Em Craven

Story City - Create & sell walkable adventures in your city

Story City’s intuitive no-code Creator Tools and templates empower you to create and monetise immersive walkable experiences that come to life as adventurers are guided through the real-world locations of your branching narrative, powered by our GPS app.

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Em Craven
Hi Product Hunt 👋👋 Why go on a boring old walk when you can be a secret agent 🕵️? Have you ever read a story and wish you could be in it? Struggling with how to bring your city back to life post-pandemic? If so, we’re excited for you all to check out Story City! 🙃 ✨WHY THIS?✨ Our mission is to help creators build a career in the cities that they love, by telling stories you can live. Story City allows creators to make and sell stories, games, and real-life choose-your-adventures that only open when you’re standing in the right location. We created Story City for 3 reasons: 🧙‍♀️We wanted to actually be a part of a story rather than just being told it. We wanted to experience our own city, connect with friends, and do something more interesting than collecting Pokemon in a park. 🎭But we were non-technical creators - fiction writers, theatre-makers, musicians and filmmakers. Traditional AR/Animated creatures wasn’t really our jam. What was our version of interactive entertainment? What was our version of Pokemon Go but for film, books, music, theatre, tours? 🏙️Our cities are struggling, *hard*. How could we help creators, cities, businesses, festivals activate public space with technology in a way that was fun, relevant and long-running? Story City makes you the hero of your own story, not only giving you the chance to take part in adventures in cities across the world, but a way to easily create and sell these adventures without needing to know how to code or animate. Whether you’re an independent creator (*welcome* writers, theatre-makers, musicians filmmakers and more!) or an organisation (******hello****** cultural districts, community leagues and downtown revitalisation orgs), you can make interactive stories an adventurer can literally step into and live. 🌎EXPLORE WITH STORIES MADE BY YOU🌏 Once you make a story using our Creator Tools, each story unlocks at a particular start point and from there can either follow one path or branch off into dozens of different locations around the city (and which ones you visit will depend on the path you pick through the adventure). Our Creator Tools are accessible from any desktop webbrowser and are: 🎉 Free for creators to use: We only make money if you make money 👾 No-code: Just add in your chapters and link them together, drop your pins on the map, and load in your content like you would for a blog post 🤑 Monetisable: You can set your creations as free to drive foot traffic for city revitalisation or to augment events, or set a sale price to build an additional revenue stream as a creator, or perhaps fundraising for a good cause. 🪄 Updateable: Any changes or updates you make to your content after going live gets immediately pushed to the app 🌈 Full of Resources: We’ve got the resources you need to inspire you to make everything from a choose your adventure, to a fitness walk, to a scavenger hunt, with resources from videos to templates to weekly Twitch Streams. Whether it's fiction or non-fiction, a musical journey or scavenger hunt, all stories on Story City are made by creators - like YOU - who know their cities best. You don’t need to be tech-savvy. You can use the methods you already know and love to create with, and our Creator Tools do the rest! We can’t wait to hear your feedback, and see what you create! You can sign up for your free creator account here and start creating now: https://about.storycity.app/crea... And if you’re a curious adventurer, you can download the Story City App here (So far we have adventures in Western Canada and Australia): https://about.storycity.app/down... Warmly, Emily
Em Craven
We'll be live on Twitch today at https://www.twitch.tv/storycity at 3pm PST - come on by, say hi, and ask any questions you'd like live answered. Would love any feedback you have!
Daniel Brantley
Congrats on the launch this is a very cool idea After reading and going through it I realized how amazing it is But the website seems not to be responsive on my mobile device. I do not know why tho ..
Em Craven
@daniel_brantley Thanks so much for dropping by! So the link we have for the website is direct to the tools which is currently not optimised for mobile but for use on desktop browsers. But that is a top priority in the road map once we iron out the feedback for the desktop browser version - and appreciate that that is your first instinct as a creator to be mobile first. You can see more at our creator landing page here on mobile: https://about.storycity.app/crea... Any other feedback or comments don't hesitate to drop another message!
Brett Ludwig
@daniel_brantley Thanks Daniel, our creator tools are best served on the desktop - creating a story usually requires some keyboard typing and we found that people were most effective when creating them on a desktop. We are planning on adding mobile support depending on feedback like yours!
Daniel Brantley
@brettludwig that’s great I had the opportunity to actually check it out on my PC when i was less busy and it turned out to be great.
