Turn Your Workout Into an Adventure With City of Epic

vansau

Mortician of Love
May 25, 2010
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Turn Your Workout Into an Adventure With City of Epic



"You're not just running, you're preparing for the zombie apocalypse."

Exercise games, AKA "exergames" are a strange breed. While they're often well-made, people rarely seem to stick with them after the initial appeal wears off. Granted, there are exceptions like Wii Fit, but they're few and far between. However, a couple of independent developers are working on making a title that will not only be a solid exergame, but will retain its user base by staying fun.

The game, City of Epic, is being designed by BitBot Media, the brainchild of Katherine Ramos and Kelly Maguire. At the moment, it's a proposed project on Kickstarter, the crowdfunding site that lets people support a wide array of projects, artistic and otherwise.

According to the two, the main problem with exergames is that they're not actually games, they're "just interactive workout videos with a few cartoon characters." With City of Epic, though, players will find themselves going up against friends in a casual RPG that certainly sounds like it's got an entertaining premise:

You've just fallen off the turnip truck in Epic, a big city where all the inhabitants are inexplicably obsessed with Awesome. But Awesome isn't just a concept here; it has physical form as AwesomeTokens, AwesomeStars, and the highly coveted AwesomeCubes. In short, your status revolves around how much Awesome you have. Since everyone in Epic is already incredibly intelligent and attractive, the most impressive thing you can do is show off with feats of strength and stamina. Gain enough status, and they might just elect you Mayor of Epic.

From the sound of things, the game will assign exercise tasks to players based on story scenarios. My favorite example is shown in this screenshot, which announces that the zombie apocalypse is taking place, so players have to run 5K (3.1 miles) to the county limit in order to survive.

Ramos and Maguire are asking for $5,000 to get the project done, of which they've collected almost $1,500. If you want to help fund the project, head to the link below. Remember, you're not just helping nerds get in shape, you're helping ensure that some people will be fit enough to survive the end of the world.

Source: <a href=http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1171791306/city-of-epic-an-exercise-rpg>Kickstarter

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Mr.Pandah

Pandah Extremist
Jul 20, 2008
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I love the idea. I hope that it gets off the ground. I'd go running more often if I had another thing pushing for me to do it. (I already work out, but my cardio has been severely lacking these past few weeks)
 

dmase

New member
Mar 12, 2009
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Wow that sounds cool. I mean its great for cardio and easier to do(I guess) but weight lifting less so. I don't understand how its going to work but i'm curious.
 

Timbydude

Crime-Solving Rank 11 Paladin
Jul 15, 2009
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I'd totally try this if it came out. Not that I need a game to make me workout, but it sure would make it a lot easier.
 

UnderCoverGuest

New member
May 24, 2010
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So folks be sprinting ahead of the hordes of zombies on a treadmill, hmm? I guess as it expands, you'll do hurdling with Hunters and tire-flipping with Tanks. Sounds groovy for the video-gaming-I-need-to-get-some-exercise-in crowd to be sure. More ideas like this need to be put into effect.
 

viranimus

Thread killer
Nov 20, 2009
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/shrug Seems ok.

I think I would rather have a Motion controlled (more likely for kinect for whole body factor)"Workout of the dead" series to cross train you for the zombie apocalypse. You could even go so far as to make it episodic. Cardio of the dead, Calistenics of the dead, Strength training of the dead, Tai Bo of the dead... I think you get the idea.

Yes, Zombie cross training workout motion controlled simulator.. I could get behind this.
 

The Rockerfly

New member
Dec 31, 2008
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I just want some virtual reality eye wear so when I'm running I could have any environment I could want and allow for users texture pack.

Someone tell me when that comes out and I probably will be running foever
 

Cowabungaa

New member
Feb 10, 2008
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Looks cool, but I prefer imagining I'm Batman instead of imagining I'm running away from zombies, it's just so much more epic. Just put this on:
And in no time you won't be running, you'll be dashing along.
 

thiosk

New member
Sep 18, 2008
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Cardio is so god damned boring, I applaud anything to help.

Suggestion to developers: if the exergame can't be played with extremely sweaty hands, split second contacts, and while effectively hopping in place, its utterly useless to someone who is actually exercising in any real sense.
 

Sarcastic_Applause

New member
Dec 1, 2010
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oddly enough, i assign these sorts of scenario's to my sessions already, but i thought that others would find it odd. Thank god im not in a minority, a very good idea, tuning required but overall a good concept
 

Kenjitsuka

New member
Sep 10, 2009
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I'm not sure how the game would track that someone ran for 5 KM...
If you can just input it, I'll inform you I ran 500 KM yesterday, then did over 9000 situps!
Yes, it's over 9000! So here I come, Mayor of Epic!!! :p