What would make a Christian video game good?

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BlueTheComposer said:
Since I like making games and we have a few gamers here, I thought I'd ask what would a Christian video game be like? All the so-called "Christian" games out there already are pretty bad, but why? Is it the genre? Story? Gameplay? If I were to make a "Christian" video game, what do you think it should be like? I know there's a lot of historical stories in the bible that make great movies, but I couldn't not see them translating very well into video games. Well, not unless they had a Lego rendition of them or something like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings since they would be pretty linear. What are your thoughts?
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What makes any video game good? Lots of action, and a pretty girl to rescue. There are plenty of stories in the bible - the uncircumcised philistines would make a good generic foe, and heroes could be people like David, Jonathan, Joab - perhaps even Saul. Rewards for the stages could be David getting a tax exemption (for killing Goliath), his wife Michal (for smiting 200 philistines), Jonathan becoming a hero (for slaying the philistines on the hill), and Saul doing a heroic deed and saving the town of Jabesh Gilead.

You probably should make room for heroines, so perhaps Michal could also be rewarded with a marriage to David for killing a certain number of philistines? It probably starts to get inaccurate from that point, but surely even girls couldn't resist smiting philistines?

I'm sure you could also do Samson (philistines again), Simeon and Levi rescuing Dinah (Shechemites this time), Joshua smiting Canaanites - so many combinations. All you need is a hero (or heros), action and the girl.
 
Lafftur said:
No! It MUST be Christian and lift up the Name of Jesus Christ. This is a territory of witnessing that has not been done yet.

We desperately need Christin games to be created!!!!!
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Actually it has been done many times. Pretty much all have created a laughingstock of the idea of Christian games and of Christianity, which is why I created this topic.
 
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BlueTheComposer said:
Actually it has been done many times. Pretty much all have created a laughingstock of the idea of Christian games and of Christianity, which is why I created this topic.
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Actually, if the game was approached from a supernatural perspective kind of like Greek Mythology but, with Truth of Biblical facts of becoming immortal and the Kingdom of Light vs the Kingdom of Darkness......how powerful love is because it has NO FEAR and CANNOT be controlled or even taken captive by evil.....love is the "superpower".........it appears weak but it cannot be defeated.....

The game could teach the gamer to love God and desire to love others........:unsure::love:(y)

Also, the game just might lead people to read the Bible......
 
Lafftur said:
Actually, if the game was approached from a supernatural perspective kind of like Greek Mythology but, with Truth of Biblical facts of becoming immortal and the Kingdom of Light vs the Kingdom of Darkness......how powerful love is because it has NO FEAR and CANNOT be controlled or even taken captive by evil.....love is the "superpower".........it appears weak but it cannot be defeated.....

The game could teach the gamer to love God and desire to love others........:unsure::love:(y)

Also, the game just might lead people to read the Bible......
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I think more complex themes like this are better handled by movies. Games can provide too much freedom, and the core morals one might want to get across missed.
 
Moses_Young said:
I think more complex themes like this are better handled by movies. Games can provide too much freedom, and the core morals one might want to get across missed.
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Why not do both - movies and games......it would be a great way to promote both! :unsure::love:(y)

I believe God knows exactly the "Christian" game He would like us to create and is well able to equip us to do so! :love:(y)

We all know how the "story ends" ........good wins and evil loses! That makes for a "feel good" movie and the game teaches good things!
 
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Lafftur said:
Why not do both - movies and games......it would be a great way to promote both! :unsure::love:(y)

I believe God knows exactly the "Christian" game He would like us to create and is well able to equip us to do so! :love:(y)

We all know how the "story ends" ........good wins and evil loses! That makes for a "feel good" movie and the game teaches good things!
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What you said was dead on and got me thinking. The best idea would be the whole story of the fall and redemption of Gods creation. The gospel of the KINGDOM. Everything from the creation of the garden to the end of the age and judgement on the covenant breakers when the temple was removed from the earth. Jesus Christ seated in victory with all authority in heaven and on earth granted to Him, reigning until every enemy has been made a footstool for His feet. Holla-Boo-Ya!!!!!
 
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David's years running from Saul would be a good RTS game. Managing a camp, having to relocate periodically, growing your army, making an alliance with the Philistines...

The guys who went and got a drink of water for David from the well would make a good reason for a stealth game.