Em Craven
@brettludwig @daniel_brantley Amazing, thank you so much for taking the time to do that! Glad the desktop version worked well and will look at prioritizing a mobile responsiveness for the tools.
Urav Parker
Cool, Congrats Em & team on your launch!
Em Craven
@ura_m Many thanks for your support! Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Justin Khan
@ura_m Thanks Urav! If you get a chance to check out the Creator Tools, we'd love to hear your thoughts on it!
Brett Ludwig
@ura_m Appreciate it! We've been looking forward to this launch.
Brett Ludwig
Hello Product Hunt! I'm Brett Ludwig, CTO at Story City. I'm thrilled to share our latest achievement with you - the Story City Creator Tools. Developing these tools was quite the adventure in itself, filled with coding marathons, brainstorming sessions, and a fair share of head-scratching moments. But every challenge faced was an opportunity to learn and improve, pushing us towards a result we're incredibly proud of. These tools are a canvas for your creativity, an opportunity to bring your city and stories to life. Whether you're a seasoned storyteller or just starting your journey, these tools are for you. They're user-friendly, fun, and just waiting for your creativity to bring them to life. So, dive in and start creating - your stories have the power to move, entertain, and inspire. Can't wait to see the amazing stories you'll create. Let's get started! All the best, Brett Ludwig
Julio Medina
This looks fun. Cool idea!
Em Craven
@juliomedina Thanks so much for your support Julio! Any questions or feedback, please let us know!
Justin Khan
@juliomedina Cheers, Julio! We'd love for you to check out the app and sample any of the free stories using Spoiler Mode! That allows you to experience any of the stories, no matter where in the world you are!
Brett Ludwig
@juliomedina It is a lot of fun! It's great seeing what different things people can create with the Creator Tools.
Mihai Marinescu
I like this idea. This can be used for tourists but also for locals. Congrats!
Em Craven
@mmarinescu88 Many thanks for dropping a comment Mihai! Our focus is actually locals first so I'd say used for locals but also for tourists ;) This mainly came out of my want to explore my own city with entertainment rather than walking tour/tourist content - think Pokemon Go but for a non-gamer. That's why you'll see templates for choose your adventures, puzzle trails and more :) Thanks again for stopping by and would love to hear any feedback you have about the app or creator tools!
Justin Khan
@mmarinescu88 You've got it, Mihai! The locals in any city are the ones we want to appeal to before tourists! It's amazing how many things folks haven't discovered in their own cities, and we hope there are stories made in every city which helps them feel like they're in a completely new environment. Thanks for the comment! We'd love to hear what your thoughts are on the creator tools and if you have any suggestions that you think could unlock the appeal for locals. Cheers!
Brett Ludwig
@mmarinescu88 You've nailed it! At Story City, we're focused on engaging with locals, helping them discover new aspects of their cities. It's fantastic to hear you resonate with that! Please share your experiences and any suggestions you might have after using the product.
Charlotte Chiang
Great launch video - that put a smile on my face afternoon. Huge congrats to the team on today's launch. This is such a great way retell the stories of how you fell in love with a city. What inspired you to start this product?
Em Craven
@charmandro yaaaas, we achieved our mission today then 😁 thanks so much for your support. We started this because we wanted to be a part of stories rather than just told them, but I was a non-technical creator. I met my cofounder who comes from a AAA gaming background and here we are! Would love to hear your favourite feature 🥰
Brett Ludwig
@charmandro We're thrilled to know our launch video brightened your day! As for the inspiration behind Story City, it sprouted from our own experiences of falling in love with different cities and their unique stories. We wanted to provide a platform that allows others to relive those magical moments and discover new ones. Thank you for your kind words and for sharing in our launch excitement!
Heleana Grace
The power of storytelling strikes again! This is such a unique concept, I'm excited to try it out myself. Congrats on the launch! 🥳
Justin Khan
@heleana Huzzah for storytelling! Thank you for the kind words Heleana, I'm excited for you to try out the creator tools! Would love to hear your feedback on the tools if you try it, and we're also around if you need any support. Cheers!
Brett Ludwig
@heleana Thank you for your excitement, we're thrilled to have you on board. Once you've had the chance to try Story City, we'd love to hear about your experience and any feedback you might have. We're always looking for ways to improve and enrich our user experience!
