The only
game in town
A MOBILE GAME MADE FROM DATA
“It took the most shit boring stuff you can ever imagine in your life and turned it into something so compellingly interesting.”
David Sable
Creative Data Jury President, Cannes Lions 2016
There’s something to be said for working on a product that nobody is interested in. It means you really have to earn their attention. Our brief was to help raise awareness of Census data among everyday Australians. Which means our product was spreadsheets full of numbers. Pretty exciting.
Of course, if you were a town planner, or a developer, or even a politician, you wouldn’t question the value of those numbers, because you’d be using them every day.
So how could we put everyone else in a position where they needed to use the data?
The result was Run That Town, a smartphone app that takes the data from every town in Australia, and turns it into a game.
While it’s drawn comparisons to SimCity, Run That Town is actually a completely unique gameplay mechanic that makes the data integral to the gameplay.
The game starts by loading the real-world demographics of whatever postcode you happen to be standing in. You’re then charged with approving or rejecting proposals for your town that will be loved by some demographics, like the over 65 set, and hated by others, like university students.
And because the real world numbers control the outcome, the result plays differently in every town in Australia.
Within days of launch, Run That Town shot to number 1 in the Entertainment category on the Apple App store. The unusual story of how a government department used this game to engage people in a dry subject was also featured on blogs, podcasts, magazines, and TV and radio shows. One of the largest gaming magazines in Australia scored the game an 8/10, putting it in the company of AAA titles.
But most importantly, Run That Town has to date been downloaded more than 82,000 times. That’s a lot of Australians having some serious fun with their Census data. Not just playing with it - but using it for themselves.
Awards
Gold - Cannes Lions - Creative Data
Gold - One Show Interactive
Nomination - D&AD - Digital Design
In Book - D&AD - Mobile Apps
Featured in Google Creative Sandbox