Alumni's iPhone game explores the Phila. streets

Video game lovers will soon be able to interact with the streets of Philadelphia on their iPhones.

A group of Penn alumni from Port 127, a media production company based in Philadelphia, developed the game Hipster City Cycle. Slated for release this fall, the game will feature a character named Binky, who races through Philadelphia, interacts with passersby and acquires points by completing challenges.

“Nobody had really done a city-centric game as a tribute to Philly,” said Michael Highland, founder of Port 127 and School of Engineering and Applied Science alumnus.

The game levels are based on different parts of the city, such as West Philadelphia, Rittenhouse Square and Center City. The creators may also solicit retail owners to get involved by allowing their stores to be included in the game.

Hipster City Cycle is also being marketed through a contest. Starting Wednesday night, people can submit “hipster” photos of themselves on hipstercitycycle.com.

People will vote for their favorites starting July 1. Winners will be made into pixel characters for the game, Highland said.

The characters of the game are already familiar faces to the creators.

“Our hope was to feature many of our friends so that they would become important proponents of the game,” Highland said.

Hipster City Cycle also includes video game characters and may even feature celebrities like Michael Jackson, said Keith McKnight, game artist and Engineering School graduate.

Binky, the main character of the game, is “a parody of the hipster-bike-messenger stereotype,” McKnight said.

In Philadelphia, there is a huge bike culture and the hipster is tied to this culture, he said.

They wanted to make the game for the iPhone because it was new and a lot of people were making money from the applications, said Kevin Jenkins, designer and programmer of Hipster City Cycle and Engineering School graduate.

“We came up with something simple and old school,” Jenkins said of the game.

Provided that Hipster City Cycle is successful, in the future the game might expand to other cities like New York or Boston, Highland said. This would keep people interested.

With regard to long term goals, the gamers hope to gain more publicity. The best thing that could happen would be for the game to be featured in the New York Times, Jenkins said. An article in the Times would inspire many readers to purchase the game.

“Hopefully a lot of people from Philly would want to have it on their iPhones,” Jenkins said.

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