Forge

The Prodigal Developers

About this app

Most focus timers assume every 25 minutes is the same 25 minutes.

Game development does not work like that. Debugging wants short, sharp loops. Modelling wants long uninterrupted stretches. And the only date that really matters is the next build.

Forge is a Pomodoro timer rebuilt around how games actually get made.

RITUALS, NOT PRESETS
Cadences named for the work they suit, so you choose by what you are doing rather than by arithmetic.
• Bug Hunt — 15/3. Short loops so you resurface and re-read the stack trace.
• Deep Code — 50/10. Long enough to hold a whole system in your head.
• Asset Grind — 45/15. Modelling, texturing, rigging.
• Playtest — 30/10. Play, take notes, fix, play again.
• Sprint — 25/5. The classic, for a mixed day of small tasks.
• Milestone — 90/20. A push before a build deadline. Use sparingly.
Or set your own.

TRACK BY DISCIPLINE
Every task and every finished block is tagged: Code, Art, Design, Audio, Level, Build, Playtest, Debug, Ship, Admin. At the end of the week you can finally answer the question that matters — where did the time actually go?

ESTIMATES THAT GET HONEST
Size tasks in focus blocks rather than hours. Forge measures the gap between what you estimated and what it took, then hands you the multiplier: you estimated 4, plan for 6. That is the feedback loop that makes the next milestone plan believable.

A DEVLOG YOU DID NOT HAVE TO WRITE
When a block ends, Forge asks for one line while the context is still in your head — and your break is already running, so it costs you nothing. Export any day as Markdown, straight into standup or a devlog post.

MILESTONES IN VIEW
Give a project the thing you owe it and the date. "Vertical Slice — 12 days left" sits above the timer all day, and turns red when it is close.

KNOW YOUR HOURS
Finished blocks plotted on a 24-hour wheel. Most people are wrong about when they are sharpest.

ALSO
• Streaks, a daily block goal, and an 18-week consistency heatmap
• The timer keeps perfect time in the background, or with the app closed
• Alerts fire the moment a block ends, even with the phone face down
• Keep-awake mode so the dial stays glanceable beside your machine
• Chimes are struck bells, synthesised for this app, not notification blips
• Honours your system reduced-motion setting

PRIVATE BY CONSTRUCTION
No account. No ads. No subscription. No analytics. Forge does not even hold the internet permission — it cannot phone home, because it has no way to. Everything lives on your device. You paid once; that is the whole deal.

Built by The Prodigal Developers, an indie game studio, for our own studio first.

What’s new

First release.

• Rituals — cadences named for the work, not the arithmetic: Bug Hunt, Deep Code, Asset Grind, Playtest, Sprint, Milestone
• Tag every block by discipline, then see where the week actually went
• Estimate tasks in focus blocks and watch your estimates get honest
• A one-line devlog captured the moment a block ends, exportable as Markdown
• Your next milestone and its deadline, above the timer all day

Offline. No account, no ads, no subscription.