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4mo ago

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!

(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!

203 comments

I've been in the closed beta since February and I can vouch for this game being awesome. It's been a great way to encourage me to take my dogs on walks and stay healthy. I definitely recommend checking it out.
To the dev, your game has motivated me to learn flutter/dart. I've been working with it for four months now and I'm getting close to finishing my first app, so thank you for the inspiration!
- Woah, thank you so much ❤️
  Awesome to hear that the game has inspired you to learn Dart & Flutter. Dart is an awesome language, and Flutter is versatile and easy tool for making some great looking UIs! But even more so, it always warms my heart to hear that the game has a positive impact on people's lives. Keep it up, and thank you again!

This is super cool! I'm in a position right now where I have to walk my dog a few times a day. I'd love to chip in, but I just don't have anything to spare right now. I'm gonna sign up for the beta and cross my fingers. Thank you for making this
- Thank you! We're accepting people who've applied to the Closed Beta throughout the wave, so there's a good chance you'll gain access! The wave ends on October 6th.
  We've got a lot of pictures of happy doggos on the Discord :D I have cats that I walk sometimes, but they're not as effective from XP gain perspective.
  Edit: and just to clarify here, access gained during any point of Closed Beta stays until Open Beta when everyone can start playing it. Open Beta is planned for next year.
  
  I just sent in my application. My partner is filling one out too. I look forward to trying this. Thank you for the information

Fantastic concept. I agree that most of the other apps are either super monetized or too “in app” like a Pokemkon GO, or they’re just boring and don’t offer much.
This looks like something fun, motivating, and really well made.
- Thank you! And I definitely know the feeling of "being boring and don't offer much". That's what I also got from many of the fitness games out there - I felt the games were way too casual to offer long-term motivation. If I'm collecting stuff for the sake of just collecting, there's not enough to keep me hooked.
  We're trying here to keep it quite casual friendly by that the complexity reveals itself slowly. But I also think that complexity often for people comes from controls and such - here the input being just walking already lowers the bar a lot.
  The combat that's coming to the game I think really is the final missing piece, as then all of the hard grind you've done also ties to combat progression. Making the perfect combat build to beat a boss with your hard earned steps!
  
  I just got my access to the closed beta and fired it up today. Even the initial setup, character customization, story intro, and tutorials are top notch. I feel pretty excited to get this started, more than I’ve felt about a game in awhile. Looking forward to the experience and contributing to the feedback where I can.

I've been using this for about 3 months. I would estimate that my dog walks are now about twice as long as they used to be. I don't really enjoy walking, but this gives me just enough incentive to do it everyday and, if I feel like taking a shortcut, taking the long way instead.
- Thank you! And awesome to hear it, your dogs must be enjoying it as well! ❤️

Last time I applied, it took like 6 months for my beta app to be accepted. That's fine but I had ran a marathon like the week before, and did all my marathon training during that time. Was big sad. Anyways best of luck with the next round!
- We've been accepting thousands of applications each wave, so it sounds like you've been terribly unlucky if it took you that long. Sorry to hear that. We're also accepting applications during this wave all the way until October 6th, so nee applicants have a good chance on getting accepted!

I joined in the last beta wave because of your post here on lemmy. Big fan! Personally I’m looking forward to combat features most of all but the pace of development seems strong regardless and I’m enjoying all the new content.
- Thank you! After the next update (Quality of Life) I'm moving to work on combat system. It'll be a longer development process, so before the next update I'm also polishing our development tools so the other members of the team can create content updates with ease while I'm busy with combat. We're aiming to avoid having lengthier periods of time without fresh stuff.
  
  Thanks for all your work and the transparency throughout, I’m excited to keep supporting the project 😀

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

One of the things I hated about Pokemon Go was how taxing it was on the battery. It burned through my phone's ability to hold a charge in less than a year. If your game is constantly tracking steps, I expect it's constantly running. How does it manage power draw?
I love the concept. Thanks for sharing!
- Battery drain is almost nothing. The game doesn't need to be opened when you walk, and you can kill it entirely. The pedometer is anyways running on most phones regardless if you have WalkScape installed or not, so this doesn't add battery consumption in that sense either.
  For me when I just checked, it's used less than 0.3% today which is less than most other apps I have installed. I've tried my best to keep this as low as possible, and we'll probably be optimizing this even further in the future if necessary.
- Been playing this for a couple of months and I can say that the battery drain is next to nothing in my experience. No need to keep the app open to track steps.
- Just checked ok my android (stock android running on an old One Plus Nord) and it's about 25th on the batter usage list and only used 0.34% of batter, which is less then the app i only need to sign in to my work accounts a few times a day. So atleast in my use it's so tiny i never even noticed it.
- It gets the step count from the device itself so it does not need to be running at all times to track it. I think it just keeps track of what the number was the last time you opened it and what the number is the next time you open it and it awards you the difference.
  
