Why Did We Create Legend’s Path?

I wrote my first software package in the health and fitness space over 30 years ago. Since then, millions of people have had a fitness assessment, workout, or healthy lifestyle plan produced by software I’ve created. I have also worked with dozens of large organizations to help promote exercise in their population. A good organization does this because they know that moving more, with energy, on a consistent basis, really works. It is the single most effective way to improve health, increase energy, and avoid disease. Active people are, generally speaking, less depressed, more productive, have fewer diseases, and express greater confidence in the future. In helping these organizations, I have been consistently faced with the question of what inspires people to move more.

It turns out that many popular ideas about increasing activity simply don’t work.

Simply telling people about the benefits of being more active? It doesn’t work. Trying to make people feel guilty for being sedentary? That doesn’t work either (it just makes people angry). People don’t reliably become more active when they have more time or when they buy exercise equipment. Most people who join a gym last only a few weeks so that doesn’t usually work either. A good role model or gym buddy may help but is no guarantee.

As far as I can tell, there seem to be two things that get people to adopt real change. One is a health scare that drives home the cost of a sedentary lifestyle. People visiting the hospital the first time they go into diabetic shock or have a heart attack tend to get very motivated to make a change. I have seen this first-hand in some of the hospital wellness programs I have worked with.

The second, and most important, predictor of an active lifestyle is a sense of a purpose. This may sound rather quaint but it really goes to the heart of what makes human beings tick. If you see yourself as the prime actor in your own life, pursuing a purpose important to you, then you are far more likely to be active.

So, in 2016, I brought together a team to explore concepts related to purpose, engagement, and story-telling. And, in particular, how these concepts related to the pursuit of an active lifestyle. Jane McGonigal’s talk on Gaming and a Better World was pretty popular during this time as was Gabe Zichermann’s work on gamification. So, pulling on that thread, we decided to create not just a gamified fitness app but a deep, story-driven game that would help our players see their daily activities in a new, epic, light. We created, quite literally, seven apps before we finally found the formula for the Legend’s Path. That’s when I knew we had something special.

Legend’s Path adventures are fantasy journeys that use beautiful art, engaging gameplay, and inspiring music to give you a fun, engaging, and inspiring context for becoming or staying active. These are not shallow or cartoonish stories either. Our stories are challenging, even dark, adventures deep into unknown terrain.

They are dramatic stories with a full measure of challenges and triumphs.

They are filled with epic purpose and awesome characters.

They can, if you let them, inspire you to take control of your fate.

How To Get Started

You can start right now by clicking the link to the Apple Store below from your iPhone. This will take you to our first adventure, Journey to Misthaven! Next, commit to finishing this journey in the coming months. If you fail, hit restart and try again - there is no additional cost to restart or play again.

Completing one of our journeys should fill you with immense pride! At 450 miles - which translates to 900,000 steps or 90 active hours - our journeys are worthy of recognition and applause. We encourage you to look forward to the day when you can share this accomplishment, either privately with friends and family, or by posting your keepsake on social media. And, when you do finish, we hope you’ll embark on more adventures with us!

Dr. B on 1/1/2025