Runner Five! Are you in London? Do you love ZR? Are you free next weekend (6th -9th August)? Why not come see Team Zombies, Run! at Nine Worlds London?
Awholebunchof us will be in attendance, so do stop by and say hello if you’re there too!
Highlights of the con for Zombies, Run! fans include:
“Tales from the Sound Booth”: a panel in which Adrian Hon (Six to Start CEO), Matt Wieteska (Six to Start Audio Director), Phil Nightingale (Voice of Sam Yao) and Jennifer Tan (Voice of Runner 4 and Nadia) will give you a peek behind the microphone and tell you exactly what goes into making your favourite missions. [Friday August 7th @ 8.30pm, Connaught A]
“In Conversation with Naomi Alderman”: An in-depth discussion with crying-while-running and most-representative-fitness-app-ever mastermind Zombies, Run! lead writer Naomi Alderman. Naomi will be discussing the challenges of writing fiction while identifying and tackling your internal biases. [Saturday August 8th @ 3.15, County A]
“This Geek Can”: Matt and Adrian join Superhero Workout writer Rachael Acks to discuss fitness for geeky feminists. [Friday August 7th @ 5pm, Connaught A]
We’re really excited about the weekend, so come on down to join the fun! If you’ll be attending, don’t forget to let us know on twitter (@zombiesrungame)!
You bounce up and down, ready and determined for your next mission.
“Raise the gates!”
Headset – check. Backpack – check. Mic – doesn’t seem to be working, but that’s not a problem.
“Covering fire!”
A cacophony of beeps and rattling splits the air as your fellow runners activate their noisemakers. It’s a distraction run today – the defence tower needs urgent repairing.
“…and go!”
You rocket out of the gates and immediately spy a lurching mob of zombies. Couple of crawlers, half a dozen shamblers… and a sprinter! You curve in close to attract the zoms, then head north towards the wood. The noise from the zoms and gunfire drowns out all comms chatter – you can hear Sam desperately trying to get through to you, but you can’t make it out.
As you near the treeline, a concealed zom bursts out of thick undergrowth, and you stumble into a tree, your eyes going dizzy for a second… but a second can be enough difference between life and death for any runner… even Runner 5!
Are you an iPhone user? Turn to Page 2
Favour the ‘Droid? Turn to Page 3
Page 2: iPhone User
You bounce up and down, ready and determined… wait, what happened?
“Raise the gates!”
Headset – check. Backpack – check. But weren’t you just out on a mission? You shake your head, activating your set’s new COUNTDOWN feature. Janine jury-rigged it from spare parts she found in the farmhouse – it’s hooked up to the gate mechanism and provides a timed warning for when the gates are up and a mission is about to start. Just the thing to keep alert levels high!
“Covering fire!”
Runner 4 nods to you. Everyone’s ready.
“…and go!”
You rocket out of the gate, picking up a mob of zombies. Sam says something to you, but it’s impossible to hear amongst all the noise. Good job you have CLIP PLAYBACK built into your headset now, so you can re-listen to all downloaded transmissions at will!
Turns out he’d spied a concealed zombie on the route to the forest. Not a problem – you adjust course and effortlessly dodge between the trees.
“Err… guys, there’s good news, and there’s bad news,” says Sam, over your headset. “The good news is Abel is now clear of zombies – great job everyone! The bad news…. well, the bad news is that the repair job is going to take longer than we thought. Quite a bit longer. Like, two hours long. And even worse, the special running mixtape I put together for you all is only one hour long!”
“Sam. You know there’s a PLAYLIST LOOP button on the tape player? It’s behind your Marmite. Jack rigged it up, remember?”
“Jody! You. Are. A. Hero!”
*click*
Also in 4.1.2, there’s a new ‘Related Downloads’ button on the Mission screen that will help you quickly download any relevant Radio audio, plus the next few missions!, along with a higher max chases/hour (for Pro Members) and other minor improvements.
