Epic, big budget adventure game based on the Bible?

edited March 2013 in General Chat
I think something like this could be pretty cool. It could do great business.

Have there been any adventure games like this before?
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Comments

  • edited March 2013
    Probably not. Adventure gamers are dicks about proper continuity.
  • edited March 2013
    Johro wrote: »
    Probably not. Adventure gamers are dicks about proper continuity.

    Got it, har har, your comment was just a slam on the Bible.

    Anyway, I think there are SO many great stories in the Bible that would make for engaging, interactive adventures. Seems like such an untapped source of material for new games.

    I'm not talking about an evangelizing game.
  • edited March 2013
    Slam or not, games based on the bible have been made before... to complete and utter failure. It has remained untapped by mainstream developers because of this. There just really isn't a strong enough market to warrant investing millions of dollars into it.
  • edited March 2013
    Which games? I have never heard of any adventure games based on the Bible.

    Right now one of the highest rated tv shows in America is a documentary series based on the Bible. It beat American Idol. Also, take a look at movies like Passion of the Christ. Made hundreds of millions. And the Dreamworks movie Prince of Egypt was a hit, no?

    As for what I consider "big budget", I guess I just mean something with cross-platform support, full voice overs, beautiful art, etc. I'm not talking about a "Call of Duty" level budget.
  • edited March 2013
    Games in general.
    Never mind that adventure games are a niche of their own, now this would alienate 66% of the world as well. Go and write a letter to every developer. I'm not going to make fun of you for it, or stop you. I'm just saying there is a reason it is untapped.

    Just to be clear: I don't hate the bible, and yes, I've read it. I'm rather indifferent to it.
  • edited March 2013
    I think it'd be awesome. The Lord of the rings adventure games were pretty awesome. Why not a bible adventure? A lot of nice fantasy stories.
  • JenniferJennifer Moderator
    edited March 2013
    MtnPeak wrote: »
    Which games? I have never heard of any adventure games based on the Bible.
    There have been many games that use the bible for inspiration (usually for artifacts like the cup from the last supper [the Holy Grail]). I only know of one that is based on an actual passage from the bible, and that's Heaven (which is about Heaven as described in the book of Revelation).

    I think the problem with the games that have been released which are actually based on bible stories isn't that people won't buy them, but that most of them haven't been very good (the Wisdom Tree games come to mind).
  • edited March 2013
    Hey, Noah's Super Ark 3D was awesome and you know it.

    Also, these should be relevant - The Angry Video Game Nerd's videos about Bible Games.
    The first, the second and the recent third. Enjoy!
  • edited March 2013
    Hey, Noah's Super Ark 3D was awesome and you know it.

    Funny yes, but I'd rather kill nazis than "use a slingshot to shoot sleep-inducing food at angry attacking animals, mostly goats, in order to render them unconscious".
  • edited March 2013
    One of these days, people will learn to take comments like that with a pinch of salt.

    ...one day.
  • edited March 2013
    Oh, that day will never come.
    That's like asking that everyone respects eachother.
  • edited March 2013
    I don't know about the Bible, but I always thought Pilgrim's Progress would make a neat KQ style adventure game.
  • edited March 2013
    Wouldn't a publication like this anger large Christian organisations all round the world? All have slightly differing versions of each event and are convinced they each are right. I can imagine them to be even worse sticklers for continuity/correct portrayal than Adventure gamers. For the amount of profit the game/s would make, I doubt it would be worth the boycotting and the lawsuits.
  • edited March 2013
    The more (negative) publicity the game will get, the better it will sell.
    I think it would be hilarious having Christian organisations fighting with eachother.

    But then again, you're probably right. They'll never get through censors and that stuff.
  • edited March 2013
    OK, let's say you're an adventure game developer, and you want to create a game based on some aspect of the Bible.

    First you have to pick which aspect you want to use. You can't just pick the whole Bible - that's too long. So let's say you've done that.

    Now, do you present the story as written? If so, how is this an adventure game? In an adventure game, you are supposed to make choices and solve puzzles. It's not much fun if you already know what's supposed to happen and how it's going to turn out.

    Do you start writing your own story using the characters from the Bible? Then you really get into a mess, because as others have stated, there will be a huge backlash from folks who disagree with the premise. "Noah would never have left behind the three-headed monkeys!" Also, if you're religious, you have to worry about the Wrath of the Lord, who might claim you're representing your stories as His.

    That's why all the big-budget Bible things are just movies or TV series, where you don't have to make choices, as the storyline is already pretty well set.
  • edited March 2013
    Sod the adventure game idea, I want a Bible FPS (first person saviour...).
  • edited March 2013
    Haha, Guns 'n' Moses.
  • edited March 2013
    I don't even know where to start in on this conversation.

    Jennifer wrote: »
    I think the problem with the games that have been released which are actually based on bible stories isn't that people won't buy them, but that most of them haven't been very good (the Wisdom Tree games come to mind).
    Though I would like for there to be adventure games based on the Bible, this is basically why there won't be any.

