Zombies, Run! Fan Competition

The Zombies, Run! community has produced some incredible content over the past year. We’ve seen artwork, fan-made missions, stories set within the Zombies, Run! universe, cosplay and even a short film. All born of nothing else than a love for Zombies, Run!

Well, we wanted to give something back to the fans. So we’re offering you the chance to win real life cash money, plus a bunch of other prizes (including possible inclusion in future episodes of the game) simply by making something for us; we’ve got categories to cover everyone, whatever your favourite medium.

Please note that all submissions should be kept to a PG-13 rating. Any nudity/swearing will be first ogled, then discarded.

Send your entries to fancompetition@zombiesrungame.com. Where possible, do not include any file attachments above 2MB in size – instead, share a link to the file on Dropbox, Google Drive, or your file store of choice. You get extra imaginary points if you do this!

The deadline for submissions is Monday the 4th of March. Anything sent in after that date will be immediately disqualified. We will announce the winners in March here on the Zombies, Run! Blog.

Click here for the full terms and conditions.

Category 1: Art (General)

1st Prize:

$250 plus your artwork will be featured on the Zombies, Run! website

2nd Prize:

A signed Zombies, Run! poster, plus we’ll send you some Zombies, Run! merchandise

What is art? That’s not for us to say. Use whatever methods you deem necessary to create something artistic that is based on Zombies, Run! We’re not art critics, so we’ll be judging this based on what jumps out at us the most. Our favourite pieces. Go nuts and show us what you can do!

Please submit your artwork as a JPG or PNG under 2MB in size, though please also retain your raw files as well.

Category 2: Art (Poster)

1st Prize:

$250 plus your poster will be created and may become a piece of official Zombies, Run! merchandise

2nd Prize:

A signed Zombies, Run! poster, plus we’ll send you some Zombies, Run! merchandise

Here we’re looking for something a little more specific. Your poster should be suitable for printing on A2 sized paper (594 x 420 mm). It can be portrait or landscape, and we don’t mind if it’s black and white or colour.

Please submit your artwork as a JPG or PNG under 2MB in size, though please also retain your raw files as well. If we do create your poster, we will need it at 300dpi.

Category 3: Audio (Missions)

1st Prize:

$250 plus your mission may be used in the game (at our discretion)

2nd Prize:

Your mission will be published on the Zombies, Run! website, plus we’ll send you some Zombies, Run! merchandise

Create your own side mission for Zombies, Run! 2. In order to be used in the game, your mission will need to be very high quality – this includes the audio quality, voice acting and the script.

Please invent your own characters. Do not try to impersonate our actors; we’ve tried it ourselves and it doesn’t work. Your mission should have six or seven scenes, each ranging from one to two minutes in length. The story can take place at any time after Runner 5’s arrival in Abel Township. This includes after the final episode of Season One. Your mission should be a self contained episode with no cliffhangers.

Please submit your missions in 128kbps .mp3 format, though please also retain your raw uncompressed .wav files in case you win.

Category 4: Audio (Radio)

1st Prize:

$250 plus your mission may be used in the game (at our discretion)

2nd Prize:

Your mission will be published on the Zombies, Run! website, plus we’ll send you some Zombies, Run! merchandise

Create your own radio section for Zombies, Run! 2. In order to be used in the game, your work will need to be very high quality – this includes the audio quality, voice acting and the script. Please invent your own characters. Do not try to impersonate our actors; we keep on trying it, but the actors just look at us with pity in their eyes. Your radio clips can take place at any time after Runner 5’s arrival in Abel Township. This includes after the final episode of Season One. Your submission should include a three-clip episode, with each clip ranging from one to two minutes, and three standalone clips, each no longer than one minute.

Please submit your missions in 128kbps .mp3 format, though please also retain your raw uncompressed .wav files in case you win.

Category 5: Writing (Script)

1st Prize:

$250 plus your mission will be recorded and may be used in the game (at our discretion)

2nd Prize:

Your mission will be recorded by the Zombies, Run! cast

Write us a side mission for Zombies, Run! 2. Your script should be written in Final Draft (free demo here) and should be seven to nine pages long and include six to seven scenes in total. A sample script can be found here and a script template here. You may use the following characters, as well as up to two characters of your own creation: Sam, the Doctor, Janine, Runner 4, Jack, Eugene, Ed, Molly. Your mission should be a self contained episode, with no cliffhangers. It can take place at any time after Runner 5’s arrival in Abel Township. This includes after the final episode of Season One.

