DevBlog #47: Patching is now almost done, info and poll about the next QoL update!
Hello and welcome once more to WalkScape devblog!
This time, we'll quickly cover the hotfixing/patching that's been going on for the past two weeks, and then we'll have a poll and information about the next update, which we call QoL.
Hotfixing and patching post-Syrenthia
We've released two patches in the last two weeks:
These patches fixed a bunch of things within the game that were found by all of you and our "alpha testing team". We also improved a few UIs which were found confusing in the feedback. As always, we're reading posts on Portal, Reddit, Discord, and Lemmy to gather what needs fixing, what players struggle with, and what areas to improve. Discord is the most active and probably the best place to submit feedback and bug reports, and if you haven't joined it, you can join through https://walkscape.app. Also, you can share your wholesome walking pictures there!
We also added translations to the game. If you want to help with translating the game, please join the Discord and ask Bwuh there to join the translation team. We're looking for more people who would be willing to help us get the game translated. We're especially interested in:
- German
- French
- Spanish
- South American Spanish languages
- Portuguese
- Brazilian Portuguese
- Polish
- Japanese
- Chinese (simplified)
- Italian
- Turkish
- Finnish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian… and more!
Also, we now have the infrastructure to support UK English, etc. if there are people interested in doing that! Additionally, US English speakers can join the translation project and post suggestions when proofreading existing texts to help fix typos or improve the writing.
According to our statistics, at the moment Finnish is the most used language after English, followed by German, Polish, Spanish, Italian, and French.
You can check the wiki article here on translation and with more info on how to help: WalkScape Walkthrough - Localization. I've personally now translated Finnish to exceed 70% coverage, and would love some help with the rest!
There are still a few minor issues that I want to fix before moving on to working on our next update, which we call the Quality of Life update. I'm estimating that the next update will be released early next week. After that's released and if there are no more issues to fix, I'll start to work fully on the major QoL upgrades to the game.
Quality of Life update and poll
The Closed Beta has now been ongoing for 10 months, and one of the most important things has been perfecting and expanding the core gameplay loop. We've made a lot of progress in that regard, and we've also received a lot of feedback on what works and what doesn't. This is why our next update focus is Quality of Life, where we go over all of the current features and polish parts that have something important missing that, when implemented, would make the game even more enjoyable for our players.
The main goal of this update is to simply make the game even more enjoyable to play and fix anything that has been annoying to some.
The main planned features for this update are the following:
- WalkPedia. Finishing all of the missing pages, finishing the multi-tab navigation for it, adding buttons that link to WalkPedia throughout in-game content.
- Travel + 1 Queue. Ability to choose travel to a location, and then automatically start a selected activity at the chosen location. Also 1 + Travel: choosing to work on activity X until your inventory is full, or when you've completed a set number of actions, and then automatically starting travel to some other location.
- Crafting Queue and Crafting Overhaul. You can queue up multiple crafting recipes to work on after each other, and if the location you're crafting at has a bank, you can withdraw materials and deposit your creations there if you choose to. Reworked UI for crafting to make crafting easier to use and comprehend.
- Banking and Inventory overhaul. Adding customizable tabs and features to organize your bank, and also the ability to sort & drag items around in your inventory. Ability to lock items in your inventory, so they can't be accidentally dropped or deposited.
- Gear Sets. Ability to create saved gear sets for your character that you can swap for your character with ease. Automatically withdraws the saved equipment from bank if one is available at your location and the items are not in your inventory.
- Tracking & Favoriting content. You can, for instance, choose an achievement, skill level, leaderboard, or crafting recipe to track for your character. You'll be able to see your progress towards the chosen trackable thing with ease on the main view of the game. You can also choose certain locations, items, and more as "favorites," and browse your list of favorites for easier navigation.
- Notifications. You can opt-in to receive customizable notifications when certain things happen in the game, such as when your inventory is full, when step bank is full, when you've arrived at your destination, and more.
The update aims to fix & enhance minor things that have been suggested to us, but are not listed above, while we also work on the game engine to make it better and ready for the addition of Combat, Parties, Trading, and Quests that are also in the works.
The release plan for this update isn't to release it all in one go, but instead release features as they become finished, so we can maintain a constant back-and-forth between the implementation and feedback from you.
To help us prioritize which features to focus on the most during the following update cycle, please fill out the form here: Google Forms - WalkScape Quality of Life Poll
Until next time
That's all for today! While I'm focusing primarily on QoL improvements, myzozoz is simultaneously working on adding multiplayer features. The first of these will be the Party system, followed by Player Trading.
Thanks for reading through this development blog. Happy walking, and don't forget to stay hydrated!