There's been a zombie apocalypse, and now it's up to you to lace up your running shoes and collect survival items for the community.
That's the premise behind the Zombies, Run!, the new mobile app that will be available for iPhones by the end of February. It took just one week to secure over $30,000 from potential players to develop the transmedia adventure.
The game promises to step up more traditional running apps with layers of story and puzzles — thereby appealing to joggers, elite runners and couch potato gamers alike. Choose your own playlist: the audio adventure chimes in between tracks.
"You're trying to build up the city you live in, trying to collect supplies, help people out there," said creator Naomi Alderman on the app's website. "We're in the zombie apocolypse, we all know how that plays out — you're going to be chased by reaching for your brains. But there are bigger questions out there…does someone know more than they're letting on?"
The company, Six to Start, based in London, has created worldwide treasure hunts and alternate reality games (and won writing awards at SXSW). Alderman, herself a novice runner, hatched the idea after imagining herself in action movies while working out on the treadmill.
"From my limited experience of running, I know it’s pretty taxing, and part of the joy is getting ‘into the zone’" she writes on her blog. "So we’ve been thinking really hard about how to tell a story which is exciting and enhances your run rather than annoying you."
It promises to be the first game where you find out more about the adventure every time you go running. It also records distance, time, pace and calories burned … but no word yet on how may calories you burn outrunning a zombie.
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