Project Commissioner

Australian Bureau of Statistics/Leo Burnett

Project Creator

Millipede Creative Development

Project Overview

Have you ever thought your local area could be run better? Well, why don’t we put you in charge? Run That Town is a strategy game with a twist - it lets you take control of any neighbourhood in Australia. Use real Census data to discover who’s who in your area, and make decisions that will sway popular opinion in your favour. What kind of leader will you be? Will you be showered with praise, or chased out of town by an angry mob?

Team

Chief Creative Officer: Andy DiLallo Creative Director: Kieran Ots Art Director: Zaid Al-Asady, Kieran Ots Copywriter: Kieran Ots, Ayla Norris-Smith Designers: David Mugford, Mark White Technical Director: Kevin Brown Producer: Adrian Gunadi Group Business Director: Paul Everson Senior Business Manager: Neil Duncan Technology Partner/Company: Millipede Developer: Patrick Toohey, Kevin Brown Animators: David Giuca, Toby Pederson, Keong Seet Original Music: Eclectic Music Machine

Project Brief

Run That Town is fun, addictive and challenging strategy game. But because it’s based on reality, it’s all the more impressive, since that means there are lessons to be learned here — not only about gameplay, but also politics, government, statistics, societies and Australia. 'This game is phenomenal. Run That Town is very well conceptualized and extremely polished, from the smooth integration of statistics (you don’t even realize how much you’re learning about the town while you’re playing) to the high-quality graphics.' AppStorm Review. 10/10

Project Need

The brief from the client was to engage people in what is largely a very dull and uninteresting topic - demographic statistics. Get people to re-engage with the Census with the release of the 2011 data. People don’t really understand why the data is important and valuable. The best way to understand the value of the data is to use it. This game brings those numbers to life in real and interesting ways that everyone who lives in an area can relate to.

User Experience

A lot of care was taken in the way the statistics were displayed and it is visualisation of data that is the key to why this game has been so successful. The gameplay and challenge factors to constantly tweak and manage your town to keep your townspeople happy adds that addictiveness to the game. Even the use of a famous comedian's voice and some very witty writing is all designed to make this whole experience a fun one.

Project Marketing

The marketing of this game was done through The Australian Bureau of Statistics and their agency, Leo Burnett.