MORE GAMES AT 'Games for the Soul' !
Once upon a time, I wondered what kind of religious educational games can I find on the internet. I stumbled on a forum where one comment struck me the most and seem to have stayed in my memory for quite a while. It actually bothered me. It was a remark made about a catholic game attempted by a Filipino priest, a hurting remark that generalized all religious games which says that every single religious game is downright crappy each and everytime.
Technically, the remark has some truth. Hurting it maybe. Just because most of those who attempted to create such games are not technically schooled for it but capitalizes on their good hearts alone, on their honest to goodness intent to send a good message across, especially to educate the children through games. A priest? For crying out loud. He has to be commended for even trying to learn how to make one. It's not his forte. Yet he took the chance, the time, the effort, the pain of learning a tool. All just because of that driving force inside him: the children who are in need of cathecism. Unfortunately, due to lack of technical know-hows, the attempt would end up with a question-and -answer-stuff-kind-of-game which for a kid would not be that attractive to play. And for someone who is so used to playing high-end games, the noble attempt becomes a 'crappy' one.
There is a need for good-hearted programmers out there to fill the void. Yes, there is indeed a void for a quality, religious educational games that is for free.
And so, I decided to give it a try. Hopefully, not to add up to those so-called 'crappy' ones but to inspire the more advanced programmers out there to create a better one than what I've created.
The name of the game is INTERCEDE. It is a compilation of seven games made each as a level. Each level deals with a biblical reference wherein after obtaining certain number of 'good deeds' (I hate to call it points as Heavens certainly do not use point systems on our good works, does it?) would award you a gold step towards Heaven. It will take seven steps to complete your staircase to Heaven. And once complete, the Heaven will open up and the Lord will come for you.
I actually worked with my four little buddies, ages 8,9&10 on this, with them serving as my critique and three of them even helped me edit the images. It was a good two months of work and play.
The game is best played when downloaded. No waiting time thenafter. If played through the internet, the waiting time for some of the levels is from 28-43 seconds at most and even longer when initially loading the first part. That's if you copy the direct link to another window and access the game from there. Waiting time increases when accessed from this blog! So better download it or copy the direct link on another window. It sucks but that is all we can afford right now, using DropBox as our file server. Better to copy the direct link and access it on a another window and not from this blog.
We hope you give it a try and pass the news around. It is for the kids to enjoy and learn from. And hopefully, through repetition of playing it, subconsciously plant the learnings and remember them when the time comes for them to need it.
ENJOY!