  If the accelerometer is running, it's drawing power, but perhaps that can be done efficiently on some devices.

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.
- 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?
  
  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.
- There will probably be an offline/ironman game mode that is a one time purchase

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.

As a person who hates phones, I love this game. I got accepted into the beta a week or two ago and having a game that doesn't require me to touch my phone all the time is my favorite thing.
The only thing that would make it better is integration with other smart device step counters. Being able to play (more like progress I guess) a phone game while not even carrying my phone would be hilarious. I am sure you're getting hounded by people about this non-stop.

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. :)
- Thank you so much! We're accepting new people throughout the wave, so until October 6th!
  Edit: and I will be at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki if you're attending, come say hi if you swing by!

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.

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

I love this and I haven't even used it yet! 😅
A few things:
I love the idea of paying one-time to play offline, but it's not currently very possible to do in-app purchases on a ROM like GrapheneOS, which you mentioned in the post as being something users (myself included) have. Will there be a way to pay outside of the in-app purchase dialogue to get access? (i.e. donate through bmac, then link account to app temporarily to confirm) I'd definitely like more of my money to go to you, rather than a play store fee. Additionally, will there be a direct APK download at all, or will it only be available through the Play Store? (obviously privacy-preserving frontends like the Aurora Store exist, but it's nice to have an APK download too 😊)
Thank you for making privacy the default setting, while still letting users share more if they want to. This is something I always love to see!
I'd 100% sign up for the beta right now, but since my GrapheneOS phone doesn't have the ability to use the Play Store beta features, I'll hold off on that so I don't take someone's spot :)
- Thank you so much!
  Depending on how the legislations now post-DMA go, it might be possible to also handle payments throughout our Portal instead of app stores. The app stores, especially Apple's, has still a bunch of rules in their ToS about this where they might remove the game entirely if you're not using their payment system. Android is slightly more lenient on this regard though.
  The cuts Patreon already takes (a whopping 14% in total, after which we then play VAT) already affects us enough that I would definitely love to rather have my own systems, but also they offer a lot of convenience to the users that we couldn't at this point.
  But overall it would be great if we could provide a direct payment system straight from Portal, as we could price that one also significantly cheaper than using Google's or Apple's systems when we don't need to pay their cuts. It's something I really want to do to be able to make the pricing as affordable as possible, and everything depends on if it's both feasible and allowed by the app stores. But can't promise this, as there are a lot of factors in play whether it's feasible to provide our own systems and if it's allowed by the biggest stores.
  When it comes to direct APK downloads, maybe if we can get a good pipeline for those. I think the most realistic option is that we'll pick the one for an "extra release pipeline" that we can automate most easily to our current systems. Could be Aurora Store, F-Droid or some other depending on what kind of automation options they offer.
  
  I'm not an expert on what automation options they might offer, but I know Aurora Store will essentially just pass through anything you do on the Play Store since it's just a frontend, and for F-Droid you can host a repo where you place any updated APK to automatically make it available to anyone linked to your repo.
  I know alternative payment options are probably a nightmare to properly set up and integrate, so it may not be worth the increased cut of revenue you'd get, but I'm really glad you're considering it!
  I look forward to trying the game when it comes out :)

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.
- Thank you so much for the kind words and for the support, and also sounds like the game is right up in your alley!
  I also spent a lot of time back in like 2006 in Falador coal mines. Maybe it's true that the kids yearn for the mines :D

Buying Gf
Free armour trimming!!
- I can trim those shoes of yours if you like. 100% legit, my dad works at Jagex

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).
  
  By the way, I got such a good impression that I became a BMAC contributor, looking forward to testing it!
  
  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.

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! ❤️

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

I signed up after seeing your last post. I made it into the last wave of invites and have been playing since last week. This game is really cool and I don't think there is anything else like it.
- Thank you so much!
  I think why this game is so unique is that it's origins are a hobby project and come from my sentiment of creating a fitness game that fixes what the others fail at. Rarely anyone makes indie games for mobile, and I've been called a bunch of names for attempting making an indie game to the mobile platform by other devs. But so far things are looking great, and I'm hoping that the mobile game industry would have more indie games.
  Maybe with DMA we could start seeing more, as the biggest hurdle are the app stores and how they're made to only favour games with big budgets.
  
