OverView

In this apocalyptic epic, four angels of God must battle their way to find the truth. There journey finds them caught between an angry God whose orders they are obligated to carry out, demons who try to stop them, and a fallen humanity that mostly finds itself subject to the tribulation and refusing to repent.

Key of David is a mature 1st/3rd person action adventure game where the main characters (four angels) slowly discover not only their angelic destiny, but their own personal history.

Target Audience

This game will be built from the ground up as a 4-player multiplayer stealth/shooter hybrid. It will feature mature themes that convey the messages of the bible with an emphasis on realism and making biblical events relatable to the player without being "hokey" or contrived.

Key of David will be for players that like action games but appreciate a deep story, and also for Chrisitians who wish to see an artistic display of the messages of the bible carried into this medium.

Key Features

The Story

The narrative is biblical, but the story-what happens to the player-is fictional. As the player you will play one of four angels: Michael, Sophie, Gabriel, and Dinah. As the story opens the characters are essentially "introduced" to the fact that they are angels. Rather than force the player to come to terms with some pre-existing theological culture and backstory, we let the identity of these angels develop as the story progresses. Through visions, flashbacks, and "God tricks" the player will experience a sort of hybrid between having amnesia and being newly created.

The Characters

These four characters will ultimately live out the the 7-year timeline known commonly as "The Apocalypse" and interact with other angels (some good, some bad), demons, humans, and even the Father and the Son themselves. Through visions and flashbacks they will also experience various biblical stories that enhance and support the story. Even beyond that, the story will flash-forward in parts to what it will be like in the millennial kingdom, both in its early stages and during the Final Judgement just before the New Heaven and New Earth.

While the subject matter is certainly heavy and we want the depth of the Christian message to shine through, this is intended to be a fairly long game. While it should be punctuated with deep emotion, there should be an air of lightness and joy coming from our main characters most of the time. We want to emphasize not only the fun, but how important fellowship and love is as well. Like any good popcorn-action movie, comic relief is a must.

Gameplay

The unique twist on the multiplayer element for Key of David will be related to how the number of players affect who is playable in what level. Each level will be based on a specific character being the "core" player (the leader essentially). Who is playable will be based on what the player order is designed for, and how many players are playing. For instance, a level might be a Sophie level where if only one player is playing, you play as Sophie. If two, then Sophie and Michael. If three, Sophie, Michael and Gabriel, etc. This will allow more story consistency with respect to multiplayer and also give more of a team feel even when playing solo. It also encourages players to experiment with multiplayer in order to re-experience the level from a different perspective.

The actual gameplay will be mostly a looter/shooter only based around some generalized Christian themes:

• Destroying Idols and finding the Word:The bases and outposts will be themed around the destruction of "idols" which will vary in specifics from level to level but ultimately will function as enemy spawners. The "spirit world" aspect of the game will emphasize how the enemy relies on idols in order to create a darkness that obscures the location of collectible scripture objects and form a pillar of the skill tree as well as functioning as keys to open new areas.
• Angels and demons:While the bad angels are not really all that different from our main characters other than alignment, demons are more like elemental baddies whose life force is connected to idols. These idols are essentially literal in the spirit world, but symbolic in the real world where they influence and occupy humans. The main characters job is to destroy bad angels as well as demons who are out hunting them. The bad guys will be occupying territory that belongs to the Lord and our characters mission is to liberate it.
• Human charges:Each of our angels have intimate relationship for their human charges (they are guardian angels for these humans). The special missions for our main characters center around human lives caught up in the drama of the tribulation.
• Visions and Dreams:Through various spirit visions much of what God wants is communicated to the angels. However, all this is shrouded in great mystery and there is a great darkness surrounding the identities and destinies of many involved characters. The player will get to experience the dramatic nature of prophetic visions and dreams which are a staple of the biblical narrative.

CONCLUSION

At the time of this writing, one can say with absolutely certainty there is no quote-unquote "Triple A" Christian action game. Neither a high-budget "mature", or a high-budget "biblically accurate", or anything else that is true to the Christian message. There are a handful of what I'd call indie games. We believe there are many people that would like to see a Christian game that has the production quality of what the gaming community expects when they set aside $60 for a new game.

This is precisely what Key of David aims to accomplish. We are committed to creating a new I.P. with quality art and cinematics. To do this we are focused on doing the leg work necessary to market the concept and get it financed. It's an ambitious goal but we believe we have the skill, the patience, and the persistence to see it through.

We believe the Key of David narrative will be sufficient to bring the story of Christ, both past, present and future into this medium in an artistic way. Necessary for this, is a team that is committed to bringing the Christian message into this medium artfully and unapologetically. By framing the narrative from the perspective of angels with a bit of lost identity, we can approach the Christian message from a secular viewpoint so that the game appeals to Christians and non-Christians alike.