Hello I am Gabriel Martin I am a game developer and owner of video game development company Firefly games and I recently have found Jesus as my savior and I was born again and I am looking for other Christian game developers who share a love in Jesus and want to honor God so I am looking for people to join me to create fun video games and preach the gospel to help save more christians
DM me on discord if you are interested at Gabriel Martin#3774
God Bless
If you're still interested, I'm looking to build an exploration / survival type rpg set in a post-armageddon environment that follows the text fairly closely (that will also have a fantasy feel to it, since there's a lot of room for creativity where the details are missing).
Specifically a few decades between the bit where armageddon happens (so the old world is wrecked after WW3, plagues, earthquakes, famine, floods, tsunamis, etc) and the new world having been fully rebuilt / regrown into the description of paradise at the end of Revelation. There's a new world capital that most people aren't aware of yet, where 'immortals' (the resurrected ex-humans) are now based. And angels wandering about the place as messengers (the biblically accurate looking ones with multilpe eyes / wings / rings). But elsewhere it's a complete mess (which is where the human player will start out).
People are trying to work out exactly what happened, whether it's now safe to leave the areas they've set up camp in, try to avoid getting eaten by the animals that are now running loose, work out whether the new creatures are going to eat them (since new weird-looking versions of animals are popping up - that turn out to be pretty tame, but no one knows that yet), search the ruins and collect any useful remains from the old world, learn how to craft and re-create basic technology, and rebuild some basic towns to live in. Then venture further away, hear rumours about this huge city and try to get there without planes / trains / cars existing any more.
The player character doesn't know what happened to their family, thinks they are likely dead, so that's another motivation for them to find the city so they can maybe see them again (I thought that would make a good overarching plotline).
The setting is entirely out of the Bible (where there's information about it), but I'm not planning to make it an obviously christian game so anyone can play it. Although an add-on that christian players can get with bible verses describing different things would be great.
Though I’m in no position to help, I do wish good luck as a Christian myself. I’ve often thought about what would make a good Christian game, because what I’ve seen so far were complete flops in that regard. You are in general unlikely to convert anyone, because that is not what people go to video games for (so don’t go about advertising it as THE BEST CHRISTIAN GAME). You can at least make them more open to the idea.
Christian games are chores to play, and that’s the last thing you’d want. You can’t show Jesus and co. spewing out verses word for word, because people will instead feel the need to beat Jesus up*. You can’t turn it into a verse guessing game, because that will be seen as preachy and you coercing people to read the Bible. I can’t tell you how many games like these I’ve seen.
The Old Testament has the opposite problem: it has epic stories like the Great Flood, but a vengeful God. This could put people off, particularly some who would generalize the one covenant to the whole of Christianity.
You also can’t go about casting spells and whatnot, because that is associated with Paganism and witchcraft.
Off the top of my head, the best story to showcase would be the Exodus. It has the best blend of the above: a captivating plotline, use of magic and, above all else, God won’t be seen as such a grumpy man. Don’t be afraid of taking a few creative liberties; accuracy isn’t the most important here.
My conclusion: really damn hard. Most Christian games were made by people who are Christians first and game developers second. This cycle must be broken.
*: Being able to beat Jesus up wasn’t intentional. That particular game was built on a wrestling engine. The game developer himself is Christian, and he’s actually on Itch.io.
As a Christian I've often wondered how I could make a game that would glorify God, but as others have already said, most ideas are incredibly cheesy and/or preachy.
I think the most interesting projects would be ones that are recreations: For example, a Biblically accurate Garden of Eden environment made in Unreal Engine 5 would be amazing to walk around in. Not much actual gameplay, but that wouldn't be necessary as evidenced by other developers who do "walking simulators".
Four years ago I came across this book: "Introduction to C# with Unity 3D. The Exodus Adventure" by Kris Murray and Philip Conrod, ed. BibleByte Books (www.BibleByteGames.com), Maple Valley, Washington, 2017. I'm not religious but was interested in the way they showed how to build a game from start. It's a point-and-click adventure that tells the story of the Exodus from Egypt. It provides all (beautiful) assets and explains meticulously all the scripts needed. I don't know if it's still available in commerce, but I found it useful for game development.
