"Oooh Kill Em! Who's excited for the new TerRio game!?"
That's the tease for Run TerRio Run, a still-in-development iPhone and Android app starring Lil TerRio, the chubby 7-year-old kid who became internet famous after his "Oooh Kill Em" dance got millions of online views.
The founder, Rehan Hussain, of the company, Jeneyus.com, that's creating the game tells New Times that "it is going to be an addicting 3-D runner" about playing pranks on old white-guy neighbors and fleeing the police. And it's "taking place in Miami!"
Street date? "The game should be launched," Hussain says, "by mid- to late February."
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Here's the short version of the TerRio rise-to-fame story: He was discovered and signed by Jon Barchan, a University of Miami graduate and cofounder of Almost Famous, along with Miami manager Herbert "Dooney" Battle. (Read New Times' "TerRio's Dance Blew Up the Internet, But What's It Doing to the Kid?")
After inking this deal, TerRio left home near Atlanta and moved to Dade County. But he's since gone back to living in Georgia, Barchan says, where he's being homeschooled between paid appearances and other jobs in Miami, New York, and elsewhere.
Since 2012, the little guy has accumulated 1.2 million Vine followers and 827,000 on Instagram. And he's spent the past few years meeting famous folk like Rick Ross, selling TerRio merch, and doing $8,000 club gigs.
But now the 7-year-old is running from the cops... in a videogame.
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In these post-Ferguson days, a "3-D runner" about a young black kid and the police may not come off as lighthearted as Team TerRio would like to think.
(And with Run TerRio Run set in Miami, it's impossible to not remember the deaths of Israel "Reefa" Hernandez and Delbert "Demz" Rodriguez, who were recently killed while being chased by cops.)
But it is just a videogame. "This game has no correlation to any of those events," Hussain says. "This was a game meant for his fans, a way to connect with TerRio. The concept is very similar to that of Subway Surfers. By the way, Subway Surfers also has an African-American character named Prince K, who is getting chased by the cops."
As for the prankster premise of Run TerRio Run, it's lifted from the internet star's greatest-hits clip reel.
"The concept is based off of a video of TerRio that went viral," Hussain points out. "TerRio was playing Ding Dong Ditch in a hotel room."
For Run TerRio Run, though, the action is taken to the streets.
"TerRio is playing Ding Dong Ditch at a old man's home when he gets caught by the cops! Then it's off to the races!
"The goal is to outrun the cops as long as you can and score as many points as possible," Hussain explains. "The user will have the option to use four power-ups to gain an advantage: Coin Doubler, Flying Shoes, Coin Magnet, and Super Jump shoes. There will be oncoming roller bladers, cars, buses, roadblocks that TerRio will have to avoid."
And what does it mean to win in the prank-playing, police-fleeing world of Run TerRio Run?
"Stay alive as long as you can!"
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