(Image courtesy V&A Museum – click for directions to the museum)
We’re only three days out from the amazing Zombies, Run! Live at the V&A’sFriday Late, so we hope all you Runners Five planning to attend have polished your axes, changed the batteries in your headsets, and tightened up the laces in your running shoes. We’re super excited to meet you all, and for you to take part in what is sure to be a super fun evening.
This post is a reminder that we will be heading off to a nearby pub after the event is over, for drinks, chat, merriment and squeeing over the amazing costumes people have put together. If you’d like to join us there, please make sure to follow @zombiesrungame on Twitter and check our account throughout the night to find out where we’re going to be.
We can’t wait to raise gates, glasses and spirits with you all!
New York based Runners Five: skip to the italicised section at the bottom of this post – we’re coming to visit!
We’re now just over a week out from what is sure to be the best thing to have ever happened in the history of things happening: Zombies, Run! Live at the V&AFriday Late.
It’s all going down a week on Friday (30th January) at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and we’re ridiculously excited to host an amazing event and to meet all of you awesome Runners Five who are heading out to attend.
In fact, we’re so damn excited to meet you that we’re looking for a couple of Zombies, Run! fans to volunteer to help us out at the event. If you’re interested in being part of making this event go off with a bang louder than [SPOILERS REDACTED], then here’s what you need to know:
You’ll need to attend the event in costume as Runner Five
You’ll need to be able to be at the V&A by 3pm on the day of the event
You need to email matt@sixtostart.com to put yourself forward. Volunteering doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll end up asking you to help, but we can’t ask you to help if you don’t volunteer!
We’ll get in touch with the people we’d like to help out to organise further details.
NEW YORK RUNNERS FIVE
We’re going to be visiting New York at the end of March! Our provisional plan is to host an informal (but super-fun) drinks-and-chat-meetup at a nice bar somewhere in Manhattan on the evening of Tuesday March 31st. We’ll confirm these details a bit later but for now, pencil that date in your diary if you fancy meeting some of the creators of ZR and your fellow Runners Five!
In our blogpost last Friday, along with releasing our awesome “Raise the Gates” Supercut video, we told you all to keep your eyes our for a big announcement to come today. Not one to break our promises, here we are with said announcement.
We’re delighted to announce today that we’re partnering with the Victoria and Albert museum in London to run a live Zombies, Run! event at their Museum Late at the end of this month: January 30th. This is a really exciting opportunity for us to do something different, introduce Zombies, Run! to a whole new crowd of people, and hopefully meet a whole bunch of you Runners Five!
(Image: “Abel Township”, yesterday)
Here are the key details, with more info below:
January 30th, Victoria and Albert Museum, 6.30pm start
3 “performances” throughout the night, each lasting 20 minutes
Open to all ages (but be aware that these events tend to be quite busy if you’re bringing small children)
Free, non-ticketed – turn up early as we can’t guarantee entry!
Come in costume! (But no zombies please!)
Secret but fun, interactive event
Meet the writers, director, developers (and almost certainly actors!) behind the game
Come get a drink with us afterwards! We’ll send a tweet out on the night to let you know what we’ll be up to / where we’ll be.
We’re super super super crazy excited about this and we hope you can come join us for some fun!
The event will take place as part of the V&A’s Friday Late, which is a free, non-ticketed event. This means it’s open to everyone, won’t cost you a penny, and you don’t need to book in advance. However, these events do tend to be very popular and we can’t guarantee entry, so it’s usually a good idea to turn up early in order to make sure you get in!
We’ll be doing three “performances” throughout the night, each of which will last 20 minutes, so there’ll be plenty of chances to take part in what is going to be an experience not to be missed. We don’t want to spoil the surprise by telling you exactly what’s going to go down, but it’s going to be fun, interactive and full of all the things you love about Zombies, Run! While this is an event for people who are new to ZR as much as it is for fans, this isn’t going to be a boring lecture or presentation, we promise.
And, to make this evening as unforgettable as we want it to be, we’re asking for your help. We know that ZR fans are creative, passionate and proud to be Runner Five, and we want the rest of the attendees to know that as well. So we’d love it if you came in costume as your favourite runner, operator, radio host or other character from ZR. There’ll be plenty of opportunities for awesome photos and videos throughout the night and there might even be a chance to meet the actor who plays the character you’ve come as! One small caveat, though: we’d ask you not to come as a zombie – we promise this is for good reasons!
