(EDIT: Some people asked, so I created a community for the game here too with some useful links on the pinned post: !walkscape@lemmy.world)
Hello there, Lemmy! It’s been a while since I last posted here, and a lot has happened since!
First off, we’re once again inviting new players to our third closed beta wave. If you’re interested to give it a try, you can apply to the beta by following these instructions. If you feel like you want to support the development and want to gain access immediately, you can do so here.
I started this project more than two years ago as a hobby while studying Computer Science in the university. I have ADHD and finding motivation to be active is tricky, but gamification works really well for my dopamine craving brain. I first off tried the games on offer from Google Play, but they all either had horrendous monetisation (MTX, ads, or both) or were too distracting. Especially GPS games usually need you to have the game open all the time while you’re trying to enjoy being outside and they also pose privacy concerns.
So that’s when I started to think of what would do the trick for me, and combining my life long RuneScape addiction into fitness seemed like the obvious choice. And I’m happy to say that I’ve definitely been walking nearly three times as much this year compared to last year.
WalkScape in nutshell is a game where everything that happens in the game requires you to walk. So if you want to explore or travel to a location, want to chop some trees, or you want to craft stuff - everything needs steps. You set your character to do what you want, and then go for a walk. The game counts your steps even when it’s closed, and you can open it ip when you’re taking a break or back home to see your progress and maybe switch what you’re doing.
The game doesn’t use GPS, so you can walk on a treadmill. And it can track your steps when you don’t have internet connection, and only when opening the game needs you to be connected.
Here’s what we’ve added in the last three months since I last posted:
- Achievement system with almost 50 achievements. And an achievement rewards track, giving you unique items or cosmetics for your progress.
- Social features. You can add friends in the game and have your personal leaderboards with them.
- A new underwater realm (that has merfolk!) with a bunch of new locations, more than hundred new items, new crafting recipes, activities and more.
- Realm reputation system. You can become famous in any of the four fantasy realms we have now and gain rewards for doing so.
- Job boards & jobs. You can accept jobs that function as miniquests and gain rewards and reputation for completing those. These work as an item sink in preparation for player trading which is what we’re working on next.
- Privacy features. These are all opt-out, so your steps and profile are hidden from others unless you specifically want them to be visible.
- And a lot more!
As always, I’m happy to answer to any questions or feedback you may have about the game. Also from last post, I know many users here might have GrapheneOS, and the game seems to be running on it fine if you run it sandboxed.
Keep walking, and stay hydrated! ❤️
Some pictures:
Edit: small errors and had the same picture listed twice
Edit 2: I created an official community for the game here on Lemmy !walkscape@lemmy.world after many people asked for it. For official development blogs, I still recommend to check WalkScape Portal as I can’t promise we can post them here as well. But we’ll see!
Mildly interested. Concerned about monetization. I don’t do subscriptions or microtransactions, and “pay once and you’re good” is pretty rare, probably in part because there’s ongoing costs to running a server and in part because lol most people will charge as much as possible. But that’s why the only MMO I play is guild wars 2. You buy the game and you’re good. They sell expansions every couple of years.
Also you should mention lemmy on your site where you mention discord and reddit.
There will probably be an offline/ironman game mode that is a one time purchase
We don’t have an official community here (at least, not yet). And I’m quite hesitant to add one, as we already have our hands full with Discord, Reddit and WalkScape Portal communities.
When it comes to monetisation, the model we’ve planned is what seems both the fairest and most sustainable when compared to any other alternative, which is why I chose it as our plan. You can either buy it once to gain access to the offline “ironman” mode, or pay an affordable monthly subscription to play the online mode - both of which will be free to try out, so you’ll know if it’s worth your money before paying anything.
Going with single purchases only isn’t as sustainable for an online game. It’s much harder to keep it supported and expanding it long-term (and pay for servers) if we’re relying on single purchases, and it would tie us into needing to plan expansions that bring extra revenue to keep things running. By having an affordible subscription, we can keep content coming rapidly without needing to consider what kind of expansion pack and price tag do we need to put these new features behind, which I feel is much better from both game design and player perspective.
