Hey, This question is targetted at anyone who possess interesting in action-adventure or RPG games. Basically games heavily trottled by indepth plot. Has religion made a major impact on your design? Not your own religion necessarily but just your knowledge of other religions or real world theories[ie : Buddhism].

religions are an excellent source of the type of mythological stuff that fits well into fantasy RPGs (plus if you "borrow" something from a real religion, people who know a bit about it might get the reference which makes them feel special).

Short answer? Yes. The Universe is a big place to play in and even bigger if you count philosophies and theologies of alternate dimensions, fate, and spiritual concepts.

Yes. I'm influenced by everything I come into contact with.

All games are, as dictated by the public - that's why there aren't many titles of "overwhelming evil" where you can walk into schools and slaughter children. Our society seems to be keen to holding game developers to a moral standard when it comes to the wanton use of sex/guns/drugs/rock'n'roll.

I've currently been doing a lot of reading on early Christianity. From the apochryphal books, to the books that the councils of Nicea and Trent decided not to include, to early Gnostic Christian sects like the Essenes and Nazoreans, to the "heretical" movements like Manicheanism or Cathars, I've been fascinated by what I'm learning.

So fascinated in fact, that I wish I could do a game solely based on religious development in a "what-if" sort of vein. I find it interesting how few people know about the history and development of Christianity, or other religion's influence upon it. I think it could be educational and interesting if done right.

The problem is that it would have to showcase alternative interpretations of Christian (and gnostic) theology (or logos). And this would in itself be controversial. That's why I've been thinking of an alternative psuedo-Earth setting for a pan-asian setting that deals with Buddhist, Taoist, Hindu, Shinto and other eastern type philosophies as a core feature of the game. I don't think many people here would mind seeing a non-Abrahamic religion being played around with, but even if you remain very truthful, some people won't want to see their ingrained image of their belief system challenged or altered in any way.

As a real quick example, what if the game answered the missing years of Jesus(Yeshu) life by saying that he had traveled to India and picked up some Buddhist or Hindu ideas? This is not just merely a hypothetical what if, but a speculation based on some Tibetan manuscripts that were found that talked about a traveler from the area of Palestine during the right period of time. What makes it more intriguing is that though this manuscript was found by a Russian in the late 1800's, it was later discovered that the Vatican had several of these copies themselves for at least a hundred years prior. Why would the Vatican be interested in such a thing unless it was somehow relevant to them?

Religion is a very controversial subject, but is an element that can bring alot of color and uniqueness to a game world, especially for an RPG. In the design of our RPG project our team is incorporating alot of ancient Indian/Vedic philosophies and traditions.

I think that it is a very important factor if you want to design a world that feels alive, and not just another shell for the player to walk around and kill "baddies" in. As it adds a mystical factor to it, to make the player feel as if there is more to it then just what they see.

To Dauntless: Read "The Gospel of Jesus Christ", it is a direct translation of the Aramaic and old Slavonic texts, by Edmond Szekely. Lots of cool info about the old teachings of Jesus Christ. Also "Proof of Vedic Culture's Global Existence" by Stephen Knapp, awesome book with lots of interesting stuff in it about old India and Vedic culture and its influences on today's world.

SilverKnight

Quote:

Original post by zarthrag All games are, as dictated by the public - that's why there aren't many titles of "overwhelming evil" where you can walk into schools and slaughter children.

It's also because slaughtering children isn't very challenging. People play games to be challenged as well.

Quote:

Original post by Dauntless So fascinated in fact, that I wish I could do a game solely based on religious development in a "what-if" sort of vein. I find it interesting how few people know about the history and development of Christianity, or other religion's influence upon it. I think it could be educational and interesting if done right. The problem is that it would have to showcase alternative interpretations of Christian (and gnostic) theology (or logos). And this would in itself be controversial.

The catholic church would slam you. Which means free advertising, and good sales no matter the quality of your game (if movies are to be used as an example)

go for it. just make it cheap so its easy to pick up, and you got yourself a big seller =)

Quote:

Original post by Khaosifix Hey, This question is targetted at anyone who possess interesting in action-adventure or RPG games. Basically games heavily trottled by indepth plot. Has religion made a major impact on your design?

Yes, it encourages me to create a game that has secular influences to the fore, placing religion in it's historical context only when necessary to game plot or play. Freedom of religion by definition also means freedom from religion, so I want a fair bias in my design.

Though it is true that religion is a rich source of the mythology and archetype resplendent in all kinds of games, I believe the player is tired of the same old song and dance of a tired, arcane symbological representational universe. Of course, I am talking about a contrarian design approach strategy.

Adventuredesign.