I'm a professional artist working in game development right now.
I was inspired to come in here and share my views on "Christian Games" and meet some of you along the way.
For starters, I think that every "Christian" game I have ever set my hands on has left a lot to be desired. No offense to my fellow brothers in Christ out there, but I must honestly state that.
I have seen everything from bad design, bad art and outright silliness in these games.
The other thing, is that it seems that these games are designed to target "Christian" audiences. I can assure you, that most secular people scoff at these deplorable games that we have set into the market with the "Christian" label.

I have worked in the game development business for 5 years. The Christians I have encountered in this business are few and far between.
I'm sure a lot of the people in this forum are video game players themselves. You should note that if you look at the Video Game Industry, you will find it rampant with violence, occultism, and Satanic Themes.
Just to note a few examples, in upcoming Mainstream Playstation2 Titles, Devil may Cry and Soul Reaver2, you play a charater Demonic in Nature, sucking the souls of other beings to give yourself life. Preposterous indeed!

These Titles are labelled for Mature audiences only, but let's not be foolish here folks, I know personally that a lot of families will be purchasing games like this for their Children. A lot of Secular homes don't see the harm in this. Just like the Music Industry, the enemy runs rampant in Games, without a single obstacle or barrier standing in his way.

The Christian response these days are, "Shut the Video Game Industry Down, no more violent games!" or "Video Games are Evil, keep them away from your Children!".
John AshCroft our Attorney General who happens to be a committed Christian, comments on the Games Industry (of which he knows almost nothing about except for what his aides tell him)...

http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/review/games/2001-03-23-violence.htm

This is similar to the Response Christians had towards Rock Music and Elvis Swinging his hips on stage. Some Christian's tried to provide an alternative to this, but it shows to be far inferior to what is out there now.

Why do I ramble on so much about this topic?

The Answer is that I want to make a proposition. Since I personally don't have 1.5 million dollars to produce a game, I have some other ideas that make it a possibility.

I want to create a game, that isn't a hokey alternative to what is out there in the market today. I don't want to make games for our already saved family in the world. I wish to make a game that targets the Secular people of our day, which make up the majority of the game players out there.
I want a hard hitting, honest vehicle to express the Christian World View. One that Puts the players in the shoes of a Christian. A Game where the player can identify with what Godly Morals are, where they can be presented clearly and honestly.

Something like this can't be made from Scratch, but making a MOD is a very likely possibility. There are plenty of games that have been developed which are very open to being modified.

Namely the Quake3 engine, developed by id Software.
You can also expect to use the new Doom engine which they are developing a game for at this time. These are just a few examples of what can be used to create a game to carry the message of truth in an entertaining and hard hitting method.

I state all this because I am looking for a few Good Men and Women willing to contribute their time towards a project like this.
If you have fellow Christian friends, (Or even Non Christian Friends) who would be interested in embarking on a project like this, please contact me. I would like to start an open forum on Ideas. A Brainstorm for a few weeks would be Great.

I don't think I have ever rambled so much in a forum in my entire life.
I close this post with blessings to you all.

In the Grip of his Grace..

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-Grutch

[This message has been edited by Grutch (edited August 20, 2001).]

Welcome Grutch.

It is great to have you join the forum.

You may want to browse some of the differnt posts around where different ideas for Christian Games have been discussed. I Find that the more your look into it, the more difficult it is to create a "Christian" game that non-christians would like to play.

But share your thoughts and it may spark some in us.

By the way, I think that the Christian Music industry has matured over the last few years and music is now being produced which is as good as the alternative. But we do need lots more of it.

As for my committment to this project, I am happy to help in the game concept area with my ideas. Let's just see what genre of game we wish to create and then go from there.

Revelator!

I do agree with you that the Christian music scene has really matured into a wonderful respectable business. In my opinion the quality of music surpasses most secular bands in our time.
I could only hope that Christian games would earn similar success in these times.
I also agree with you about most people not wanting to play "Christian" games. Perhaps I can shed light as to why most secular people wouldn't even start to enjoy them.