Microtransactions and ads are something I’ve clearly stated we’ll never be doing, as those also compromise game design and are predatory or come with privacy concerns.
You can either buy it once to gain access to the offline “ironman” mod
This sounds relevant to my interests. What updates come with this? Just security? Nothing?
We’re planning that it’ll receive the same updates as the main game itself and all of the features (that work offline). Expansions to the game world might come at a small price so you can enter those, but other than those my current plan isn’t to restrict features, new skills or content additions to existing regions in any way in the offline version.
Also, offline version will include cloud saving so there’s no risk of losing your progress if the device is lost. It’ll cloud save when it has connection periodically while mostly keeping everything on a local save.
That sounds pretty similar to how I like Guild Wars 2, except offline. That’s cool. I signed up for the beta thing.
Thank you so much! I hope you’ll enjoy it!
I really like the thoughts put into the game. However, I personally think, that micro transactions aren’t necessarily a bad thing, if you do them right. As an example for this I would call Helldiver’s. You can pay to get faster progress, but it isn’t necessary by any means. You can unlock everything with a reasonable amount of grinding.
But this game is tied to fitness and also has competitive elements to it. Imagine you can buy yourself faster progress here, when it’s all tied to physical activity. It would completely ruin the game and any competitive aspects in it, and devalue the feeling of achieving things in it, if players with bigger wallets gain advantage. When there’s only an affordable subscription, there’s a ceiling to spending and no one can gain unfair advantage by paying more than others.
Microtransactions overall pretty much always compromise game design. Games usually make the grind or progress much slower than what would be actually good to drive the purchases of MTX.
I’m also personally very against MTX and ads, I think they’re the worst invention in gaming and I hate when game design is now revolving around what kind of mechanics can make people open their wallets as often as possible instead of what’s fun and cool.
I’m really glad to have found a fitness app made by someone with the exact same opinion as me on app monetization. I’ve been using the app since March and will happily pay for the subscription. I’m really happy to see this openness, and the fact that you still repeat this promise.
Thank you! The very first post I ever posted to r/WalkScape covers this and I promised that there will be no ads and no MTX, and we’re going to keep what we’ve promised. That’s also why I’ve turned down every investor and publisher, as those could compromise this by having a stake at the company.
But this game is tied to fitness and also has competitive elements to it. Imagine you can buy yourself faster progress here, when it’s all tied to physical activity. It would completely ruin the game and any competitive aspects in it
Okay, you got a point there. Can’t argue against this.
I agree with your ideas on micro transactions here. They create a lot of temptations to make the base game worse. “Your inventory holds 12 items but for a very reasonable price you can hold 6 more!” may seem harmless but it also sucks. The game is objectively and arbitrarily worse without that transaction.
Purely cosmetic skins are a little better, but you end up taking advantage of people who buy more than they should.
Exactly my thoughts! I was just approached at Gamescom by somebody who was pitching me to put limits to the inventory in order to sell expanded inventory space. He said it’s cool, as it’s just selling “utility” to the player. I think it’s designing your game to be annoying so people would pay more for it, and I like to put game design over anything else. As a game developer, I’m proud of designing things well and would feel disgusted by intentionally designing crap just to make more money.
Also I think the best cosmetics in games are those you earn through gameplay, which is why all of the cosmetics (which there are a lot in WalkScape) are earned by putting hard work inside the game. And also the players are proud to put the rare cosmetics on their characters to flex that they’ve achieved something. I think that’s a lot more cool than just being able to pay real money for it.
Not to even talk about what you just mentioned here. All kinds of MTX, be it cosmetics only, really take advantage of people who can’t limit their spending. They’ll pay a lot more than they should and it encourages unhealthy spending habits.
I’m sitting here trying to figure out if this is the beginning of CatNet or of Mischief Elves…
I’ve been playing since the last round of beta invites, and I love it. Everything’s pretty intuitive so far, and I find myself moving around more to give me those steps. Can’t wait to see what comes next!!
