New World Notes: ZOMBIES, RUN! iOS/Android Game Project Combines Audio Immersion With Real World Running

Thursday, September 15, 2011

ZOMBIES, RUN! iOS/Android Game Project Combines Audio Immersion With Real World Running

ZOMBIES, RUN! is an indie game project for iOS and Android now seeking funds via Kickstarter, and it leverages smartphone technology in a very smart way: The phone's stereo sound capability creates an immersive, post-apocalyptic world that's depicted with sound effects, music, and dialog, while the phone's location-aware capability tracks the amount of running you're doing in the real world, and incorporates the distance you've run into the game itself. This probably makes more sense if you watch the Kickstarter video, so take a look:

While cool and innovative in itself, there's at least two reasons I'm writing about it here on New World Notes, a blog that's mostly about virtual worlds:

ZOMBIES, RUN! aims to be an immersive gaming experience, not through 3D graphics, but in a way that's organic to smartphones. This reflects a point SL/iOS developer Robert "Dizzy Banjo" Thomas made in his much-discussed NWN guest post/discussion thread: "I think iOS and its devices offer some amazing possibilities for immersive experiences," as he put it. "I think we need to rethink what we really mean by the word immersive though. It could mean immersing more into your real world, or immersing into an augmented version of your real world." Dizzy's Inception app does that, and so does ZOMBIES, RUN! Maybe this is the real future of virtual worlds -- not 3D graphics, but 3D audio integrated into the rest of your life. With, you know, zombies.
This Kickstarter project has already raised $27,864 from 1,179 donors in about a month. As I mentioned on Monday, another immersive technology project, Kirstens' Viewer, needs $50,000 in funding from its 8500 users to continue. If ZOMBIES, RUN! can do it, I'd say so can Kirsten's Viewer.

That in mind, read more about ZOMBIES, RUN here, and get inspired.

Hat tip: Boing Boing.

Posted on Thursday, September 15, 2011 at 11:02 AM in New World Editorial | Permalink

Comments

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I like it. It may not completely fit my notions of immersive VR, but I'm willing to carve out exceptions for sheer coolness and innovative thinking.

Posted by: Arcadia Codesmith | Thursday, September 15, 2011 at 01:39 PM

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