Sharkrunners is a game of oceanic exploration and high stakes shark research. Players take on the role of sharkrunners: daring and adventurous marine biologists who seek to learn as much as possible about sharks through advanced observation techniques.
Real-world telemetry data provides the position and movement of actual Tiger and Grey Reef sharks in Sharkrunners, so that every shark players encounter corresponds to a real shark out in the actual ocean.
CREDITS
Game Created by Area/Code Entertainment for Discoverychannel.com Shark Data Digital Dimensions and Richard Fitzpatrick
Learn more about research and shark conservation efforts at the Ocean Conservancy
Research Consultant Susie Holst, Marine Biologist
HOW TO PLAY
Getting Started
Returning players can log in to the game by entering their user name and password on the starting page of the Sharkrunners website.
New players can create a new account. The first step for new players will be to select one of three research organizations to align themselves with. The organizations have different research priorities, and will reward players differently. The game will then assign players a boat, and a starting crew. Players can name their boat and crewmembers, or leave them as they are. Select one of the blinking port icons to choose a starting point for your boat. Before continuing, players will need to be logged in to MyDiscovery, by either entering a pre-existing user name and password, or by creating a new account.
Once players have selected their Email and/or SMS alert settings they're ready to set their first waypoints, and get started!
The Boat
At any point during gameplay (except during a shark encounter), players can access information about their boat by clicking the boat and selecting BOAT INFO. The Boat Info screen is where players can monitor their fuel capacity, check their current crew members, and view remaining fuel.
Crewmembers
Each crewmember has two attributes which affect his/her ability to deal with shark encounters: SKILL determines the overall quality of the data collected, and STAMINA represents how fatigued the crewmember is. Each crewmember also has a favorite fish, which represents their compatibility with other crewmembers; pair crewmembers with the same favorite fish to optimize successful shark encounters.
New in Sharkrunners Season 2 are Specialist crewmembers. Specialists are very much like regular crewmembers, except that each one specializes in one of the seven data types: the Dietician, for example, specializes in Feeding. A specialist gives a 25% bonus to data quality when her specialty matches the data type retrieved during an encounter. (Having more than one specialist on a single encounter does not stack these bonuses.) Each specialist is available for hire only at a particular port.
Setting Waypoints
Players can set waypoints for their boat by clicking the boat and selecting SET WAYPOINT from the menu. Clicking anywhere on the ocean will set the first waypoint. Players can then click that waypoint and select SET NEW WAYPOINT to create another. Any waypoint can be deleted by clicking the waypoint and selecting DELETE WAYPOINT from the menu. Waypoints can also be moved by clicking and dragging on the map.
Once a waypoint is selected, your boat will begin to move toward that waypoint in real-time. The movement in Sharkrunners happens at a realistic pace, and certain waypoints can take hours to reach. Keep an eye on each waypoint's ETA to know how long it will be before your boat reaches that point. Waypoints can be deleted and re-set at any time (except during a shark encounter). Final waypoints indicate the amount of fuel you will have remaining when you arrive at that location.
Sharks
The shark panel lists all of the sharks in the game. Players can toggle the visibility of each shark by clicking the checkbox to the left of the shark's name, or make all sharks visible by clicking SHOW ALL SHARKS. To view information about an individual shark, click that shark on the map and select SHARK INFO from the menu. The Shark Info page will outline details about the shark, including a list of your encounters, and the types of data you've collected so far. The game is designed to use 30 days worth of location data. After each 30-day period the locations of the sharks will be reset and the game will recycle through the existing shark location data. The reset of shark positions will have no affect on data collected, or any other gameplay elements in Sharkrunners. Players will keep all data, equipment, money, accomplishments and crew they currently have.
Encounters
Shark encounters are triggered whenever one or more sharks are located within the encounter range of the player’s boat. Encounters are “modal” – the rest of the game pauses and the player must resolve the encounter before doing anything else. If the player isn’t currently logged into the game when an encounter is triggered the game will generate an email and/or text message based on the selection that player made about how and when they wish to receive these alerts on the Settings Page.
Encounters have a time limit of approximately 3 hours. The player must log into the online game application to resolve the encounter before this time limit expires. Once the time limit has expired, the player can no longer use this opportunity to collect data and must wait for another encounter to be triggered.
