key facts - run an empire
TRANSCRIPT
RUN AN EMPIRE JULY 2015 PRESS KIT
For any additional information please contact [email protected].
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OVERVIEW!
Run An Empire is a free-to-play strategy game that takes place in the real world, whilst players move through their city. It was created by London-based design studio PAN for iPhone and Android.
Players race against each other by walking, jogging or running around an area to ‘capture’ it, with the goal of controlling the most territory in their local environment.
Run An Empire is currently in the testing phase and is due to launch later in 2015. Approximately 1,000 Kickstarter Backers from around the world are currently beta testing the game on iOS, providing crucially valuable data and feedback to the development team.
FEATURES
Run, jog or walk anywhere: Run An Empire is available anywhere in the world and works with everyone’s pace.
KEY FACTS !Developer: PAN Studio Based in London, UK
Release date: TBC – Autumn 2015 (iOS)
Platforms: iPhone & Android
Compatibility: iPhone 4s+ / iOS 8.2+ Android TBC
Expected price(s): FREE
Relevant links:
Website: runanempire.com
Kickstarter: click here
Twitter: @runanempire
YouTube: +RunAnEmpire
RUN AN EMPIRE JULY 2015 PRESS KIT
For any additional information please contact [email protected].
Scout, skirmish, secure: Players can claim new land in the name of their empire, by moving through or around it. They can invade neighbouring lands to expand their borders and keep opponents from stealing their territory by reinforcing it.
Real strategy, real world: all the careful planning of a strategy game, played through physical activity in the real world.
Accessible and simple: Run An Empire has not been made just for gifted athletes or hardcore gamers – it doesn’t have any convoluted rules and has been designed to ensure that determination wins over natural ability.
BACKGROUND!
Running is a very accessible way of keeping active: runners can go wherever they want, whenever they want, for as long as they want. It’s also boring.
The current solutions for making running more fun are ‘gamified health apps’, which generally reward calories burned with digital ‘badges’. However, 70% of UK adults already play actual games. They demand much more: to be immersed, to have a personal narrative and to have their skills challenged.
Run An Empire can do all these things. Players compete with their neighbours to own the most territory in their area. The owner of a land is whoever runs, walks or jogs around it the most times. Players must choose with every run if they are going to reinforce their own territory or liberate an opponent’s.
Following the international success of their Hello Lamp Post project, Sam Hill and Ben Barker built on the city interaction concept and created Run An Empire.
The game was initially launched on Kickstarter in March 2014 and was funded by 1,825 Backers (full list available here) after just 27 days, eventually reaching 153% of its target. Several thousands more people have since expressed their interest in beta testing the game, from when the Kickstarter campaign closed.
Run An Empire has also received significant support from the Ordnance Survey GeoVation Fund (details here) and the Bethnal Green Ventures ‘Winter 2015 Cohort’ Accelerator Programme (details here).
RUN AN EMPIRE JULY 2015 PRESS KIT
For any additional information please contact [email protected].
The company launched its seed funding round in April 2015.
ABOUT THE TEAM
Based in Shoreditch, London, Run An Empire was founded by Ben Barker and Sam Hill. Ben and Sam are experience designers and play-makers. They have been making playful experiences together since 2010 and have spoken internationally about the value of play, narrative, experience and memory in the urban environment and as part of every-day living. They co-own PAN Studio.
ABOUT PAN STUDIO!
PAN is an independent experience-production studio, composed of a group of designers, developers and engineers with interests and skills in two overlapping fields:
o! creating stimulating experience events and installations; o! designing user-centric products, systems and services that are intuitive, effective and
rewarding to interact with.
This is PAN’s fifth located-experience product. Since 2011, the studio has been building experiential and gaming products for arts bodies, commercial brands and the public sector. Now, Run An Empire represents the culmination of their learning. Apart from Run An Empire, PAN has also built:
o! Hello Lamp Post: a playable, city-wide experience that allows people to share thoughts, observations and memories in conversation with street furniture (benches, bus stops, letterboxes and parking meters etc). Hello Lamppost was commissioned for the Playable City Award and nominated for Design of The Year 2014 at the Design Museum, London. Initially launched in Bristol, it has since been run in Austin and Tokyo in 2015 and is planned for more cities around the world later in the year.
o! A Fork In The Road: part storytelling platform, part tour-guide, part text-adventure game, A Fork In The Road uses the pathways and road networks of the city as a framework for generating interactive narratives. The system has toured in London, Moscow and Indianapolis.
RUN AN EMPIRE JULY 2015 PRESS KIT
For any additional information please contact [email protected].
KEY MOMENTS
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NOTABLE COVERAGE
“Run An Empire challenges you to conquer territory and defend it from rivals, rather like the classic strategy game Risk” – “Alternate Reality Game Will Turn You Into a Fitness Maniac” – Fast Company (April 2014)
“Run An Empire offers mobile gamers the opportunity to turn their local neighborhood into their own fiefdom”– “Mobile AR game Run An Empire brings strategy to the streets” – Polygon (April 2014)
“Level up your running with a new app that brings tactical gaming to the real world” – “First Look at Run An Empire” – Runner’s World (April 2014)
“Fun running: how fitness apps including Run an Empire can gamify your workout” – Evening Standard (June 2014)
RUN AN EMPIRE JULY 2015 PRESS KIT
For any additional information please contact [email protected].
SCREENSHOTS!
Please find below a selection of screenshots for use:
ICONS & LOGOS!
Please find below a selection of logos and icons for use:
!Screenshot: Map Screen
RGB PNG, 864 x 1584 px Click to download
!Screenshot: Tile Summary
RGB PNG, 864 x 1584 px Click to download
!Screenshot: Profile View
RGB PNG, 864 x 1584 px Click to download
!Logo (gradient)
RGB JPG, 1000 x 1000 px Click to download
RUN AN EMPIRE JULY 2015 PRESS KIT
For any additional information please contact [email protected].
USEFUL LINKS!
“Why we want to make Run An Empire” – PAN Studio Blog (April 2014)
“Today the neighbourhood tomorrow the world! – Run An Empire” – GeoVation Blog (October 2014)
“Sam Hill presenting at Bethnal Green Ventures” (VIDEO) – YouTube (May 2015)
GAME CREDITS !
THE RAE TEAM
Sam Hill Co-founder
Ben Barker Co-founder
Frankie Roberto Developer
Jonathon Albert Developer
Amy Ricketts Project Manager
Mihnea Miculescu Communications Manager
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Marisa Jensen
Joris Philipsen
James McCarthy
RUN AN EMPIRE JULY 2015 PRESS KIT
For any additional information please contact [email protected].
Gareth Shapiro
Marcus Kirsch
Safiyya Lea
Simon Boden
Sophie Cook
Paul Venn
Emmanuelle Poirier
The GeoVation Team
The Team and W15 cohort at Bethnal Green Ventures
And to our 1,825 Kickstarter Backers
CONTACT!
Media enquiries: Mihnea Miculescu (Communications Manager) [email protected] [email protected] +44 (0) 779 652 6151 General enquiries: [email protected]