I asked if there were any special considerations they needed to make in the game's design, considering their audience. "First of all, we need to design a fun game," he said. "If it's not fun, then any message we hope to express will not be heard. We don't approach a game idea by deciding if it's appropriate. We start from the view of the message we want to communicate and go from there." That's not to say their religious views aren't a factor, he tells me. "We believe the Bible is the inspired word of God. If one of our products uses the Bible or a Bible story as part of the game, then it needs to be correct. Even if there are no direct Bible references, it has to be in line with what is written there. Many of our people go over the game designs, and we even have our pastor look at some issues when we have a question."
With the design complete, they needed music and a distributor. "Our distributor into the Christian retail market is EMI CMG," Peter says. "They also happen to hold the license to many of the top Christian artists in the industry. Our CEO, Tom Bean, also happened to meet Joey Elwood of Gotee Records. Both Gotee and EMI were very helpful in securing the music rights for the game. They play videogames, too, and were very excited by what we were doing."
The rampant cynicism of the gaming industry doesn't seem to dent their morale at all. "We have actually received a lot of good press," he says, though he adds that there have been some cynical remarks. "But for the most part, people are curious if there is anything to this." I asked if those cynical remarks got to them, and he responded, "No, it does not bother us. We would be bothered if no one was talking about us at all. We are more concerned [with whether] we are doing everything that God wants us to be doing."
They don't even consider themselves outsiders, he continues, "We have published nine games in the last two years. Our games are in many traditional retailers like Circuit City, CompUSA, Office Depot, Fry's, Apple Stores and Amazon, so no, we don't feel that we are outsiders. We may be a niche market right now, but we are praying that it will grow. I have faith that it will." These outsiders-but-not see "a lot of great games out there. There are some bad ones. We are just trying to bring a new perspective to games. There are a lot of people out there that want the games they play to reflect their values." Digital Praise tries to do just that.
In 1972, Shannon Drake was sent to prison by a military court for a crime he didn't commit. He promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, he survives as a soldier of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe you can hire Shannon Drake.
