Run an Empire is like Ingress and Civilization put together [KICKSTARTER]
We’ve been wondering how long it would take for more Ingress-esque games to start popping up after its addictive nature hit the best of everyone, and it looks like another interesting augmented reality location-based game.
It’s called Run and Empire, and its name is as straight forward as one could be. The goal of the game is to “capture” real-world territory around you by running. You capture a plot of land by simply running a route around it, whether that’s a quick jog around the block, the neighborhood, and — if you’re some sort of superhuman — the entire city.
The fun in it is seeing if you can take over other people’s territory, and getting revenge when they take over yours. The developers, Pan Studio, said their goal was to make a game that was accessible to anyone. You won’t need to be a marathon runner to compete, as simply walking or jogging at your own pace can take over just as much territory as someone who can zip around the corner.
To drive the health benefits of playing this game home, the app will have an API that could allow you to keep you updated on your fitness and health by calculating how many steps you’ve walked, the distance you’ve run, and more. Third-party apps such as RunKeeper would be able to hook into this data and seamlessly include it in your workout history.
So how, and when, and for how much, can you get your hands on it? Thankfully, the cost of entry is quite affordable. You can get early beta access in August 2014 for as little as 4 pounds. Otherwise, it looks like the app will be free and all other rewards are simply extras for those who really want to support the project.
There is one caveat for us Android users, though — only iOS support is planned for now. The developers say they will be looking to bring it over to Android if they can raise 25,000 pounds, though, so you’ll definitely want to contribute to the cause if you want to see this on our platform. You can do so by heading to the project’s Kickstarter page here.