General Discussions

CGDC: Update – HanClinto

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,
clint

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http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

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.

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1 Corinthians 15:58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord’s work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

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?

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I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

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.

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XrucifiX HQ

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:
Dance Praise
Timothy and Titus
Rebel Planet

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1 Corinthians 15:58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord’s work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

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:
Oh you've already answered my question. Sorry, had just skimmed your post before.

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I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

[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

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XrucifiX HQ

Ashton_JX

Member

Posts: 156
From: Springfield, Oregon, USA
Registered: 02-21-2005
Dance Praise: http://www.digitalpraise.com/dancepraise07112005.html

Timothy and Titus:
http://www.christiannewstoday.com/CWN_667.html
and one with more screenshots:
http://www.gamershell.com/news/23494.html
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1 Corinthians 15:58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord’s work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

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.

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Ignorance is bad, if you have it you will not have a good time.

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:
http://www.brethren-et.com

Lots of board and card game folks there too!

Go God!

Tim

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Called by God. The passioned plea of a father. The journey awaits at Jarod's Journey.
Participate in the Parables, The Interactive Parables

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
quote:
Originally posted by zookey:
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?

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

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http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

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

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Ignorance is bad, if you have it you will not have a good time.

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

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http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

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

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http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

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

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http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

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
..


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globalrant.tk

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.

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http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

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:
Originally posted by Gump:
Digital Praise is another developer that (I think) is owned by Focus on the Family. Not sure who is publishing Light Rangers.

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.


Here's a group picture (click for larger version)
This isn't everybody (there were many more people who came and went at various times), but I think this was who was still there on Saturday. The guys from Left Behind games got left behind in this picture (they came after my camera was used).

All in all, I can't wait for next year!

--clint

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http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

[This message has been edited by HanClinto (edited August 05, 2005).]