A Five Cats Studios App — in development

Concept · Design Phase

Android iOS — In Development

Novara

Build the life skills you'll actually need — one quest at a time.

Too many teens reach graduation day without ever paying a bill, booking a doctor's appointment, or comparing grocery prices. Novara turns the logistics of adult life into real-world quests, with proof-first progress, parent verification, and rewards that matter — the scaffolding adulthood never came with.

◆ Real quests

50+ real-world tasks across 8 life-skill categories

◆ Proof-first

Nothing earned without proof a parent has seen

◆ Practice, not surveillance

Private reflection, no GPS, no location tracking

How It Works See the Comparison

Teens are fluent in gamified progression.
Adulthood has none.

Most teens arrive at 18 without structured practice in the logistics of adult life. The cost shows up as anxiety at move-out, costly mistakes in the first year of independence, and parent-teen friction when everyone realizes too late how much scaffolding was still needed. Novara is a two-app system that gives parents a library of real-world quests to assign, and gives teens a quest log, step-by-step guidance, and visible progress for work that finally matters.

Novara is built by Five Cats Studios, out of a little studio in Grundy County, Iowa. Same care we put into cozy games — aimed this time at the scariest part of growing up.

Two apps, one family loop

Parent assigns. Teen completes. Both see proof.

Two separate Android apps sharing a backend, so parents and teens each see only their own interface on their own device. Deliberately no shared inbox, no shared feed — the only relationship in the app is the one between parent and teen.

For Parents

Command

The Dashboard.

Browse a seeded library of 50+ quests, customize before assigning (budget, deadline, notes), triage the review queue in the evenings, and define rewards tied to badges. One-tap approve from a push notification. Skill-coverage heatmap shows where your teen has practiced and where they haven't touched.

Quest Library Review Queue Badges & Rewards Coverage Heatmap Family Settings

For Teens

Quest

The Quest Log.

Assigned quests, step-by-step instructions, and a one-tap submit for proof (photo, receipt, short video, text note). Browse a catalog of optional quests to request. Track badges earned and in progress. Private reflection journal parents can't read. Full offline support for capturing proof on the go.

My Quests Quest Detail Catalog Badges Rewards Private Reflection

The Quest Lifecycle

From assigned to earned, in five steps.

Every quest moves through the same loop. No busywork, no surveillance, no grading — just real tasks, real proof, and real feedback.

Assign

Parent picks from the library or customizes a quest. Teen gets a push notification.

Complete

Teen reads steps, does the real-world task, checks off progress.

Submit Proof

Photo, receipt, short video, or text note. One tap to submit for review.

Review

Parent approves, requests a redo with feedback, or opens a teaching moment.

Earn

Badge progress ticks. When a threshold hits, a reward unlocks — defined by you.

Eight Skill Categories

The skills adulthood never came with.

Launch library: 50+ quests across eight categories, each with three badge tiers — Apprentice, Journeyman, Master. Every quest includes a step list, time estimate, difficulty, and a required proof type.

— 01

Groceries

Solo shopping runs, unit-price comparisons, meal prep for a week. Receipt + haul as proof.

— 02

Bills & Subscriptions

Read a utility bill. Cancel a subscription nobody uses. Understand the line items and due dates.

— 03

Cooking

From first scrambled eggs to feeding the family. Build a repertoire of five meals from scratch.

— 04

Transportation

Plan and take a public transit round-trip. Book and use a rideshare. Change a tire. Pump your own gas.

— 05

Healthcare

Schedule your own doctor's appointment. Read an insurance card. Know when to go to urgent care vs. the ER.

— 06

Employment

Update your resume. Do a mock phone interview. Fill out a W-4. Read a pay stub.

— 07

Banking & Budgeting

Open a checking account. Build a real monthly budget. Reconcile a statement. Spot a scam charge.

— 08

Household Maintenance

Unclog a drain. Reset a breaker. Use a fire extinguisher. Know where the water shutoff is.

No chore charts, no sticker rewards. Novara is built for ages 15–19 — the window when real life is coming fast and practice is the only thing that makes it land. Simple chores would dilute the focus and alienate the age group we're here for.

What Makes It Stick

Proof-first progression.
Personalized by AI. Private by design.

Parents have been teaching life skills forever. The difference here is the scaffolding underneath: real proof, a reward tied to a badge, AI that adapts to your teen, and a portable artifact at graduation that actually travels into college applications and first jobs.

Badges + Rewards · The engine

The reward your teen actually wants.

Badges are earned only through approved proof. You tie rewards to badges — pick from a suggested library (privileges, experiences, contributions to savings goals) or write your own. When the badge lands, the reward unlocks. Your teen sees exactly what they're working toward, and you're not inventing consequences from scratch at 10pm on a Tuesday.

AI Quest Suggester Premium

Always the right next quest.

Recommends what to assign next based on badge progress, interests, and upcoming life events. "Heading to college in the fall? Here's a 5-quest pack that fits the timeline." You approve before it lands.

AI Review Assist Premium

Review queue in minutes.

Scans submitted proof for issues a busy parent might miss — receipt math errors, missing line items. Drafts feedback you can accept, edit, or discard. Always human-in-the-loop. Never auto-rejects.

Private Reflection

A space for thinking out loud.

The teen's reflection journal is private to the teen by default. No GPS. No location. No content scraping. The entire product is framed as practice, not surveillance — and privacy is how we keep that promise.

Co-Guide Support

Blended families, day one.

Invite a second parent, stepparent, or guardian at launch with view-only permissions. Full-permission co-guides follow. Blended families aren't an afterthought — they're in v1.

The Adulting Readiness Report v1.1

A portable PDF that travels into college apps, first jobs, and first apartments.

Auto-generated at graduation (or on demand): badge evidence, teen-approved reflections, parent notes, and category coverage. The tangible artifact that makes the badges mean something outside the app.

Our Principles

Outcomes, not app time.

We care about real-world impact — did the skill actually stick, did anxiety drop, did the teen practice broadly — not how much time the app gets. We'd rather your teen close the app and go do the task than open it seven days in a row.

What we're aiming to track

Did the skill stick? A short check-in two weeks later.
Breadth of practice — we want teens touching at least five categories in their first month.
How fast parents can close the loop — our goal is 85% of submitted proof reviewed within 48 hours.
Before-and-after readiness, measured six months in.
How alumni actually do in their first year on their own.

What we don't measure

Daily active use.
Time in app.
Notification volume.
Streak pressure without rest days.
Data shared with advertisers. Ever.

The Honest Comparison

Not a chore tracker. Not a finance app. Not a course.

Existing solutions are chore-tracker apps (too child-focused), financial-literacy courses (too abstract), or allowance apps (too transactional). Novara combines real-world task assignment, step-by-step teen guidance, parent verification, and a motivating reward loop — with zero payment rails and zero ad tracking.

What makes Novara different	Novara	Chore trackers	Finance apps	Literacy courses
Real-world quests with proof requirements	✓	—	—	—
Parent verification loop on every badge	✓	Partial	—	—
Designed for older teens (15–19), not children	✓	—	Partial	✓
Covers logistics beyond money (healthcare, transit, employment)	✓	—	—	Partial
Private teen reflection journal (parent can't read)	✓	—	—	—
No location tracking, no keystroke monitoring	✓	Varies	Varies	✓
AI review assist + quest suggester	✓	—	—	—
Adulting Readiness Report PDF (for college/job apps)	v1.1	—	—	—
Co-Guide / blended-family support	✓	Partial	—	—
No payment rails, no card issuance, no money movement	✓	✓	—	✓
Never sells teen data, never shows ads	✓	Varies	Varies	Varies