(Image: Some items that might be very useful for your cosplay, via the wonderful decrescendo)
On top of all that, the Zombies, Run! team will be out in full force, ready to chat, take photos and generally have a whale of a time with you all. We’ll be around all night at the event, and we’re also probably going to be finding a friendly pub nearby afterwards to get together for a more relaxed drink, so there’ll be plenty of opportunities to talk Abel, Sam and all things ZR! We’re really excited to meet you all, so we hope you can make it!
It’s a cry that has echoed in every runner’s ears; from Abel to New Canton, Brunswick to Skoobs, “Raise The Gates” is the universal signal to get ready for what’s to come. Which is why we thought it’d would be the perfect sound to ring in 2015.
OK, we’re a few days late. But we also bringing more than just one “Raise The Gates”. We’ve actually got all of them. That’s right. Every single “Raise The Gates” from every single Zombies, Run! story mission. All assembled in the supercut video at the top of this post. We should note that there are minor implied spoilers in this video for the whole of the main story, so watch with a little caution if you’re very spoiler averse and not up to date.
So, Runners everywhere, gather with us and start the year the way you mean to continue it: by Raising Those Gates.
And, for all of our UK Runners Five, this is official notice to save the evening of January 30th 2015. We’ll be appearing with a special free live event a the Victoria and Albert museum in London. We’ll be back in touch on Monday with more details on exactly what’s going to go down, but you won’t want to miss it.
2015 is going to be an exciting year. Let’s get ready for Season 4! Until then…
May all your gates be raised, may all your runs be fruitful with ammo and artefacts and supplies and sports bras, may your base expand with hospitals and farms and statues and tequila shacks galore, and may you all stay safe out there!
Even the Winter of Workouts. That’s right, I’m afraid to say that today is the final day in our “Winter of Workouts” celebration. But we’re not fading away like the sober person at a party when the clock strikes “boogie”. No! We’re going out with a bang. A bang that looks, sounds and acts very much like the best goddamn home workout app you’ve ever seen: “7 Minute Motion Tracking Workout”.
7 Minute Motion Tracking Workout is the smartphone fitness app you’ve been waiting for. Check out this list of awesome features right here:
Automatic Rep Tracking – No more need to enter your workouts into fiddly tracking apps. No more need for a spotter. No more need to teach your pets how to count or how to recognise correct form for a Power Squat. We got you. We’ll count all your reps and calculate your calories as well, using our innovative front-camera motion tracking technology. Try getting a budgie to do that.
12 Workout Routines – A good workout is like a good meal: varied, well-thought through and guaranteed to leave you sweating. We’ve got a full-blown Michelin Star menu of them right here for you. 12 energetic, exciting workouts, including the classic ‘7 Minute Workout’. No more boredom!
Achievements – This app isn’t just going to give you poxy “real life achievements” like “building strength” and “improving cardiovascular function” and “feeling better about yourself, your body and your life”. Hell no. We’ll do all those things and we’ll give you shiny digital medals for them so you can show everyone in your life just how much you’re killing it. Which is so much.
TV – We know how it is. You’re working out, concentrating on your form and your motivation and not knocking your living room lamp over. You want your instructions, your rep count and your timers where you can see them: right there on your very own television. Yet again, we’ve got you covered. 7 Minute Motion Tracking Workout is optimised for Apple TV, so you can bring your home workout to the big screen.
I don’t need to sell you on this anymore. This app is awesome, we’re incredibly proud of it, and it’s going to supercharge your home workouts like you wouldn’t believe.
It’s December! Which means it’s time to don your cheesiest christmas jumper, make yourself a nice hot cup of cocoa and settle in for the final Zombies, Run! Community roundup of 2014.
Click the readmore for awesome art, wonderful writing, S3 spoilers and pictures of cider
In fact, hold fire on that cocoa for just a second there. I think I’ve got something you might like more. WTFRJK has only gone and made some of Phil Cheeseman’s “Truth Or Dare” Cider (better known as “Captain Phil’s Ol’ Lumberjack Blinder”, “Tuesday Night Mayhem” and “Dear god, what have I done to deserve this, why is Jack wearing Zoe’s boots on his arms again?!”). I think this stuff looks absolutely amazing and I’m frankly gutted by the fact that I’ll never get to taste it.
My spider-sense is tingling so I think it’s really important to mention that alcoholic beverages should be enjoyed responsibly and only when it is legal for you to do so at your current age in your current location. Stay safe out there, everybody. Cider is tasty, but safety is tastier.
OK, now that we all have something delicious to enjoy, how about some lovely wintery listening? And what better for that than the latest episode of the Zombies, Run! fandom’s very own unofficial podcast, Podcast Detected? This time Devin and Lindley are discussing all their favourite fanworks – something we have in common today!
