Demons and Angels
by Travis Bolek · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 07/23/2001 (10:00 pm) · 18 replies
This is a game I've been consepulizing for awhile now. This game will have some serious religous overtones similar to Xenogears, and it will be very dark. Ok I will dive into the story a little bit.
In the future, Earth is being decimated with greed, sloth, apathy, and the other deadly sins. Satan is preparing his minions for an invasion. God, on the other hand is planning on letting Satan take over, and let him "clense" the Earth. But God is willing to change his thoughts him the humans care enough to get his protection from satan. God sends a battle angel to earth to search out worthy humans. You see, Satan already has some of his minions on earth like vampires, zombies, and other super natural creatures. The battle angel goes forth and searches for worthy humans, once who are of course not perfect but of pure heart. This will decide the fate of humans. Or will the battle angel have other intentions against god? Will he follow orders or will satan be able to manipulate him? Multiple endings.
The characters will be a Demon Hunter, with a build and look similar to Laurance Fishburne's character in the matrix. A bone collecter, similar look to Lugana in ff8 (note these looks are unintentional, as i just drew them to what i thought fit them), a vampire hunter, ghost hunter, and others such as mages, and priests. Each character has his/her motive for going along with the angel.
The battle system would be similar to parasite eve. it would be more action oriented. With wild effects, and lots of gun fights.
I would like to know what you guys think? would it make a good game?
In the future, Earth is being decimated with greed, sloth, apathy, and the other deadly sins. Satan is preparing his minions for an invasion. God, on the other hand is planning on letting Satan take over, and let him "clense" the Earth. But God is willing to change his thoughts him the humans care enough to get his protection from satan. God sends a battle angel to earth to search out worthy humans. You see, Satan already has some of his minions on earth like vampires, zombies, and other super natural creatures. The battle angel goes forth and searches for worthy humans, once who are of course not perfect but of pure heart. This will decide the fate of humans. Or will the battle angel have other intentions against god? Will he follow orders or will satan be able to manipulate him? Multiple endings.
The characters will be a Demon Hunter, with a build and look similar to Laurance Fishburne's character in the matrix. A bone collecter, similar look to Lugana in ff8 (note these looks are unintentional, as i just drew them to what i thought fit them), a vampire hunter, ghost hunter, and others such as mages, and priests. Each character has his/her motive for going along with the angel.
The battle system would be similar to parasite eve. it would be more action oriented. With wild effects, and lots of gun fights.
I would like to know what you guys think? would it make a good game?
#2
07/24/2001 (8:27 am)
In the book of Job, Satan kills Job's 7 sons and 7 daughters, kills all of his livestock, destroys his home and wealth, and plagues Job with boils. That hardly sounds "peaceful"...
#3
07/24/2001 (8:36 am)
"Gives him the chance to stop the suffering." LMFAO! I'm not a very religious type by any stretch of the imagination but I have read the book acouple of times. What book did you read?
#4
07/24/2001 (11:45 am)
I believe that he is talking about the trials with satan. That the suffering of his people would stop if he (Jesus) worships him (Satan).
#5
07/24/2001 (1:23 pm)
i have never read the bible...but if i was to get serious about the game, maybe i should read the bible, or maybe not. or i could use some other religion/mythology.
#6
07/24/2001 (2:02 pm)
Andreas, are you on crack? Satan was bribing (sp?) Jesus. What the hell is wrong with you?
#7
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N.V.
07/24/2001 (2:58 pm)
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N.V.
#8
Gnostic texts make for far more interesting reading material than the Bible, and they'd make some rather interesting plot twists possible. Besides, "Ral'De'Bothe" sounds a hell of allot cooler than "God", "Jehovah" or "I Am" ("Ral'De'Bothe" is one of the Gnostic names for the Christian god).
Not trying to down-play the bible or anything like that, I just think the Gnostic books are preferable from a game design point of view.
07/24/2001 (3:31 pm)
Travis, if I were you, from a game design point of view I would read the Gnostic Christian texts rather than the bible.Gnostic texts make for far more interesting reading material than the Bible, and they'd make some rather interesting plot twists possible. Besides, "Ral'De'Bothe" sounds a hell of allot cooler than "God", "Jehovah" or "I Am" ("Ral'De'Bothe" is one of the Gnostic names for the Christian god).
Not trying to down-play the bible or anything like that, I just think the Gnostic books are preferable from a game design point of view.