  I agree with everything you said, only that I'm not quite sure what DMA is.
  I want more indie games on my phone because the major mobile app developers are beyond trash at this point. I love indie devs, I love FOSS and indie games. I prefer programming that lends itself to democratizing the web and my devices.
  Your game is a breath of freedom right now in the mobile marketplace. I made it in on the free invite system, but the fact that you are on the fediverse talking to me, coupled with the fact that your game and end goal seam awesome, I'm going to figure out how to become a donating member as soon as I get home.
  I'm out on a night walk right now with my walkscape app open, while typing this reply. Amazing times.

I just signed up! This looks great!
- Thank you so much, I hope you'll enjoy it!

I've been doing Walkscape for about a month and it's really fun!
- Thank you ❤️

This seems super fun! I'd definitely check it out
- Thanks! I hope you'll enjoy it

I finally got in!! Very exciting
- Congratulations, and welcome! Have fun walking and remember to stay hydrated ❤️
  
  o7

So I've made an account, but clicking the verification link just takes me to the home page, where upon trying to log in I get the error message about my email not being verified. Is that account cooked? Do I need to sign up with another email? Is there a way to get a new verification link?
- Hey! This happens to few users, and not sure why exactly. We're working to fix it next week. For the time being, please send an email to contact@walkscape.app with the details of what email you signed up with, and I'll be able to verify your account manually.
  
  Gotcha, thanks!

RS fitness 💪
Wonder if there’s a way to optimize the original video so that it shows it higher resolution without much of a larger file size? Screen recording here
- It's a .gif, and seems like it got resized when si had to upload it. Maybe this would work better?

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!
- 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! ❤️

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!
- Thank you so much!

Just got admitted to the closed beta a few weeks back and have been absolutely loving it :]
This is everything I want from a gamified step counter with none of the things I don’t want!
Looking forward to push notifications to help me remember to queue up the next activity when the last one is complete
Thank you so much for making this!
- Our next update (Quality of Life) exactly aims to iron out most of the kinks remaining in the core loop. So being able to queue starting an activity after traveling, equipping saved gear presets, being able to organize bank & inventory, push notifications (that are opt-in and customizable) and cleaning UI stuff where it's been reported confusing for some.
  We're aiming for this to ship in the next couple of months along with some content additions. Thank you so much ❤️
  
  This sounds amazing, I’ve been playing for a couple of months & really enjoying it. Having never played RuneScape or anything like it, it’s been quite a learning curve, but it’s all very chill so you don’t feel bad if it takes a while to spot a certain feature or remember where a certain screen was in the sprawling menu system (which is fairly easy to use once you get used to it).
  In the first few days/week I found I needed to interact while on walks to make the most of the short step requirements for early activities, but that soon levelled out, & the walk buffer with 2x multiplier is a really nice touch. Every few days/week I try to leave it on idle to build back the buffer, then everything feels relatively quick to progress for the next few days.
  Really awesome work & look forward to the upcoming updates whenever they arrive. Big thanks to you & the team!

I've been wanting a game like this for years!! As soon as Pokemon Go came out I thought it would be awesome to have a similar game that was offline or less Network dependent that modern AR games.
Like you level up and gain experience by walking around but you don't have to live in a city or busy area to play. You don't have to have the social element of say Pokemon Go or Wizards Unite to play and have fun.
The entire point is to have a game that ties the fun elements of gaming with the real world effects of exercise!
Thank you for this I'm excited to keep up with the progress 🙂
- Thank you so much for the write up! Glad you like it the concept, and I hope you'll enjoy the game as well ❤️

I'd love to buy the game if it was free software. What license does it use? I can't find one on the site so I'm assuming it's an all-rights-reserved situation.
- All rights reserved, the footer on the web page has this.
  It's not really viable to run a game studio with developers and artists who work full time to create free games. I wish it was
  
  It’s not really viable to run a game studio with developers and artists who work full time to create free games.
  I'm not asking for people to make their games free as in price, but rather free-as-in-freedom. Osu for instance is an open source game and they're thriving. So it is possible to do so.

Very cool. Will use this when initial release is available on android!
- Open beta release is planned for next year
  
  Awesome. Do you have social media to keep people updated?