You can have animals as enemies. You don't have to kill humans in a video game to have good combat. Just a thought.
 
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Lafftur said:
Actually, if the game was approached from a supernatural perspective kind of like Greek Mythology but, with Truth of Biblical facts of becoming immortal and the Kingdom of Light vs the Kingdom of Darkness......
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Do you think this would make people fictionalize Christianity the way those games about Greek mythology fictionalize Greek mythology?
 
Lynx said:
You can have animals as enemies. You don't have to kill humans in a video game to have good combat. Just a thought.
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Could have a whole game about David fighting off animals to protect his sheep and getting stronger which lead up to the final boss against Goliath who goes down in one hit, lol
 
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BlueTheComposer said:
Either really. Just wanted to get a sense of what people's expectations of a Christian game are and discuss them.
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Here's an idea since conspiracy theories are very popular. Strategy game like the Age of Empires, mixed with Illuminati. You can win either through taking over the territory (world conquest) or whoever first achieves the 7th world wonder. You play in post WW2 times, starting as a Preacher, and gradually progress to become the world leader of the Celestine Federation, which is founded by the people and you proclaimed leader, after you help save the first continent. Instead of settlements you're basically building churches, and you play against the Rothschilds, who want to bring the New world order. You progress in benevolent things and technologies, and they progress in malevolent technologies and deception, infiltrating your communities. The 7th world wonder that wins the game is "1000 years of peace" (when the world is sufficiently converted) and theirs is "Singularity", animating an artificial intelligence hive mind. As they progress in tech, they use media to turn people away, use tech to cause natural disasters by manipulating the weather, increase poverty through banks, use bribes to overtake your cities, when they get peoples' spirits low enough you lose that city to them. You can get so many fun ideas from conspiracy theories.
 
A game that is compelling is one that is written with an authentic expression of the heart. When you stitch tropes together with what you think will sell, people will see right through it and find the story soulless. Same as when you put together a script of drive-through evangelism into a formula. People have an amazing ability to see a story that is hacked together.

That being said, some of the corny Christian games are actually charming in a sense. Have you played any of Wisdom Trees games? Most of them are unplayable, but I like Spiritual Warfare. It was cheesy, but it was a solid Zelda clone.
 
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what about this idea for game, I dont know if its ever been made since I dont play video games...

where you get to play God.

the first beginning you need to bring light into the darkness, and then you have to separate the waters....
then on the second day you need to let the dry land appear...
and on the third day, the fun part is making grass grow and trees and flowers...
then on the fourth day you get to make stars...

and so on and so forth.
 
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the last thing you create is humans but thing is they act up all the time. they dont listen to what you say.
you are constantly having to help them cos they are always doing something to stuff up creation, then killing each other and dying. After youve had enough of their excuses and wrong doing after doing eVERYTHING imaginable to help them out, like a flood and starting over, then concentrating on a bunch of hebrews getting them out of egypt with manna commanding them, making them judges. sending them prophets, building a kingdom etc and giving them their own land to look after which they fail miserably at...when they start fighting each other, you decide to send them a saviour.
 
Lanolin said:
what about this idea for game, I dont know if its ever been made since I dont play video games...

where you get to play God.

the first beginning you need to bring light into the darkness, and then you have to separate the waters....
then on the second day you need to let the dry land appear...
and on the third day, the fun part is making grass grow and trees and flowers...
then on the fourth day you get to make stars...

and so on and so forth.
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Actually this idea has been done to death. There are MANY games where you play God and start up life on a planet.
 
Lynx said:
Actually this idea has been done to death. There are MANY games where you play God and start up life on a planet.
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Not the biblical God. Just some distant, immortal overseer. More like a king than a god.

It would be interesting to have one of these games that follows the biblical outline (e.g. be able to send a flood, disperse the nations at Babel, implement a covenant with the chosen nation, institute the 10 commandments etc.)
 
Then you run into theological problems... A game like that must have resources you have to manage, things that can go wrong, random chance events you cannot predict... How can you be God and have all this stuff?

Unless you're talking about a game that is less Sim management and more visual novel...
 
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you just get to decide which buttons to push, thats the point of video games. its all preprogrammed. You cant go wrong. Unless you want to play the devil and destroy everything God created.
 
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