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: [email protected] 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

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day 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?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day 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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 14 hours 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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours 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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 14 hours 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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 hours 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 ❤️

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 hours 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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

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.

[–] Ogygus 3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

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

If yes, count me in!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day 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!

[–] Noodle07 3 points 2 days ago

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

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

[–] HollowNaught 22 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Hiya, walkscape user here!

Been loving the game, I'm just wondering if you could add a section to the website/game that explicitly goes over what data is collected and what it's used for?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 days ago (1 children)

We do have the privacy policy on there, which lists what sensitive information we collect. It's a bit vague, and we could later on edit it to be more specific, but I don't have the required skills to edit those kinda texts and we can't afford a lawyer at the moment. The sensitive information we collect are your email, username and step data, and the step data includes device information (phone model & operating system).

Non-sensitive information includes all kinds of gameplay data, like items you got and how many things you've crafted etc. which we use for game balancing and when designing new content.

[–] Senshi 6 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Does step data just mean the number of steps (and timestamp, I assume), or do you actually track the routes walked, which would mean gps coords/ tracks.

Cause the first is much less invasive and problematic than the latter option.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's just steps and the timestamp, no location data. We don't ask for location permission, and it's not accessible through OS APIs either.

[–] HollowNaught 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Thanks bro, a game with privacy in mind when it comes to data collection is a godsend these days

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

And thank you! I know it's hard to also trust game devs these days, but we're doing all we can to protect our users privacy. That's why there are already privacy settings in the game too - you can hide your steps from other players if you don't want to share those. And you can also hide your entire user profile so it's not visible to other players. These settings also protect you if 3rd parties scrape the leaderboards etc.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

The game doesn't access your GPS, it won't even ask the permission. It's all steps only.

[–] [email protected] 58 points 3 days ago (3 children)

The game is a lot of fun and good motivation for walking.

But at a point the inventory management becomes a pain to manage and annoyance to switch gear sets around.

Hope you come up with gear sets to help ease these burdens and give some qol. Bank filter would help but still would be a pain to switch sets.

Keep up the good work.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Hello! Gear sets are actually coming in the very next update to the game, that feature is already pretty much finished. Most recent devblog covers this more! We held a poll about what are the most frequently asked QOL, and gear sets were #1 so we started with that.

You can check how the system works here: https://lemmy.zip/post/27883811

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago

Woot fantastic!

[–] ThePantser 12 points 3 days ago

Gear sets are in the next update. Check out the dev blog.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

Gear sets are coming in the next update

[–] rockSlayer 40 points 3 days ago (1 children)

What a coincidence, I'm a QA tester that was illegally fired and therefore no longer bound by my moonlighting clause. I'll have to give it a try!

[–] NewNewAccount 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You had a moonlighting clause as a QA tester? The fuck?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

whats a moonlight clause?

[–] tfkgmjfy 10 points 2 days ago

It seems that a moonlight clause is what someone has in their employment contract that tells them what they can and can’t do on their free time.

If true, the QA above could not do QA work for anyone else while in employment.

Something like that, I guess. 🤔

[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I've been playing for a few months now. I love the concept, the art and the atmosphere of it. And I feel it's been making me walk more. However, I can't seem to make any substantial progress in the game. I'm still stuck on the starting landmass (Jarvonia), and while doing activities gets me raw materials and the occasional rare item, I can't seem to do anything with them as transforming those requires skills I don't have and don't know how to obtain.

Am I missing something ? Am I just not walking enough ?

[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Thank you so much! <3

If you feel a bit stuck, I recommend to check out https://wiki.walkscape.app/ and https://map.walkscape.app/

In order to process higher level materials, you need to level up your craftings skills: Carpentry, Crafting, Smithing. You need to start with low end materials, which you have levels for. Then you can move onto higher level recipes.

When you craft yourself some good gear, progress in the game is a lot faster and you'll find yourself progressing to further areas.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago

Hi, much appreciated ! Thanks for the links. Hopefully it'll click soon

[–] sandalbucket 17 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I’m intrigued, but have two questions:

Does running count?
Can I pull in data from a fitness app / smart watch (Garmin)?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 days ago

Running counts! Also treadmills or walking pads, as long as you have your phone in your pocket.

Smart watches are not supported yet, but coming. Smart watch support would already work great on iOS, but we're held up by Google with it as they introduced Health Connect for smart watch integrations and it's a buggy mess at the moment. Google Fit APIs (that would've worked nicely) are deprecated.

[–] big_slap 24 points 3 days ago (1 children)

hey! I am in the beta and love this game. just wanted to let you know 🙂

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

That's really awesome to hear <3 Thank you so much, and there'll be a lot of more awesome stuff coming to the game next year.

[–] acosmichippo 19 points 3 days ago (2 children)

can you link to your privacy policy and/or data collection practices?

[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 days ago

Sure: https://walkscape.app/privacy-policy.html

We're based in Finland, so we follow GDPR.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The game is great, eagerly looking forward to smartwatch support as someone who doesn't bring their phone on runs but otherwise having a good time with the game

[–] pachrist 4 points 2 days ago

Same! Without smart watch support, it's a great game. With it, it will be incredible.

[–] TommySoda 16 points 3 days ago

Hey! I almost forgot about this when I left Reddit. I was so excited to see it come to fruition some day. I'd love to beta test but I've moved to an office job since then so I probably won't be able to help much.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Is biking also implemented? Unrelated: Standard kommt nicht von Standarte ;)

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

It's kinda supported - if you have your phone in your pocket you do get some steps, but it's not as efficient as walking.

I'm Finnish myself and my German skills aren't that great :D The translations for the game are made by the community, you can help correcting errors at https://translate.walkscape.app/ ~~(the tool is currently hosted on a very underspecced server so it's laggy, we'll be moving it to a beefier one soon)~~

Edit: Well this was sooner than I thought, I've moved it to another server and should be very usable now.

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[–] Nurse_Robot 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Loved the game when I first started, now I'm feeling stuck. I need to watch the tutorial videos!

[–] walkscape 12 points 3 days ago

Eric from the community (and a bunch of others) have been making some videos on how to get started. One I'd recommend for beginners is the Ultimate Beginners Guide video.

Also, if you feel stuck you can try https://wiki.walkscape.app and https://map.walkscape.app

Thank you so much! When we get the quest system into the game, giving some direction to the players will be much easier.

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