Development of a virtual pet that promotes a healthier lifestyle

Abstract

Walking is one of the best exercises one can do and provides both physical and mental benefits, but even then, some of us would like a way to persuade ourselves to be more active. Thus, the idea to create a virtual pet that requires the user to walk in order to keep it well fed, was born. [1] The objective of this project is to develop an Android game that promotes a healthier lifestyle by encouraging its users to go for daily walks. The game accomplishes this by featuring a pet that requires the user to go walking, so as to get coins with which to buy food. The information on how many meters the user has walked is sent to a database for possible later analytics. This project was first conceived as an optional service that could be provided in a small community, but it could be expanded upon to become a worldwide available game.