Em Craven
@heleana @brettludwig @justinkhan high five! Would definitely be keen to hear your perspective as a video maker - the majority of the content so far on Story City has been audio, images, and puzzles, but I'm so keen to collaborate with filmmakers, documentary makers, and video makers to build immersive video based experiences in cities. You can always hit us up with feedback or brainstorming at info@storycity.app
Justin Khan
Hey Product Hunt! Justin here, Head of Product at Story City. Really looking forward to hearing your feedback on what works, what feels sticky, and what you’d like to see on the platform in the future! Some uses we’ve see so far from early users include: - Escape-room owners who want to expand their offerings in a cost effective way that doesn’t take up their real-estate - Non-Profits wanting to fundraise or tell the story of their impact - Business Improvement Districts wanting to get more foot-traffic past their businesses - Cities wanting to revitalize downtown cores or lead people to newly finished infrastructure and parks - Festivals wanting to augment physical experiences with more long-running digital ones that are available 24/7 during an event (and can exist beyond the event as marketing for the next year) - Game-writers or theatre makers who are non-technical but want to experiment - Creators who want to create interactive versions of their content (eg. podcasters who want to offer an ‘experience’ version of their episodes - think following Serial journalists through Baltimore during the first season! Or perhaps behind the scenes film tours, or literary tours of their book series) Some things we have in the pipeline for development over the next 12 months: - Analytics: so you know how many people move from view, to purchase, to completion - Unfurling Social Sharing and Deep linking: So people can easily spread the word about your experiences and you can link directly to you specific story via marketing collateral - Improved Searchability & Discovery: Making stories searchable by their tags and genres and cities - Push notifications: So users who played one of your previous experiences can discover your new releases - Universal Stories: The ability for creators to make a story that can be placed in any city using similar landmarks (a town hall, a park, a post office etc), and for an adventurer to place stories in cities that don’t have any bespoke experiences yet. I’ll be here answering questions so feel free to drop me a line! Cheers! Justin
Andrei Costea
That's just amazing! I already imagine this being the backbone of some future events Also, the intro video is top tier XD Congrats on the launch!
Brett Ludwig
@andrei_costea2 Thanks Andrei! We had a lot of fun shooting the intro vid :) We'd love to see this helping people take their events to the next level. If you end up trying our Creator Tools let us know what you think.
Em Craven
@andrei_costea2 That's the hope! There's so much augmentation that can be done digitally like this for live events, it adds another layer of interest and can potentially last long after an event is past. We're going to need both in person and digital solutions to make our cities as vibrant as they were again. Hehe, and thanks for the video cudos, safe to say we had a ball making it. If you have any questions or feedback on the creator tools we'd really appreciate, always trying to be better and make sure our roadmap comes from our users not just what ideas come into our heads.
Nilex Robart
Absolutely amazing! The idea is brilliant! Thanks for doing this.
Em Craven
@nilex_robartj Thanks for dropping by Nilex. Let me know what your thoughts are when you use it!
Brett Ludwig
@nilex_robartj We're absolutely thrilled to hear you love the concept of Story City! It's always exciting to know our work is resonating with users. We'd be eager to hear your thoughts and any feedback after you've had a chance to try it out!
To be honest that was probably one of the best videos describing the product I have ever seen
Em Craven
@timcha woohoo glad you like it Tim! It was a weird line to walk between informative and silly but we're pretty happy with how it turned out. Let us know if you have any questions at all!
@emilycraven hahaha yeah it made me laugh out loud. Actually I do have a question, how do you get the LOL badge?😹 (ahem ahem hint hint) 😂😂😂
Em Craven
@timcha By having no dignity Tim, and being prepare to have none of it on camera ;) 😂
Kathy Laney
As I explored your newly released product, I couldn't help but be amazed by its cool and modern design. Congratulations on a job well done! Your tireless efforts, perseverance, and dedication to excellence have culminated in a product that is not only visually appealing but also offers a remarkable user experience. It is a true testament to your team's talent and vision. 🥳🥳
Brett Ludwig
@kathy_laney We're absolutely thrilled to hear you're enjoying our product's design and user experience. Your words are truly motivating and make all the hard work worth it! Thank you for recognizing our team's dedication and vision. We promise to keep striving for excellence!
Em Craven
@kathy_laney @brettludwig Appreciate the support Kathy! Any questions you have please let us know.
George Frigo
Congrats on the launch. I like the product idea. Have you ever thought to name it "Story Places" or something like that? Just because it still will keep your core idea, but the scalability is different. There are a lot of cool places which are not in the cities, and I believe it would be great to share such locations with people.