Once a player logs into the game during a shark encounter, they are in encounter resolution mode. Encounter resolution mode has its own time limit (approximately 3 minutes). During this time, the player chooses a shark approach technique, assigns crewmembers, and launches the approach. The player then waits for the encounter results.
Approach Techniques
There are a handful of different techniques that the player chooses between when deciding how to deal with a shark encounter. Some techniques are only available to players with certain equipment. Techniques affect the type and quality of the data you can collect from the shark, and also affect the likelihood of a shark attack. The following list shows examples of shark approach techniques:
1 Person Dive
2 Person Dive
3 Person Dive
Cage Dive
Surface Observation
Turtle Decoy Observation
Catch and Release
Attached Camera
Remote Camera Drone
Results
For each encounter, players receive a set of results that describes some data collected as a result of the encounter. The shark data collected from an encounter has two attributes: TYPE and QUALITY.
Data Types
This indicates the variety of data resulted in from the observations made during the encounter.
Feeding & Hunting FE
Social SO
Reproductive RE
Aggression vs Humans AG
Sense & Perception SE
Health & Biology HE
Habitat & Environment HA
Ports
By sailing to a port, players will have an opportunity to refuel, purchase boat upgrades, buy new equipment, and hire new crewmembers. Each of these tasks can be accessed by selecting the appropriate tabs on the port screen.
Equipment
Purchasing new equipment at a port can allow players to perform new observation techniques, or improve upon older techniques in order to make them safer or more efficient. The Equipment screen at each port will describe the available equipment, and their effects.
Rival
The rival is an entirely optional component of Sharkrunners, allowing each player to directly compete with one other player by comparing accomplishments and funding. By clicking the RIVAL button at any time during gameplay, players can pull up the Rival screen, and compare funding and accomplishments. The Rival screen also indicates which player achieved each accomplishment first.
If a player has not yet chosen a rival, he/she can do so by clicking the Rival button, and either specifying a desired rival by user name or email address, or choosing to be paired with a random rival of comparable experience. If a player would like to no longer be paired with a particular rival, that player can do so by clicking the REMOVE RIVAL button on the Rival screen.
Accomplishments
Completing certain objectives or milestones in Sharkrunners can result in the awarding of accomplishments, which are a method of measuring success in the game. Accomplishments earned can be viewed by clicking the SHIP'S LOG button on the main screen.
Alerts
Since Sharkrunners is always running, and players are not always logged in, the game can send email alerts to players whenever a shark encounter occurs. The alert settings can be changed from the SETTINGS menu, accessed by clicking the Settings button on the main screen.
Login
When you login to Sharkrunners, your computer will remember your My Discovery account information. Because only one account will be stored at a time, Sharkrunners does not support multiple logins on the same machine. NOTE: If players do not log into the game for a week, the system will automatically discontinue sending alerts about shark encounters. The next time the player logs in, the system will automatically begin to send alerts again.
What is Sharkrunners HQ?
Sharkrunners HQ, is a community website for players of the game Sharkrunners. Sharkrunners HQ introduces several new levels of interaction and depth to the game of Sharkrunners. It is a place to meet and compete with other players, form groups, and compete on whole new levels.
Researcher Duels
A Researcher Duel is a special head-to-head challenge in which two Sharkrunners face off to determine who has the keenest Sharkrunning skills.
To begin a Duel, one Sharkrunner challenges another via Sharkrunners HQ. The challenger sets up the terms of the Duel, which can be time limit (the 'runner with the most funding earned after a certain amount of time) or accomplishment based (first 'runner to acquire a specific accomplishment). During a duel, when you log into the game, you are given the option to choose you regular boat and continue your normal game or compete in your duel. A duel creates a new "instance" of the game for you and your opponent — both 'runners start out from scratch exactly as if they were brand new players with a starting boat and novice crewmembers, and compete until the victory terms are met. Whenever you want you can log back into your regular game and play that. What happens in a duel won't affect your regular game, and vice versa. You can also have multiple duels going at once.
During a Duel your opponent's boat appears on your map and you can track her current progress of funding and accomplishments earned. Dueling players receive a special piece of equipment called an Interceptor Buoy. You can deploy your buoy by clicking on your boat and selecting "drop buoy" from the menu. Whenever your opponent has a shark encounter within range of your buoy you will steal her research. Your buoy shows the value of all the research it has intercepted. To collect this funding you must sail within range of the buoy and click on it to retrieve it.