The design studio turning to game mechanics and virtual Zombies to get us off the sofa and into a pair of running shoes.

There are dozens of excuses we use to stay in with our feet up, rather than drag ourselves outside and do some exercise: it’s raining, you’re hungover, your feet hurt, it’s too late, it’s too dark. In the UK, statistics show that around a quarter of women and a fifth of men are classed as inactive, while obesity levels have risen in women from 16% to 24% in the past 25 years. Although these figures may be enough to get us off the sofa, in practice, it seems people aren’t that easily motivated.

Adrian Hon hopes to change this. His technology company Six to Start has developed a set of apps to encourage people of any ability to get fit. However, rather than the Nike+ model of sports technology, which motivates runners by tracking their time and distance covered, Hon’s apps use storytelling.

The first app the team developed was Zombies, Run!, which tells the story of a character called Runner 5, who exists in a fictional, post-apocalyptic world. Runner 5’s job is to leave the safety of his base and explore his surroundings, looking for supplies and people in danger – while avoiding bloodthirsty zombies that are roaming the wasteland. At certain points during the story the user is encouraged to take on the role of the Runner 5 character. For instance, when a zombie has just started to chase runners, the user must jog even faster. If Runner 5 needs to venture out to get supplies then the real-life runner is required to run a particular distance.

The idea draws on Six to Start’s previous work for the BBC and Disney, when the agency built alternate-reality video games. They applied these storytelling concepts to create new incentives for exercise. “Running never came naturally to me,” explains Hon. “I was surprised that while apps such as Nike+ tracked your run, there was nothing that made the process or experience of running more interesting or fun. Sure, you can get achievements from those apps, but it’s not a game in its truest sense. We needed our app to be compelling and immersive, and have a story that made sense.”

Ultimately Zombies, Run! works because, in a real zombie apocalypse, we’d all be running rather than sitting on the sofa waiting to be eaten. “We’re always releasing new missions, so the idea is that if you wake up on a rainy Saturday, you’re still going to get out there and run because you want to find out what happens next,” explains Hon.

And this has certainly encouraged people to use the app. Initially launched on Kickstarter, it has since become one of the most successful fitness games on the market, with over 900,000 downloads, 20 million kilometres logged online and over 160 missions released and continually updated. Of course, the app only works if its user is already thinking about running – it’s essentially a tool to improve performance and help you push for the extra mile. But what about people who just can’t get off the sofa in the first place?

If you wake up on a rainy Saturday, you’re still going to get out there and run because you want to find out what happens next >

The Walk’s story, a North by Northwest-style fictional thriller, is connected to a mobile phone’s built-in pedometer, which measures the number of steps and minutes a person walks each day. The further its user walks, the more of the story is unlocked. As well as an audio story, newspaper clippings, letters and visuals are gradually revealed to add crucial developments, turning the experience into a richer, cross-format narrative that continues after the person has finished exercising.

In total, the game takes three months of walking to complete, which was a very deliberate decision by Six to Start. “If you look at the research, it takes people about two months to establish a new exercise habit,” explains Hon. “We didn’t want to create an app that only lasted five days for people to use and then stop once they’d finished the story. The idea was to create something that would leave a lasting habit.”

Sales figures are still under wraps, but hopefully the app will be successful in motivating people more familiar with a McFlurry than a Fitness First to begin a regular walking routine. After all, if exercise is something we all struggle with, why not try and make it more fun? Apps like Zombies, Run! and The Walk are intuitive; we all spend so much time on our smart phones anyway, constantly consuming content, playing games, tracking our lifestyles, that it makes sense to combine these behaviours to create modern tools that will make us fitter in the process. As more ideas like this hit the market it seems there are fewer and fewer reasons not to lace up our trainers, charge up our smartphones and head outside.