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I'm the developer of WalkScape, the RuneScape inspired fitness MMORPG where you progress by walking IRL. We're now accepting more people to the Closed Beta!

https://i.postimg.cc/8z3xhHxZ/barber-GIF.gif

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:

https://i.postimg.cc/Ls28Mm8d/big-gif-square.gif

https://i.postimg.cc/R0LQMC1w/Screenshot-20240821-102724-Walk-Scape-Development.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/HnVQ4Qqt/Screenshot-20240821-102742-Walk-Scape-Development.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/MTZ0XktN/Screenshot-20240821-102756-Walk-Scape-Development.jpg

Edit: small errors and had the same picture listed twice

obinice ,
@obinice@lemmy.world avatar

Put in my application for the beta last night, and grabbed Walker Patreon today :-)

I really love the vibes of this project, as someone who loves walking and needs to walk more, and someone who struggles with ADHD, and I’ve always loved RuneScape, this project calls to me haha.

I feel like my character was getting more exercise than me back then, I remember I used to spend a lot of time at the guild coal mine (with those bats), so much time that this is seared into my memory…

Welcome to RuneScape.

You swing your pick at the rock.

drphungky ,

I signed up, happy to try it out and give feedback. No idea what my average number of steps is because I don’t super care about that, but I’d expect it to go way up if I suddenly did care (through a gamified app).

Marighost ,
@Marighost@lemm.ee avatar

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!!

SupraMario ,

Got into the beta before this one, like a week 1/2 ago, and it’s so addicting. Can’t wait for combat and other stuff but I’m having a blast in just the traveling/jobs/crafting I can do already.

I think you really got something here

schamppu OP ,

Thank you so much, and awesome to hear you’ve been enjoying it! We’re moving to combat and trading after we ship the next update (Quality of Life update)!

SupraMario ,

Since there is a server with this, will there eventually have a list of other players in locations, and will there be trading/selling items in private shops? A player economy here would be awesome

LifeOfChance ,

I’m loving it! I love how the steps for each activity is fair and that we can bank steps up to 8k so they don’t go unused!

schamppu OP ,

The bank also grows based on your character level! Mine is now 22k steps, more info here: WalkScape Walkthrough - Saved Steps

Thank you so much! ❤️

LyingCake ,

I’m whole-heartedly impressed with what you are presenting here. I wish I’d seen your booth at gamescom, since I am sincerely excited by the non-predatory design philosophy you’re describing in your blog posty on your website.

I have already set up an account and written an application. Hopefully I’ll have the chance to try this out. :)

schamppu OP ,

Thank you so much! We’re accepting new people throughout the wave, so until October 6th!

Vlyn ,

I tried it out a while ago and didn’t mesh with it at all. Like the options I had was gather things, minor crafting and traveling. But zero goals or combat (as far as I could tell at the beginning). So after going around, gathering and crafting a bit I got bored and gave up.

Hell, I even traveled around to just find if there are any encounters or places with more happening and I didn’t find anything.

So it felt meaningless to grind with nothing to grind for.

schamppu OP ,

Combat is coming, and so are quests, which will give more direction and goals for new players.

There are a lot of goals already available inside the game, but because it’s very open ended at the beginning, it might seen like there aren’t anything to grind for. It’s one of the games where players usually make their own goals, and then try to achieve those.

First goals usually could be to unlock the other two realms in the game, complete enough achievements to unlock the first guild in the game (Adventurers’ Guild), get some good starting tools to become more efficient at it, and so forth.

If you’re more combat focused usually in games, I recommend to wait until that’s added, as it sounds like that might be the main thing you’re missing!

Vlyn ,

Ah yeah, I’m not a big mobile game fan and heavily play PC games. I just missed the draw of it, but had wrong expectations probably. In my head it was more of a sandbox combat game with gathering/crafting, so I kept trying to get to the actual game part :)

While I’m not motivated at all by just achievements or grinding for grinding sake (incremental games are a slight exception there, but progress is much faster / you do have some goals dangled in front of your face). You’re probably aiming more for a classic fitness tracker, but instead of step counts, graphs and so on you present it in game form. Which is valid, but just not what I was after.

