Late last night (7/25/03), as I was surfing Daily Click, I came across a convention meeting here in Portland. Although I'm not a Christian per-se, it never the less spiked my interest. I mean Jeff was going to be there... Jeff of Clickteam. Although I've lived in Portland all my life, I've never met the guy. Be it fate or a unexplainable force, every time I tried contacting the Clickteam offices based here in Portland, all I got was an answering machine and no response to any of my messages. Anyhow, let's get back to things.

This morning I ran my butt out to the bus stop and flagged down the bus just in time to get here when the meeting began. I thought Jeff was going to be here the first day... I was wrong. Although I thought staying the day would have been a waste of my time I was proven wrong. Speaking with Christian industry "big-wigs" was an adrenaline rush. These people really knew their stuff and instead of blowing me off as a klik game creator, I was welcomed with opened arms and treated as an equal. No more snobbish programmers turning their nose at us. Suddenly, I was showing off game graphics and audio samples to people that seemed really impressed.

Anyhow, as the day progressed, I began to realize that the convention wasn't all just peaches and cream. They (Christian game programmers) were facing a dilemma. No one seemed to be buying their games. Although they are pouring thousands of dollars into marketing for their games, their profits come up short. Those that know about their games seem to be turned away by their Christian themes. It seemed the demographic assumed these Christian games were "cheesy" and behind the times.

After playing a few games on demo, I realized they were not cheesy nor "behind the times". For the most part, their graphics were not only clean and crisp but impressive. Not "impressive" for being home brew games... I mean up to industry standards impressive. Furthermore, the themes I thought I would have been put off by, I wasn't. The few bible references were far and few between. I wasn't bombarded by messages that I had better be a good Christian child. I didn't feel included in a sermon with a polygonal pastor. Truth be told, I had fun. I had as much fun with games like "Heaven Bound" and "Spirits" as I did with games like "Warcraft 3" and "Black & White". Christian games get a lot of flack, as do their creators. Both by the industry and by game players. The professional game industry wants nothing to do with these games as they find them a "risk". My assumption is their definition of "risk" is those that play games like "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" wouldn't be interested, and therefore put off by playing as David in a David and Goliath-like game or playing as a missionary in the pre-flood era. Maybe so, but there are people out there that could appreciate the delivery of biblical message through an action/adventure game. I know what you're thinking. Action/Adventure? Riiiiiiiight. How are they going to pull off that without blood or violence? How can they do that without harming everyone? How much action can really be in a Christian game? Alot. Just because they game includes good messages doesn't mean there's a ban on blood or realistic violence. Some of that is mandatory.

Anyway, I don't sound like I'm talking these guys up, but now that I've hung out with them and see what problems they're going through, I'm more than willing to urge people to look for Christian titles out and about. Many of these games are really, REALLY cool and I simply don't feel these guys get the fans or the profit turn out that they deserve. You can find Christian game titles at many Christian book stores. These guys WANT to introduce their titles amongst stores like Babbages and EB, but, as of now, it's far from a reality.

The first day, there were two speakers. One spoke about religion tied with games of today. He spoke about Christian game developers just had to press on, despite the pitfalls. Despite the lacking profit margins. Despite the fact that little or no one actually displays interest in these incredibly interesting games. He continued speaking of the different ways your average, free lance game creator could break into the industry. The message I got from the speech is that it takes lots of money, lots of patience and connection with people you know you can trust.

The second speech was presented from this guy from Intel. He spoke about industry standard technology and how it was incorporated in todays game development, Christian or not. He spoke some of console development some but seemed to back Xbox only. Although Xbox is the easiest for your average home developer to break into, it's also one of the least played consoles. Everything else he said about consoles and console development was absolute crap. You could tell this guy was a PC guy and nothing more. Later, in the questions time, it seemed he was being rather short-ended with the audience. I took from the speech what I could and then ate dinner.

After dinner, we broke into equal groups and discussed how to get Christian games into the mainstream game market. I had to leave for a few minutes, as I was waiting for somebody to arrive. When I came back, they were just finishing up. From what I could conclude, they really hadn't come to a conclusion. Continuing with a bit of discussion pertaining to advertising their games to bring in new gamers. The conversation didn't go much of anywhere as everyone had different views.

Anyway, that leads me to where I am now. Upstairs, typing away at a computer. Attempting to bring you another quality article chocked full of info as usual. Anyway, I hope you people are happy. I should be back around this way sometime tomorrow, although I think I'll probably be leaving early. Right after I meet Jeff.