It may have been a little behind schedule, but the KickStarter for Gate Zero is now live. This video game based on exploring the times of Jesus around Jerusalem looks promising, and is raising funds to make it even bigger. There are a few stretch goals, and the team is well on it’s way to the initial $214,350 they’ve set. Check it out below, and if you’re interested, support them today!
Reviews from Christian gamers | Gate Zero // Bible X Games (Devlog #6)
Explore ancient Israel in free roam
See the glory of Herod’s temple and experience the magic of places like the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the charismatic Lower City.
Discover the history and culture of 1st-century Israel as you freely roam the streets of Jerusalem, Capernaum, and surrounding areas, picking up missions and items along the way.
Help the locals & stay out of trouble
Gather and craft resources and help the people you meet, all while avoiding the guards swarming the city. When in danger, use your gear and stealth abilities to get out of sticky situations. Experience the conflict between social groups as you navigate a world on the brink of upheaval.
Experience Biblical events firsthand & engage with Scripture in an interactive way
Witness history unfold as you interact with familiar characters and get involved with their stories. Watchcut scenes of pivotal moments in history and evaluate what you experience with dialogue choices, which you can use for further discussion in groups or independent Bible study.
Solve riddles & unlock missions
Solve riddles left behind by your late grandmother by traveling back in time to ancient Israel to find the answers. Unlock missions as you solve each riddle, bringing you one step closer to uncovering the secrets of Grandma’s mysterious pearl.
Our intention is for Gate Zero to be a game that anyone – regardless of gaming experience – can enjoy. With this in mind, we’ve developed a feature we call CoPlay, which allows players to connect their mobile phones to the main game by simply entering a four-digit code that shows up on the game screen – similar to the popular Jackbox games.
Example of the in-game menu prompting mobile players to join
Examples of tasks that mobile players can do:
Control various elements in-game to help the player character complete a task
Participate in certain side missions that allow for more than one player
Access an archive of facts to help the player character solve riddles
Settings where CoPlay can come in useful:
Parent-child gaming sessions where a child can use the mobile phone to help the parent complete various tasks
Youth/Small group gatherings at home or at church, where gamers and non-gamers can all get involved
Onlinelivestreaming where content creators can invite their community to connect their mobile phones and participate in the game together
CoPlay is an optional feature in the final release. Gate Zero can be played fully solo, or you can choose at certain points to invite your friends and family to join in. The mobile app for CoPlay is free.
Our goal with Gate Zero is to take the player through 2000 years of history and back to the source – back to where it all began, with Jesus.
Weaimfor the game to be as Biblically and historically accurate as possible. We work closely with religious scholars and historians to ensure we maintain respect for the source material. We aim to create an inclusive and authentic game that can be enjoyed by a diverse audience.
This is Gate Zero’s current playable map.
These are the gospel stories that will be included in the Base Game, in Release1.
Gate Zero will first be available on Steam for PC. If our stretch goals are reached, we will also port to the consoles Xbox Series X and Series S, as well as PlayStation 5.
There are currently no plans to port to other platforms than the ones mentioned above.
In addition, a mobile app can be downloaded for free and used alongside the main game. The mobile app acts as a controller for certain tasks and missions in the main game, and cannot be used by itself without the main game.
Join your cousin Hector on an epic journey to unlock the secrets of your late grandmother’s mysterious “pearl,” buried within the ancient texts of the Bible. Using Hector’s time machine Gate Zero, you will travel from the dystopian world of Terrapolis in the year 2072 back to the time of Jesus to discover the source of Christianity. As you progress, you gain knowledge that might just challenge what you thought you knew.
Will you find the pearl, fulfill Grandma’s challenge, and claim her promised inheritance?
Hector’s Headquarters, from year 2072 in the dystopian world of Terrapolis
Concept art of Grandma Charlotte
WIP / Illustration: Grandma Charlotte’s home
The game starts out in the year 2072 in the dystopian world of Terrapolis. This world will be represented by a few different locations including Grandma Charlotte’s old house, the lawyer’s office, a street in Terrapolis, and of course, Hector’s Headquarters where he has built his time machine.
You will travel back in time to 1st-century Israel where most of the game will take place. Here, you can roam freely in the semi-open world of Jerusalem, Capernaum, and surrounding areas, and travel between different locations.
Hector and Max
You play as Max, an ambitious, daring, and slightly rebellious teenager. Though only 17 years of age, you have already experienced tragedy – losing first your parents and now your beloved Grandma Charlotte. She left you with a fabulous inheritance, but before you can obtain it, you must set out on a quest – one that will open your eyes to who your grandmother was, and the secrets behind her incredible life!
Hector is Max’s older cousin. He’s the brains behind the amazing machine Max uses to travel back in time on what might just be a life-changing mission. Although he sees himself as a mentor and guide to his younger, more impetuous cousin, Hector himself has a thing or two to learn – far more, in fact, than he ever bargained for!