As it gets brought up in this thread: When it came out I actually liked Pokemon GO, because the gameplay was interesting. Originally it only showed Pokemon near you and how far they are away (with 1, 2 or 3 foot steps). Which meant you wandered around and actually met people back in the city, grouped up to search or they knew where it was. That all got dumbed down until everyone was just sitting at the same spot and farming unfortunately :-/

schamppu OP ,

Combat in the game is going to require active play, and it’s meant to be played at home. It’s a turn based combat system with its own progression systems, but you’ll need to walk in order to gain combat points, which work as an energy to engage in the combat. So it’s not possible to endlessly grind it without going for a walk, but something you’ll be able to do when you’ve got the time for it. There are a few interviews on Youtube where I’m explaining it if you’re interested to hear more about it.

Also there’s already a ton of depth on the game, so I’m not sure how far you got in there if you think it only represents your steps in a different way than graphs. I recommend to check wiki to get a good idea!

magikmw ,

I tried to sign up a while ago and had some issues, like link not arriving or something. Shame because I like the idea. Will try again I suppose.

schamppu OP ,

If you have problems with signing up, please send email to [email protected] and I can help you out. Tell me the email you signed up with and I can help!

ngwoo ,

Really interested in this but would rather wait for a full release - just wanted to thank you for posting on Lemmy as well as Reddit. Everything about this project seems so sincere and I’m not used to that with new apps

Itsyaboiwhatevs ,

Been using this since the start of the year i think and it’s been really fun! Just the right amount of activity needed, for me atleast! Thanks a lot for the awesome game, and i can’t wait for more updates!

schamppu OP ,

Thank you so much!

Zoldyck ,

Very cool. Will use this when initial release is available on android!

schamppu OP ,

Open beta release is planned for next year

Zoldyck ,

Awesome. Do you have social media to keep people updated?

schamppu OP ,

We have a newsletter available on the website, and also Reddit, X/Twitter, Discord and WalkScape Portal (which is our own “Reddit alternative” for the game).

chiliedogg ,

It would be neat if it could pull step count logs from fitness devices and watches so it didn’t even necessarily need to be running while you’re doing your walk.

MrScottyTay ,

I think it uses the step counter service on your phone. It does not need to be running in the background.

schamppu OP ,

^ Yup, the game doesn’t need to be opened for it to count steps. You can kill the game entirely and open it when you want to, and the steps will load!

schamppu OP ,

This is on our to-do!

We would’ve likely implemented it already, but Google is in the process of killing Google Fit API and replacing it with Health Connect. Health Connect, as of now, is kinda terrible. So we’re waiting for Google to fix their APIs.

I’ve tried my best as indie developer to hurry them :D Last week I was at Gamescom and managed to meet with a director from Google, and asked to connect me with Health Connect team so I can tell them what’s broken and maybe have some insight on when stuff is about to get fixed.

When it comes to Apple, there’s no problem with this. But we want to release wearable support to both platform simultaneously.

VelvetStorm ,

Just signed up for the beta. I also have adhd and I was overweight for the majority of my life, and then in 2018-early2020, I went from 300ish to 160ish, and I felt great. Then the pandemic hit and I could no longer go on walks and runs and then I got depressed and then injured my leg permanently and now I’m back up to 235 and I fucking hate it but I can’t seem to get the will to walk again. So this game sounds like it would be really fun.

Minnels ,

I love this game. Made the walks with my kid more fun and longer. The fact that I only have to check the game once or twice a day depending on what I am doing is perfect.

PugJesus ,

Gamification of fitness and the like is such a cool concept, I love seeing it in action.

schamppu OP ,

Thank you so much!

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