Page 3: Android User
You bounce up and down, ready and determined… wait, what happened?
“Raise the gates!”
Headset – check. Backpack – check. But haven’t you done this before? Maybe you’ve been in Abel for too long. They said that something like this might…
“Covering fire!”
Runner 13 gives you a wink. Everyone’s ready.
“…and go!”
You sprint out of the gate, collecting a pack of zombies. Sam says something to you, but it’s impossible to hear amongst all the noise. Good job you have ENHANCED GPS TRACKING built into your headset now, so you won’t get lost. The route traces it generates will be more accurate than ever – excellent intel for Janine.
With the new tracking, you detect a concealed zombie on the route to the forest. Not a problem – you adjust course and effortlessly dodge between the trees.
“Err… guys, there’s good news, and there’s bad news,” says Sam, over your headset. “The good news is Abel is now clear of zombies – great job everyone! The bad news…. well, the bad news is that the repair job is going to take longer than we thought. Quite a bit longer. Like, two hours long. And even worse, I ran out of space on my phone – I can only store one hour of music!”
“Sam. I told you to delete those games! But if you’re not going to do that, you know you can MOVE THE APP TO SD CARD? That would free up more space. I wrote up instructions, they’re underneath your jar of Marmite.”
“Cameo! That’s amazing!”
*click*
Also in 4.1.2, you can now retrieve forgotten passwords inside the app, and log in to ZombieLink using your email address as well as your username.
Season 4 may be on hiatus, but we’re still cooking up new stuff. We can’t stop!
Here’s a quick look at some of the new features we’ve rolled out, with plenty more to come.
Edit, Delete, and Sync Runs (iOS, Android, Web)
One of the most requested ZombieLink features is now available on all platforms – editing and removing runs now syncs in both directions!
No more incorrect distances, no more annoying 5 second run logs… just make your changes, sync, and it’ll be the same everywhere you look. It’s the kind of syncing that makes you go ‘yep, that worked’.
Do The Splits (iOS)
We’ve also unveiled another brand new feature – split times.
When you use GPS tracking, it’s now easier than ever to get an overview of how your pace changes throughout your run. You can check out your split times at the end of your mission, or at any time on the run logs screen. And we’ll be bringing split times to Android in the future!
Plus we’ve added autosharing and improved GPS tracking and zombie chases on iOS, and added more zombie chase options on Android!
Good News, Every Runner! Today we release Missions 19 and 20 from Zombies, Run! Season Four. These two missions are the exciting end to the first half of the season, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to share them with you. They are:
S4M19: “There’s No I in Team”
S4M20: “Nitroglycerin”
Both missions are available right now for those of you with Pro Memberships. If you haven’t upgraded yet, you can use your weekly unlock code to play either one for free!
The release of these missions takes us into our short mid-season hiatus. We’ll be back with the thrilling second half of Season Four on August 12th, beginning with missions 21 and 22. This gives you a perfect opportunity to catch up, speculate on where it’s all going and let us know what you think of the season so far!
I don’t think 1500m at highschool is that impressive… though I have skated the le Mans racetrack in a 24hr relay race…
– Jez (Developer)
i did couch-to-5k then returned to the couch
– Brad (QA, Support, Design)
Unfortunately my running career was cut short by the development of knee troubles as a young teen, but even before then I was definitely more of a sprinter than a distance runner, so my longest run is a lowly 1500m! I have done endurance swims of several miles in the past though. 🙂
– Lou (QA, Support)
4:15 – although littered with obstacles so it was not one long continuous run
– Marcel (Developer)
I’ve run two half-marathons, not great times but felt satisfying finishing them
– Sophie (Office Manager)
I am *by no means* a brilliant runner. The furthest I’ve ever jogged in one go is about a mile, but I have walked something like 15 miles in a day sometimes. And let me tell you, there was this one train that I caught even though I arrived at the station *with less than 60 seconds before the doors closed*, so I was pretty proud of myself that day, I can tell you.
