Killing a mother to be or Zombies? Which game next?

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I am just finishing up Colonising Kepler 62e now with beta testing set to start next week some time.

As such, my mind has been debating what to do next. Blackraven is still on the back burner for now and I think it will take a major re-write. I don’t want to get bogged down with that yet. Instead, I have two other ideas I have been toying with.

The Assassination of Mary, Mother of Jesus.
It is present day and you are an expert on ancient languages. One day, you are visited by a small group who claim to be time-travellers. They are extreme atheists and their mission is to rid the world of Christianity. Their plan: to travel back into the past and kill Mary before Christ is born.

The catch: Time travel is one way only. Worse still, it follows precise patterns which mean that you will have to make many jumps before you reach the time of Jesus and Mary.

This will blend sci-fi, history and religious philosophy in an adventure story.
Your actions along the way will change history one way or another…
(historically accurate game with sci-fi splashed all over it).

Edit: (extra info based on feedback) you will be able to play the game as a born-again Christian. There will be several final outcomes to the game and, while atheist myself, this game is not intended to be anti-religious. It’s more about asking the question, what if?

Zombies of Scarrh
The world has been calm since your birth. The sandmen have been irradicated. The truce between humans and apes is holding. The world is at ease. However, the rediscovery of a lost desert village ignites the world into a living nightmare. Zombies are here. And they are hungry for you…
(fantasy game in an ancient world. With zombies, dragons, magic, and talking apes).

Which game sounds more appealing? Which one should I make next?

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Tough choice there, the first one could if done right, be amazing. However it is so easy for it to go wrong and end up causing a firestorm of controversy. The second simply sounds generic, boring and played out … but I tend to be biased against zombie anything these days.

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I sense triggered Christians… :neutral_face:

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I’ll be honest though… The first one is a great concept but it would cause you a lot of controversy so I would suggest a different set of characters or historical figures or made-up ones.

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I would love to play the first one, but the amount of controversy it would cause would be insane. May I suggest the assassination of Napoleon or Justinian instead? I dont think religious figures are a good idea to assasinate, but if you think that you can pull it off without comtroversy, I would be an avid player of your game.

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Can never go wrong with zombies, kinda want more apocalyptic games (that is if it is a zombie apocalypse), first one sounds kinda appealing but I’d prefer the second one.

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Some interesting replies so far, mostly focused on the controversy of the first idea. I have changed the wording of the first post to reflect those concerns. The game would not be anti-religious. It would be about asking the question ‘What if…?’

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reads choices turns right seeing 2 crosses would I have to kill Jesus?

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Killing the virgin mary seems more appealing. Yes it would definitely create a lot of controversy but there is no such thing as bad publicity right?
Apologizes profusely for bad engrish

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The first option is definitely far more original, and as long as you don’t railroad players into having a certain opinion, it shouldn’t be too controversial. :slightly_smiling_face:

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I would pass on the first option in a heartbeat. Mostly because if the 2nd part of the triune God was threatened in any way (even in utero), I am sure that God can eradicate the existence of that time traveller outright before the traveller got close to Mary. No action needed.

You could make the argument that God could save Himself through the “born again” traveller. Sure, Christians believe that they are representatives of Christ and do good works in his name. Why not be used as a tool to save God? Thing is, we aren’t necessary (Matthew 26:52-53 is a good example.) God can protect Himself. If a god cannot even do that then it is not worthy of worship.

All in all, if it were written according to theology, it would be pretty boring. shrugs Stick with zombies and avoid unnecessary controversy.

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This is what I was waiting for ( I am ready to kill zombies with my fire magic :fire: :zombie: :dash: )

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Many people on this forum will talk about the difficulty of writing as/for a group without being of it, especially as it pertains to sensitive subjects (i.e. our earlier rape debate, where it was pointed out that a male really shouldn’t be mucking about with such a subject, if anyone should at all). This is the same thing. An atheist writing a story about killing Jesus (and really, that’s what it is, even if you try to obfuscate that by making Mary the target) means that even if you did manage to walk the tightrope and make it perfectly balanced and fair, no one will believe it is. Same as if I, as a Christian, were to write a story about killing Mohammad. If such a thing should be attempted at all is questionable, but if it must be, it needs to be someone with proper context and reverence for what is sorta the ultimate source material for a billion people.

That said, I have little doubt in this day and age #1 would be the more profitable choice by a mile. Controversy sells. But that doesn’t make it any less wrong, and I’d be a little disappointed in CoG if they published it, even as a HG title.

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I agree with @IronRaptor that God can protect himself. Jesus was threatened with death many times before his dying on the cross. It wouldn’t make sense for a Christian who believed God was capable of all these supernatural things to believe they have to save God. It would also not make sense for atheist to want to stay in that time period where Judaism was (and still is today) popular and even the non-jews had some type of religiousness and gods. It would make a good linear novel story where the set protagonist is some new age Christian denomination that believed in changing the word of God to allow whatever they want, even if it was against God. The story might still be controversial to Christians who read the summary or people who like gay marriage or other unchristian things. It’s not something that can be successfully written neutrally without offending one or more groups.

