Tip of the day
Being overencumbered only slows down your activities, but doesn't affect travel.
Devupdates/2024
From Walkscape Walkthrough
Posted on March 13, 2024.
- Announced a patch centred on Android pedometer reliability, alongside loading improvements, quality of life changes, and bug fixes.
- Included a changelog detailing the update.
Pedometer and step handling
- Reworked the Android pedometer to function without Google Fit, prevent it from falling asleep, and preserve tracking through phone restarts.
- Fixed a bug that incorrectly awarded large amounts of steps and added better rollback tools to correct affected characters.
- Improved background step processing and error handling, with additional fixes for iOS step readings and loading delays.
- Testing had shown promising results on the available Android models, although the scale of the changes meant further issues were possible.
Update transition
- Maintenance was planned for March 14, 2024, around 20:00 UTC.
- Changes to local saving and pedometer data made old step records incompatible with the update on both Android and iOS.
- Players were asked to open the game before maintenance to claim outstanding steps. Unclaimed steps and steps taken during maintenance would not carry over.
Quality of life
- Added crafting filters, back buttons throughout menus, location descriptions, and more notification and step-popup options.
- Improved loading times, system font-size support, interface consistency, and localisation preparation.
Posted on February 28, 2024.
- Wave 2 was scheduled to open at 14:00 UTC on February 28, 2024.
- Included a changelog covering a substantial content expansion, performance improvements, and bug fixes.
Wave 2 access
- The supporter cutoff was March 31, 2024, with Patreon and Buy Me a Coffee supporters who began supporting before that date eligible for Wave 2.
- Hundreds of beta applicants had also been invited, with further invitations dependent on server capacity and testing needs.
- Supporters and applicants admitted after the cutoff would enter through Wave 3.
Content and systems
- Added 25 activities, more than doubling the game's activity count, alongside new equipment, collectibles, crafting recipes, and additional world content.
- Character history logging and partial achievement tracking were implemented, providing the groundwork for completing the achievement system.
- Activities involving multiple skills could now award chests for each relevant skill.
- Fixes addressed travel, crafting, saved steps, loot rolls, tutorial rewards, and interface issues.
Step tracking limitations
- WalkScape supported only the phone's internal pedometer, so smartwatch totals could differ from in-game steps.
- Some Android devices stopped recording steps because system or application settings allowed the pedometer to fall asleep.
- A submitter comment clarified that Google Fit was not a step-data source for WalkScape; it could help keep the pedometer awake on affected devices while a proper fix was investigated.
Next priorities
- Immediate work would focus on critical issues, followed by completing achievements and preparing more GDTE content.
- The Portal gained notices for server problems and downtime.
- Stabilisation and server development had taken longer than expected, prompting a more cautious approach to future release estimates.
Posted on February 1, 2024.
- Explained the design of saved steps and plans for optional gameplay between walks in response to community feedback.
Saved steps
- Saved steps preserve excess steps after an activity finishes, reducing the need to check the game at exactly the right moment.
- Consuming saved steps requires further walking to maintain the connection between exercise and character progress, while encouraging players to keep walking.
- Instant spending was rejected because it would shift gameplay toward collecting energy during walks and optimising its use afterwards, weakening progress feedback during exercise.
- The saved steps cap was likely to increase because players were walking more than the pre-release survey had suggested.
Planned active gameplay
- Optional features were planned before or shortly after Open Beta to provide things to do while resting.
- Turn-based PvE and PvP combat would use walking to train combat skills, while combat itself would level classes. Combat Points earned through walking were being considered to limit continuous fighting.
- Quests and random encounters would allow reading and decisions to be handled later, without interrupting walks.
- Player trading, housing, and Farming were planned to offer further activities between walks. Farming would include real-time timers, with a submitter comment explicitly rejecting crop-rotting mechanics that punish missed check-ins.
- Friends, guilds, and an in-game Portal were planned, with sharing photographs from walks also being considered.
Quality of life and Wave 2
- Broad activity queues were considered too complex, but automatically starting an activity after travel was planned, with crafting queues a possible later addition.
- Completion notifications, clearer UI, expanded tutorials, inventory sorting, and a location list were being worked on or planned. Bank sorting and tabs were intended for later.
- Bug fixes and quality of life improvements were the priority before Wave 2, tentatively expected within a couple of weeks.
- Patreon linking on the Portal was fixed, with Buy Me a Coffee migration to the new system planned for the same week.
