Nope.
Sorry.
Un-unh.
No do.
You can`t put real faith in a game and expect it to work.
I also would not put Christianity in a game.
I won`t play it.

Have to agree with others. It sounds like a really cool game, but you''d be better off naming everything something different and avoid specifics that would point at Christianity (or any of the Judeo/Christian/Muslim mythologies), such as 144,000.

Simply change it to a demon escape from Hell and toss in a bunch of characters from other mythologies (actually had an idea for a book based upon all the other mythological dieties actually being different sects of Angels from the Judeo/Christian/Muslim mythologies, such as Zeus being an ArchAngel, Loki being an Angel under Odin''s (Archangel) command, but who disagreed with his methods, etc...) as good and bad guys, put an ''enlightened one'' in there to represent Jesus, but don''t call him Jesus or Savior or anything like that. He''s the General and you''re his soldiers. If you want, you can give him some ubar powers and stick him in the party late in the game so that he can destroy the archenemy, but still stick the fight there.

Like someone else said, maybe make it like the FF series, but make it where just about everyone is against you and you have to run around kinda incognito, meeting up with other secret members of the resistance against the big baddie. There really is a lot that you can do if you avoid doing the whole Revelations thing and simply make it a game about the end of time and the destruction (and subsequent saving) of civilization.

You can even put subplots in the game where guys on your team go bad and turn on your team, making it harder for them to stay underground. Wow, I''m getting all kinds of ideas for this game and it''s not even my game! Then again, I''ve probably studied over a dozen religions from Zorastrianism to Christianity, Buddhism, Hindu, Shinto and whatever, so I''ve got a lot of reference material in my head. Plus the fact that I''m really devious.

I think the game would be fine. How many people played Diablo? that game was kind of religious. It just wasnt pushing religion as much as action. But, you could be a paladin using holy spells to kill a devil. It wasn''t accurate with the faith, and it didnt say it was. A lot of people played the game and really enjoyed it without even thinking about the religious part of it. As long as you don''t make the game too boring for nonchristians it should be fine.

-Robert

I think the game would be fine. How many people played Diablo? that game was kind of religious. It just wasnt pushing religion as much as action. But, you could be a paladin using holy spells to kill a devil. It wasn''t accurate with the faith, and it didnt say it was. A lot of people played the game and really enjoyed it without even thinking about the religious part of it. As long as you don''t make the game too boring for nonchristians it should be fine.

A quote from that japanese guy who made Mario. Might not be exact words though. "Make the game for what you want it to be not who you want it to be for."

-Robert

quote: Original post by Lohrno
Personally, I think that if you do decide to add all these elements, you should make it non-specific. Make it more fantasy. Instead of saying they''re the ''End times like it says in the bible'' make it like "the Ancient prophecy decrees that the great war is coming." And don''t make any references to biblical stuff directly. Name Jesus something like "The Martyr" or "The ancient messenger." Basically make it not look like Christian. If you don''t think it can be done, read CS Lewis'' books. Myself, I''m not a christian, I''m not even religious, but I enjoyed his books. I think I would be annoyed with the christian overtones, as a lot of the time this religion is being pushed at me. I think I would stop playing it after 5 minutes. If you made it more fantasy like, and not so biblical, then it''d work.

That''s just my opinion! =D

-=Lohrno

Thanks I like your idea, as well as the others. I think I could make it very Biblically accurate but not refer to anything that might give an impression that it were trying to sell christianity. I could refer to Jesus not by name but maybe something like "The Slain Lamb" as in Revelation. I could probably refer to God directly though, because every religion has God. I could refer to the antichrist by an actual name, and just create the character to be some dark powerful political figure who rose to power through deception and give players the impression that he''s some kind of anti-god figure. The Bible refers to him as "the beast", "the worthless shepard", and names like that. Also it refers to him as a rider on a white horse, with a bow in his hand, with his heart set on conquest, or something along those lines. The 144,000 is sometimes refered to as "the elect", but I could probably think of something else. I wouldn''t want people to think it''s a Jehovah''s Witness game.

Aside from that, I don''t think only religious people would play the game, because non-religious people wouldn''t even know it was religious (especially given the changes above), let alone which religion it was from. If it were just marketed as an RPG and nothing more, I think a lot of people would play it and find it interesting, just as they would a regular RPG. People with Biblical knowledge or religious background may find it all the more interesting.

blast! someone else got my idea
a game similar to this was going to be one of my BIG games (big game as in once I have several other titles under my belt and a good publisher that would back me I would start working on it).
did you want to make a game about this because your a christian?
e4 - If you''d like I''d love to talk to you more about this idea. Maybe we could work on this together. If you''d like to talk about it then email me at -
satansnemesis@hotmail.com
as my email address would suggest, this is a subject that I have a great interest in.

There is nothing wrong with having a religious theme in your story. If films like End of Days, Stigmata or Dogma can be popular even amongst non-religious people then I see no reason why a game cannot.

However, as people have noted, there is a line between having a religious theme and being preachy. Most people will accept the former whether they are religious or not, but the latter will turn people away.

As for ''false prophets'' - if your character and other members of the elect are capable of performing miracles by whatever means, how do you tell the difference between a false prophet and a genuine prophet/another member of the elect? This could be an interesting part of the game, as you could accidentally screw up all sorts of things when you take a bad guy into your party by mistake, or accidentally blow up a good guy.

The religious market is wide open for games. The games that are out probably aren''t that good - so you put out a good quality game.

You can promote it on christian websites (I''m sure the site owners would be happy to give you a link) and local christian radio stations - if one is in your area.

If you want feedback, send me an email kimberly_d777@yahoo.com

Keep the basic (and I mean very basic) plot of Revelations and you''ll be fine, but avoid any references that are such dead giveaways as "The lamb", since Jesus is referred to as that in the bible and by many ministers very commonly.

Try to get away from anything that will give it too much of a religious connection. You can put the basic ''good vs. evil'' theme in there and never put any references that will be easily read by anyone who has a good amount of religious knowledge as being a ''Revelations game''. If you make a game out of Revelations and make it even vaguely obvious then you''ll end up setting yourself up for harassment by every other Baptist minister on the planet. They love opening their mouths and getting attention for hammering on games and anything else in the general culture... anything to get on camera and that''s what your game would be, something to get them on camera. The end result for you: a marked man in the gaming industry, nobody would touch you with a ten foot pole.

I mean this in the truest sense of advice, avoid making a revelations game that anyone will see as anything more than borrowing from Christian mythology, you''ll kill your career in the gaming industry and only bring hardship on yourself and harassment from the reactionary religious community.

There are many ways to point to religion without making it obvious that you''re making a game about revelations. The biggest problem is that if you make the ''revelations game'', no publisher will touch it. They''re better off selling a dozen Diablo games and Quake/Doom variants than trying to get away with selling a game that is too closely related to religion. Everyone''s used to the harassment that Congress and the religious right gives them about those games and largely ignore it, but toss out a game about revelations and they''re dead meat, particularly with GWB in office and his band of merry morons.

...I like the idea of a religious game, and yours may work, for the serious RPG-type. But I disagree with changing the names and stuff. If they don''t like it, they don''t have to play it, and from looking at other games, it will get you controversy.

I actually, because I''m weird, think a more humorous game for the end of the world would be more appropriate. A DD I was toying with has you playing both good and evil parties back and forth, with a demonic advisor named Bob (Joe Pesci accent) and a nice British angel chap guy person.