P.S. I see just now that this game has been recently published on Steam!
If you're still interested, I'm looking to build an exploration / survival type rpg set in a post-armageddon environment that follows the text fairly closely (that will also have a fantasy feel to it, since there's a lot of room for creativity where the details are missing).
Specifically a few decades between the bit where armageddon happens (so the old world is wrecked after WW3, plagues, earthquakes, famine, floods, tsunamis, etc) and the new world having been fully rebuilt / regrown into the description of paradise at the end of Revelation. There's a new world capital that most people aren't aware of yet, where 'immortals' (the resurrected ex-humans) are now based. And angels wandering about the place as messengers (the biblically accurate looking ones with multilpe eyes / wings / rings). But elsewhere it's a complete mess (which is where the human player will start out).
People are trying to work out exactly what happened, whether it's now safe to leave the areas they've set up camp in, try to avoid getting eaten by the animals that are now running loose, work out whether the new creatures are going to eat them (since new weird-looking versions of animals are popping up - that turn out to be pretty tame, but no one knows that yet), search the ruins and collect any useful remains from the old world, learn how to craft and re-create basic technology, and rebuild some basic towns to live in. Then venture further away, hear rumours about this huge city and try to get there without planes / trains / cars existing any more.
The player character doesn't know what happened to their family, thinks they are likely dead, so that's another motivation for them to find the city so they can maybe see them again (I thought that would make a good overarching plotline).
The setting is entirely out of the Bible (where there's information about it), but I'm not planning to make it an obviously christian game so anyone can play it. Although an add-on that christian players can get with bible verses describing different things would be great.
I'm not great at the design side, so it would be cool to have someone create the new animals (close enough to the original species that they are obviously 'lions', 'bears', etc, but a new breed that looks different) and things like angels (the biblically accurate weird-looking ones with tons of eyes / wings / rings).
As a person who isnt Religious anymore, but previously Christian, and has nothing against Religion, but dont like it being pushed down on People i'd love to put my input..
Before I get far, the point of this isnt to say its a bad idea, actually I think if its though out properly it could be great, and theres certain stories I know a lot of People would actually be interested in, within Christianity.
But as others say make sure the game isnt created to try and coherse or convert People to christianity, People want to play a game and enjoy it, not be convinced that Christianity is the way of life, therefor as I can see someone had an idea of the Garden of Eden which is actually a brillant idea, but instead of not much gameplay for example epict a game of the real event from the bible, how Eva was convinced to eat an Apple, or change up on it a bit as you want, remember not everything has to be literally correct and its all about catching peoples eyes.
I know theres a lot of Christian folks out there, even gamers, but it would be good for you to catch eyes of People who isnt Christian or religious at all for that matter, and bring success that way, its all about finding the right tone, but im sure it will be tough
You do can found religions in civilisation series. But it is in name only. Any historical accuracy would be to close to home, I guess. The problem is, whatever you do, you will offend someone. And within christianity there are factions, that even went to war about how they would be christians. My granny told me, when she was young, people would even switch the side of the street when walking to avoid the other denomination. There are literally over a dozen different faction in Christianity. And this is ignoring the precursor Judaism, where all that Bible stuff comes from, and that Islam is rooted on Judaism/Christianity as well.
Specifically for Christians would be the New Testament, so, maybe an rpg with Jesus gathering his party up. But using Jesus as prot is bound to offend some, so maybe an unnamed disciple. Those guys did travel with more than themselves. It was not custom to name all the women one was traveling with. So maybe one of those unnamed women, going on quests to help J behind the scenes. But that is bound to offend some fundamentalists that have opinions about women...
There are reasons that there are not many religious games ;-)
I would like to mention here that is Islam is not rooted on Christianity but had it's origins way before.