#9
07/24/2001 (6:47 pm)
or you could do this, don't relate religion with a game, I don't think they are a good couple
#10
07/27/2001 (3:04 am)
very good N.V. :)
#11
Owen
07/30/2001 (10:00 am)
Personally I quite like stuff with religeous imagery. And as long as a plot doesn't specify a religeon, or uses Joss Whedons idea where you're either a human or a demon (demon's can be good), and just twist it you wont have bible bashers having a go. If it becomes Heaven Vs Hell scenario you will probably offend people (personally I couldn't careless) if you want to shy away from the problem twist it, create your own religeon (fictional religeon, I didn't mean cult!) and base it around that.Owen
#12
happy coding.
:-)
07/30/2001 (11:50 am)
Don't let us talk you out of making your game, however, I do think that if you decide to make your game you need to know who your target audience is. From a game stand point. Make whatever you want (it is your game). But be careful you are making a game with a double edged sword. You could get cut if you use specifics too close to the religious crowd.happy coding.
:-)
#13
N.V.
07/30/2001 (12:41 pm)
If you haven't been following it, you should check out the recent "Ethics" in PR thread. It's a good discussion on using controversy to push a game.N.V.
#14
However, I'd also like to add that researching religion and being as accurate and detailed with it as possible would IMO improve the story. I'd hope you would be as open and descriptive as you could be.
08/03/2001 (5:21 pm)
I just thought I'd mention that other story tellers have avoided the controversy of tooling with religion by only alluding to it. For instance take the Spawn comic series. Here you have a world where Heaven and Hell war with each other and Heaven is portrayed to be just as brutal and ethically corrupt as Hell (on the surface anyway, I never read to far into the series). You also have a lot of liberties being taken with the details of hell. However there is no controversy because they seperate themselves from the Christian religion by only alluding to it. The prototypical Devil entity is given a different name, God and his agents are referred to as 'The Forces of Heaven'. By being vague and creative with their references they can make full use of religion in the plot (let's face it, everyone knew Malvosha, or whatever his name was, was supposed to be Satan) but it didn't raise any controversy over what he was saying of religion.However, I'd also like to add that researching religion and being as accurate and detailed with it as possible would IMO improve the story. I'd hope you would be as open and descriptive as you could be.
#15
08/05/2001 (2:24 pm)
I'm working on an FPS religious game myself where you play an Anglel. I have done extesive theological research and I'm a christian myself. I would like to help you as much as possible. E-mail me at Zelmar@darkforces.com
#16
08/08/2001 (3:48 pm)
thanks for the responses, i am still in very early pre planning stages, and i would not be able to do this game on an independent level, as i would like it to be a cinematic game. and of course i will do some research on the religion mythos. right now im only choosing the christianity religion because it the most common, and it is the only one i really know about. my target audience would probably be a core audience of 17-24 male...who aren't easily offended. i will take all the support i need.
#17
Also something of interest for a religious game with a Judeo/Christian themes are the works of Aleister Crowley on the Kabalah (Jewish Mysticism). it's crazy stuff. If you have seen the movie "Pi", thats what the Jewish group after the scientist guy were involved in. But his books have diagrams, tables, and symbols that might be of use for getting a more religious-magical feel. I dont know. Peruse the religion section of your local Barnes&Noble (or equivelent).
Job (I think) was in the Old Testement, the God in the Old Testement had a "believe in me or else" attitude. Harsh God for harsh times. The God in the New Testement is a loving god. Just my two cents on that subject.
08/20/2001 (4:32 pm)
If you wanna see some interesting ideas involving the war between Heaven and Hell take a look at an RPG called InNomine. It's not true to the Bible in alot of cases but they had to make it more entertaining.Also something of interest for a religious game with a Judeo/Christian themes are the works of Aleister Crowley on the Kabalah (Jewish Mysticism). it's crazy stuff. If you have seen the movie "Pi", thats what the Jewish group after the scientist guy were involved in. But his books have diagrams, tables, and symbols that might be of use for getting a more religious-magical feel. I dont know. Peruse the religion section of your local Barnes&Noble (or equivelent).
Job (I think) was in the Old Testement, the God in the Old Testement had a "believe in me or else" attitude. Harsh God for harsh times. The God in the New Testement is a loving god. Just my two cents on that subject.
#18
08/25/2001 (6:43 am)
if you want to make a realy interestig game based on bible mythology as oposed to religion you should look into Acadian and Babilonien mythology - most of it is where the old test. stuff came from anyway - 
Andreas