It's been a while since I last posted here, and the reception for the post was really awesome - thank you all for that! I also created a community in Lemmy for the game: !walkscape@lemmy.world where I'm posting every development blog post.

We have a new Closed Beta wave right now, so if you'd like to try out the game, you can follow the instructions available at walkscape.app/help. The wave is running until January 7th.

Since the last post, we've now started to add some Quality of Life updates to the game and we're nearly finished with the lengthy optimization process of the game engine and servers. We're expecting to release the next update next month!

If you haven't heard about the game before, I started this project as a personal hobby project to help myself walk more. I tried most of the games available, but I wanted to have something that didn't need attention while walking and wouldn't have predatory monetization like most mobile games tend to have these days.

The game is inspired by RuneScape, and you level up skills, craft gear, find loot and so on by walking IRL. We have a short introduction video to the game where I explain and show how the game works in more detail.

Once again, thanks Lemmy for all the awesome feedback we've got and for the countless encouraging messages that you've sent us. And I'm hoping to see more of you in the game & community!

I'll answer any questions or feedback here in the comments and in our own community. Happy new year, and happy walking <3

(page 2) 40 comments

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[–] djvinniev77@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 weeks ago

This is an awesome game. I love it and works fine in beta. Thank you!

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Just chiming in to say that I enjoy this game. I just noticed accidentally that I can search in the inventory/bank for things other than the names of items, like searching for "carpentry" returns all of the gear and tools that have carpentry bonuses! That's a really big deal for me because the bank is so full I was keeping notes outside the game on which tools and gear I need for each skill.

[–] schamppu@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yup, the search helps but we do have plans to introduce better bank & inventory management. Next update will include gear sets, so you can easily save some presets to equip.

And thank you so much, I love to hear that people are having fun with the game!

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Maybe it gets to be more scummy than you want, but how about notifications when you have no activity going? Like when you finish traveling or your inventory fills up.

[–] schamppu@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This is planned as part of the QoL updates! Notifications that are opt-in for certain things happening in the game.

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

Hot dog! Thank you very much.

[–] UnrefinedChihuahua@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 weeks ago

Looks great! Just applied and will get my family to do the same.

[–] moonburster@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Well missed the posts a few times, but applied just now! Looks very cool

[–] TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Looks amazing! I'm excited to try it in the future :)

However I did encounter an issue trying to apply for beta access:
On the application page where you type in all the words using Firefox on Mobile I was able to switch the tab to a different one, but was unable to switch it back without force closing and reopening the browser. I've never had this issue with any other website so I doubt it's an issue with the browser itself (however is still definitely possible).

It did work on my 2nd attempt, but I figured I should let you know incase there's anything you could do about it for the extremely small percentage of Firefox mobile users lol

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[–] flames5123@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

You reminded me to check out the portal again when I signed up months ago! I’ll be testing the beta a lot in the next week since I now have to go into the office 5 days a week. Can’t wait to give the next beta a full try!

[–] 0konomiyaki@aussie.zone 3 points 2 weeks ago

Signed up! Keen to try it out.

[–] Ogygus@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Do you promise to never add season pass, premium currencies, lootboxes or anything of the sort?

If yes, count me in!

[–] Noodle07@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

The feels when what you grind in game is lootboxes :x

(can't buy them with money though don't worry)

[–] schamppu@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

We have lootboxes that are (and always will be) obtainable through gameplay. You can get chests from any activity while you're playing the game. Same applies for cosmetics, which are also something you obtain through gameplay.

The very first devblog I wrote I already promised that we will never do predatory monetisation. Affordable subscription should be all we need to keep the game running. And no ads either!

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm using GrapheneOS and struggling to get the game to count steps when it's not actively open. Anyone else using GrapheneOS and have any tips?

[–] schamppu@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I haven't used GrapheneOS myself, but I've heard from others that running it in sandbox works. The game requires Google Play Services in order to count the steps in background, so sandbox with Google Play Services should fix that. The API the game specifically uses is the Recording API.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

From my understanding, any app installed directly from Google Play should be in the sandbox and have access to Google Play Services. I haven't quite worked out where the steps are missing, but it seems when the game is open it's fine, and when the game hasn't been killed by the OS it's also fine. If I go back to the game and it has to launch again from scratch, it doesn't seem to count steps that happened while the game wasn't running (foreground or background).

I also see this post where others are seeing the same thing, and are not using GrapheneOS. Maybe my use of GrapheneOS is a red herring and there's actually something else happening.

It was always odd to me that apps need to be constantly active to get the steps. I don't get why the phone doesn't just count in the background then allow you to request "how many steps today" or "how many steps since X date/time" via the API.

[–] schamppu@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

The game doesn't need to be active on regular Android and counts steps when killed. I'm pretty sure the reason why it's like that on GrapheneOS is that when the game is killed, the sandbox is killed and the Google Play Services shut down. If Google Play Services aren't on there, the Recording API will not count steps in the background.

Probably easiest solution is to let WalkScape to run in the background, when it's freezed the battery consumption should be basically nothing.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If Google Play Services aren’t on there, the Recording API will not count steps in the background.

That makes a lot of sense.

Probably easiest solution is to let WalkScape to run in the background, when it’s freezed the battery consumption should be basically nothing.

It's allowed to run in the background, but I have now disabled battery optimisation and will see if that helps.

[–] schamppu@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah - battery optimization has tendency to kill apps, even if they're not consuming resources. If you're experiencing battery drain from doing this (or if it works fine), I'd appreciate if you send me your findings to our contact email address ❤️

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It doesn't seem to be helping. If I ever work out a more reliable way to get steps counted I'll let you know. I know some pedometer apps don't need Google Play Services and use a persistant notification to keep it active, but it seems like quite a significant change from what you currently have which wouldn't be worth spending time on to appease such a small group of users.

[–] schamppu@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Before Google released the Recording API, that's what we used. But it was a huge time sink - with the amount of Android devices and operating systems, there were a ton of device specific issues which were impossible for me to reproduce without buying the models that had these, and we don't have budget for such.

Pixel devices tended to have battery consumption issues with it, and Chinede devices with battery optimization were killing it very often etc.

If you find some way, I would love to hear about it. In the future we'll be adding in smart watch support, which could help you to count the steps if you have one.

Edit: also one thing to try out if possible is to remove battery optimization from Google Play Services. Your device might be killing that, which stops counting the steps.

[–] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah I can imagine trying to do it manually could get pretty tricky. I'll look forward to the smart watch support (though I don't own one, I might get one if others report it working well with GrapheneOS).

Edit: also one thing to try out if possible is to remove battery optimization from Google Play Services. Your device might be killing that, which stops counting the steps.

It seems it's already set to not be optimized. It doesn't seem to have access to the physical activity permission, but granting that permission didn't seem to help. It still doesn't count steps with the screen off.

No matter, thanks for all the ideas, I'll just keep watching and see if others find a solution. I've subscribed to the Walkscape community so hopefully you'll be posting updates there 🙂

[–] JaumeI@programming.dev 2 points 2 weeks ago

Sounds amazing! Already applied, let'see if my wife and I are lucky ^_^

[–] kertain@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I wish you the best of luck! Glad I saw your post again on my feed :)

I applied!

[–] schamppu@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 weeks ago

Thank you so much ❤️

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