Sounds interesting, I’ll apply. I’m a QA engineer and tester, so if i get in i’ll start complaining and suggesting :D
I never played RuneScape, but I did just delete Pikmin Bloom. What if players cheat their steps? How will you detect the difference between that, and a Pacific Crest Trail thruhiker who legitimately walks 60,000 steps day after day, and over 1,000,000 steps per month?
Anyway your game sounds cool. I had an idea for a one player game while I was hiking the PCT - kinda like the Oregon trail, or dope wars, but it would be a simulation of the Pacific Crest Trail and the steps would be 1:1. So you’d have to walk 7 million steps to beat the game, and obviously make decisions along the way about food and water, weather, resting, hitchhiking, etc. But there will be long stretches of the game where you just look at a new vista, or look at the location, eat food, camp.
Anyway the reason I’m commenting is I wanted to tell you why I quit playing a walking game. I quit after a backpacking trip of 7 days with no service. When I came back, the game had nothing to do for my ~150,000 steps. No confetti or prizes. If I was actually playing it for any achievements it would be a setback to be offline for 7 days.
So yeah, if you have any players of your game who do serious miles in one day, or one week, or whatever, you should pile on the rewards. Because at the end of the day that’s all I want out of a game like that. An automated micro-recognition that I kicked ass. So I can relax my tired legs and use all my hard earned digital loot.
We already have an anti-cheat in the game and it’s being developed further, although not exactly a priority at this point of Closed Beta. But it’s shown great promise of detecting cheating. In can’t disclose how it’s working, as that would make circumventing it easier.
There are already a bunch of activities in game that have been designed for people who hike and gain a lot of steps during it and don’t have service. Also, the offline game mode will not require service at all, so it’s possible to manage it even while hiking. In addition to the current activities, we also have special “Adventures” planned that can take tens of thousands of steps without needing to open the game.
Combat system also will pretty much work as “piling up the rewards” in addition to the core gameplay. You gain combat points for each step you take, and there will be a large cap to those. Then you can play the combat system and spend those points and gain a ton of combat progress fast if you’ve got a lot of points saved up.
Thank you for the feedback!
Sounds good, best wishes bringing your game into cash flow. If you inspire others to be more active, you’ve already done a lot of good in the world.
Thank you ❤️
It’s been awesome to hear from our current players that the game has been helpful and has already made an impact.
Removed by mod
Offline mode will launch when we go to open beta. During Closed Beta, there’s only the online mode (as that’s what needs the most testing).
This is a an amazing concept! I created an account (same name as here). And tried to sign up for the beta, however the submit application button is not working for me. I’m using Firefox on android.
Huh, interesting. Could you send me the email you signed up with to contact@walkscape.app and at which point the beta application fails? Is it while you try to submit the fully written application, or even before that?
Emailed! It fails while trying to submit a fully written application.
Replied to you via email!
Hi! Sorry if this has been answered, but this uses the phone’s built-in pedometer, right? So, if you’re running you’d get more steps/hr (without triggering anti-cheat)? Thanks! Looking forward to trying it!
Yes, indeed! Currently supporting only phone’s built-im pedometer, and wearable support is coming when Google fixes Health Connect.
Running is fine, and you indeed get better steps/hr due to the increased cadence.
Booo, someone already stole my username :(
Tossed $6 your way on Buy Me A Coffee yesterday!
Excited to get into the beta
Cheers, and thank you for supporting the developmemt! Remember to link your BMAC to your WalkScape account and you’ll get access! ❤️
Ooh, I can’t wait to play! This looks awesome!
Thank you, I hope you like it ❤️
The game looks great! I really like that you don’t rely on GPS, because of privacy.
Thank you! Privacy is definitely the biggest concern, but also GPS requires apps to be opened to register anything, and it kills the battery quite quickly (and requires active internet connection).
