State of the Township: August 2015

Hello to the 1.8 million players who’ve bought and downloaded Zombies, Run! It’s lovely to see so many new Season 1 fans posting on Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook, and being greeted with open arms by the Season 4 veterans. This post is mostly about our roadmap for the game in the next couple of months, but we never forget how important our community is. It’s your support, free and Pro members alike, that makes the game what it is.

Since our last State of the Township in June, we’ve added almost all of the features we aimed for, and even more beyond that. We’ve improved stability and reduced crashes considerably, but we know there’s more to do:

New on iOS

Edit and delete run logs
Autosharing runs on Twitter and Facebook
Split time graph in run logs
VoiceOver improvements
Zombie chase improvements
GPS accuracy improvements
Fix: Crashes on iPhone 5 and 5s devices running iOS 7
Added: Run log edit accessibility improvements
Added: Mission Clip playback
Added: Customisable Countdown
Added: Related Downloads
Added: Full-Screen Annotated run maps
Added: Cleaner UI (especially for smaller devices)

New on Android

Edit and delete run logs
Share run logs
Zombie chase and mission clip timing fixes
Statistics improvements
Airdrop Mode!
Fix: Crashes during Race Missions
Added: Lollipop-optimised UI
Added: Move to external storage (SD card)

New on Zombielink

ZR3 to ZR4 user migration
Run maps
Edit and delete run logs
Added: Runkeeper sync
Added: Statistics

Next on Zombies, Run!

As ever, this is what we’re aiming for in the next two months. Development is unpredictable, etc.:

iOS

Auto-download next mission
Calorie tracking
Virtual Race support
ZombieLink syncing improvements
Music playback improvements
Secret Project!

Android

Split time graphs
Interval training
Android 6.0 compatibility
Virtual Race support
Codex
Mission Clip playback
ZombieLink syncing improvements

ZombieLink

Run map improvements
Split time graphs
Email updates
Codex
Virtual Race support

Audio Adverts

We recently began testing short audio adverts in Zombies, Run! We’re doing this so that even free users can help support development of the game, and we’re choosing them carefully so they’ll be a mix of our own ads, and from selected third parties. You’ll only hear them on missions that you have to unlock. So:

If you’re a Pro Member, you won’t hear audio ads from third parties, and we’d only ever play short messages before your run to tell you about really important things. And if you’re a Legacy Member, you’ll only hear third party ads on Season 4 missions.

Android and iOS Development

Ever since our Kickstarter four years ago, when we announced we’d be launching on iOS before Android, we’ve had a lot of questions about the differences between the two platforms. To be plain, a lot of people wonder why features usually come to Android later than iOS.

We know it’s frustrating to see features available to other people before they’re available to you, and we certainly empathise – over half of us here at Six to Start are Android users – so we wanted to explain why.

The most important reason is that development is harder on Android. This isn’t an experience unique to Zombies, Run! or Six to Start – many developers say the same thing, which is why apps and games like Instagram, Hyperlapse, Google Hangouts, Fallout Shelter, 80 Days, The Room, and Monument Valley are launched or updated on iOS first.

Why is development harder on Android? This Savvyapps blog post discusses issues like device fragmentation, maturity of development tools, and OS adoption rates; they estimate Android development takes 2-3 times longer than iOS. Whether or not those numbers are ‘true’, we’ve observed that trend ourselves.

Of course, there are unique benefits in developing for Android, like the rapid speed of deployment (a few hours vs. the 7+ day Apple review period) and the relative openness of the platform. It’s also clear Google is making huge efforts to improve other areas such as OS adoption rates and fragmentation issues (via Google Play Services), and they’ve introduced a support hotline for select Android developers.

The truth is, if Zombies, Run! was a product that could be ‘finished’ and didn’t require any significant maintenance or new features, then feature parity is something we could aim for in the near-future. But we keep on coming up with new ideas and features, and that means the horizon of feature parity keeps slipping away, even as both our iOS and Android apps improve every week and month.

Overall, development is harder on Android – even with the same number of developers on iOS and Android, even with highly skilled developers who are expert on both platforms. We aren’t choosing to delay Android development because we value the platform less, and we aren’t developing iOS at the expense of Android.

It’s Time. New Missions.

It isn’t an exaggeration to say this week’s missions are the most anticipated in years – so I won’t blather on. Here they are:

S4M23: “Goodbye to You”

S4M24: “Livin’ on a Prayer”

Pro members can play both of these missions immediately. Free and Legacy members can unlock either mission with their weekly free unlock.

Get ready.

Happy New Mission Day!