And take this as a reply for the shit you posted in my game comments:
I am NOT a hypocrite. I criticize adult games containing sexual content. I never criticized a horror game. Both of them are different things not the same group. Horror games are not for only adults but also for teenagers and children.
Okay now I have to give you a whole explaination on the plot of the game.
A little girl takes an admission in a boarding school, which makes a strange request to arrive at midnight. So her parents drop her at school. She is attacked by a ghost teacher and on waking up finds herself in a creepy classroom. So why did the ghost teacher do this ? Because she's crazy and a ghost. In the beginning of the game the time shown is 12:01 and in one of the rooms it is written in blood that the punishment for latecomers is death. So the ghost wants to kill her for the reason she arrived one minute late.
And the game shows pixelated blood. You are just using the game as an excuse to oppose me. The real reason is that you yourself like the stuff I'm against.
I'm not the most active poster in the community. I hadn't posted anything since about a week. And I don't think you check recent posts on itch.io to find a thread but my community profile.
I don't know why you can't mind your own business and keep poking your nose everywhere I post.
I stopped the argument on adult games and I'm not angry at the mod any more. You seem to continuously trying to provoke me to restart it.
I banned you from the game comments because you were making irrelevant posts which weren't related to the game. You only used my game as an excuse.
And I don't have enough time to argue with a nosy git who has plenty of useless time, weightless arguments and lots of trash talk. So shut up and don't bother to follow me to another thread because I'll probably report you if you do, which I haven't till now. Okay ?
Horror games are not for only adults but also for teenagers and children.
You have a kid explode into blood in your game. That is not suitable for children to play.
The reason I am "against you", is that you preach your own morals. And you are a bigot about it and a hypocrite. Since you are unwilling to look up the word defintions, here, for you (note, that these words do have more than one definition, i write the one fitting you):
merriam-webster dictionary: bigotry: obstinate or intolerant devotion to one's own opinions and prejudices
You are intolerant of sexual adult content in games (played by adults). And you are devoted about it to the point of breaking community rules to preach about it.
merriam-webster dictionary: hypocrite: a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
You put on the virtue of protecting children from bad stuff as you like to word it, while simultaneously having a game that is not suitable for children to play. And you even have the audacity to claim, that horror games are for children to play.
Do not flatter your ego by thinking I follow you to threads. There are many threads where I posted before you did, so you "followed" me there. As I tried to explain to you, there are not that many active posters. They are bound to meet often.
And do not twist facts. YOU did go back to that thread after a week of silence. YOU! You even invited people to talk to you. Now you ban me, because I did. Also, since I finally had a look at your game and seeing that you make a gore game while bashing on adult game developers ... it would be funny, if not for your seriousnes, but it made your ramblins appear in a new light, as the hypocrisy became obvioious.
Interesting that you felt it necessary to ban me. I right out told you in the first line you should delete the comment, and that I would edit it away, if you do not. Banning me, while following me to a unrelated thread to rant is a very childish reaction.
Go report away all you like. Waste more time of mods. You do not even know what harrassment is, you even accused a mod of doing it. Posting in the same threads is not harrassment. Following people and calling them a git, is.
And for the record, Christinany was founded about 2000 years ago. Islam about 600 years later. Jesus is a prophet in the Quran. How can you claim they are unrelated or it is even older ?? ("had it's origins way before"). It is considered an abrahamic religion by actual scholars. Go argue with them and not with me.
Since you probably blocked me as well as banned me, you might not even read this.
So I want to apologize to the other thread readers, that this relgigious juvenile zealot followed me here. But it actually is a prime example why it is hard to make a religous game. He is not even offended about religous stuff (at least it was not discussed), but about adult stuff. Imagine if there were a game with religious elements that insult his view of religion.
This is a third time you said exactly the same thing in different words and this is the third time I have to reply to it. So you are also bending a rule by spamming.
