Run An Empire Makes You Physically Work For Territory

Mobile games with a fitness twist aren’t exactly a new thing but they’re fun to indulge in nonetheless. Here’s a new one by a couple of British developers: Run An Empire. Like its name suggests, it involves territorial control and leg-powered locomotion.

Rather than calling it a fitness app, Pan Studio is calling it a “persistent, massively-multiplayer, alternate-reality semi-turn-based strategy running game” whereby determination, and not ability, counts.

Basically, all one needs to do is to turn on the app and then run, jog, or walk around an area to capture it. It’s incredibly straightforward and uses your phone’s GPS to record the path.

That’s not the fun part, though. Every user in the world will be running the same instance and can therefore wrestle control of your territories. Rather than it being a pointless back-and-forth exchange, players can reinforce their zones by running more times around said area. Think of it as the “mayorship” crowning n FourSquare, only this time you get to actually work for it.

There’s more. The size of your sweaty empire will award you points determined by the amount of square kilometers you own. These points go towards personalizing your very own coat of arms, which accompanies all sorts of data such as history, score and metrics on this stylish status screen.

Unfortunately, there’s a catch: Run An Empire doesn’t exist yet. The game is currently seeking funds on Kickstarter and, as of time of writing, has reached 80% of their £15,000 goal with another 12 days to go. They’ve already done some proof-of-concept work and street-level testing but will need the funding to begin work proper.

More bad news for some of us: the game is being designed for iOS. An Android port enters the picture as a stretch goal, though only at the hefty £25K mark – seems like too much of a stretch at this rate.

You can find more information on Run An Empire over at its Kickstarter page.

It’d be really impressive if someone manages to own a running track and the outlying areas around it. On a final note, a “Ride An Empire” may turn out to be reality if this game receives enough positivity.