HushHour - Pomodoro app

Focus and watch your cozy cafe grow - a Pomodoro timer that rewards your concentration with a blooming 3D space

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HushHour - Focus Timer with Growing Cafe HushHour is a cozy Pomodoro timer app that transforms your focus sessions into a growing 3D isometric cafe. Each time you complete a 25-minute focus session, you earn experience and coffee beans - your cafe automatically levels up and fills with charming furniture and decorations. The more you focus, the more your peaceful digital sanctuary blooms. Unlike typical productivity apps, HushHour provides emotional rewards for your hard work. Watch your empty cafe transform into a vibrant, warmly-lit space as you build healthy focus habits. Stay consistent to collect different cafe themes like forest cabins and seaside terraces. Perfect for students, remote workers, and anyone seeking a gentler approach to productivity. Core features: customizable Pomodoro timer, ASMR ambiance mixing, focus streaks, weekly statistics, and automatic cafe progression. Premium subscribers unlock exclusive cafe themes, faster growth, and ad-free experience.

Inspiration We noticed that most productivity apps feel cold and mechanical - just timers and to-do lists. We wanted to create something that makes focus time feel rewarding and emotionally satisfying. The idea came from combining the proven Pomodoro Technique with the cozy, healing aesthetic of cafe simulation games. Why shouldn't your hard work result in something beautiful you can actually see and enjoy? What it does HushHour is a Pomodoro timer that grows a 3D isometric cafe as you focus. Complete a 25-minute session, earn experience points and coffee beans, and watch your empty cafe automatically fill with furniture, decorations, and warm lighting. The app includes customizable timer settings, ASMR sound mixing (music + nature sounds), focus streak tracking, and weekly statistics. Users can collect different cafe themes like forest cabins and seaside terraces by staying consistent with their focus habits. How we built it

Frontend: Flutter for cross-platform iOS/Android development with custom UI Backend: Supabase (PostgreSQL) for database, with Directus as API layer and admin panel Key Features:

Local notification system for background timer alerts Relative coordinate system for consistent cafe layouts across devices Level progression system with carefully balanced XP curves Sound mixing engine for customizable ASMR ambiance RevenueCat integration for premium subscription management

Challenges we ran into Our biggest challenge was balancing technical complexity with core values. Initially, we planned an interactive 3D cafe that users could freely rotate and explore. But this wasn't just technically difficult - we discovered a more critical problem: the risk of users getting lost in cafe decoration instead of actual productivity. We asked ourselves a fundamental question: "Why do people go to cafes?" The answer was simple. It's that perfect white noise between complete silence and chaos, that subtle ambiance. People don't go to cafes to rearrange furniture or redesign spaces. They go to focus on their work within that quiet, cozy atmosphere. This realization completely transformed our design philosophy. We redefined the cafe from a 'playground' to a 'reward'. Users focus on their Pomodoro sessions, and the cafe simply grows quietly and automatically in the background. We minimized interaction time with the cafe, investing instead in ASMR sounds and minimal animations during focus sessions. The hardest part was accepting this paradox: "We built this beautiful 3D space, but we won't let people play with it." But this IS HushHour's essence - protecting the value of undisturbed focus. Your cafe is visual proof of your effort, not a toy that steals your attention. Accomplishments that we're proud of We're proud of creating a productivity app that doesn't feel like work. The automatic cafe growth system removes the complexity of manual decoration while still providing deep satisfaction. Our leveling system is mathematically designed to provide quick wins early (level 12 for 2nd cafe in ~1 month for active users) while offering years of long-term goals. We also created a subscription model that feels fair - even free users get the full core experience, just with ads. What we learned We learned that "less is more" in MVP development. Initially, we planned drag-and-drop furniture placement, but realized automatic growth actually creates a better, more focused experience. We also learned the importance of emotional design - small details like ambient animations and sound mixing can transform a functional app into something users genuinely care about. Most importantly, we learned how to balance monetization with user respect. What's next for HushHour

Content expansion: New cafe themes released quarterly (seasonal themes, collaboration themes) Enhanced animations: Subtle movements like weather changes, steam from coffee cups Social features: Optional friend comparison and shared focus sessions Accessibility: More timer customization options and color schemes Potential future: Limited customization options (furniture skins, decoration slots) without overwhelming the core focus experience

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