My husband and I made you something. We hope you like it. We know it's a little late for Christmas, but everyone loves when a final, forgotten gift is found, right? Feel free to scroll down to the bottom and click the link now, if you aren't the type who likes to read the card first.

Game design is an incredible hobby, but it's a hard career. My husband and I travel all over the world, speaking about what a powerful medium video games are for expressive art. It is a medium that forces you to consider the player. You aren't bound by conventional storytelling timelines or pacing. You can let the player decide how to experience the art you've created for them. We even wax poetic about how the "world creation" involved in video game design helps us consider our own theology more deeply.

But the truth is, on a daily basis, we are more concerned with hustle than flow. We're constantly striving to close the next deal and secure the next bit of funding. If you want independent game design to support you, you can't only consider what you would love for the player to feel when they play, you have to consider what they're willing to purchase with cold hard cash. Financial considerations tend to strip the artistry and passion from creative endeavors. For years, we've muscled through. We've found ways to invest our hearts into the games we've created. We've partnered with the right clients so we can keep creating works that we love. It has been a good life, but looming around every corner is the question of what we'll do next to pay the bills.

We miss creating for creation's sake. And so today, my husband Ryan and I are releasing the first of hopefully many, tiny video game experiments. We want to talk about our faith using video games, and we don't expect this approach to produce the kind of work people wait in line to throw their twenty-dollar bill on the counter for. This first piece is short and simple. We like that because we want anyone and everyone to feel comfortable interacting with it.

As we continue experimenting, we'll add some interactive complexity to these projects. We'll make some experiments that feel like more game than poem perhaps. But I'm very proud of today's experimental creation. We've been noodling with this for about a month, and tomorrow I'll share more about our process here on my blog.

Please take five minutes and play our "game?" We've joked for a while that Numinous Games should really be Numinous "Games." After this you'll likely agree. If this piece moves you, we'd love for you to share it around. We want to be generous with our art whenever we can be. You can help us share it broadly.

SPECIAL NOTE FOR CREATIVE FOLKS.

If you're a creative that knows how to create stuff for the web, we have a challenge for you. This experiment was created on a platform called glitch.com. It's a free tool that gives you a sandbox for making web stuff. Click here to view the source code of this gift. You are free to re-mix it and share it however you wish, by changing the art, adding your own audio, changing the graphics, or the words. Some of you might even consider adding more game mechanics. We hope you will share your new version with us.

HERE'S OUR GIFT TO YOU.

This holy interactive poem is an intimate peek into most of my mornings. It is proof that God is incredibly gracious, considering how lazy and oblivious I can be.

Click Here to play: https://wake-up-poem.glitch.me/