A path for growth
How rules, agency, challenge, story, and play shape the people gathered around a game.
Keep growing
As I read the opening chapter of Greg Costikyan’s book, Uncertainty In Games, three questions came to mind. 1. Do activities like games require uncertainty? 2. Is uncertainty a consequence of The Fall? 3. What role does uncertainty play in creation?
Video games are a tutor to help us understand an aspect of God’s character that has been hard for us to comprehend.
Whether consciously or intuitively, Notch designed a low-fi sandbox that resonates with God’s creation in ways that helped catapult it to the best-selling game of all time.
“A gathering run on generous authority is run with a strong, confident hand, but it is run selflessly, for the sake of others.” For game designers, I think this means being advocates for and protectors of our players.
I like thinking about the role of a game designer as a host because it naturally shifts me into a place of empathy and generosity. When I am planning a gathering, I am focused on my guests.
In the past, when someone asked me what I did, I would proudly exclaim that I was a game developer. These days, I tell them that I’m interested in helping people create communities, and I do that by making games.
Pride seems to always get in the way, like a little yappy dog jumping at your feet. It trips you up and hinders your progress. Worst of all, it prevents you from doing your best work.
It’s a technique taught in both writing and game design. The easy thing to do is tell your audience an idea; the better approach is to show your audience.
We miss creating for creation’s sake. And so today, we are releasing the first of hopefully many, video game experiments.
God has hidden the truth precisely so we can have the joy of discovering it, and so He can have the joy of watching us search, following Him with passion, in community.
“You can design anything to be a drug,” I said, speaking to a group of video game design students at Oklahoma Christian University.
How Game Design elements contribute to telling stories that matter, and why video games are important and can change people for the good.
