Christian Game Developers

I have started a Facebook group with ArcadEd called Xion Developers. It is a forum for those who aspire to take their Christian faith into the multi-media world of video games.

X.D. will serve as a hub for Christian fellowship while supporting and seeking help from each other in all areas of game development (much like what already happens here with C2, but not just C2), including such areas as programming, directing, art & animation, music, and more. The idea is to help people connect with others and fill roles we can't do alone (1 Corinthians 12:12-31).

As X.D. grows, so, too, will the resources. For instance, along with citing Construct 2 as one of the game editors, one new member added a reference for Corona, another game editing possibility. For the artists, there's the obvious Photoshop, but many more exist. And we'll include sources for things relating to music, too! This is just the start.

Xion Developers is a Christian-oriented group and will operate as such, but non-Christians will not be denied access so long as those here who hold to Christ as their Savior and the Bible as the Word of God are respected. In fact, non-Christians are wholly welcomed! <img src="smileys/smiley4.gif" border="0" align="middle"> Likewise, Christians are to be an example of Christ's heart for the lost (remember you were once lost, yourself!) and to show kindness at all times.

X.D. is not to be a forum for debate. (Both Christian and non-Christian individuals are liable for their behavior and attitude and are not except from being removed from the group.) Emphasis will be on all areas of game making with a framework mindset of Christian principles.

Best of all: it's free! (Like I could charge for it on Facebook anyway.)

Of course, there's no promise of any kind that you'll find people to team with or that your projects will find success. This is, after all, just a meeting ground for Christians who want to come together in their faith and interests.

God bless and happy game making!

-- Michael Samuel Miller Jr

Admin and Founder

I have started a Facebook group with ArcadEd called Xion Developers. It is a forum for those who aspire to take their Christian faith into the multi-media world of video games.

X.D. will serve as a hub for Christian fellowship while supporting and seeking help from each other in all areas of game development (much like what already happens here with C2, but not just C2), including such areas as programming, directing, art & animation, music, and more. The idea is to help people connect with others and fill roles we can't do alone (1 Corinthians 12:12-31).

As X.D. grows, so, too, will the resources. For instance, along with citing Construct 2 as one of the game editors, one new member added a reference for Corona, another game editing possibility. For the artists, there's the obvious Photoshop, but many more exist. And we'll include sources for things relating to music, too! This is just the start.

Xion Developers is a Christian-oriented group and will operate as such, but non-Christians will not be denied access so long as those here who hold to Christ as their Savior and the Bible as the Word of God are respected. In fact, non-Christians are wholly welcomed! <img src="smileys/smiley4.gif" border="0" align="middle"> Likewise, Christians are to be an example of Christ's heart for the lost (remember you were once lost, yourself!) and to show kindness at all times.

X.D. is not to be a forum for debate. (Both Christian and non-Christian individuals are liable for their behavior and attitude and are not except from being removed from the group.) Emphasis will be on all areas of game making with a framework mindset of Christian principles.

Best of all: it's free! (Like I could charge for it on Facebook anyway.)

Of course, there's no promise of any kind that you'll find people to team with or that your projects will find success. This is, after all, just a meeting ground for Christians who want to come together in their faith and interests.

God bless and happy game making!

-- Michael Samuel Miller Jr

Admin and Founder

As a Catholic Christian, this sounds like a fun project. Just remember you don't have to make specifically Christian games but can also make games with Christian themes, references, etc. in them, not unlike how Fable includes some atheistic criticism of the Bible.

nickkname - Actually, that's my plan for my games: to make the Christian aspects subtle. I can't say I won't make any overtly Christian material, I aim to be creative in my presentation of such themes and messages.

I haven't played Fable - I love the concept, though! - but it's disappointing that such an OPEN-ended game that allows you to take different paths in "life" apparently doesn't offer a balanced opinion about the Bible.

I didn't say you couldn't make specific Christian games, like those popular Moses and Jesus games on Facebook. You could make a game about the Acts of the Apostles or Martin Luther King Jr. or the Laogai.

nickkname - My apologies. I didn't mean to imply that you did say that. I guess bad wording on my part. Sorry about that. I just meant to state what my plans were. I even remember games from back in the 80s/90s for the NES that were based on Moses and Joshua, Noah, and different stages in Jesus' life, as well. There was even a really decent Zelda-esque game called "Spiritual Warfare" that, while not being as highly polished, had some fairly solid gameplay. It had a high level of challenge, too. I want to bring games like that to the next level in terms of development...probably about TEN levels up. LOL

A lot of powerful fiction carries Christian themes without being explicitly Christian, as you're well aware with your signature block, Rhindon (=P). Theme and allegory are beautiful tools for introducing a point of view without being "preachy," which most people tend to be quite resistant to.

