HanClinto Administrator Posts: 1828 From: Indiana Registered: 10-11-2004 |
WOW -- last night I just got to play with a new game from Boanerges Studios called Armageddon. It *rocks* -- the graphics and physics definitely look on par with Half-Life 2, the distortion effects from explosions and whatnot is extremely cool. I sat just playing with a physics gun for quite a while, just launching debris all over the map. It's a really impressive storyline, involving armageddon and troops of the antichrist and a band of Christians fighting over the temple -- just some very cool schtuff. Their website isn't up (they're announcing their formation at this year's CGDC), but I found some screenshots here of their game -- absolutely amazing. This is not the only cool project here, there are many many more as well. White Knight studios has a really cool project called Timothy and Titus -- Digital Praise is coming out with some sweet new games (including one called Dance Praise which is really cool), as well as many others. Take care! In Christ, ------------------ |
Ashton_JX Member Posts: 156 From: Springfield, Oregon, USA Registered: 02-21-2005 |
I'm liking Timothy and Titus a lot. Its only viewable as a video clip, but its got a big similarity to Jak and Daxter. Very cool. The art style rocks too. And Dance Praise is great too. I think it comes with a dance mat. I saw they got a 2 player Playstation to USB controller converter hooked up. That'd be awesome if that came along too. ------------------ New Living Translation |
Brandon Member Posts: 594 From: Kansas City, Mo, USA Registered: 02-02-2004 |
WOW! Boanerges Studios looks amazing! I am totally shocked at this! I have never even heard of them, AHHH!! I wish I could have went to CGDC! Well... it looks like more and more Christian Developers are leaving the Indie world. The future looks promising! Thanks for the updates guys! Keep 'em coming? ------------------ |
Mack Administrator Posts: 2779 From: Registered: 01-20-2001 |
http://www.boanergesstudios.com/ I've known about Boanerges for a bit now, they're in the same developer circle as us (we're using the same engine). Nice people, very talented. Wish I could have been there to play around with it, the dev. videos I've seen are great. ------------------ |
Ashton_JX Member Posts: 156 From: Springfield, Oregon, USA Registered: 02-21-2005 |
I was just looking at Rebel Planet. Its got this "Braveheart" feel to it. Then there's the dinosaurs all walking through it, and I'm thinking "Wow, this is so cool!". I mean, the wow factor really perks for me when I look at the game as not only a game, but a take on actual history. It really tingles my imagination. My faves are: ------------------ New Living Translation |
Brandon Member Posts: 594 From: Kansas City, Mo, USA Registered: 02-02-2004 |
Alright! Yeah Orion is definitely awesome! Dance Praise sounds cool too. Is it something along the lines of "Dance Dance Revolution"? EDIT: ------------------ [This message has been edited by brandon (edited July 30, 2005).] |
Mack Administrator Posts: 2779 From: Registered: 01-20-2001 |
Rebel Planets Orion; http://www.rebelplanetcreations.com/Media/OrionGameplayJuly2005_high.wmv ------------------ |
Ashton_JX Member Posts: 156 From: Springfield, Oregon, USA Registered: 02-21-2005 |
Dance Praise: http://www.digitalpraise.com/dancepraise07112005.html Timothy and Titus: New Living Translation [This message has been edited by Ashton_JX (edited July 31, 2005).] |
zookey Member Posts: 1902 From: Great Falls, Montana, USA Registered: 04-28-2002 |
hmm---read that press thingy on dance praise---the only concern I have is that Roxor recently made a Dance Dance clone called 'In the Groove' and are now being attacked legally by Konami (the makers of dance dance---the people at roxor actually made the game after years of frustration waiting for Konami to make another arcade-based mix--which, ironically enough, has yet to happen). Did DP make this dance game different enough to not be a Ddr clone like ITG or is it also a dance game with up, down, right and left? With that other studio--yay another indy studio has the Reality engine I cannot wait to see more stuff on their game---rebel planet is awesome:-) Don't forget Brethren--they are making a Square-Enix style RPG called casting the shadows and I thought I heard something about them having more info on it this year---looked awesome from what they had last year. ------------------ |
graceworks Member Posts: 455 From: Corvallis, Oregon, USA Registered: 03-03-2001 |
Brethren's upcoming game is called Light Rangers. Their home page shows it off a bit: Lots of board and card game folks there too! Go God! Tim ------------------ |
HanClinto Administrator Posts: 1828 From: Indiana Registered: 10-11-2004 |
quote: Well, the arrows scroll downwards, not upwards (like they do in StepMania or DDR)... The controls are fairly standard udlr controls, but they *did* add at least one impressive piece of innovation to the whole mix. In order to make it more of a "family friendly" game, they added something called "Shadow Dance", where a parent or older sibling on one mat can issue moves for the other player. This way, younger kids can try out the game and the parents can make it "harder" or "easier" for the kids, depending on how they're doing. Kind of a neat concept for a game that's targeted at families. They have some *sweet* music on that game too -- they even have Andy Hunter. How cool is that? On the last night of the conference, we took it downstairs and hooked it up to the projector and played Dance Praise for a while with the music cranked up -- that was a blast. I have some videos of that -- I should post them. --clint ------------------ |
zookey Member Posts: 1902 From: Great Falls, Montana, USA Registered: 04-28-2002 |
yah you should LOL---I love DDR---I want to try Dance Praise and Pump It Up as well---well actually I tried the arcade ver of PIU but I want to play the home version. I know about Light Rangers---but Brethren is also working on a Square-Enix style RPG for older audiences called Casting the Shadow ------------------ |
Tonnyx Member Posts: 140 From: Indiana, USA Registered: 08-02-2005 |
Hi, everybody! I finally got around to registering my own handle on CCN instead of looking over HanClinto's shoulder all the time and suggesting things for him to write (this is his wife). So, the conference was really cool. Clint and I were really excited to meet this man who worked on the old Sierra Online Hero's Quest/Quest for Glory games, and is responsible for the bad puns. We met a lot of people who all said very similar things: "There need to be quality Christian games available out there, and so I've been working on [insert project here], thinking I was the only one. How come I didn't know about all these people?" I guess the answer is, in part, the lack of visibility of/demand for Christian games, as well as the ridiculous geographic diversity of these people. Some of the workshops & talks were really cool, ranging from topics like marketing to 3D art to interactive storytelling. The marketing & business aspects of the game industry are the most daunting to me. We need more Christian marketers & businesspeople who would want to promote Christian games. We also need quality games worth marketing that aren't just Christian copycats of existing secular games. I am currently capable of none of these things, although I am trying to get into programming a little text adventure based loosely on an old story by George MacDonald. The story is not particularly Christian, although MacDonald is. I am currently stuck working out the rapidly ballooning decision tree, as well as why the engine won't handle plural objects the right way ("There is sheep here.")
