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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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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!
The power of storytelling strikes again! This is such a unique concept, I'm excited to try it out myself. Congrats on the launch! 🥳
@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!
@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!
@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
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?
@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 🥰
@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!
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!
@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.
@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.
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!
@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.
@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.
@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!
@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.
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.
@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!!
@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 :)
This is a really awesome
Idea!
Just a tip I would really work a bit on design colors and logos to make it look more modern because it seems like an old used that is not used anymore
Hope you get my point but the idea is Great I think it will go well :)
@dlexk Many thanks for dropping by with your feedback, really appreciate it.
Just wanted to confirm if you were talking about the design of the creator tools, or the design of the app? Or just branding in general?
On the creator tool side we definitely want to do a UI art pass of our creator tools which we've held off on until we got the flow/functionality right (part of the reason for doing this launch to grab that functionality feedback!). But we're definitely making that a priority!
Well, this is a gamechanger. Definitely going to try this in my city.
storycity.app brings the spirit of adventure and the fun of storytelling into one cohesive experience.
Here are the few things I loved:
- Unique concept
- Wide range of story templates
- Spoiler mode
A few observations:
- Overall brand identity might look outdated to some, just an observation. I could be wrong
- Safety, how would Storycity ensure the locations and adventures are safe to pursue. I am sure, you guys have thought about it too.
Keep up the good work guys. @emilycraven @justinkhan @brettludwig
Full tweet here: https://twitter.com/GrowWithTLP/...
@justinkhan @brettludwig @tlpeter Hi TL can't thank you enough for the in depth dive you did into the product thank you, thank you, thank you, for this glorious feedback! Would you mind if Justin reached out to you to get your specific thoughts on which UI/UX piece you'd specifically like to see improved? Would really appreciate it.
As to the safety side of things - At the moment we are personally reviewing every story that comes through our system but that isn't long term sustainable as we grow. So we have started developing a system similar to what Niantic use with Pokemon Go where you leverage the community knowledge of the area, gamify it a little, to get their input on what locations may/may not be considered safe and then providing suggested changes back to the creator after enough input (say 15-20 people giving their thoughts).
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 ..
@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!
@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!
@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.
@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.
Does story city require sign up or download of the app to see at least something. Sorry this puts me (and probably others) off.
@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.
@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!
I just wanted to take a moment to congratulate you on your new product release. The attention to detail and quality are outstanding.
@lilo_newman Appreciate Lilo! Thanks so much for the support, and if you have any questions or feedback on the creator tools or app would appreciate your thoughts.
@lilo_newman Thanks Lilo, we've really enjoyed putting the product together and it means a lot that the quality shines through.
To be honest that was probably one of the best videos describing the product I have ever seen
@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) 😂😂😂
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
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
I love the idea! one feedback is the colour scheme may not be working for you, some of the gray colour and text font makes it feel like an older website, a few design tweaks will help make it pop
@mel3kings really appreciate this feedback. We haven't done a full art/ui pass on the creator tools like we have with the app as we wanted to get the functionality/ux right first but appreciate it's beta state could hurt first impressions. Thank you for taking the time to go through them and please let us know if you have any other thoughts!
@mel3kings thanks Melchor! As Emily said this is without a graphic design pass just yet. You can see our brand colors and design on the adventure app itself (Story City on Google Play / Apple App Store), and we're going to be incorporating those into our Creator Tools soon here. Appreciate the feedback!
Discovered these legends years ago - while they were between events
Adore their concept.
As a Creative it inspired my ideas - and thank the Cyber Goddess I joined their email list. 1. Forgot the email, I was sent, to be involved with them as a Creative, the other year (and you are not forgettable - my brain needs a massive de-clutter/de-frag) - 2. Emailed me yesterday and led me to Product Hunt.
Hope to see you @AdelaideFringe 2024
@adelaidefringe @izayh_mia You are too kind!!! We are grateful that you are in our creator community and we are hear when the de-fragging is complete! Would love to touch base via email and get your feedback on the new tools - but until then you are wonderful and thank you for the support.
This is a great product, have had a chance to use it, and it's a very cool fun way to explore a city! Strongly recommend!
@anthea_sargeaunt Appreciate the vote of confidence there Anthea! Glad you had a great experience and thanks for the feedback!!
Story City's no-code Creator Tools brilliantly combine the joy of storytelling with real-world exploration. By making it so accessible to create and monetize immersive experiences, they've truly elevated the concept of interactive narratives, offering an intriguing blend of virtual and physical adventure.
@patpijanowski Cheers Patryk, I'm so glad you fully understand our goal with Story City! There's an entirely new market of untold stories due to a physical location being introduced as a concept in the storytelling medium. We can't wait to see what sort of novel experiences our passionate Creators will come up with!
If you get a chance to try out our creation tools, we'd love to hear your thoughts on the usability and flows. We want to enable our Creator's creativity to craft remarkable stories, so every bit of feedback is valuable to us!
@patpijanowski @justinkhan Thank you so much for your kind words! We've indeed aimed to elevate the concept of interactive narratives by blending virtual and physical adventures. Your feedback confirms we're on the right track! If you have any insights or feedback after using the tools, please do share. We're committed to making the experience even better!
@patpijanowski @justinkhan I second Justin here Patryk, many thanks for dropping by and would really love to hear your feedback after using the product a bit - we're really trying to hone what we've made here so appreciate any thoughts you have.
@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!
@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!
Story City