The Strategy Dashboard Behind the Recommendations
A Core Drive map tells you what motivates people inside the product. The second half of the challenge brief was the Octalysis Strategy Dashboard, which forces the designer to name the behavior the business needs before changing anything.
For a habit tracker, the Desired Action is the daily check-in, and the Business Metric is whether people keep coming back to do it. A useful recommendation connects a Core Drive gap on the map to one of those boxes.
Ivan Milev’s Full Submission Deck
Updated 8 October 2026. Added the Octalysis Framework and Strategy Dashboard diagrams, a Core Drive table from Ivan Milev’s map of Habitica, a Speed Run summary and links to the other challenge entries.
Related Reading
- The Octalysis Framework for Gamification & Behavioral Design
- Best Gamified Productivity Apps
- What is Gamification?
- Simón Duque’s Habitica Design Challenge
- Jacob Bender’s Habitica Design Challenge Submission
- Nathaniel Tseng’s Habitica Design Challenge Entry
- Mattias’s Habitica Design Challenge Entry
- Rob’s Habitica Design Challenge Entry
- The Strategy Dashboard for Gamification Design
- Books by Yu-kai Chou