#1. Christian games are targeted for the "Christian" audience. They speak in "christianeese" making it difficult for the secular minded to comprehend.
#2. Christian games today have TERRIBLE game design, monotonous levels, bad AI, poor physics, ugly art and bad sense of scale.
#3. Christian games tend to be buggy and unsupported.

I don't want to point out specific Christian games that have been produced. I felt it wrong for doing this in my previous post. I understand the hard work and labor put into creating something from scratch, and forgive for making mention of their game.

As I stated in my previous post, I wish to create a Game with a "Christian" theme. This will be targeted to the SECULAR player. If it were possible to win souls with this tool, I would be more than happy about this. But I don't think a video game can provide much help to win the soul of a non believer. At least it will bring a lost unbeliever to ask some questions, or at least understand the Christian world view.

Here's what I have been thinking as far as a concept...

This game should be an adventure game, where you play a shady secret agent like character who works for the Government. This takes place in the near future where the United States falls powerless to a United Europe Seeking a one world Order. During this transition, the FBI begins to adopt the one world orders policies and begins to crack down on "rebellious Institutions". Years of public condemnation and ridicule of Christian beliefs have evolved into outright public animosity towards the Christian People. Persecution sets in and Christians are forced to live underground.
You being an apathetic selfish agent, for your own personal reasons, you have a deep hatred for these enemies of the state and volunteer to work in a branch of the FBI that is set to expose and arrest Christian radicals.
In your pursuits, the Rapture occurs. And you get mixed into the web of the Antichrist and view first hand the 7 years of the Tribulation unfold before you.
My Vision of this game is one that tells the story of a Tragic hero.
He will go through these terrible dark times as all hell breaks loose and the world falls into the various stages of the tribulation. A narration of his regrets for not seeing the truth, and his search for salvation will be expressed.
I wanted to provide an ingame bible which the player could access at any time during the game to look up notes and clues of what would come next.
I wanted to be able to create scenes of the great plagues, the great quakes, massive military conflict and a view of the Antichrist playing out his plans.
What makes me believe that this game can work, is that regardless of a persons faith or lack thereof, most people would like to see a firsthand account of what the bible tells of the Tribulation. From a secular view, the prophecy of revelation is at its very least, a fantastic story filled with exciting events.
Most secular game players would at the very least be interested in playing this game in a world where all hell breaks loose, and where they are at odds with the greatest earthly political power known to man.

Let me know what you think of this ambitious epic.
I know it would take quite a team to pull it off, I have been praying to find people who would be interested in such a project.

God Bless.

-Grutch

[This message has been edited by Grutch (edited August 02, 2001).]

Grutch,
I'm working on a game called Final Hour. I'm the project leader and it's about the end times. We don't exactly have a good story yet though. We have a story we've written but we are thinking about not using it. Your concept for a game sounds good. What would the levels be like in this game? What would the player be doing? Maybe we could find a way to integrate the ideas.

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Final Hour Team Leader
[URL=http://www.neuroninteractive.com[/url]

I'm interested in your plans. I'm a story man, beginning programmer, and decent beta tester.

I have been working on adventure games ... and my next one (still in storyboard stage) is called "The Persecution of the Saints". It is set around the time of first century persecution. Arguably, a game only for Christians although I'm debating to let you play the Roman side. And my first game is only half done and no where near mass market quality.

Have you seen Catechumen? They are selling in the secular market. Their next game, Ominous Horizons, is due out soon. It has an interesting tie-in with Gutenburg.

Feel free to send me Email, graceworks@bigfoot.com -

Serve Him!
Tim

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Called by God. The passioned plea of a father. The journey awaits at Jarod Journey's.

http://wwww.twoguyssoftware.com

Our Christian game projects are very agressive, dark, emotional, hardcore, but always have that under-lying quailty that still keep it Christian. The current project we're working on: Revelation, is a Agressivly Hardcore Horror First Person Shooter Hybrid2. For those who have been lucky enough to catch a peek of our work, they're very impressed with it. However the project has gone under media black out, I personally made the mistake of making a total weenie of myself and the company about a year and a few months ago, which promised this that and the next thing, a very bad mistake. We suffered quiet a bit, thus I made the choice to shut my mouth, and keep the project under media black out.

