Tru Luv’s companion app #SelfCare has racked up over 527k in downloads since launching seven weeks ago.
During that time the companion app has also reached the top 50 for games in the App Store in 20 countries. It charted highest in New Zealand of which it was ninth and second most in Australia where it was 11th.
#SelfCare also hit 26th in the US and 27th in Canada along with being ranked first in the US for role-playing games.
“We're so extremely touched by the kind and generous reviews on the App Store and messages and emails we've been receiving,” Tru Luv CEO Brie Code told PocketGamer.biz.
“#SelfCare is an experiment. We are trying to make a new kind of product, game-like and yet not a game. A companion who exists in a safer space who needs understanding and care and who offers the same.
“We weren't sure if anyone would be interested in it besides ourselves. But we poured our hearts into it.”
Ahead of schedule
Regarding the future, Code says the team is taking stock of player feedback as it continues to plot its course.
“We're three months ahead of where we expected to be. Right now we're taking some time to absorb our players' requests and plan where we go from here,” said Code.
“With help from Dr. Isabela Granic and her team at the Games for Emotional and Mental Health (GEHM) lab, we're looking forward to adding more personalisation over time to make #SelfCare feel the most restorative to you and give you the tools not only for short-term relaxation but also for long-term self-improvement.”
In a previous interview with PocketGamer.Biz, Code explained that #SelfLove works on the design principle of tend-and-befriend, which works to release oxytocin in players rather than adrenaline.
“Oxytocin makes a person instinctively want to take care and to connect with others," Code explained.
"If a person with this reaction is offered only opportunities to win, as in the majority of video games, they will just be bored or perhaps frustrated."
After an initial release on the App Store, #SelfCare has since launched on Android.
