Christian video games are avideo game genre and a form ofChristian media that focus on thenarrative and themes ofChristian morals andChristianity.[1][2][3] The term can also refer toChristian symbolism,mythology,media franchises, andChristian media organizations withinvideo game culture andindustry.[4]
These games usually emphasize the teachings of theministry of Jesus, or retellBible stories such asNoah's Ark or the life ofJesus. While Christian video games are considered a genre, they usually intersect with other genres, such as early computer titleBible Computer Games which is aneducational game,[5]action-adventure gamesSpiritual Warfare andSuper 3D Noah's Ark, theGuitar Praise series ofrhythm games,[6] or thesimulation video gameI am Jesus Christ.[7] They are usually developed to appeal toChristian audiences.[8]
Many of the earliest Christian video games were written by the company BibleBytes in 1982 for theTRS-80 Color Computer. That year, the company released eleven games for the computer, including such titles asManna from Heaven,Moses' Rod, andNoah's Ark. These games were compiled together and released under the nameBible Computer Games.[9][citation needed] Several Christian-themed computer programming books, based on the original BibleBytesBible Computer Gamessource code, were written by John and Joyce Conrod in 1984. The Conrods were the primary authors of the first two books while their son, Phil Conrod, was one of the original game developers and served as technical editor. The first BASIC programming book, "Computer Bible Games", included theBASIC source code for the Timex/Sinclair, Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer, andTI-99/4A. The book included tips for adapting the programs for theApple II,Atari 8-bit computers,VIC-20,Commodore 64, andTRS-80[10] Since then, PC Enterprises and BibleByte Books has published several "Computer Bible Games" programming books for Microsoft Small Basic, Visual Basic, Visual C# and Java.[11][12] Another Christian video game pioneer was Bernard K. Bangley, who wroteBible BASIC: Bible Games for Personal Computers with his son, David Bangley.Bible BASIC was published byHarper & Row in December, 1983. His book included type-in BASIC programs to create Bible games.[13] All of these Bible themed programming books were designed forChristian schools.
The annualChristian Game Developers Conference (CGDC) was started in 2001 by Tim Emmerich, founder of the small independent studio GraceWorks Interactive. The conference has been described as a place for Christian game developers to gather, make deals with other Christian developers, and gain encouragement from developers with a shared faith.[14]
Game Developer, affiliated with theGame Developers Conference, featured an article by Greg Campbell titled "How to Handle Christianity in Video Games" in 2018.[4] The article covered historical depictions of Christianity in video games, and suggested how developers can incorporate Christianity into their Christian game design.
While other Christian media formats such asmusic,literature, andfilm have big budgetrecord labels,publishers, andblockbusters, the Christian video game industry has primarily been led byindie games and is generally devoid ofAAA developers.[15][14][16] This has led to criticism related to quality control concerns.[15][17][16]
Many major publishers and studios are highly diversified, with brands under their moniker with both Christian media andvideo game culture. This would includemass mediaWarner Bros. Discovery which ownsWarner Bros. Interactive Entertainment,Rooster Teeth and distributes theindependent record labelWord Entertainment, majormedia conglomerates likeNBCUniversal which is parent company of bothBig Idea Entertainment andG4 Media.[18][19][20][21] While companies like G4 are not Christian media outlets, NBCUniversal operates bothVeggieTales Christian studio Big Idea Entertainment and G4 Media, formerly theG4 TV network, as in-name only production units. Similarly Warner Bros. Discovery operates their interactive and Rooster Teeth studios separately from the distribution of Word Entertainment.[21]
Some of the early Christian video games are sought after bycomputer museums, particularlyvideo game museums andprivate video game collections.[22] This is due to them being distributed in small numbers at hobbyist conventions or at Christian bookstores and magazines, instead of high-volume video game retailers. One such example is the 1983Atari 2600 gameRed Sea Crossing, of which only two copies are known to have appeared on the resale market, one of which sold for over $10,000 in 2013.[22][23][24] Another such Atari 2600 game was the 1982The Music Machine, which sold for over $5,000 in 2017.[25]
The 1980s also saw the earliest video game adaptions ofNarnia, in the form ofAdventures in Narnia andAdventures in Narnia: Dawn Treader. None of these games released on the NES, probably due toNintendo of America's strict guidelines against religious content at the time. Nintendo of America's corporate stance at the time was that religious symbolism was forbidden. Nevertheless, even officially developed Nintendo of Japan products sometimes featured Christian symbols; for example,The Legend of Zelda featured a Christiancross onLink's shield.[4] One of the first NES games to use overt Christian symbolism wasCastlevania, a game which followed a Christianvampire hunter namedSimon Belmont who carried weaponry such asholy water, crosses that function as boomerangs, and a bluerosary which cleared all on-screen enemies.[4]Konami released a game based onNoah's Ark in Japan and Europe, but was never released in the United States, due to the aforementioned reluctance of Nintendo of America towards religious content. Nintendo of America's viewpoint on religious content at the time has been criticized, it even caused the censorship and modification of small-scale Christian iconography including 1989'sDuckTales andCastlevania III: Dracula's Curse.[26] Starting in the late 1980s, the unlicensedgame developerWisdom Tree developed a number of specifically Christian video games for the NES, such asSpiritual Warfare.[27] As time went on Nintendo of America reversed their stance on religious material, now even overtly Christian games release on Nintendo platforms, just as Nintendo of Japan had always allowed.[28]
In 1994, Wisdom Tree licensed theid SoftwareWolfenstein 3D engine for the SNES gameSuper 3D Noah's Ark.[29] The game has been reprinted and rereleased a number of times since.[30]
After theColumbine High School massacre in 1999, there was a revival of Christian video games specifically in thefirst-person shooter genre. Ralph Bagley of N'Lightning Software claims that publishers were more receptive to the concept of a Christian first-person shooting game with less violence because violent video games likeDoom orQuake were facing controversy at the time due to the Columbine massacre.[31] The first Christian FPS game to be released in July of 1999 wasSaints of Virtue, developed by Shine Studios, a small video game company that was run by three people.[32] In October 1999,The War in Heaven was released by a small video game company called Eternal Warriors. The game was developed by Andrew Lunstad and designed byTheodore Beale.
