It's two in the morning. The phone is propped against a cup of cold coffee, and Mounpoumoun finally slides under the tap-tap without clipping it. Three tries, three clean runs. I put the phone down and smile alone in the living room. That, in one picture, is where Lakay Games is this month.

Why a runner, and why now

Everyone has had an endless runner on their phone. But none of them happens where we come from. None has hand-painted tap-taps, moto-taxis bursting round the corner, red earth under the sneakers, market women under their umbrellas. That's KOURI!: a game the whole world can pick up with one thumb, and that feels like Lakay from the very first second.

And the chaser needed a name. Her name is Black. She's a police officer, she runs fast and she never lets go. Stumble once, she closes in. Twice, and it's over.

Game capture: Mounpoumoun running on a red dirt road lined with palm trees at dawn Game capture: Mounpoumoun looks back as officer Black comes running
Captures from the game in development: the street at dawn, and Black arriving.

What "working flat out" actually means

People say it without thinking. So here it is, concretely.

The road was rebuilt three times. The first was too clean, like a Swiss motorway. The second had patches of asphalt that had no business being there. The third is red earth, with potholes, stones and puddles that reflect the sky. That's the one.

The "ZERO LEO" lettering on Mounpoumoun's back started as a panel stuck onto his jacket. You could tell. We erased it and painted it straight into the fabric, in gold letters, like a real print. Black got the same treatment: "BLACK" in white between the shoulder blades, tightened twice because the first version was too wide.

Then there were the sounds, the tutorial that blocks everything except the move it's teaching you, the music that cuts dead when you get caught, the tests on a single iPhone plugged into the computer, the drizzle of small bugs you only see once the game is in your hand. And the outfit shop, redone last night because the character was cut in half on his podium.

Game capture: Mounpoumoun's back with ZERO LEO painted in gold letters on his jacket Game capture: the same street at night under streetlights and stars
The lettering painted into the jacket, and the same street once night has fallen.

What you'll get in your hands

KOURI! will be free. We made simple choices and we're sticking to them: no ads during a run, ever. Videos you choose to watch, to continue after a fall or to double your coins, and that's it. Mounpoumoun's outfits are bought one by one, at a displayed price. No random loot boxes, no tricks.

There will be a Day One outfit, reserved for those who are there in the first 14 days. After that, it's gone for good. It's our way of saying thank you to the people who trust us from the start.

What's next

The finish line is in sight. iOS first, Android right behind. What's left: testing, the last bits of polish, the store paperwork, and a few more short nights. We'll tell you the moment the game can be downloaded. Join the newsletter, it's the surest way.

Until then, a word for the road, the one written at the bottom of the poster: Pa gen kanpe. No stopping.

— JD, Lakay Games