Greetings, dear student! In our courses, we have crafted a multitude of tasks, projects and challenges for you to undertake. Along the way, you will complete quests, unlock roles and achievements, and earn gems.
We aim to make your voyage of learning to code as delightful as possible. Should you have any questions about the mechanics of the game, fear not, for we have compiled this document that explains all. May your path be full of wonder and adventure as you explore the vast world of back-end development!
Roles 🔗
Unlocking new roles is your primary objective, and you’ll do so by gaining levels. You will start roleless, but upon reaching level 10, you’ll unlock your first role: “Apprentice”.
Your role is shown on your profile page, and it also gives you special perks and privileges in the Discord community, where your role is shown next to your name.
- Apprentice: Level 10
- Pupil: Level 20
- Acolyte: Level 30
- Disciple: Level 40
- Scholar: Level 50
- Sorcerer: Level 60
- Sage: Level 70
- Archsage: Level 80
- Mage: Level 90
- Archmage: Level 100
Levels and XP 🔗
You can earn XP in a variety of ways, but the most common way is to pass off coding exercises. Once you have enough XP, you will automatically level up. Higher levels require more and more XP to unlock. For example:
- Level 1: 0 XP
- Level 2: 400 XP
- Level 3: 880 XP
- Level 4: 1,440 XP
- Level 5: 2,080 XP
- …
Keep in mind these are totals, so going from level 2 to level 3 only requires 480 XP.
Leaderboard 🔗
There are several sections on the leaderboard, and each works a little differently. You’ll gain a spot on the public leaderboard by being one of the top students in a given category for a specific timeframe.
For example, the daily XP leaderboard is very competitive: the students who have earned the most XP in the last 24 hours are shown at the top.
Quests 🔗
Completing quests will award you with chests. These daily quests are completed by earning a certain amount of XP for the day. You can choose between 3 different quests each day, the harder the quest the more valuable the chest you’ll earn. Your choice should depend on how much time you think you will have in the platform that day. You can only complete a single quest every 24 hours. You cannot abandon a quest once you accept it! So choose wisely!
You can accept quests by clicking the Quests icon on the left side navigation menu.
Chests and Gems 🔗
Completing quests will reward you with chests, which can be opened to receive gems and random items. Chests have a chance to drop any of these items:
- Sharpshooter Armor
- XP Potions
- Baked Salmon
- Seer Stones
- Frozen Flames
Gems can be used to purchase these items from the gem store on the left side navigation menu.
Sharpshooter Sprees 🔗
A sharpshooter spree is earned when you complete 15 assignments correctly in a row without making any mistakes! Running your code does not count against you, so feel free to run your code as much as you want while debugging, but make sure you are confident in your solution before you submit the assignment! Once earned a sharpshooter spree is never lost. Completing a spree will earn you a random chest and count as progress towards the sharpshooter achievements!
How do I protect my sharpshooter progress? 🔗
Armor protects your current sharpshooter spree from being lost! If you get an assignment incorrect, and you have armor purchased, you will instead lose a piece of armor instead of losing progress on your current sharpshooter spree! Once armor has been used on an assignment, that assignment will always be protected as indicated by the shield icon being shattered and broken.
Armor will not be lost when:
- Getting an assignment incorrect that you have already completed in the past
- Your sharpshooter streak is at 0
- You have already used armor on a lesson
XP Potions 🔗
XP potions give you a temporary multiplier for XP that you earn from completing a new assignment. You can buy XP potions by clicking on the gem icon in the sidebar, as long as you have enough gems. To activate an XP potion, click the potion icon at the top of the assignment page. After a potion has been activated, you’ll get +50% XP for all assignments completed within the next 30 minutes. Activating another XP potion will extend the duration for another 30 minutes.
Baked Salmon 🔗
Baked Salmon allows you to talk with Boots without taking the 50% XP penalty on lesson completion.
Seer Stones 🔗
Seer Stones let you view solutions without taking a penalty to the XP gained on lesson completion. If you have one, it’s used automatically when you click “View Solution.” If not, you lose 100% lesson XP.
Achievements 🔗
Achievements recognize your accomplishments by unlocking a distinctive badge on your profile page. There are many different ways in which achievements can be earned, each achievement is different. You can read about the available achievements on the achievements page.
Streak Achievements 🔗
You start a streak by passing your first assignment. You gain streak achievements by extending your streak to each achievement’s set number of days. Every day you must pass a new assignment or lose your streak progress. You will not lose your streak achievements by losing your streak, but to gain the next streak achievement, you must start your streak over.
How do I protect my streak? 🔗
Frozen flames protects your current streak from being lost! If you fail to complete a new assignment before the end of the day after your latest assignment completion, and you have a frozen flame purchased, you will lose the frozen flame instead of losing your streak progress. You will have four extra days to complete a new assignment or purchase another frozen flame.
Boss Events 🔗
Boss Events are special, platform-wide events that occur once every few months at Boot.dev. During these events, the entire community comes together to take on a boss. By participating, members can earn bonus XP, chests, and progress towards their boss achievements. A minimum of 5,000 XP must be earned during each stage of the event to be eligible for that stage’s boss reward! These events are a great opportunity for collaboration with the community, as more students actively working on the platform increases the bonus XP for everyone! So encourage your friends in the community to jump in and code!
Karma 🔗
Karma is a measure of how helpful you are to others in the Discord community. Karma is shown on your profile and the members with the highest karma earn a spot on the leaderboard.
Here are some ways you can earn karma:
- Helping other students in the Discord server help forums
- Receiving emojis from other users on your messages in the Discord server
- Receiving “thanks” from other users in the Discord server