In preparing to guest teach Dr. Alison Joseph's "Bible in Popular Culture" course at Swarthmore (remotely), I decided to add some titles that had been shaping my thinking on religious gaming, but which were not yet in the Index. Adding just 12 games, I now have entries for eight new gaming platforms.
Most readers will recognize the 3DO, Game Gear, Game Cube, Linux, and XBox One, but there were also religious titles for the lesser known MSX, SG-1000, MSX, and Super Cassette Vision.
To share some highlights from these new platforms: Linux was added to the list with the inclusion of "The Minstrel's Song" by C. J. S. Hayward (1998). As a great lover of both procedurally generated game worlds and theologically deliberative game design, I am very glad to share his work here. Still, it pains me to have only one roguelike in the index ("The Binding of Isaac" doesn't count). Perhaps more are hiding in the wilds of Linux gaming? Here's hoping.
Second, "Rene Van Dale no Hoshiuranai: Milky Princess" (1985) was a fortune telling game that came packed with the only gender specific game console I know of: The Super Lady's Cassette Vision. Pink, translucent, and shipped in a special case with an adorable fortune telling princess game. This is the console I never knew I always wanted.
This rarity, and much of the diversity now appearing in the Index comes from the excellent research of Shuhei Fujii on religious games in Japan. Because I am unable to read Japanese, it is only with his assistance that the Index is beginning to map out a world of fortune telling games that English-only players could miss entirely. With entries as early as 1983, this tradition is just as old as the first Christian and Jewish games, and it appears on systems like the MSX, 3DO, and several others that seem never to have hosted a Biblical game.
Thank you, Shuhei Fujii, and welcome to the team.
And finally, "G Prime: Into the Rain" is the first religious game documented for XBox One, and part of the growing coterie of religious titles for Steam. When I attended the Christian Game Developers Conference in 2011, researching for my dissertation, I was fortunate to interview Soma Games' founder Chris Skaggs. He taught me much about the conference itself and was very gracious in sharing his creative process, so I am very happy to see his project thriving, and "G" reborn on new platforms. Congratulations, Soma Games.
New platforms are exciting, but they are relatively easy to add, as they do not require color coding for the big timeline. Being pretty much out of colors, and facing a category crisis at the edge of Jewish gaming, my next task, adding Kabbalah games, will be significantly more complicated. Well, that's enough for now. I have a presentation to prepare.
Most readers will recognize the 3DO, Game Gear, Game Cube, Linux, and XBox One, but there were also religious titles for the lesser known MSX, SG-1000, MSX, and Super Cassette Vision.
To share some highlights from these new platforms: Linux was added to the list with the inclusion of "The Minstrel's Song" by C. J. S. Hayward (1998). As a great lover of both procedurally generated game worlds and theologically deliberative game design, I am very glad to share his work here. Still, it pains me to have only one roguelike in the index ("The Binding of Isaac" doesn't count). Perhaps more are hiding in the wilds of Linux gaming? Here's hoping.
Second, "Rene Van Dale no Hoshiuranai: Milky Princess" (1985) was a fortune telling game that came packed with the only gender specific game console I know of: The Super Lady's Cassette Vision. Pink, translucent, and shipped in a special case with an adorable fortune telling princess game. This is the console I never knew I always wanted.
This rarity, and much of the diversity now appearing in the Index comes from the excellent research of Shuhei Fujii on religious games in Japan. Because I am unable to read Japanese, it is only with his assistance that the Index is beginning to map out a world of fortune telling games that English-only players could miss entirely. With entries as early as 1983, this tradition is just as old as the first Christian and Jewish games, and it appears on systems like the MSX, 3DO, and several others that seem never to have hosted a Biblical game.
Thank you, Shuhei Fujii, and welcome to the team.
And finally, "G Prime: Into the Rain" is the first religious game documented for XBox One, and part of the growing coterie of religious titles for Steam. When I attended the Christian Game Developers Conference in 2011, researching for my dissertation, I was fortunate to interview Soma Games' founder Chris Skaggs. He taught me much about the conference itself and was very gracious in sharing his creative process, so I am very happy to see his project thriving, and "G" reborn on new platforms. Congratulations, Soma Games.
New platforms are exciting, but they are relatively easy to add, as they do not require color coding for the big timeline. Being pretty much out of colors, and facing a category crisis at the edge of Jewish gaming, my next task, adding Kabbalah games, will be significantly more complicated. Well, that's enough for now. I have a presentation to prepare.
RSS Feed