What's
Project X ???
Simply put, Project X
is an effort by Christians in the Gaming Industry to seek funds for
and build a massively multiplayer online Christian game. There are
many types of games we could do, but we are
focusing on what we believe is the strongest game type for the online market, a
roleplaying game. That doesn't mean we aren't interested in
other types of games. In fact we are. We hope that
someday a number of online, Christian oriented games are created.
But one
baby step at a time (unless you've got millions ready to invest).
We envision three general steps to bringing Christian online games to the Internet.
First, we need to
find sufficient funding to pay for the creation of a professionally designed and operated text-based Christian Roleplaying Game. This
isn't just a MUD. This is the creation of a deep, online
gaming environment in which Christians can immerse themselves in a
world that honors the Christian world view and nurtures a Christian's
faith.
Second, we need the
infrastructure to create, develop and maintain the game in a stable,
consistent and proven environment. It won't due to have the
game created and then lose the server on which it runs which often happens to
free MUDs. They generally must find free space
on a server which inevitably gets taken back at some point when
those resources are needed by the host system and the
game is forced to move to another server.
Fortunately, as a Producer for Simutronics Corporation
I have
the blessings of my superiors to seek sufficient funding to justify
the creation and deployment of the game on their servers, even if
the game resides on its own website.
Why go with a Secular
company instead of just creating a Christian company to do the design,
development and give it a home? Well, besides the fact that
the principle people who are working on this project also work for
the company (and as such they expect me not to compete with them
<grin>), they have the longest successful track record of
any company doing online games to-date. They have all the
infrastructure created and ready to be used which offers considerable
savings. For more information on Simutronics Corp and the
people who are working on this project, you can read the investor's
page.
In short, Simutronics
is not a fly-by-night organization. Eric Slick, who is
spearheading this project is a dedicated Christian who understand both the
online market and the needs of Christian gamers.
So, using
Simutronics' highly developed
(over a dozen years of development effort has been put into it) and sophisticated
Interactive Fiction Engine (IFE), we'd build an incredibly interactive MUD-like world in which Christians
can express themselves by playing righteous characters. The setting could
be based on something such as the Chronicals of Narnia, Pilgrim's Progress, a
time-frame during biblical history, or something completely new. The whole
point is that you could act like a Christian, think like a Christian and
fellowship with other Christians in building each other up in a setting that
actually understands Christian concerns.
But a text based game doesn't have to be bland.
Below are some
mockups of the proposed Merlin FE which we hope to develop to enhance the experience of those
who play Simutronics'
IFE games.
 
Currently, players of Simutronic's IFE games use a
customized Front End. However, the Merlin Front End will enhance the
online experience of playing a text based game, much the same way the Internet
is actually a text based environment enhanced by the web browsers.
So, this sparse bit
of info isn't enough for you? Click here
to see if we have anything more to say on the actual design of the
game.
And for the third step, we must
look beyond, past this game's creation and success to dream of what might be
possible someday In a way this is like a dream. So, if we are going to dream, let's live it up a little.
If the first game is successful then we want to follow it up with a second
game--a graphical Christian Roleplaying Game.
Building off the anticipated success
and lessons learned from the text based game, we'd create a cutting edge visual
experience based on the new engine being created by Simutronics Corporation.
This assumes, of course that the first game is a success and our investors will have made a
profit so they will be anxious to see 100,000 Christians playing a graphical
Christian RPG.
The market will have to prove itself
first and so come back to our current reality. We must start with a
project that while big in its own right, is actually much easier to chew and
swallow than the eventual dream of a graphic Christian roleplaying game.
But a little dreaming doesn't
hurt. For an example of what could be possible, check out the
latest on Simutronic's upcoming graphical roleplaying game, Hero's
Journey.
Compared to any online game out there, this thing blows the competition away.
Well, that's the
basics. There is a lot more to this project than meets the
eye. If you are really interested in more details, check our
investor's page where we flesh out some of the critical substeps.
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