Now that I’ve decided to write a Facebook app using Django on Google App Engine I plan to document as much of the development process as possible. The first steps were purely administrative. I registered a Google App Engine application called “law-and-gospel” (lawandgospel was taken). I then registered a Facebook application called “LawAndGospel.” Nothing complicated about either of those things so I won’t bother doing a walk through of those processes.

I have this idea that video games can be used as a tool to spread the Gospel. I really don’t know if it’s possible. The medium of video games lends itself to choice, control, and interaction as opposed to words which convey linearity, specificity, and propositional truth. Looking at these attributes, you can see why words are the optimal medium for transmitting the Christian faith as Lutherans confess it. Choice, control, and interaction are not primary concerns when we speak of the faith, so video games may be a completely incompatible medium for proclaiming the Gospel. I’ve made several feeble attempts (here, here, and here ) but they certainly don’t convey Law and Gospel in any sense. I am not going to stop trying, I’m just not laboring under any illusions.

That being said, I will say definitively that video games don’t belong in the divine service. “Of course,” you say, “Who would ever do something like that?” Well, here’s a blog post where the author talks about his idea for using an interactive experience to reinforce the message of a sermon. The tool is in its early stages of development and is implemented as a video clip, but the author sees its future as a fully developed interactive environment. The post has a video clip for how it was used in a “worship service.” This is crazy! It utterly and completely takes our focus off of Christ and what He has done and has us concerned about our experiences. If I were a fundamentalist, I’d say this was proof that video games are tools of the devil. Used in this way, they are completely turning us from Christ. (Since, I’m not a fundamentalist, I’ll say that sinful man has turned these gifts from God against Him.)

The other thing that caught my eye was that this was done at Lutheran Church of Hope. I did some digging and they appear to be an ELCA congregation but that doesn’t excuse them from obscuring the Gospel gifts uncovered by the reformers. I wish they would drop the “Lutheran” part of their name so the casual onlooker doesn’t confuse them with confessional Lutherans. My sinful side thinks they kept the Lutheran prefix because churchofhope.org was already taken.

Today’s (actually yesterday’s) exercise in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge, is to write a “list post.” So here’s my attempt to comply.
Nihilism is a worldview that holds there is no value or meaning in life, it just exists. Here are my top 5 retro-games that exhibit this worldview.
5. Defender
I’m defender of the planet. The aliens waves never stop. The aliens get stronger if they merge with those I’m pledged to protect. Wouldn’t it be easier to just kill most of the inhabitants to prevent the super aliens?
4. Donkey Kong
I dodge barrels, fireballs, and springs. I climb oddly configured construction sites all to stand face-to-face with the object of our affection who is continually whisked away by a big gorilla. Why won’t she run away with us? Girl, he’s not even paying attention to you. Get out of there!!!
3. Night Driver
Where in the world am I driving to? Why does this road never end? Why did I pay to play this? Why did I think this was fun?
2. Asteroids
You are alone, surviving a never-ending onslaught of asteroids and the occasional alien ship who may help or hurt your cause. Deep space is a lonely place, but at least you’re armed.
1. Pac-ManA never changing maze, bad guys chasing you, and a incessant siren blaring. Your only reprieve is an occasional power-pill that lets you turn the tables on the bad guys for a short time. This is the bleak world of Pac-Man.

So here’s the game I’ve been working on since the start of the year. It’s a little rough, and I’m no Ed McMahon, but I hope someone finds it enjoyable.

If you want to embed it in your site, copy and paste:
<embed src=”http://joyfulgames.com/LutheranInquisition.swf” width=”600″ height=”400″ />

In yet another attempt to kick-start this blog, I’m working through the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge. The first task is to write an elevator pitch. The short pitch is the title of this post. All posts will deal with “Game development with a Christian Worldview.” I think it gives me the right amount of latitude in posting anything from code samples and game design to game reviews and recommendations.

The long pitch is:

Few games ha a distinctly Christian worldview. I hope this blog encourages and assists other game developers in creating games with a Christian worldview. I also hope that the gamers in general will benefit from this blog by understanding the worldview that various games put forth and by helping them find games that exhibit a Christian worldview.

