Australia's home of delicious numeric data, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, has released a new iPhone game called Run that Town.
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?
• Play with any Australian postal area
• Every game is created using real Census data, making it unique to your neighbourhood
• Choose from hundreds of projects for your town - from the practical to the preposterous
• Consult the locals to make popular decisions
• Read about your exploits in the infamous local paper
You can download Run that Town now from the iOS AppStore (I guess they don't have statistics on how many people have Android phones, because there's no version for that platform yet). Check out the game trailer below for a look at the action.
It's really fun, not similar to Simcity at all though. It has some pretty tough decisions, it freaking sucked when I rejected the proposal for a new bike path in my own area. Considering I'm a person that bikes through every day I really felt that ping of hatred, but the motorists were against it and they outnumbered the cyclists 20:1
It's weird getting used to how fast paced it is, but it has good humour in parts. My first year I was number 8 suburb and the guy said "Congratu--whatever!" in some weird english accent.
Cool idea, but the statistics don't seem to play into it that much - the only time I've noticed a less-than-random outcome to a decision was when I went against the motorists twice; don't fight the motorists. The rest of the time the public is utterly capricious... which might be what this was meant to simulate.
Posted 03:27pm 10/6/13
Posted 03:50pm 10/6/13
Can one of you techies tell me why some stuff is made this way?
Is it really hard to make a tablet version?
Posted 04:18pm 10/6/13
It's weird getting used to how fast paced it is, but it has good humour in parts. My first year I was number 8 suburb and the guy said "Congratu--whatever!" in some weird english accent.
recommend++
Posted 04:29pm 10/6/13
Posted 04:41pm 10/6/13
Posted 07:59pm 10/6/13
Posted 08:12pm 10/6/13
Posted 09:14pm 10/6/13
The same way you make love, hey?
Posted 12:13am 11/6/13
Posted 10:41am 11/6/13
Posted 06:30pm 11/6/13
strewth!!
also android already