Brett Ludwig
@george_frigo Thank you for the suggestion and feedback George - the Stories don't necessarily need to be in cities to work in our app - as long as a place has coordinates then you can make a story there! I take your meaning about the intent of the name, though - it's definitely something we'll need to talk about to make sure that people aren't assuming they can only make a Story in a city. Thanks!!
Em Craven
@george_frigo @brettludwig Thanks for the suggestion George, as Brett said, you can make stories anywhere but who's to say we don't have additional products that maybe just impact kids, or just look at travel, or celebrate rural as the main point of them :)
Cameron Adams
Interesting product!!! I do recommend it.
Brett Ludwig
@cameron_adams3 Thank you for your comment! We'd love to hear more about what you think of our product.
Em Craven
@cameron_adams3 Thanks Cameron! Not sure if you'd use this from a creator or adventurer stand point but here to answer any questions and would love any feedback you have from using it :)
Alexey Merzlikin
Congrats on the launch! Cool idea and good realization!
Brett Ludwig
@alexey_merzlikin1 Thanks for your support! Do you have any questions or feedback for us?
Em Craven
@alexey_merzlikin1 @brettludwig That's so much for that Alexey - here all day to answer any questions you may have!
Anna Starodub
Amazing idea, congrats on the launch!! 🚀
Em Craven
@anna_starodub1 Thank you so much Anna, really appreciate the support. If you get a chance to try the tools or app would love to hear any feedback you have, that's our main aim for today!
Brett Ludwig
@anna_starodub1 @emilycraven Thank you for the congratulations and your kind words! We're thrilled that you find our idea exciting. After you've tried Story City, we'd greatly appreciate any feedback or thoughts you might have, to help us continue improving!
Sarah Rabs
I love this idea so much. As a digital nomad, I'm always looking for new ways to explore the cities I'm visiting. It's often hard to work and squeeze in the standard walking tours that are available. I love that you can find unique and personal guides around a city that you can explore at any time. Great product, I can't wait to explore my next city with it!
Em Craven
@sarah_rabs Appreciate your support Sarah! I am jealous of the digital nomad life (Though I was one a couple of years back). That was definitely one of my biggest issues when I was travelling that there were tours I wanted to go on but I was just there at the wrong time. Hopefully this allows guides to expand what they're doing so they don't miss people like us. And hey, I think a digital nomad's perspective on a place is just as valuable so perhaps that sparks and idea or two for you. Would love to hear your feedback on the tools if you try it! While most of our current content is entertainment content aimed at locals it all doubles as tourism content because you get to visit cool places.
Brett Ludwig
@sarah_rabs Right on Sarah! We love the idea that people can explore different cities in a really unique way, and that's what we're aiming for. Please let us know if you get a chance to try the Creator Tools, we'd love to know if you have any suggestions.
Josselin Colletta
Is there a landing page? :) The PH link only goes to a log in.
Em Craven
@josselinco there definitely is! While with the links in the visit section we decided to send people direct to the app stores and creator tools, you can get a brief intro to creators here: https://about.storycity.app/crea... Though the two videos on this product hunt launch page will give you the best intro demos to what it does. Hope you find it interesting enough to try and would love to hear any feedback you have on the product!
Brett Ludwig
@josselinco the link is right to our Creator Tools, where you can get started creating stories. Emily gave a link to the landing page, and that will give you some information on how this works and then send you off to try creating your first story! We have some templates so you don't have to start from scratch.
Tom P.
Does story city require sign up or download of the app to see at least something. Sorry this puts me (and probably others) off.
Em Craven
@torsten_p Hello! To see what stories are available near you you do need the app, but the app is free to download and the app does not require you to sign-up to browse stories or the map. So you can see the descriptions and locations of all of the stories without needing to sign up. It's only if you want to add a story to your library (either free or paid) that you would be asked to make an account so the app can keep your place in an adventure (or for paid stories to assign that adventure to your account). You can also browse what stories are currently in the world here: https://about.storycity.app/stor... The plan eventually is to take the search experience of the app to web browser as well (and allow armchair travel that way too). That's a little ways off yet in the roadmap, but appreciate your important feedback - sounds like that's a bigger priority than we may have first thought.
Justin Khan
@torsten_p Hey Torsten, thanks for your comment and checking out our launch! Right now most of the features do require you to download the app to see what stories are available or sign into the website to make a story. We're going to be adding in more browsing features on the website soon, so that you don't have to search for stories only on the app. This will allow you to queue up stories you discover on your phone for when you get out of the house next! We have a very rich roadmap with great usability features planned like the one mentioned above, so definitely stay tuned!