    JordyLicht wrote: »
    Haha, Guns 'n' Moses.
    Haha, okay that did make me laugh. :)
  • edited March 2013
    Here's an excellent, thoughtful article on the subject: http://videogamewriters.com/why-are-there-no-good-bible-games-9722

    Look, I just finished watching "Prince of Egypt", and I could really imagine an adventure game being based on some of those and other stories from the Bible.

    If done right, I think such a game could be a sleeper hit. Among all kinds of people, there remains very strong interest in the Bible and Biblical stories.

    I know that such a subject could provoke both the anti-religious and the religious, but that's not really my concern here. The fact remains that, regardless of one's beliefs, it's an important book to western civ, and there are some very memorable, juicy stories in there.

    Mark my words: there will be a hit video game based on the Bible at some point.
  • edited March 2013
    I dunno man...
    I'm pretty much as atheistic as they come, but I'd still be interested in playing that game. Like you said, there are some juicy stories in there, but it's just a very touchy subject. I don't think any developer would like to burn his hands on this one.
    There's no way to develop a bible-based game without pissing people off. Either it gets too preachy, educational (which drops sales like a bomb), or it'll be some kind of parody. I don't think there's a right way of creating something like this.
  • edited March 2013
    JordyLicht wrote: »
    there are some juicy stories in there

    Only if it's old testament. You know, the stories of wrath and vengeance. Didn't one dude's son screw prophecy, trick his father and go on to wealth and fame? His only come-uppance came many years later when he just lost that. I'd take that trade. That could be a dramatic game.
  • edited March 2013
    I wana play the story of Job where no matter what you do you lose.
  • edited March 2013
    coolsome wrote: »
    no matter what you do you lose.

    ...Yeah, I've played PQ3 too.
  • edited March 2013
    coolsome wrote: »
    I wana play the story of Job where no matter what you do you lose.

    I've played that game too. It's called Life. This is partly why I indulge myself in Adventure games.
  • edited March 2013
    A Bible game would be awesome, but only if they used the 2020 rewrite with the motorcycle chase in the middle of Leviticus.
  • edited March 2013
    Dante's inferno was pretty silly. I know it isn't the bible, but close enough. :p
  • edited March 2013
    A Bible game would be awesome, but only if they used the 2020 rewrite with the motorcycle chase in the middle of Leviticus.
    Why would you put a chase sequence in Leviticus? The best you could do is craft an entirely new narrative based on inferences, since Leviticus isn't particularly narrative. A motorcycle chase would be far better used for adapting Exodus.
  • edited March 2013
    Great. Now you've got me thinking about a mashup between Prince of Egypt and Full Throttle.
  • edited March 2013
    Why would you put a chase sequence in Leviticus? The best you could do is craft an entirely new narrative based on inferences, since Leviticus isn't particularly narrative. A motorcycle chase would be far better used for adapting Exodus.

    Jews on bikes roaming the desert.
  • edited March 2013
    Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy totally bitchin rides which are in the grage, upon the Harleys, upon the Yamahas, upon the Hondas, upon the Kawasakis, and upon the side cars: there shall be a very grievous murrain.

    Exodus 9:3

    Note: I seriously don't know anything about motorcycles. Replace "murrain" with some sort of motorcycle flu or something.
  • edited March 2013
    Chyron8472 wrote: »
    Great. Now you've got me thinking about a mashup between Prince of Egypt and Full Throttle.

    My thoughts precisely. Boooorn to be (insert free or Jewish here) or alternatively BONDED BY FAITH!
  • edited March 2013
    Born to Bethuel.
  • edited March 2013
    It would have a soundtrack composed entirely by Charlie Daniels.
  • edited March 2013
    Can The Undertaker play a Hell's Satan biker?

    tumblr_mipfhwYwN01s26l6zo1_500.png
  • edited March 2013
    The problem with adapting a book is that there is a good chance its going to be Hollywoodised to make it more marketable.

    So Jonah and the Whale will eventually become Jonah: Whale Slayer

    (Which...to me doesn't sound like a bad thing at all! XD)
  • edited March 2013
    So Jonah and the Whale will eventually become Jonah: Whale Slayer
    Not quite.

    jD8UyQl.jpg
  • edited March 2013
    Not quite.

    jD8UyQl.jpg

    Your quite right. It can go the other way too... -_-
  • edited March 2013
    The reason I chose Leviticus is because it's probably the most boring book in there. Just a bunch of rules. A motorcycle chase would liven it up some.
  • edited March 2013
    The reason I chose Leviticus is because it's probably the most boring book in there. Just a bunch of rules. A motorcycle chase would liven it up some.

    My bat mitzvah required me reading from Leviticus (you don't get to pick the sermon in Judaism, it's dictated by the date)- specifically on the proper exiling processes of lepers and the handicapped/infirm. Yeah.

    There's a reason why Leviticus is not good source material.

    Personally, the stories of David and Samson would make great action games. And Esther would be a great dating sim, honestly.
  • edited March 2013
    But wouldn't you prefer it if there was a motorcycle chase in there? Like, knock out a couple of rules that we don't really care about and stick in motorcycles?
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