The Guardian/ The Deliverance

#1 I've seen christian oreintated FPS\S games before, but the graphics were always so sub par (not even good enough to be called average for the time they were released) and the games themselves were so under publicized that they never seemed to catch any attention or sell many copies. It's a great idea though. I think allot of strict christian house-holds give games an undeserved bad rap due to general sterotypes.

I say go for it! There's a market for it that no one has managed to effectivly tap yet.

#2 I think most of those games also don't succeed because the public likes blood. A Christian God also rules out 5 billion people that believe in other deities--although not all of them are candidates for vid game buyers anyway.

Of course, it can also be played for free advertising--the movie _Dogma_ got a lot of it--and I thought the movie was terrible overall.

But, I wish you the best of luck--and yes, I do believe it is an untapped possibility.

#3 Okay, I agree that it's an untapped group, from a commercial standpoint; and I agree that the previous games that have tried to tap the market have generally failed due to poor graphics (such as that one that looked like Christian Wolfenstein 3D).

However. We've been through Hell already. I think that was Doom or Quake or one of those games (they really have no story, just a setting, guns and enemies). Hell really isn't that exciting a place. Sure, you've got your River Styx, Tartarus and all of those other regions, but in the end you've just got enemies. There's no one there to help out the protagonist, which leads you to create a mindless shooter. Which brings you back to being a more graphically-pleasing version of Doom.

Hell is just boring. Fire, eternal anguish, things like that; unless you go back to the gorgeous paradise-veneer of Hell that Milton wrote about in "Paradise Lost," where the roads are paved with gold and air-conditioning is plentiful (actually, that part is Woody Allen).

When you think about it, Earth is a lot more exciting. Things are certainly not strictly black or white. I think back to playing "In Nomine," a paper & dice RPG, with a few of my friends and giving them a "damned if you do and damned if you don't" scenario. Whether they'd been playing demons or angels, it really wouldn't have mattered, since the end-result would have a down-side any way it was played. Made for some very interesting moral arguments as to which side was less evil or less good (depending on whether they were playing demons or angels).

Of course, I'm sure you're not going for moral arguments here. God-good, demons-bad, and that's all she wrote. But, keep in mind that if you just run through Hell hacking up demons along the way, you've just created Doom again, but with an angel as the main character instead of a space-marine. Granted, this will satisfy the game-playing majority that thinks Serious Sam is a new and interesting game; but the people who like their games slightly more morally ambiguous (like me, take Deus Ex for example) would probably tune out.

#4 I agree entirely. I am trying to avoid a mindless blazing frag party during the developement of this game. There will be more factors besides fighting through Hell. Such as mystery and espionage. And many of the features consist of saving humans... so fear not, the majority of the game will be on earth and the last part will be hell frag. That way it will satisfy two different kinds of gamers.. the intelligent and the...well...mindless.

#5 sounds like a cool game, but will the "mindless" be able to get past the intelligent parts? i for one think the game will be enjoyable, and i enjoy games of all forms, including mindless shooters, mostly if i don't feel like doing anything that requires more than 10 points of my IQ....lol

#6 This game would never fly. It's a standard FPS w/assorted bells and whistles. No christian household is going to buy it because it's a christian oriented title, simply because if they're paying attention, the game has nothing to do with deepening faith, getting closer to god, understanding the bible, etc. And if they're not paying attention to the game's content, then simply slap 'BibleHunter 2000' on the cover of a standard FPS and call it sold. Meanwhile, the people who do buy games will look at the quality of the game itself, and lets face it, the christiany genre won't win you many points.

#7 Why don't you make the game from a different point of view.

Go from a Demons point of view, and reverse the roles.

I think it would make the game a little more interesting.

Also, It would be interesting to make the game explore Hell further, make it interesting. Make it's inhabitants interesting.

#8 If you want to know more about the Demons point of view, read the Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis... but if a christian kid wants to play a game where you play a Demon tempting human souls to do evil, see if there parents would let them play That!

#9 To answer Pauls comments,
This game IS going to have things that will bring you closer to God, and will better help one understand the Bible. For example, there will be an easy read version of the entire bible easily accessible in the game. Plus there will be levels where you defend human souls from demons and get to witness them becoming saved. And if you know anything about Christians, they dont spred the gospel to win "points". Of course this is a form of entertainment, however it is good and wholesome entertainment. If you think i wont get any support, think of all the church donations that could help with fund raising. And all the advertisment we could put in all the religious media. if all you thing think im aiming for are "points" think again. Its the points you earn in heaven that really matter.

#10 There's a bit of a problem with your basic plot: God is going to let an innocent suffer just so he can show off? That's kind of like a paramedic smothering a baby so that he can show how great he is at CPR.

#11 You have a very good point there, so i would like to reply to that. You see, God has many reasons for his decision. (y'know all that infinite wisdom stuff) Showing of is not his intention. He knew that satan was planning something like this for a long long time. and God also knew that there would be no peace until he had given up. So God finally allowed one soul to to be temporarily taken. Which was also to show Satan that his servants are still faithful even in Hells domain. After the soul is rescued, she gets highly rewarded for keeping her faith even in hell. Also he wanted an end to Satans ploys to send souls into hell. So by sending just one Angel against him shows him that he is no match for Gods power. and thus he gives up. I hope that does fix any misgivings you had about my representaion of God.

#12 I doubt even the most accepting of christians is gonna believe god makes their angels walk around researching how to become visible or how to fly.

#13 I think he meant he had done the research, not that you were going to have to research how to fly :)

It seems like an interesting idea, especially if you can have some impressive angel effects in there :). What would really rock (imo) is if the treatment of the relious bits is more part of the game than anything else. Like, in most religous games, it seems that the driving part is to talk about the religion, rather than to make a fun game. Some games have incredibly strong backdrops and storylines and to use the whole christian mythos in that style rather than the game coming across as a vehicle to preach at people would give it a lot of strength.

As for the idea itself it's definitely interesting, and I'd like to play it I think. There's a comic called The Preacher that might make interesting reading that deals with a rather different situation, but has angels and so on.

Oh, and Dogma rules :P

#14 First of all, yes you do not have to research any of the special features. There will be a ton of very unique special abilities such as flying, becoming visible, changing your appearance to either a human (Rev. Leblanc) or an animal like a white cat or a white eagle. And throughout the whole game when you are invisible you walk through all the walls. That in itself would make this game extremely unique.

Second of all, I would appreciate it if you all stopped calling my religion a "mythos". The game is not going to "preach at" people as you put it, in a sense that it is not meant to convict someone and scare them into christianity with the alternative of Hell. That is not this games intent. Non of the religious information is going to be pressed upon anyone. It will, in fact, be easily accessible and easy to understand. So anyone who cares or whoever is curious can find out what they want, but if someone does not want to play a game that "preaches at" them, thats not the kind of game I'm gonna make.

#15 I think the word mythos fits (3 in the below definition). Also, please don't take what I said to be insult, I was just pointing out what had happened with every single other religous game I've played. When people believe strongly in something, the often feel the need to evangelise it, and I was just mentioning that that makes for a poor game. The key point that should be considered when making a game is to make something fun, and that people enjoy playing.

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#16 I agree entiresly that a Game is not a good nor efficient form of evangelizing. Games are for fun and entertainment and this game will be just that, and for religious families where some children who cannot play fun games because they have strict parents. All it is, is an entertaining first person melee combat game. But as opposed to other games with a religious basis, this game will not twist christianity with their own artistic license, but it will stay very consistent with real Christianity.