First off, I’ve struggled to exercise, and I also have ADHD. Gamifying exercise works really well for my dopamine-craving brain, but I’m also easily distracted, so the current mobile fitness games on the market didn’t really work for me. That’s how I came up with this idea.
Here are some info about the game and how it’s different from Pokemon Go for example:
no distractions. I love games that value my time. WalkScape is designed so that it encourages you not to open it while you’re walking, but afterwards. And even if you open it while walking, changing things in the game is super quick.
no GPS. So you can walk where ever you want. The game tracks your steps even without an internet connection, but you need a connection when you open the game.
no ads, no MTX. I hate predatory monetisation practises, and they encourage unhealthy spending habits. This game is about both mental and physical health.
In the game, you explore and work in different skills such as woodcutting, foraging, fishing and crafting by walking in real life. The game uses your phone’s pedometer to track your progress. It’s also online, so you can work with your friends towards common goals without needing to be physically in the same location.
The game has dozens of locations, hundreds of items, NPCs, shops and more is coming as I work towards the full release of the game. There’s a lot of different unique and cute activities in the game you can set your character to do in addition to the typical woodcutting and mining, like volunteering in soup kitchen or helping locals repairing their boats. All fueled by walking IRL.
If you feel like you’d like to try it out, you can either apply to the closed beta (we’re inviting more people right now) or if you like to support the development, you get instant to access through Patreon or Buy me a Coffee to start playing. The game is completely community funded.
Whether you decide to support or apply to the closed beta, you’ll need to sign up at WalkScape Portal to the game and then apply or connect your Patreon on the account page.
You can also check our this video to hear me and the artist explain more about the game: Youtube introduction video
It’s been a wild journey for me growing this thing from my personal hobby project, and awesome to see the game helping so many people to exercise more. I’ll answer any questions you might have in the comments!
Thank you so much for the questions, I’ll answer them as best as I can:
I have intentionally built everything without relying on any Google service. We have couple of players with de-googled phones and the game works great. Worth noting is that when we add smart watch integration through Google Fit, that wouldn’t work. We might later on build support for Garmin Connect too, but it’s still a bit out of scope. But just using your phone to count steps already works with de-googled phones.
Worth noting is though that the closed beta is distributed via Google Play closed testing, but it’s possible to get around that as some other players have.
No, no activities like that you would need to do while walking. If you need to open it during your walk, it’s mostly changing what you’re doing in the game.
All planned active gameplay components are designed so that they’ll be something you play after the walk at your home.
If there’s demand for more “active walking” gameplay, we might implement something for that later on. But for now, we encourage to keep it closed when you walk, and that’s something a lot of players love about it, myself included.
No open sourcing planned. I have released some related stuff open source (like the character creation tool), but not the game or the server tech I’ve built. I have made my own game engine for it, and I feel like if I released it open source I would have to compete against clones of the game I’ve worked so hard to make, so not really keen on doing that.
Just Google Play and App Store for now, I might be releasing it on other app stores later on, but the publishing pipeline for it even now is quite a complex one for a single dev, and I’m not keen to make it even more so.
Yes! I replied to the other comment with the same question in more details if you’re interested reading it.
And thank you so much, hopefully this answered your questions! ❤️
Thanks for detailed response, and yeah absolutely answered my questions.
Good to know, thanks.
I think this is a good thing myself! (not having people constantly looking at their phones while walking, rather enjoying whats around them). I would defo vouch for this selling point.
Completely understand - was only asking out of curiosity.
Have a great rest of your day, i very much look forward to checking this game out! 🌻
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: [email protected]
Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.
Rules
1. Submissions have to be related to games
Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.
This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.
2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil
No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.
We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.
3. No excessive self-promotion
Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.
This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.
4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts
This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you’re submitting before posting to see if it’s already been posted.
We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.
5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW
Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.
No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.
6. No linking to piracy
Don’t share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.
We don’t want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.
Thank you so much for the questions, I’ll answer them as best as I can:
I have intentionally built everything without relying on any Google service. We have couple of players with de-googled phones and the game works great. Worth noting is that when we add smart watch integration through Google Fit, that wouldn’t work. We might later on build support for Garmin Connect too, but it’s still a bit out of scope. But just using your phone to count steps already works with de-googled phones.
Worth noting is though that the closed beta is distributed via Google Play closed testing, but it’s possible to get around that as some other players have.
No, no activities like that you would need to do while walking. If you need to open it during your walk, it’s mostly changing what you’re doing in the game.
All planned active gameplay components are designed so that they’ll be something you play after the walk at your home.
If there’s demand for more “active walking” gameplay, we might implement something for that later on. But for now, we encourage to keep it closed when you walk, and that’s something a lot of players love about it, myself included.
No open sourcing planned. I have released some related stuff open source (like the character creation tool), but not the game or the server tech I’ve built. I have made my own game engine for it, and I feel like if I released it open source I would have to compete against clones of the game I’ve worked so hard to make, so not really keen on doing that.
Just Google Play and App Store for now, I might be releasing it on other app stores later on, but the publishing pipeline for it even now is quite a complex one for a single dev, and I’m not keen to make it even more so.
Yes! I replied to the other comment with the same question in more details if you’re interested reading it.
And thank you so much, hopefully this answered your questions! ❤️
Thanks for detailed response, and yeah absolutely answered my questions.
Have a great rest of your day, i very much look forward to checking this game out! 🌻
My pleasure, have a great day as well! ❤️