I’m pretty sure that many of you must have played video games before, but have you played a religious story-driven game? Are these games exciting for skeptic people? And as always, do these games comply with the ethnicity of the religious beliefs of holy books? We’ll find out the answers in an interview between Issey Fujishima (author of “The Reign of God”) and Simon Seitz (UI designer of “One of 500”).
About the game
Before heading onto the interview, let’s learn a bit of information about the upcoming bible-based game, “One of 500.” The game is developed by ‘Lightword Productions’ and is a role-playing adventure in which you’ll get to play the role of a fisher boy and experience the ancient time of Jesus of Nazareth. It includes several levels which are unlocked when you’ve cleared previous ones. The game’s story is based on the historical biblical events during the Jesus era and the most critical questions regarding Jesus’s capabilities. In ‘One of 500’, you have to find your position in that time, significantly influencing your modern thinking. You’ll experience the most controversial questions of that time and see yourself take part in the historical events of the Bible.
The game gives an insight into political, religious, cultural society, and undisputed conflicts of that period. In addition, you get to experience the biblical events from a new and modern perspective which will surely make you dive again into the historical pages of the holy book.
Who will enjoy the game?
In the interview with Issey Fujishima, Simon Seitz (UI developer of “One of 500”) said that the game would not be specifically for an age group of religion; besides, it can be played by anyone in the world. However, people with knowledge of the Bible and who are interested in historical stuff will be more likely to enjoy the game. Furthermore, the 3D graphics and concept of buildings and monuments are more alluring and capable of grabbing anyone’s attention, making the game more appealing to a broader audience. Finally, people who want to experience that era’s time and living style will love the game
as the researchers have put much effort into designing and environment-making.
Simon Seitz’s contribution
Simon was typically responsible for creating a captivating user interface for the ‘One of 500’ game. He also mentioned that currently, the team is small, so a person has to do multi-tasking without compromising the quality of work. Simon said that he is also responsible for the concept of in-game characters and things in the open-world game.
Freedom of choice
The game explicitly offers the freedom of choice to the main character based on his opinions and thoughts regarding any event in the game. Simon gave an excellent example of Jesus’s preaching of ‘loving your enemies.” He said that in the modern world, people face different challenges than before, and the teaching doesn’t necessarily apply in our world. Everyone has their own beliefs and ethics that differ from Jesus’ era but are essential from the modern perspective.
Timeline of the game
Simon stated that the game doesn’t interfere with the gospel stories, which might cause violation of integrity or principles of the religion. Instead, he said that the events are merely used as a timeline to refer to the period in progress. Simon said that the scene of Jesus feeding 5000 people with bread and fish is an example of this situation; everyone has their own opinions before they actually ate the bread and felt that their appetite is gone. Still, the topic is controversial to this day; that’s why the game doesn’t represent and tweak the stories for the sake of the game experience.
Will the game presents ‘Jesus’ explicitly?
The developer team is not sure if they’ll reveal the face and body of Jesus in the game because Jesus is a very delicate character, and giving him a physical form wouldn’t be a piece of cake. A very slight mistake in his nature could make the Christian people upset, eventually defaming the game. Simon said that the team is avoiding the situations that need an even active part of Jesus in the game. Instead, he may be seen in the
background or in the crowd, which keeps the mystery unsolved because no one wants to mess with such a delicate character.
Ethnicity of “One of 500”
The game developers struggled the most with this factor when designing features and skin color. But Simon promised that we’d see the reality of what could have been there, unlike every other game. There will be white people, brown people, pregnant women, fat & skinny people all around the place, which makes the game more believable and exciting. In addition, the team emphasized not making the people too white or biased in body shape and skin color, making it more relatable to the ancient era.
Release date of “One of 500.”
The timeline for the game’s release has changed too many times and is delayed to the following year. The project has also been affected by the Covid-19 crisis and some funding issues, which posed further delay to the release. However, the game will be available for the testers this Christmas and will soon be released for the gaming community the following year.
