Right Runner
Open the game- Brand
- UNICEF
- Year
- 2019
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Other
- Mechanic
- Arcade & Action
- Platform
- App
- Agency
- Goodboy Digital
Objective
UNICEF's regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean built Right Runner to mark the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and World Children's Day, in a region UNICEF describes as the most unequal for children, where an estimated two in five are denied at least one of their rights. Rather than lecture kids about those rights, the game was meant to let them feel what it's like when a right is taken away, and push them to see themselves as agents of change on issues that affect them.
Solution
Right Runner is a two-finger endless runner in the Temple Run mold: tap the right side of the screen to jump, hold it for a trick, tap the left side to slide under obstacles. The run moves through five Latin American and Caribbean settings in turn — a flooded old town, unsafe streets, a long route to school, an island settlement, a mountain — and each one ties its obstacles to a specific right from the Convention, from the right to play to the right to a safe environment. While running, the player scoops up megaphones scattered along the track, and each one pulls another runner into the pack behind them. The final level breaks from the pattern: the player holds down the phone's microphone and shouts into it to push through, acting out the right to be heard.
- 1
The app opens with an invitation to join a generation of young people claiming their rights, framing the run as a fight for rights rather than a score chase.
- 2
Controls are three gestures: tap the right half to jump, hold the right half for a trick, tap the left half to slide; the character runs automatically with no other buttons.
- 3
Before each level a title card states the right at stake, such as level 1's "You have the right to play!" with a line on why free time and play matter for children.
- 4
Level 1 has the character skateboard through an obstacle-filled old town, jumping and sliding without breaking the run; along the way the player collects megaphones that recruit friends, turning the solo runner into a group.
- 5
Holding the right side for a trick also banks separate trick-score points, an optional layer for comparing performance beyond simply finishing the level; the story frames progress as not just dodging obstacles but interacting with other characters to claim and defend the right.
- 6
Level 2 has the player parkour through obstacles that represent barriers to schooling, framed by text that calls education a child's "superpower."
- 7
Level 3 turns the run into a flood escape toward safety, referencing the region's natural disasters and climate risks.
- 8
Level 4 has the player jump and slide through a dangerous city, with obstacles modeled on real threats children in the region face.
- 9
Level 5 closes the game by having the player shout their rights into the phone's microphone, with the character climbing a mountain in response to their voice.
- 10
Difficulty stays at a reflexes-and-agility level rather than hardcore, by design, so players reach the fifth right instead of getting stuck partway through.
