Game Design Secrets

Understanding Best Practices of Crowdfunded Games, Part II: Advice from Adrian Hon, Developer of ZOMBIES RUN!

ZOMBIES, RUN! is an indie game project for iOS and Android that successfully used Kickstarter to raise nearly $75,000 from 3,464 backers, well above a target goal of $12,500 (see Figure 15-4).

Figure 15-4: Concept art featured on ZOMBIES, RUN! Kickstarter page.

A highly original and innovative game, ZOMBIES, RUN! uses the smartphone’s stereo sound capability to create an immersive, post-apocalyptic world depicted with sound effects, music, and dialogue, while the phone’s location-aware capability tracks the distance a player runs and incorporates it into the game’s map.

By the time this book hits the shelf, co-creator Adrian Hon tells me, the Android version should be out, along with starter content, “plus a whole new website that will sync player’s data online and make the game much more social. So, quite a lot!”

Notably, Hon and his co-developer Naomi Alderman raised this funding without advertising or paid PR. They sent a few e-mails and tweets to get the Kickstarter rolling. “The rest was done by the community.”

How? Hon explains in the next section.

The Secrets to ZOMBIES, RUN!’s Success: Clear Explanation, Good Presentation, and Rewards

“There are a few things you need to get right if you want to have any chance of success,” says Hon:

• A video showing as much of ...