|
GUMP Member Posts: 1335 From: Melbourne, FL USA Registered: 11-09-2002 |
http://www.infuzemag.com/staff/robin/archives/2005/08/visionary_or_mi.html Misguided? Insular? Self-serving? It's bad enough getting slapped around by non-Christians all the time; we also have to deal with getting stabbed in the back. |
HanClinto Administrator Posts: 1828 From: Indiana Registered: 10-11-2004 |
Wow Gump -- thanks for making us aware of that. For those who don't feel like signing up at Infuze (or in case it goes off their main page), here's a screenshot of the comment.
Also, here's a link to the GameSpot article that it references. I had the pleasure of driving Tom Leupold (the GameSpot writer) back to the airport, and I think he's a good guy, and that it was a good article. --clint ------------------ |
GUMP Member Posts: 1335 From: Melbourne, FL USA Registered: 11-09-2002 |
Well, he hasn't deleted the story but I noticed when I tried to post an additional comment that he apparently has enabled a feature that stopped my post until he, or another editor, can review its content. |
HanClinto Administrator Posts: 1828 From: Indiana Registered: 10-11-2004 |
Interesting. My comment went through just fine. Perhaps such a feature as you described is enabled when one person makes more than 1 comment (or more than 1 comment in a specific amount of time). My comment is showing up, yes? Out of curiosity, what were you saying? --clint ------------------ |
GUMP Member Posts: 1335 From: Melbourne, FL USA Registered: 11-09-2002 |
Links to screenshots and movies of various games that were presented at the conference. I also pointed out that it is Brethren and not Digital Praise who is making Light Rangers. [This message has been edited by Gump (edited August 04, 2005).] |
HanClinto Administrator Posts: 1828 From: Indiana Registered: 10-11-2004 |
Ah, right. Thanks for clarifying that about Brethren -- Digital Praise is the publisher though, yes? --clint ------------------ |
GUMP Member Posts: 1335 From: Melbourne, FL USA Registered: 11-09-2002 |
Digital Praise is another developer that (I think) is owned by Focus on the Family. Not sure who is publishing Light Rangers. |
crazyishone Member Posts: 1685 From: Registered: 08-25-2004 |
..
btw...its crazy-ish-one [This message has been edited by crazyishone (edited August 04, 2005).] |
HanClinto Administrator Posts: 1828 From: Indiana Registered: 10-11-2004 |
Digital Praise is not owned by Focus on the Family -- but their first two games were published in conjunction with them. Digital Praise will have 7 games out this Christmas -- 3 Adventures in Odyssey titles (one new one, two that came out last Easter), 1 Dance Praise, 2 Hermie The Caterpillar, 1 Light Rangers. ------------------ |
GUMP Member Posts: 1335 From: Melbourne, FL USA Registered: 11-09-2002 |
My bad. All this time I had just assumed they were started by FotF since their name was always used in conjunction with Digital Praise. |
Mack Administrator Posts: 2779 From: Registered: 01-20-2001 |
quote: I believe Brethren is seeking a solid distribution channel. Right now they're deciding on several things regarding it. |
HanClinto Administrator Posts: 1828 From: Indiana Registered: 10-11-2004 |
Okay, here are those videos I promised: Late Night Foosball (this was fun -- it was 5 ppl playing Foosball, and we just rotated people in, everyone keeping track of their own score, first person who had 10 points won). Late Night Dance Praise 1 A lot of this is setup. Not sure if it's obvious from the video, but they both chose hard mode. They guy on the left was reigning champ, and the guy on the right (from Boanerges Studios) is the challenger on the right. Late Night Dance Praise 2 They're full-bore here, on hard mode. The challenger is definitely beating the current title-holder, note how many perfects he gets. I should have taken a picture of the final score -- it was impressive. All in all, I can't wait for next year! --clint ------------------ [This message has been edited by HanClinto (edited August 05, 2005).] |