It’s been a long, cold few weeks. Sleepless nights, empty days. But the torment is over. We return with two new missions this week and boy are they worth the wait. Here they are:

S4M21: “In Da Club”

S4M22: “Runaway Baby”

As always, both these missions are available for download right now if you’re a Pro Member. Otherwise, you can use your weekly free unlock credit to unlock either one. We can’t wait to hear what you all think of these, so let us know on Twitter (@zombiesrungame) or in the comments here!

https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/218630309/stream?client_id=N2eHz8D7GtXSl6fTtcGHdSJiS74xqOUI?plead=please-dont-download-this-or-our-lawyers-wont-let-us-host-audio

After a long weekend of meeting lovely Runners, geeking out, accusing each other of being spies and waiting far too long at the bar, team Six to Start has returned to Earth from the Nine Worlds. And with us we have brought a recording of the Zombies, Run!: Tales from the Soundbooth panel session we did on Friday night. We had a hell of a lot of fun talking about all the work that goes into making the game, and we hope you enjoy hearing it.

Note: This talk is entirely spoiler-free! There’s one exception, but we edited it out – you’ll hear more about that in the introduction. Listen away!

We’d like to give a massive, massive shoutout and love-bomb to zalia, who organised and moderated this panel with superhuman patience, insight and grace. Big up! We can’t thank you enough, Zalia.

Thanks also to the entire team at Nine Worlds, everyone who came to hear us witter on, and whoever was giving the audibly-hilarious talk in the room next door.

Source: SoundCloud / Six to Start

August Community Roundup

Fist Fight Sam by thewondersmith

The month of August is upon us and, like its namesake, it brings with it a record of all its fine works. But who needs a bronze inscription when you have The Zombies, Run! Community Roundup?

Six to Start News

First up, let’s have a quick catch-up with all the goings-on here at Six to Start headquarters.

1) The current hiatus will finish next Wednesday, August 12th, with the release of missions 21 and 22 from Season Four. From then on, we’ll be releasing 2 new missions a week right through to the end of Season Four!

2) Virtual Race! We’re thinking about running one. Do you like the sound of that? Would you like to race against your fellow Runners Five, virtually? Let us know!

3) Team Zombies, Run! will be at Nine Worlds London this weekend (August 7th – 9th)! We’ll be talking about fitness, Zombies, Run!, representation, games and also just hanging out and stuff. Come say hi!

OK that’s all the official stuff out of the way. Hit the readmore for the fluff, heartbreak, illustrations and in-jokes you actually come here for.

Artwork

The past month has seen a ridiculous explosion of amazing artwork, just a few pieces of which I’m able to share here with you all. I had to leave a whole lot of my favourites out so that we didn’t crash Tumblr’s servers with the wonder, so go check out the tags to make sure you don’t miss a thing.

Thanks, Sam! by twitmerm

Archie by zombies-draw

Sorry Runner Five by ginnyandpaige

My Five by swarmagent

Doublebra Angel Five by templeait

Picked Up One Child by siriusmistake

Shojody by sleepyempress

Comics

In the past, comics haven’t been all that common in the Fivedom, but this month we’ve had some really excellent new sequential fan art. For obvious reasons, I can’t share them in their entirety here, so instead I’m going to post the first panel and provide a link so you can read the rest of the strip. Which you should, because they’re all amazing. Do it!

Cinnamon Roll ZR by damondear-art [SPOILERS FOR S1M19 WITHIN]

Late Night Training by muterunner5

Creeper by sleepyempress [SPOILERS FOR S3 WITHIN]

Why Me by templeait [SLIGHT SPOILERS FOR S2SM4 WITHIN]

Fiction

As usual, one of the most popular activities in the Zombies, Run! Fandom is making fellow Runners Five feel alternately heartbroken and unbelievably fuzzy. Here are some new fics that do exactly that.

Inside the Perimeter by straydog733 [SPOILERS FOR S3 RADIO MODE WITHIN]

Holy butts that piece really got me. A perfect, perfect look at what it’s like to survive. Fantastic.

Still Waters by cinderscoria [SPOILERS UP TO S3M47 WITHIN]

I love the use of second person here – it’s a difficult perspective to use, but this is super effective. Excellent.

Hang Down Your Head by clairzad [SPOILERS FOR S3 RADIO MODE WITHIN]

Ooof. This is a pitch-perfect mix of fluff and intense gutpunching that I couldn’t stop reading. Wow.

Sunny Afternoon by zalia

To counteract the emotions of the last piece, here’s a gorgeous celebration of the US Supreme Court’s recent ruling on Marriage Equality. So much love.

Diary by lostinmybedroomradio

Here’s the beginning of a brand-new ongoing in-character diary which is really in-depth and well thought through. It’s great to read someone putting so much effort into getting inside their Runner Five’s head!

And that’s it for this month! As usual, there has been far, far too much great fan work to feature in one blog post, but if you think there’s something I’ve missed, or if there’s something to which you’d like to draw my attention, drop me a line on matt at sixtostart.com.

Stay safe out there!

Zombies, Run! at Nine Worlds London

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?

A whole bunch of 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)!

4.1.2 on iOS & Android out now!

Page 1

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.

Edit/Delete/Sync/Splits

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!

So I have begun listening to Radio Abel season 2 and why, I have to ask, does my heart feel like it is being ripped out and eated by zombies??? Was this all really necessary?

1) Because it’s Zombies, Run!

2) Yes. Yes, it is.

Last Mission Drop Before Hiatus

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!