Hello! ❤️
I’m the developer of WalkScape! My game is an online RPG that is inspired by RuneScape, where all of the in-game progression happens by walking in real life.
I myself have struggled to exercise enough, and I’m diagnosed with ADHD. This project started off as something I was working for myself to help me exercise more. The game has been in Closed Beta since January 18th, and the player feedback so far has been awesome!
There are three key things that make the game very unique for a mobile game, in addition to just being a nice and cozy game that incentivizes you to walk:
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No GPS. Unlike games like Pokemon Go, WalkScape uses pedometer instead of GPS. This means you can walk where ever you like, including at your home or gym on a treadmill. And doesn’t compromise your privacy.
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No MTX or ads. I’m against all kind of predatory trends in gaming, especially predatory monetisation. WalkScape is completely community funded with Patreon and Buy Me a Coffee with no external investments.
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Not hungry for your attention. WalkScape doesn’t even need to be opened in the background for you to gain progress in it. The game is designed in a way where you only need to open it after your exercise, and if you forget to the game it doesn’t punish you. It saves your “missed steps” for later.
If you’re interested to give it a try, you can check out https://walkscape.app to find how to join the upcoming beta wave, see some stats about the game (people have already walked more than 1.5 billion steps!), and our roadmap.
I’ll answer any questions you might have. Happy walking and stay hydrated ❤️
what’s the main engine looking like? only using pedometer? if yes, what’s the availability of the sensor nowadays?
asking because I used to run a similar kind of game years ago and I had to give up because it was a very difficult fight against battery optimization tools, localisation/sensor policies, etc
Yes only pedometer. iOS has been a walk in the park (no pun intended) since the beginning, Android was a mess until they released the Recording API like 2 weeks ago. Now it’s on the same level as iOS.
glad to see this going forward. hopefully this allows the “idle walking” genre to finally flourish
thanks for posting your progress! and keep doing it!
Juat got approved so hyped!
I’ve been using this app for the past several months. I really appreciate the fact that you can just go about your day and then open the app 1 time in the evening and see all of your progress at once. Ultimately it’s been a way better way to inspire me to get out and walk more than Pokemon Go was.
With PoGo, I’d constantly be stopping while walking about so that I could catch Pokemon. On top of that, with PoGo my routes were more or less predetermined since I’d need to walk specific places to spin stops to have enough pokeballs to keep playing. Not to mention the heavy battery drain with PoGo as the screen and GPS were constantly in-use. Additionally, PoGo always made me feel a bit awkward walking around parks if kids were playing nearby since I’m sure I looked like a total creep with my phone out…
But no more! Now I put my phone in my pocket and walk whatever direction I’d like for however long I want. No stopping, no battery drain, no daily streaks to maintain, no FOMO events to try and keep me using the app. And no more looking like a weirdo lol.
Love this app, thank you for making it. I hope one day soon it can use my activity tracker (I use a Fitbit) instead of relying solely on the phone being in my pocket, but my expectations have been blown away regardless. Phenomenal job.
This was really awesome to read. Thank you, you made my day! More updates are coming this summer to make it even better. And hopefully smart watch + band integration soon as well. We’re currently a bit delayed on that front as Google is redesigning how health app integrations work with Health Connect
What will the monetization structure for this app look like after release?
Let me in! Looks fun, guess I’ll have to wait for the next round of beta entries.
Looks great ! Thanks for sharing
If you don’t mind me asking, how long have you been working on it ? Are you working on it full-time ? If not, how do you balance it with the rest of your day ? Are you working on it alone or … ?
I’ve been working on it for two years. You can see the full story and evolvement of the team in https://walkscape.app/roadmap
I worked alone on it for quite a long time, and then other people have joined the ream. Now working on it full time.
So RuneScape X Poke’mon go?
Hmm
I was in the previous beta but after getting a new phone “jelly star” it kept reporting i had done 0 steps every time i would open it. Like how it would prior if i was updating the game it would forget the steps i did from the last time i opened it. Don’t know if it has something with it starting to auto update. I also disabled so battery optimisations on my phone to do with the app and anything system wise for the pedometer.
Absolutely love the game though and an eager for when this is fully out and i can more easily recommend it to friends.
We just released an update on this yesterday, which starts using new pedometer API released by Google. It should be a lot better now than before.
My post on this: https://portal.walkscape.app/post/664
Just want to let you now that I’ve not had any issues since. Everything’s been working as expected now.
Tried it the last time I saw it it posted. Be warned, this takes a huge amount of battery life to run in the back ground. So much so I had to stop playing.
This was already fixed like month ago! It was mostly happening on Pixel devices only.
Give a try to the new version, it shouldn’t use much battery at all now.
May I ask what the reason for the battery drain was?
Sounds great! So I understand you skill up stuff by walking, I assume traveling through the world as well? The site mentions there is combat as well, how does that work?
Yes, travelling through the world is also done by walking irl. Though obviously the distances aren’t quite 1 to 1. Combat is not implemented yet but coming later. Current plans are that it will be a turn based system and will be what’s called “couch content”, something you can do at home from your couch without having to walk. But all subject to change still.
From my view: If I get a game called WalkScape I don’t want to play it actively. So if those things can only be progressed on the couch, I won’t touch them. And if that locks me out of other content, that sucks.
And if it’s just AFK, then it also goes against the purpose/vision of the game. Not saying that you’re doing it, but don’t bloat it with unnecessary mechanics.