There are my two pitches and my hope I’m for a more consistent and useful blog.

I like the day-job that I have now. It’s by no stretch perfect, but I occasionally get to learn something new and I enjoy working with the people. The biggest plus is that the workload is reasonable. There’s the occasional week where I push 55+ hours, but 45 – 50 is the norm.

When I eventually get to the point where I am an independent software developer, there are some things that I want to have setup.

1. Flexible Schedule – Above all, I want to be able to work when and where I want. Why, my family. I want to be able to pickup in the middle of the day and go to one of the girls’ sporting events. I don’t mind if I have to stay up late to finish any work I needed to get done, I just want the flexibility.
2. One top-of-the-line development computer – I really dislike developing with different OS’s, different keyboards, different programs installed, etc. It’s such a pain to context switch. If I need to test in other environments, that’s another story, but as development; one top-of-the-line system, no older than 30 months, configured the way I want it to work.
3. A fast internet connection – This is just a given and the faster the better. Documentation, examples, tools, communication, just about everything a developer does touches the internet. I don’t want to wait on a download progress bar to get my work done.
4. My coding standard, best practices, and process – I know that I have a lot to learn about software development, but working on a team project really stifles your ability to evolve as a developer. Think of a better process, gotta have buy-in from the rest of the team. Find a better coding standard, nobody else see the point in changing the way they format code or name their methods. If I think it’s worthwhile to reformat every line of code in the project, I should be able to if I’m improving the quality of the code.
5. A private office – I’ve worked at startups with a common development area and during certain points in the development cycle, this was invaluable. However, in most other situations it’s just a pain point. When I’m in development mode, I just need my computer and no distraction.
6. A great chair and desk – A bad chair and poor desk setup are just distractions.

Looking at the list, I notice one thing, $$$. Except for #1 and #3, I would like to use the phrase “price is no object.” That’s not the reality I live in, but I won’t settle I these items. I may compromise and look to upgrade in the future, but I won’t settle.

Previous Weeks

• Finished the game script
• Display the graphics and audio for the splash screen
• Gathered audio, graphics, and fonts for the intro screen

This Week

• Finish the intro screen

Summary

I missed a week, but made decent progress. I have the makings of an actual game, not just assets. Gotta just keep pushing.

Last Week

• Got close to finishing game script

This Week

• Finish the games script
• Display Graphics for splash screen
• Find audio for splash screen

Summary

Pretty big setback last week. My power adapter failed on Tuesday and I didn’t get a replacement until Friday night. Last weeks task have become this weeks.

Dodge is kind of a throw-back game. It’s basic space shooter reminiscent of Space Wars and Asteroids. However, one big difference is that your ship has no weapons.

No Weapons!?!?

In this age of weapon power-ups, how can you have a game where the player doesn’t even have a weapon? Well, in Dodge, you do exactly what the name implies, you dodge the weapons that the enemies fire at you. The weapons are torpedo-ish in that they follow you for some amount of time before either hitting something or exploding. Your objective is to maneuver in such a way the the weapons hit the enemies instead of you.

Weapon Less Fun

I must say, I rather enjoyed the first five or so levels. Avoiding the weapons in such a way as to make them hit the enemy was an interesting change to trying to hit the fire button as fast as possible. But after that, things got a little tiresome. My hand and arm started getting tired from the keyboard movements and while there were some weapons advancements by the enemies, but nothing that really changed the game.

Worldview

This game is pretty basic nihilism. There not much point other than to avoid, destroy, and survive. There’s no narrative, grand story, or objective. In this respect, it is very much like those early arcade classics. I don’t know whether it was an extension of the worldview of the creators or a way to get kids to keep popping in quarters.

Summary

Dodge is well executed and pretty fun for a short time killer. It’s lack of objectives and physically tiring keyboard controls make for limited replayablity.

Last Week

• Selected the questions
• Started writing the game script
• Display the splash screen (no graphics)

This Week

• Finish the games script
• Display Graphics for splash screen
• Find audio for splash screen

Summary

I made reasonable progress. I got a pretty good start on the script. I need to keep the momentum going and finish it off. I have some ideas for what to display for the splash screen, but it’s ambitious to think I’ll get it fully displayed.