Jesus: Messiah, Christ, Saviour – but also the Son of Man, who wept when His friend died. A fearless opponent of hypocrites, yet a compassionate friend to those in need. Unafraid to rebuke His own followers, but quick to comfort the brokenhearted. A miracle-worker, who nevertheless allowed Himself to be crucified. In Gate Zero, you will meet the most unpredictable, intriguing, and greatest man who has ever lived!
Other Characters
In addition, you will meet a lot of well-known characters from the Bible such as Jesus’ disciples Peter, John, and Mark, Jesus’ mother Mary, and His cousin John the Baptist.
Back us here on Kickstarter to get these exclusive rewards!
This “Pearl Tree” shows our plan for Release 1,as well as future releases. Each branch leads to a new gospel story to be unlocked. Our goal is to tell all the stories from the gospels in four game releases.
It all started in the fall of 2019, when our team was developing a Bible study concept with BCC Media for the International Christian youth association BUK. The theme of the project was “Letter to the Hebrews,” and as part of the project, a virtual 3D model of the Second Temple in Jerusalem was created to be used as a study tool.
The plan was to use the virtual Temple in a large-scale Bible study/live show for BUK at their Easter camp in 2020, but when the coronavirus hit, all big live events were suddenly canceled. The camp and the live Bible study were put on hold.
With most people around the world being encouraged to stay home, the idea of using the virtual Temple as a basis and developing it into a game started to take form. This was born out of a desperate need to convey the Bible’s message in an engaging way for today’s youth – something we’d had years of experience in doing with BCC Media.
We built a concept around the exploration of the virtual Temple and experiencing the stories of Jesus, developing a concrete and exciting narrative that included the creation of the fictional world of Terrapolis.
Two years later, our prototype was ready. The 5000+ youth of the BUK association were the first ones to test our game, and finally, in Easter 2022 when the world opened up again, the promised live show was delivered.
The live show for the playtesters of our prototype featured exclusive film sequences created using our game world, combined with stage production
Following the success of our prototype, we spent the next year improving on various aspects of our game, while conducting target audience research and playtests.
We are now convinced that Gate Zero is a game that the broader Christian community is genuinely interested in and can truly benefit from. We’re excited to share it with you and invite you to contribute to making this modern Bible education tool a reality!
We live in a time when Bible literacy is taking a nosedive. Youthare finding it challenging to engage with Scripture through traditional means. Attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. More and more people abandon their faith at a young age.
We believe that it’s vital for young Christians today to really understand what they actually believe in, and we want to equip them with the knowledge and understanding of the gospel. This will help them not only to live it and to develop a personal relationship with Jesus but also to have the evidence and confidence to really show and tell what they stand for.
A lot has been done to make the Bible more accessible. But there remains a huge untapped potential in the most impactful medium – which also happens to be the world’s largest entertainment medium (3 billion users worldwide) – video games.
We see a huge potential in making the events and locations from the Bible accessible through a video game. Our goal is to enable you to travel back in time to experience the Bible firsthand in a refreshing and interactive way. Take in the sights and sounds of the ancient cities, meet the disciples, and hear Jesus’ words straight from His mouth.
WithGate Zero, the Bible can now be “played” in a video game, allowing youth(and anyone else)to immerse themselves in the gospelstoriesthrough a medium they know and love.
Bible X is a game studio founded in 2020 as part of BCC Media. We strongly believe in the powerful medium of gaming and its role in engaging, educating, and inspiring youth today. Our goal is to take players back to the source and allow them to experience the message of Jesus in a modern and immersive way.
While Gate Zero is our debut game as a studio, members of our team have worked on projects such as:
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag
Assassin’s Creed Rogue
Battlefield
Star Citizen
Hogwarts Legacy
Moons of Madness
Goat Simulator
Ghost Recon
BCC Media is a non-profit media center for Christian communication with over 10 years of experience in media production and distribution. BCC Media’s goal is to bring the message of the Bible to life and make it accessible to children and youth worldwide through the use of modern technology and digital platforms. BCC Media’s sister organization BCC Norge is a member of the Christian Council of Norway – a community of Christian churches and denominations with the Bible as the source.
Since 2019, we’ve embarked on a journey to bring the Biblical world to life, investing approximately USD $3 million to develop an interactive 3D model of Jerusalem and a beta version of our game, Gate Zero. The BCC Federation’s support has been crucial for us to reach this point, allowing us to cultivate an educational tool for youth.
Our dream doesn’t stop here, however. We envision Gate Zero captivating audiences worldwide, becoming arguably the best Bible-based video game. We’re inviting the broader Christian community to be part of this vision and to contribute to this meaningful endeavor. It’s not just about launching a product that can compete in the market, but it’s about sharing an immersive experience of the Bible that has the potential to change lives.
Stay tuned to Gaming Trend for more Gate Zero news and info!
David Burdette is a gamer/writer/content creator from TN and Lead Editor for Gaming Trend. He loves Playstation, Star Wars, Marvel, and many other fandoms. He also plays way too much Call Of Duty. You can chat with him on Twitter @SplitEnd89.
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