00:00Hidden stories, folklore and adventures, all part of a new free app created by a man in
00:07Thanet. The Hidden Realm, made by Mark Harris, is a game which encourages users to discover
00:13more about the places they walk through.
00:16Fundamentally, it's go for a walk, grab some territory, find the history of where you've
00:21walked. That's the minimum side of it. And then the other side of all the strategy and
00:25everything, if people want to play that, there's a lot more to it.
00:28The game aims to get people out walking, so Mark's brought me to Minis Bay, one of his
00:33favourite places to walk, to give the game a go.
00:37Just tap, walk the realm and that's it. Just start walking.
00:40While out walking, the app tracks your route and converts it into virtual in-app territory.
00:45Users can also encounter more than 40 folklore inspired creatures, depending on where they
00:52walk and when. And importantly, they discover the history of the world around them.
00:57But, these discoveries aren't revealed until after the walk, so that they still immerse
01:03themselves in the landscape they're walking through.
01:05It was a case of, for me, having two young kids. My son loves, he's young and he loves
01:12technology and he loves playing Minecraft and Roblox and everything, but eventually there's
01:18a time where you need to just put that down and go outside. I grew up when the internet
01:23just kind of started. And my kids are in the middle of, you know, VR and everything at fingertips
01:30and stuff. So, yeah, just don't forget that there is an outdoors.
01:35After walking for about 40 minutes, Mark and I sat down to have a look at what we'd tracked.
01:40It's just a case of just tapping the return. It then calculates everything with a bit of luck.
01:49Yeah, it says that it's imported successfully. I can just tap on the button to go back and
01:54start another walk. Or I can then tap on the realm and then it will open up, log me in
02:00and
02:00go straight to my last walk. But if I hide all of these panels, that's pretty much the territory that
02:05we've just captured. The blue dots are the creatures that we found along our way.
02:10The history isn't available immediately after the walk. Mark first has to research the area
02:16and put it onto the map. But when users next log in, they'll be able to discover more about
02:22the forgotten stories that have come before. Sophie Denny for KMTV in Thanet.
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