Does GPS really require an internet connection? I know it uses the radio, which kills the battery, but AFAIK you can get GPS without Internet access. For example, I’ve downloaded offline areas for Google Maps and have tracked my location that way, while traveling in countries where I didn’t have a SIM allowing me to access the Internet.
Not necessarily, but in order to use map data, you’ll pretty much need it. This is why all of the GPS games require a connection, as they’ll download map data and cache your current surrounding areas
By the way, I got such a good impression that I became a BMAC contributor, looking forward to testing it!
Thank you so much for supporting the development! You should’ve received an email that has instructions to link your BMAC on your account page. When you link your account there, you should receive download instructions either almost immediately (sometimes might take couple of hours for our automated system, but usually faster).
Happy walking, and remember to stay hydrated ❤️
I have the game installed now 😀 I like that all steps go towards a goal of some sort.
Found a tiny typo with the name for one of the hairstyles. If you search through your codebase for “adn bun” you will find it. Its probably supposed to say “and bun” 😊
Thanks for letting me know, and welcome! ❤️
I remember seeing this when I still used reddit, but forgot about it since then. Thanks for posting on Lemmy too! Signed up for the Beta
Thanks, and no problem! Reception here has been awesome for the project. I also actually developed my own Reddit alternative just for the game, which is the WalkScape Portal
This looks awesome!
Does it track steps from a smartwatch? I usually don’t carry my mobile when I’m out hiking and wouldn’t want to lose out on any progress in-game.
Currently no, but it’s the most frequently asked feature and planned to be added. Google decided to kill Google Fit APIs, which delayed our efforts on that front for a while as they replaced those with Health Connect that isn’t working too well at the moment, but hopefully will be fixed by Google soon.
I’ve been using it for the last few weeks, applied at the last post and just got in. Right now there is basically nothing to do in the app. I’ve heard there are plans for combat that you can do in the app. But I’d love the option to plan your next things. Like a to-do list. There are jobs and I’d like to go and cut 214 Birch trees. Not more, not less. Currently I’m sitting at 17 stacks of birch logs (each 25) since I was walking for a long time without time for the app. I didn’t need as many and it seems like my steps were wasted. I’m still super low level but there are items that are worth 0 copper, others are worth 1 copper and processing 2 of them (costing steps) results in an item worth 2 copper (wasted steps). However to get to another area I need 4.5k so that seems somehow punishing. Regardless of those nitpicks it is really nice, got me moving way more than I would have (started walking while on calls during work) it’s definitely an incentive but I’d really like to plan my steps ahead. “Go here, gather x amount of an item, process said item or collect another…” You probably understand where I’m going otherwise shoot me a PM I love the game, recommend signing up and once I’ve seen a little more than walking cutting trees and then planks I would consider a one time purchase. (Or maybe a stylish shirt or cool tattoo only available through mtx. Once p2w is in I’m out
There will be no MTX or P2W!
And there are quite a lot of things to do in the game already. I recommend to explore the starting area, and there’s nothing stopping you from planning things you want to do. If you’re feeling a little bit lost (which I totally get, the game is still lacking a proper tutorial and starting quests) I recommend to check the wiki. There are guides there also how to make money. The NPCs don’t pay pretty much anything for early game unprocessed materials, but there are several ways of gaining coins. You can also get past the Fort of Permafrost by going under water and skipping paying for the toll entirely, for which you’ll need to find Diving Gear.
Thanks for the feedback! ❤️
Have you thought about putting in a scheduling system? Like being able to queue up a bunch of stuff to do? Then the game telling you the # of steps required and then you can go on about your day?
Yes! A limited queue system and notifications are both planned to be added in the next update.
Awesome!!!
I haven’t gotten into the Beta, so I haven’t played it, but I’m curious, is the game designed so you can’t do anything without walking, or is it so that you can creep along at a snail’s pace without walking but to actually make real progress you have to walk?
It seems to me like you could use the psychology of a Pay To Win / Microtransactions game to motivate people but by using walking instead of money.
There’s no progress without walking, all of the progress is tied to steps.