The engine we're using (Note: We're no longer using Genesis3d, we haven't for a looooooong time) is very similar to Quake3 on the graphics end of it, it's very powerful, flexable, and the company developing it is continously upgrading it (it also allows what I call a lego system, older versions can be intergrated with newer versions of the engine with no problems, meaning the game and the engine will never go old), it also offers alot of groovy things, but I'm planning an interview with Christian Gaming sometime which incudes a host of information on it and other goodies as well.

Anyways, feel free to check out the site, we're too busy to update it right now with new art and stuff, the site isn't our primary concern (right now), nor does it create funds for us, etc.

To fund TGS for a year, and to pay for ALL the expensives (employee's, bills, engine costs, etc.) costs less than one Quake3 engine license. After that first year, the cost goes down to the cost of one UT engine license. So yeah, we don't need 1.5 million dollars, unless you want to fund us for 4+ years.

We have alot of promising projects here on CCN: Blood Child, Final Hour, Revelation, etc. personally I'm looking forward to all of them, if you guys need any help at all, feel free to send me an e-mail.

Stay Frosty

[This message has been edited by Mack (edited August 03, 2001).]

I have to get back to work! I'll post more things soon.
-Grutch

Glad to have you on board. (and on the webring too)

There are others who I think need an artist, so you should be hearing from them soon. Great homepage by the way.

Revelator!

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www.revelatorgames.com

I myself am experimenting with a few ideas, but they may take a while to materialize. Between college and summer jobs, so I don't have much time to do stuff.

Making a mod of an existing game is a good idea for those who don't want to re-create everything from scratch.

Anyway, I'll probably pop up in these forums every once in a while, but I can't be on constantly. See you around!

BTW, I don't think the Christian market is as small as some people think - last I checked, Christianity is still one of the largest religions. We just need to increase awareness that these games exist, and that they are as fun as their counterparts.

I am a software engineer by trade and have over 5 years experience writing professional videogames.

As I have read from a number of your posts, you all seem more than a little frustrated with the garbage that has been filling the shelves of computer stores and influencing the minds of our nation's youth. I am equally disturbed.

About a year ago, I made a serious attempt to develop an alternative videogame product that could reach the Christian and secular markets with the Gospel. I spent over six months writing a custom videogame engine and world editor that would allow the creation of sprite based, scrolling action/adventure/RPG games. My intention was to create an RPG/action game similar to the older Final Fantasy series or the more current Lunar series of videogames.

Christians have a story to tell. The Gospel story. The best videogame format for telling complex stories, in my opinion, is an RPG. Character interaction and dialogue is a must and generally drives the plot and action of these types of games. Additionally, the player assumes the role of the central character in an RPG and is responsible for making decisions that affect that characters development and experiences and is able to view all of this from a spectators perspective. It is for these reasons, primarily, that I chose to develop my game as an RPG.

I realized that the scope and requirements for developing a professional videogame would not allow for a 'do-it-myself' approach. The project needed the right people behind it that would share in my passion and vision for this game and had the necessary financial resources to fund this project. Unfortunately, the timing wasn't right or I didn't get under the right nose, though many noses I certainly did get under in the Christian publishing arena and elsewhere.

Why am I sharing this seemingly sad tale with all of you?

To let you know that there are others out here that are just as serious and determined to reach the world with a quality Christian videogame as yourselves. Also, we must not be discouraged by seeming failure or setbacks such as what I have experienced. I haven't given up.

It takes an immense amount of time, energy, passion, and dedication to make a good videogame...and that's when everyone is getting paid and you have a nice office to work together in! It's certainly alot tougher when you seem to be the only one trying to make the whole thing happen. That is what is so encouraging about this site. Hopefully there is enough talent and dedication represented here that some of us can work together to realize our collective dreams.

Well, I think that is enough preaching for one post...

I am re-opening my videogame project and am interested in hearing from 2D/3D artists that are serious about investing their time and talent in a wonderful Christian videogame opportunity!

Sincerely,

Gil Villarreal
villarreal_gil@hotmail.com