Category 6: Writing (Prose)

1st Prize:

$250 plus your writing will be read aloud by a member of the Zombies, Run! cast and published on the official website

2nd Prize:

Your writing will be read aloud by a member of the Zombies, Run! cast and published on the official website

Write a story set in the Zombies, Run! universe. There are no limits in terms of format (graphic novel/comic scripts are as welcome as full prose – though try to keep poetry to a minimum) or length, though we will have a hard time judging your 50,000 word novel about Jack and Eugene’s mountain adventures. As much as we would love to read it. It’s worth reiterating that entries should be kept to a PG-13 rating, or they will be immediately stolen and read by Naomi, our lead writer, before being disqualified.

Please send your prose in plain text in the email itself, or as a PDF. We don’t like Word documents.

A look behind the scenes…

With development of Zombies, Run! 2 speeding along, we thought we’d give you a little insight into how the game gets made. We’ve been in the new office for a few months now and we wanted to share some photos and videos with you guys.

Do you remember that incredible piece of Zombies, Run! fan art by TheWonderSmith? We liked it so much we got it enlarged for the office. Here it is being modelled by our Office Manager, Sophie, and our junior producer, Georgina.

As you can see from the next picture, it has pride of place above the desk of Adrian, CEO at Six to Start. We’ve got a lot of wall space still to fill, so if you have been busy making Zombies, Run! fan art recently, shoot it our way in an email to Jem [at] sixtostart.com.

Speaking of empty wall space, we recently set up the Screen to Start. Or the Six to Screen. We’re not sure what to call it. Anyway, the important part is that we have a large, wall mounted display. For important things, like looping videos of a pug licking a window.

We also use the screen for silly stuff, like alerting people to the fact that recording is going on. We spent a few weeks before Christmas recording the audio for Zombies, Run! Season 2, so it was pretty handy for letting people know that people are in the sound booth and to keep the noise to a minimum.

And we have a sound booth now! It’s definitely an improvement on the ‘bedroom and duvets’ approach used for some early missions!

There’s more for us to show you, so we’ll be back in a week or two with more. Next time we’ll be taking a look inside the sound booth, with the incredible voice actors of Zombies, Run!

To whet your appetite, here’s a picture of Sam Yao (Phil Nightingale) using our new treadmill between takes.

And here are Sam Yao, Archie (Olga Leon) and Runner 3, Simon Lauchlan (Thom Nelstrop) chilling out in the “Actors’ Area”. Located near the kitchen, to better expedite tea delivery.

Finally, a few more of our wonderful actors – Runner 4 (Jennifer Tan) top left, Janine (Eleanor Rushton) top right, and Sam Yao, again, at the bottom.

Our look inside the sound booth will include video footage of actual recordings that you’ll be hearing in Zombies, Run! 2 when it releases in the Spring, so make sure you come back and check it out!

Zombies, Run! 2 mission structure

Welcome to a brand new year – one we’re pretty sure is going to contain the long-heralded zombie apocalypse (don’t say we didn’t warn you).

And to help you get in training for the upcoming final apocalypse and rout of mankind – Zombies, Run! 2 is on its way. We’ll have announcements and new things to show you every week between now and the launch in the spring and we’re starting with a big one.

Zombies, Run! 2 is going to be big – a lot bigger than the original game, with over 60 new missions – and we’re going to be delivering them in a new way. Instead of throwing all that content at you in one – admittedly amazing – lump, our plan is to release three new missions every week, split between main story-arc missions and side quests.

We hope this will make the experience even more awesome – not only will it encourage all our loyal Runner 5s to get out on the trail regularly, it also means that the entire Zombies, Run! community will be able to experience the leading edge of the story together. We have over 300,000 users now, so we’re looking forward to seeing all the discussion, analysis and speculation that this episodic delivery will make possible! (And we’re planning an official podcast to help it along.)

Zombies, Run! 2 will be a free update for existing players – and it’ll come with seven new missions for free at launch. If you’re eager for more Zombies, Run! episodes, you’ll be able to purchase a Season Pass, to get all new content as soon as it’s available.

We’ll be announcing more details about Season Passes before launch, but don’t worry – they won’t cost more than you paid for the original game, and you’ll still be able to purchase missions individually. Even better, some extra missions will be available for free for a limited time after they’re released! Of course, Season Pass holders will be able to grab and replay any previously released mission at any time, so don’t worry if you’re late to the party.

We’ve been hearing your requests for more content, and we’re committed to keeping you zombie-ready at all times, so we hope you’re prepared for new Zombies, Run! missions to run with every week.