That’s the scene setting done. Now let’s get on with the fun. Here’s a round-up of our favourite fanworks / blog posts / comments / miscellaneous material from around the Zombies, Run! fandom this month.
Art and Stuff!
OK you guys just look at this. Look at it! Look at this and then go away and think about what you, collectively, have done as a fandom. Just look at his face. Thaumivore, you are a danger to society and my heart.
I always love it when we get to see art of characters that aren’t drawn so often, and this bonkers amazing pairing of Zoe and Louise is pretty much the bestworst thing. I can’t decide if I love the tattoos, the headgear or the Van-Ark-May-Care attitude on their faces more. The Wondersmith is, as always, a goddamn heartbreaker.
From face-squishingly-great character portraits to “changing my desktop wallpaper right now holy poops take a look at this”: Decrescendo has made some truly stunning Runner Five themed designs this month. We’re all huge fans of these in the office. Amazing work.
There’s obviously far too much amazing fan art out there to call attention to every piece, but I couldn’t leave this month’s community roundup without mentioning Ask Abel Runner Five. They’re currently on their tenth day straight of posting adorable comics based on prompts from the fandom. If you haven’t seen it yet, I have only four words for you: Sam In Animal Ears.
Writing
As always, there’s been a tonne of great fics this month, but I wanted to draw attention to Cocytus by Sam Yaoza and Sports Bras, which is a moving piece on grief and love, and Empty by Tumblyorro, which does a fantastic job of getting inside Janine’s head towards the end of Season Two. Great work from both.
Community Initiatives
One of the best things about watching the ZR fandom grow over the past three years has been seeing the beginning of some truly wonderful community initiatives. This month we have Don’t Die December, in which members of the fandom commit to their fitness goals for December. It’s great to see the community coming together to encourage each other. Keep it up, Runners Five! We’ve also got Zombies, Run! Secret Santa, in which members of the fandom swap art, stories and other works as christmas presents. It’s too late to sign up now, I’m afraid, but I can’t wait to see all the great stuff you guys turn out!
Thanks to all of our amazing fans, and everyone out there running to keep Abel Township safe. You guys rock. Happy holidays!
What’s Step Buy Step? Only the greatest Pedometer Adventure Game in history. Only the cutest collection of animal walking companions this side of The Animals of Farthing Wood. Only the perfect symbiosis of Cookie-Clicker style gameplay, fitness and story.
Step Buy Step turns all your everyday walking into an adventure. We track your steps and turn them into Stepps – our magical currency. You’ll use this currency to expand your caravan of cute and cuddly companions.
Every animal adventurer who joins you on your quest will increase how many Stepps you earn for every step you take, until you’re crossing entire countries in a single stride!
With five exciting challenges, gorgeous graphics by artist Estee Chan and more zoological puns than you can shake a stick insect at, Step Buy Step is the only pedometer you need and the greatest ambulatory adventure you’ll ever have.
Step Buy Step is out now for iPhone at $1.99 / €1.79 / £1.49
Like the ravening undead hordes, the holiday season is once again rapidly approaching. A time for coming together with your loved ones, decapitating those of you who have already gone grey and giving lovely presents to the rest.
The problem being, of course, that most presents are replete with issues that make them basically useless and terrible.
You have to leave your house to get them
They’re heavy and difficult to carry from place to place
They don’t have kickass pictures of zombie elves all over the place
…Until Now
Introducing the Zombies, Run! Christmas Gift Certificate. Here’s how it works:
Go over to the iTunes App Store and buy a gift code for your favourite Zombie-themed running app. Unfortunately, Google Play don’t let you gift apps so this step’s just for iOS users.
Our sister app, 7 Minute Superhero Workout, is out now on Android! (Yes, we have a new name, as well!). We’re really thrilled that we get to bring the adventures of AEGIS One to Android phones and tablets, and we think the app will give players a fantastic workout.
We’ve also updated our iOS app to version 1.1, adding seven all-new challenges alongside our existing thrill-a-minute motion-tracking gameplay.
And to celebrate the release, we’ve dropped the price to $2.99 on both platforms! There’s never been a better time to sign up with the ODC and join the fight to defend the Earth.
New Features for iOS and Android
We’ve added a new Challenge mode for iPhones and iPads that’ll push you to your limits: how many ski jumps can you complete in 100 seconds? How long can you maintain 25 pushups per minute?
We’ve also introduced a Checkpoint system for both platforms, allowing you to split the longer missions into shorter 8-9 minute chunks so you can catch your breath or simply try out even more rapid workouts. Finally, on iOS you can now choose your own music to play during Workouts!
Zombies, Run! 