I already know what bigot and hypocrite means. I've proved I'm not one already but I'll say it again: THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HORROR AND ADULT GAMES AND I OPPOSE ADULT GAMES SO HOW CAN I BE DOING HYPOCRISY.
Plus in my game the enemy is doing it so if children do play my game it will show them gore and violent stuff is done by evil people. The full game will revolve around a group of students who will try to find about the mysterious past of darkwood boarding school. When they will find out that kids are being tortured here, they will try to set them free and escape together. They will never be the first one to attack any monster but will only fight in defense so in a way it's doing the opposite of what you're saying. It's setting a good example for kids to always do good and oppose evil. And I'm mentioning my game age rating here, it's 12+ because as I said I got the idea when I was 12 so it's not too scary for kids that old. I'll probably edit my game description later on and mention it there as well.
Why did I go back to the thread a week later ? The reason is that I was busy and gotta time to post anything on it h after a week only.
Okay I am a Muslim. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) brought the message of Islam about 1400 years ago. But there were prophets and saints who preached Islam before that. Like prophet Ibrahim(AS)(Abraham as mentioned in bible) and his son Ismail(AS). Also I believe that the first human and prophet, Adam(AS) is a Muslim.
Anyone who's reading this I'd like to mention I'm a religion tolerant person which means I never insult people on the basis of religion, respect others religious beliefs and never try to force my beliefs in them. I'm not a religious juvenile zealot according to this hunter guy. I opposed adult content but will never do it with religious content unless it opposes my religion. And YOU stop playing innocent here where many people are likely to see your posts.
And I think we both should stop now because this argument is turning into a serious fight which will in the end result both of our time getting wasted, no benefits and maybe even both of us getting suspended. Don't even bother to reply to this post. The fight is over.
Please let's not discuss religious viewpoints here, That was exactly the argument I made. Religous content in games is bound to offend someone, as the stuff in the bible is basis for 3 religions. They all have different views and even within those religions there are factions and you are proving my point, that even though you are a muslim, you do in fact have opinions about the content in the old testament.
As for the other stuff, you do not even realize your mistakes, like you do not know the meaning of spamming either. It does not matter what you think is appropriate for children to watch or play. Any age rating is determined not by the creator of a game, but by other people. The intent is to protect children from content that is inapropriate for them. You know, to protect them from "bad stuff".
I wish you luck and success, so you may have one day a concerned facebook mom report you for offensive content. You do not believe me, but you might be forced to believe content moderation on youtube and even itch.
to create fun video games and preach the gospel
Tough one. Without the preaching I would say, to honour God would be just to make a decent game and be decent about it. Like those workers that put detail in churches at places where no one would see it, but had the attitude that God sees it, so they did not kludge.
But preaching and fun is one of those oxymorons. One could of course make fun games with biblical topics, but those would probably not be preachy or educational in the way one would hope. Angels and other bibilical stuff is often used in games, and not in a way that churches would approve, I dare say.
If we can not have fun maths teaching games, religious games are doubly hard. Objectivly the religous stuff is awesome for story telling. But not in an educational way. People like to take stuff and retell it in their own way. That might make the whole topic popular, but twists it by doing so. There is a reason why fantasy gods and dead religions are popular for this; you cannot offend living members of their churches anymore.
I've sent you a request on Discord in case you're still interested in game dev. I have an idea that could work really well that would incorporate biblical themes/values/ideas without being obviously christian or 'preachy' and would also be a really cool setting! :D
p.s. Anyone else interested in getting involved, feel free to PM me! I've already built half the game (I'm using Unreal), but everyone is welcome to jump onboard.
Hi, need music??
I've got 2 packs ready to go here and can make custom ones too
This one is fast paced actiony tracks
https://remixedcat.itch.io/synthesystem-gaming-mix-volume-1
this one is ambient/spooky/chill/epic
https://remixedcat.itch.io/synthesystem-gaming-mix-volume-2
My discord is
remixedcat#3467
Hi Gabriel. If you'd like a musician to help you out, I would strongly recommend Marc Andre Gegner at :
https://www.magnetizemusic.com/
I've been working with Marc for 10 years. He has produced excellent music and done an amazing job of even taking my music, and making higher-quality versions of it. He does it at pretty attractive prices, which you may also be able to negotiate with him.