RandomExile - Yeah, that's precisely why I will go for more subtle presentations. I don't want to water down the message at all, lest I distort the truth. (Even IF the Biblical message turned out to be false, I'd lose even more credibility by distorting the message! LOL So silly...) Anyway, you're very correct.

CS Lewis did that very thing - though much less allegory, as he dubbed the Narnia stories as "supposals" - and especially through "Prince Caspian". (See a book called "The Soul of Prince Caspian" in which the author cracks open a MASSIVE Easter Egg hidden in the very pages of a children's book.)

Because Christianity often carries with it such a bad stigma, I want to present the topics and themes with gentleness and care, rather than seeming like all I want to do is get on the pulpit. I think gaming can do that nicely, eh? ;)

Agreed, I think gaming is perfect for engaging your audience in a non-hostile, consensual fashion. I've heard it said that the main problem with Christianity is that it has to be made up of humans, which is frankly a major problem with any philosophy or social group. It always goes to heck once people are involved. =P

Personally, I wouldn't sweat the negative perceptions some people have of your faith, because I think Jesus' core principles of self-sacrifice, love, and forgiveness are pretty well universally accepted. He hung out with and was on good terms with countless people with drastically different social and ethical backgrounds from his own, and made it work. Not much to have a problem with there.

RandomExile - I would argue that Christianity is not man-made, just man-recorded (in terms of the Bible as a physical book), but yeah...the human factor obviously gets in the way since mankind is so flawed. LOL So yes, it goes to heck in a sense.

And I don't know that I could have said it better regarding Jesus' core principles. I plan to go even DEEPER, which is gonna take some very SKILLFUL use of story telling and logic and...lots of stuff. But those core principles will certainly serve as a welcome mat for my games. Very well said, sir!

Rhindon: just a heads up, we received a complaint about this thread. Topics like religion are highly emotive subjects. It might be best to keep discussion on these subjects to a minimum on our forums, not because there's anything wrong with it, but just to help our forums stay neutral and not a place where people come to talk about beliefs. I say "talk", but I'm sure you know how the topic often ends up being discussed online, and our intent is to avoid any disputes happening on our forums.

Anyway, I don't think there's anything wrong with setting up a group for like-minded people and then telling people about it, but it might be best to keep it short and to the point so interested members can head over to your group and take up further discussion there. I hope you understand - our focus is for the forums to remain neutral.

Ashley - I totally understand. I was definitely NOT intending to get into any kind of debate or specific discussion about Christianity, itself. I would have directed that to another communication forum entirely (to private messaging at the VERY least). If this thread started getting into a discussion/debate about the tenants and credibility of my faith, I would have called a halt to it.

Thank you, too, for being understanding of my perspective, too. I'm sorry if this caused you any unnecessary grief via the complaints.

Ashley - Also, anything else to do with Christianity in this thread - or any thread - would be simply related to any game project. I wouldn't try to start up a sermon. :) For example, I might QUICKLY relate, "I'm working on a game about the various battles ancient Israel had with other nations during the Old Testament times." And then I'd leave it at that and discuss the game elements, itself.

This brings up an interesting question, though. Which religions or philosophies can or cannot be discussed in the context of game development? Roman paganism once had hundreds of thousands of adherents who believed the stories of Zeus were true, but I doubt that a game about Greek or Roman theology would be regarded as controversial.

What if someone wanted to discuss elements of Buddhism, such as in making a game exploring concepts of personal enlightenment wherein successive levels correspond to overcoming ignorance and desire?

Neoplatonism?

I think restricting respectful philosophical/religious discussions, especially as legitimately relate to game development, needlessly constrains the community and creates a great deal of confusion over what is acceptable and why.

Isn't the idea of how to weave "theme" into a game narrative a fundamental aspect of development? The five basic aspects of storytelling are Character, Setting, Plot, Conflict, and Theme. What if the Torment: Tides of Numenera devs had been asked by Gamespot to, for the sake of avoiding controversy, try to refrain from bringing up man's purpose for existence in their interviews?

Which elements of human nature, art, existence, and meaning are appropriate in our forums, and which are not? It would be very interesting to know the substance of the complaint on Rhindon's thread, and then attempt to apply it fairly across all analogous development threads.

(Hopefully, even without a ruling, this thread is perfectly innocuous since we're having a meta-discussion about site policy now.)

Ashley - This forum heading is "Open Topic," and the thread title has the word "Christian" in it. If anybody has complained about this, you should probably stop doing business with them and refund their money. Wow.