During the 2000s, N'Lightning Software Development released twofirst-person shooter games:Catechumen (2000) andOminous Horizons: A Paladin's Calling (2001).[33] The annualChristian Game Developers Conference (CGDC) was started in 2001.[14][34]
In 2005,The Bible Game byMass Media Games was released for theGame Boy Advance,PlayStation 2, andXbox.[35] That same year, the first version ofDance Praise was released byDigital Praise for PC.[36]
The 2000s also saw the first adaptations of Christian media franchises for major video game platforms. Those include games based onThe Lord of the Rings andThe Chronicles of Narnia film series, includingThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002),The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003),The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), andThe Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008), as well as theVeggieTales franchise in the form ofLarryBoy and the Bad Apple (2006) for the Game Boy Advance and PlayStation 2. In 2006,Left Behind: Eternal Forces, areal-time strategy game, was released byInspired Media Entertainment based onLeft Behind series of novels; it had sequels released in 2007, 2010, and 2011.
TheAdam's Venture games, first released in 2009, have made appearances on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.[37][38][39]
The 1980s Christian animeSuperbook, rebooted in 2011 as an animated series, has had educational video game adaptations from 2014 and onward for browsers and mobile devices.[40][41]
The 2014 gameThat Dragon, Cancer was critically acclaimed as an example ofvideo games as an art form; the game touches on the concepts of love, mortality, and faith.[42][43][44] The game involves Christian couple Ryan and Amy Green raising their son Joel, who had been diagnosed with cancer. The experience was the subject of the documentary filmThank You for Playing, and the couple were awarded the Games for Impact award atThe Game Awards.[45]
Steam has allowed indie games to reach a wider audience. The Wisdom Tree gamesSuper 3D Noah's Ark andSpiritual Warfare were ported to the service byPiko Interactive in 2015 and 2017, and the role-playing simulation titleI Am Jesus Christ launched in 2019, that same yearShepherd of Light was released byJohn Paul the Great Catholic University, and in 2021 action-adventure gameJohn Christian and the turn-based RPGPaladin Dream were released.[46][47][48]
By the 2020s, a number of Christian ministries togamers had established themselves such asLove Thy Nerd, Nerd Culture Ministry Summit. In addition to the Christian Game Developer Conference, other conferences for Chrisitan video game industry professionals had emerged such asImladris.[49]
Christianvideo game journalism is common for Christian news and media outlets.[18] Some churches are known to incorporate game journalism into their services, which former theology student turned video game journalist Andy Robertson did with an interactive sermon involving the gameAbzû.[50]
In 1984, then-editor and president ofChristianity Today V. Gilbert Beers and his son Ronald A. Beers worked forBaker Book House and co-authored Bible stories for children in the form of theBaker Street Kids franchise,[51] which consists of the titular gang of children who dress up for a Sunday school play and reenact stories from the Bible.[52] The books were adapted into educational computer games in which religious youth must answer questions about Bible stories correctly before they get treated to a little light animation; the games were distributed by Baker Book House,[53] developed by Brian A. Rice Inc.,[54] and published by Educational Publishing Concepts for Apple II and Commodore 64.[55] Series 1 (Early Heroes of the Bible,Searching for a King,The Boy Jesus, andThe Early Church) was released in 1984, and Series 2 (Moses and the Wilderness Wanderings,A Week That Changed the World,Paul's Missionary Journeys, andIsrael's Golden Years) was released in 1985-86.[52]
Major Christian news outletsChristianity Today,Christian Broadcasting Network,Relevant, andTrinity Broadcasting Network, often include video game journalism as a part of their coverage.[56][57][58] And some outlets specialize in video game culture includingChrist Centered Gamer andGeeks Under Grace,[18][49] journalists at these outlets often work for other outlets as well.[59]
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