I got in a week or so ago and immediately started walking a ton more than usual. It was also great timing because I'm in Paris at the moment, so I'm walking so much every day and leveling up like crazy as a result.
- Awesome to hear, glad you'r enjoying the game ❤️

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 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!!

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).
- I'm actually dumb and my Garmin tracks my steps, so I DO know exactly how many I take (27,689 weekly). Damn I need to use my treadmill desk more consistently. That's low.
  I saw in other comments wearables don't work. That's kind of a bummer. I like to leave my phone charging on my desk and let the watch track.
  
  Doesn't work as of now, but this feature is something we're well aware a lot of people need, and high in our priority. We're just waiting for Google to get their tech together so we can start supporting it.

Brand new to Wave 3 and loving it so far. Still learning as I go, but gamifying walking is helping.

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.
- 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!
  
  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 :-/

Will this forever (or for the foreseeable future) be Android-only?
- It's available even now during Closed Beta for iOS as well!
  
  That’s lovely news, thank you! My partner and I will sign up, this looks adorable. I hope you are insanely successful at launch!

Total level 443 so far and while the core loop was already good the new content has really elevated the experience
- Thank you! The feedback we've received about the most recent content update has been awesome to read, and I think it's given us some great ideas on how to go forward with next content updates!
  And 443 is awesome, I assume you've been leveling most of the skills? :D I'm still at 349 as I've been mostly grinding agility.
  
  Yeah most of my skills are in the 40's aside from fishing and foraging from lots of magnet fishing

Really dig it. Too bad I don't have the time to actually walk around and play this lol, otherwise it looks really fun.

I just got admitted into the beta a few days ago. It's been really fun so far and has helped motivate me to walk every day. Do you have any guidance on what to do for the early game at the moment? Also I know you've addressed smart watch support is coming eventually. Is there an idea of when? I forget to bring my phone around with me at times.
- If you're OK with spoilers, check out wiki and map tool. Also our Discord has a plenty of people who are really helpful on giving eaely game tips.
  My personal recommendation would be to unlock enough achievements for 20AP to unlock Adventurers' Guild, and then farm enough of their tokens there to get some chests. Their chests have great tools for new players. Then, unlocking GDTE and then Syrenthia.
  Smart watch support currently is dependent on Google's process on Health Connect. They're killing Google Fit API, which was our plan for smart watch integration. Health Connect as of now is too buggy to use, but likelt will get better before the end of the year according to Google.
  Thank you, and have a fun time walking ❤️

Gamification of fitness and the like is such a cool concept, I love seeing it in action.
- Thank you so much!

I'm playing this from this June I think, and it's really a great game. Keep up the good work!
- Thank you! There are a lot we're planning to release during the next few months ❤️

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
- 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)!
  
  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

This is really cool! I just applied. I live in a moderate sized city, so I do walk a bit. I hope to help you out on the iOS side of things since lemmy is very android heavy.
I really think this will motivate me to walk more, as I really only walk to work and the store when necessary.
Right before I left my last job, we were looking at using Flutter to dual deploy our app so I’m excited to see it in use by an indie dev!
- Thank you! And Flutter especially when it comes to game development is still in its infancy, but hopefully more devs would pick it up. It's great for interface-heavy games, and with Flame and upcoming Flutter-GPU also viable for more art-heavy games.

Sounds interesting, I'll apply. I'm a QA engineer and tester, so if i get in i'll start complaining and suggesting :D

Can you really only get this through a google group and google play -_- ? Please allow another ways of downloading this, like an APK download.
EDIT: Sadly the game relies on google play services it seems, so I won't be able to play the game probably. Good luck with the development o/
- Managing two release pipelines is already a lot, and we currently don't really have the time for supporting yet another one when 99.9% of users are fine with AppStore and Google Play. It's something I'll probably figure out at some point when we have enough time for that though!
  And yeah, only relies on Google's Recording API which is part of the services. It's really annoying that they made (just recently) the pedometer APIs part of Google Services, but I can't really change that either.
  
  Yeah I saw that on discord, and it is understandable. I don't know anything much about android dev to add anything else haha
  Kudos on the design of the game otherwise, it seems really awesome, I hope you will find a convenient solution at some point.
- Is microg an option?
  
  Does it support the new API they are uaing ?

Suggestion: add other exercises. I can’t walk much because the impact is bad for my mangled knee, but biking is fine.

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.

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