Even if you hire him to write only a few songs, he would really appreciate that.
Hello, forgive me if these English words sound strange, English is not my native language.
I will try to be brief.
Games are a way of telling stories and teaching things, in a very unique way, more imaginative and playful.
Video games to some extent resemble parables (comparative stories like the ones Jesus told)
I have here a concept to direct ideas for a game with Christian values:
Look, to make a game that has both Christian and evangelistic values, use the concept of parables (simple illustrative stories that point to other larger, timeless and global values) to do this.
Jesus preached about the kingdom of heaven using parables, such as that of seeds that are sown on good soil, he did that, and some people who were simpler and were looking for answers in their search for God understood, and some others who were not in search of it, they listened and did not understand, but still they stopped to listen to his parables.
One thing makes analogy or points to another, the Bible itself says that in nature God placed details that point both to its existence and to Salvation. "That one day mentions another day..." Those who are looking for God end up noticing his hand in the order of nature and in created things, for those who are not looking, it's just another ordinary day after another, just matter rearranging itself into atoms across time and space.
Imagine this example:
- A game where the main story is;
"A group of adventurers is assigned by their King to carry a message to a distant city, where a man condemned to death has been forgiven his debt, but they must hurry, get there before the judges of that city execute the man if the message of pardon does not reach him."
- On the journey they find parallel missions with villages in ruins and need to help these people rebuild their homes and their lives. But they cannot spend much time on this since their main mission cannot be delayed or the message does not reach the judges in the distant city in time, and the convict is not saved.
-In the game play, resource management for travel and survival in nature is one of the key points, followed by puzzles to find the shortest path to the goal.
-Each character in the group has a key skill that solves some puzzles to advance or makes it easier to get resources for travel in certain areas.
One is a hunter and helps find supplies and has greater skill in combat against animals, the other is a merchant and helps with discounts and identifies treasures to exchange for supplies. Another is a survivor and finds food, water, secret passages and safe spots to camp more easily. Another is a doctor and a cook, and helps treat companions' injuries and generates more bonus food items with their recipes, etc... the group complements each other and one needs the other to make the journey easier, losing a character can make the hardest game.
-Some biblical passages may be added as a reference to each chapter or phase of the story at specific times, and some verses from Proverbs or Psalms may sporadically be scattered in subtle detail on the map and perceived when the player clicks or interacts with it (written in a big rock in the way, a detail hidden in a doorframe, writing on a plant pot at the entrance of a village, etc...), without initially influencing the game play directly, but having some reference to evangelism, or even giving the player clues on how to finish the journey efficiently.
-No need to put demons as enemies, or angels as guardians of the characters, human NPCs can play the role of villain and guardian, appearing in the narrative at specific times. The wild and egressive nature at certain points on the map can already symbolize a danger or challenge for the arrival of the message to the convict. (wolves, lions, deserts, dark swamps with dangerous waters... giant serpents???)
A person who knows evangelio will immediately understand the message that the game wants to convey. One interested in knowing Jesus will increase his curiosity. And those who don't want anything will still have fun, although due to their lack of interest they may be missing out on the jewel communicated behind the parable in the form of a game.
The one above is just a game suggestion ( if you do, you don't need to credit me :D ), but the basis is here: Parables that speak, through analogies and allegories, about the love of God and Christian values. This being parables in the form of fun games, in which the message is distributed in layers if the player looks carefully. Use wisely.
Hello Gabriel and others,
I am also a born-again, saved by Jesus Christ game designer! I am working on a game I hope will glorify God in a new way! Would love to share the idea with folks who are like-minded to me in being born-again and saved by Jesus Christ! Feel free to reach out to me on Discord, my name on there is bgamer504#8205
God Bless you all!