A zombie game is always great.

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Sorry, but why would a group of atheist want to kill someone they don’t believe existed?
Or are they of the historical Jesus kind?

It’s an interesting idea, it just seem to perpetuate all the negative stereotypes of atheists, as people who are angry at God, instead of not believing in him, and runs the risk of offending the religious at the same time.

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Let me elaborate more on the plot of 1.

The title is controversial and perhaps a little misleading. No doubt. However it is the correct title, I feel, for the overall goal. The story itself is weaved in many times in history.

The group of atheists live in the future. The world isn’t in a great shape due to global warming. The thinking of the atheists, right or wrong, is that by removing Jesus, they can remove Christianity. Their aim is to make a world where scientific advancements are more likely to come about sooner.

Now, on this point, if you are atheist, you would think that there is no god. As such, the plan is sound, if reckless.
As a theist, particularly a Christian, you would think that god will intervene and prevent you from fulfilling your goal.
Either way, no one should be offended.
I don’t want to give too much away but I have a plot in mind that should satisfy both groups, regardless. Anyone who is still offended either wouldn’t have read the story or would just be looking for a fight.

Now: As an expert in ancient languages, you are targeted by the group of atheists as someone very useful. Especially as on their journey back in time, they will spend time when you are alive. From their records, you are believed to be an atheist, although you can choose to be a born-again Christian. You are asked to help with the mission and you can refuse. That would simply end the game very early. Alternatively you can help, or you can pretend to help.

The journey back in time is as fascinating as the main plot. Let me explain how the time travel works:
With each jump back in time, you will spend twice as long in the new time zone as the previous one. By the time the travellers get to you (2030), they have to spend 8 days in your year. After he next jump, which takes you to the year 2014, you have to stay for 16 days. Your next jumps take you to 1982, 1918 (WW1), 1790 (in France, a year after the guillotine was invented), 1534 (almost a year here in the time of Copernicus), 1022, then finally 2BCE. You will have upto 1024 days here to ‘complete your mission’ one way or another.

There is no stopping the time travel process once it begins. You can add people to it, but can’t stop it.

Back to the religiosity of the story.
Throughout the travels, you will talk to the atheist group. You can ask questions about their motives and their reasons for being atheist. You will learn from them and I hope you will understand their point of view, regardless of your religious beliefs.

An atheist writing a story about killing Jesus (and really, that’s what it is, even if you try to obfuscate that by making Mary the target) means that even if you did manage to walk the tightrope and make it perfectly balanced and fair, no one will believe it is.

Suggesting that this game should not be published as a HG (I wouldn’t dream of entering it into the CoG label!) is preposterous. It is a fictional tale that tackles philosophical ideas. It is not an atheist bloodlust, as reading the whole story will tell you.

I’m happy to share more of the story but I will not reveal or even hint at the possible endings that can be achieved.

I plan to write The Assassination of Mary, Mother of Jesus at some point and have done a lot of research already (started in 2014). The only question is whether I write it now or later. The Zombie game is a pure, fun tale that will be easy to play and read.

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I will be blunt here. The fact that you think you have a plot that can satisfy two diametrically opposed groups like Christians and athieists sounds dangerously naive at best, and furthers my conviction you should not write this. I would actually respect you more if you said “This is going to tick off a lot of Christians, but I am writing it anyhow.” I am not at all sure you or anyone else could write a story like this without it coming off as highly blasphemous and offensive to Christians (and a fair amount of non-Christians to boot). But I am 100% sure that if you manage to pull off such a herculean task, you will have done so at the expense of cheesing off the diehard atheist crowd, the ones who treat non-religion as their personal religion. Why not go further back in the line, maybe target David? A Biblical figure but not the focus of an entire faith. Not a good idea, but a better one.

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Being equally blunt, the only person who could write a story like this is a non-Christian. Your view-point as a Christian is no less than I would expect as you haven’t read the story yet. As I said, you wouldn’t understand it until you read it. I can’t say more without giving anything away. All I can say is I have no intentions of insulting Christians.

Atheists don’t tend to be easily offended - especially as they have no religious belief to begin with.

Edit: Writing about David as opposed to the mother of Jesus would be a lot less interesting. The idea is an attempt to remove a faith.

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This topic, unfortunately, is a minefield, and I’m afraid just discussing it, even in relation to a game, will just result in anger and rifts in the community. :pensive:

I don’t want to start feeling negatively about other members of this forum, so I, for one, will retreat from this thread.

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I still strongly support the 1st idea, and I would love to play a game like that, but I’d understand if you couldn’t make it. I will say though, there are many more historical what-ifs you could ask, that would be interesting too. For example, what if the Tudors didn’t win the War of the Roses, or what if Julius Caesar wasn’t assassinated.

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