– Naomi (Co-Creator and Lead Writer)
My longest race distance is a half-marathon, but I’m pretty sure I did a 26k run in Oxford when I was training!
– Adrian (Co-Creator and CEO)
Inspired by TomTom’s new ad campaign, here’s our equal opportunity take on running for fun (and running for your life!)
There’s a moment that comes for every Zombies, Run! player. Maybe it’s the first time you outrun a zombie mob, your heart pumping and your arms raised in victory. Maybe it’s the morning when you wake up before your alarm, excited to head out and run. Or maybe it’s hitting your personal best for the third run in a row.
That’s the moment you say: I Am Runner Five. And when it comes, we have the perfect t-shirt for you.
Designed by the shockingly talented Estee Chan, this tee is available in two designs in 100% cotton (light cotton tee, dark cotton tee) from only $12, and as a sport tee with wicking fabric from $20.
Whether you’re looking for the perfect thing for your local fan meet up — or for your next 10k race — we’ve got your back.
All of these tees are available right now on Teespring, but will only be on sale for two weeks, so get moving!
Fireworks arc into the air. Flags wave in the wind. Blog authors are unable to resist endless movie references (seriously you’ll get sick of them soon). Welcome to the Independence Day weekend Zombies, Run! Community Roundup Post.
Before we get started, let’s all take a moment to celebrate the fact that everyone’s favourite Doctor Girlfriends could now get married anywhere in the United States with a classic piece of loveliness from The Wondersmith
We’re horribly excited to announce that two of us from here at Six to Start will be appearing at this year’s Nine Worlds Conference in London from 7th – 9th August 2015: Adrian Hon (ZR co-creator, Six to Start CEO) and Matt Wieteska (Audio Director, Writer of Radio Abel, Me). We’ll both be speaking in various panels across the three days, so come and say hi!
But that’s not all! The ZR writing team will be out in full force, with Naomi Alderman (ZR co-creator and Lead Writer) and Rebecca Levene both attending. Finally, some of the ZR cast are also on panels, so there’s plenty of Zombies, Run! related reasons to come along.
You can find more information about the Nine Worlds schedule here. If you’re coming along, be sure to tweet us to let us know.
This Month in the Fandom
… has been absolutely ridiculous. I’ve never seen so much wonderful art, writing and discussion. Seriously, putting this post together has taken about three times longer than ever before because it was so hard to decide what to put in. You all need to be a touch less amazing or my pride centre is going to explode. Hit up the readmore to find a taste of what this fantastic fandom has been up to since we launched the All-New Zombies, Run!
Couldn’t let you through without a bit more holiday-appropriate giffage. On with the art!
Art
So much stunning artwork this month. Check this stuff out.
This is less than 1/10th of the amazing artwork that was created by the community this month. Seriously, you are all far too talented and generous with your wonderful art. Rock on.
Writing
As with the artwork, there’s been so much fantastic writing from the fandom in the past month that I’ve really struggled to pick out my favourites, but here they are!
As a counterpoint to all the pain in the last two pieces, have some tear-inducingly sweet fic set after the end of Season Three Radio Mode. Straydog733 just completely nailing it here.
Finally, a special bonus extra favourite from this month. The amazing runningalchemist has been writing pieces of Rajit’s infamous Novel and it’s exactly as delicious as you’d imagine. So. Good.
Phew! That’s it for this month. Zombies, Run! Fandom: you are utterly fabulous. If there’s any fan work you’d like to draw my attention to for the next Community Roundup, drop me an email to matt at sixtostart dot com.
July is here and with two new missions from Zombies, Run! Season Four. Today, we have:
S4M15: “Sweet Things”
S4M16: “Old and Wise”
Both missions are available right now for our Pro Members. Free and Legacy Members can unlock either one with their free weekly unlock credit. As always, let us know what you think of the missions here or on Twitter.
Zombies, Run! 