Dustland: Run To Survive!
Do you ever wish that achieving your fitness objectives was more like just playing a video game? Well, good news! working on your fitness routine doesn’t mean that you need to neglect your valuable geek hobbies. Dustland doesn’t only make you earn while you run but it will challenge you to get off your backside and start pounding the street to survive the catastrophic climate events with an alternate reality game like audio. Running for your life has never been literal!
DEVELOPMENT HISTORY
Keith Rumjahn, Marc McGinley, Scott Williams, and an unknown “game writer” make up the development team of Dustland. Based on what is posted on the website, some of their core team worked for major franchises such as Star Wars and Far Cry.
This project is powered by Animoca Brands. They also have several advisors that oversee their entire project picture. Moreover, there are gyms and premium fitness brands that are part of the Dustland project such as Gold's Gym. However, as of the time of writing there are not many gaming guilds that have partnership with them.
Looking at their roadmap, the alpha version of Dustland Runner on Android and iOS with Mission 1-3 has already launched last Q2 2022. While their Dustland Rider Alpha is just on its pre-registration stage since it would be launched on PC, Mac, iOS, and Android in Q3 2022.
GAMEPLAY SUMMARY
Dustland is a move-to-earn audio fitness game. The planet enters a dark age after a string of disastrous climatic catastrophes. The fact that the temperature has climbed to 2 degrees over pre-industrial levels and that many areas of the world are experiencing severe droughts only makes the situation worse. The only barely habitable region is known as the Dustland.
The player is among the few people still alive in the Dustlands and will be known as one of the Dust Runner, a freelance delivery who will race all over Dustland and go on bounty runs carrying all kinds of mysterious contraband. This project will record distance, time, pace, and calories burned by the player using their phone’s GPS. It’s also not restricted to a user’s location, meaning players can run at home, in the gym, or outside.
As the player goes on, an audio adventure plays out accompanying their run; giving context to the world, its inhabitants, and the otherworldly technology that is highly coveted by all clans. In addition to running, additional character storylines will open up. Coming soon as well is the crafting system, item upgrades, battle pass and a season mode with a different storyline.
EARNING POTENTIAL
In Dustland, players are free to trade, sell, give away, lend, or burn the assets and rewards that they receive. DOSE is the in-game token of the project that players can earn by participating and completing bounty runs. For each unit of energy consumed during a run, DOSE tokens are also awarded. The quantity of DOSE tokens the player may earn by running has fixed supply. Hence, the quantity earned may vary depending on the Daily Reward Pool, the number of Players participating at the same time, and the gear that each player is equipped with.
As of now, players receive Temporary Completion Tickets. These Completion Tickets will be changed into DOSE as soon as DOSE is included in the game. So generally, the key to earning more is to participate in bounty runs and consume all energy every day.
OVERALL IMPRESSION
The lore of Dustland somehow reminds me of James Dasher’s novel, “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials'' since both of them is set in a dystopian future where the cause of all catastrophes started with the sun flare and everything seems to be covered in an endless desert because of extreme drought. The “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” includes a lot of running action too and I am particularly excited with Dustland to put me to running while listening to an alternate reality game like audio play out in the background.
Also judging from this project’s gameplay trailer, the voice acting will be good and I hope that it will continue to evolve from that foundation since the role of a quality voice performance will make or break this type of project. When done well, voice-acting can heighten the experience of the player, bringing them deeper into the world created and really connect with the characters where the player can forget they are even listening to an audio at all. Meanwhile, if the actor sounds like someone just pulled off the street and told to read the script badly, then it can be outright laughable when roles sound this unprofessional and poorly acted.
FINAL THOUGHTS
For many of us living in an age of digitized instant gratification, running isn’t always the most exciting fitness activity. But the gamified fitness experience that Dustland will provide can make running truly, authentically fun while putting the monetary benefits second. Some may find the concept of an end-of-the-world audio story fitness app a bit bizarre, but don’t let the unusual concept fool you – this app is quite genius and perhaps you may finally enjoy running!
