After two unsuccessful crowdfunding campaigns, the developers of the upcoming video game Bible Chronicles: Call of Abraham are moving forward with plans to release the game that lets you play in Abraham's journey through the Bible.
Bible Chronicles: Call of Abraham's first attempt at funding came in the form of the popular Kickstarter crowdfunding site earlier this year. The game raised $19,001 from 199 supporters, but fell shy of its $100,000 goal. When asked in a recent interview if development would continue despite the failed funding campaign, Phoenix Interactive Studios co-founder Martin Bertram said, "Yes, we are working diligently on several options other than KickStarter that will enable us to have the game completed on schedule. In any case, it will be completed as soon as possible. We have so many fans excited to see this happen, and we cannot disappoint them. Many of these people, particularly churches, feel they need to see the completed project before they can get behind it whole-heartedly, and that has probably been the biggest challenge with a game like this one on KickStarter."
A second crowdfunding campaign was attempted at Indiegogo for half the original Kickstarter goal, but was met with even less interest. It ended with only $875 raised, but Bertram says that this was due to a lack of promotion. "We didn't promote Indiegogo at all and really that campaign was intended to be for the benefit of those who pledged on Kickstarter, to extend the special pricing tiers they pledged for if they were interested in doing so," he told Gamespot in a recent interview.
But despite these set-backs, Bertram aims to press on with the game. In fact, he says the game will launch much more ambitiously on several platforms including the PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox (360/One) and Playstation 3 and 4. Several prospective investors are in talks with Phoenix Interactive, but Bertram says that the game will still go on without them, albeit much more slowly.
Bible Chronicles: Call of Abraham is a video game that lets you play as a fictional Elamite outcast who is hired to be a member of Abraham's caravan as he departs from Haran. In the game's setting, Canaan has fallen under the control of Elam, and as a former Elamite soldier, this causes certain conflict with your character throughout the game.
Bertram never aimed to make the game as a Biblical teaching tool, though. "We see this game as an opportunity to tell the story of Abraham in a new way." He says during another interview. "It's one thing to read the story, or even to watch it in movie form, but it is quite another to be brought into the story and to be able to experience the historical context of the places and the cultures which surrounded Abraham and interact with them independently. To that end, it can serve different purposes for different people - to learn or just to have fun."
Initial coverage of the game was soured by hateful comments, but Bertram wasn't worried. "Those who are critical because of the premise will mostly be impossible to please until after the game has been completed, reviewed, and even perhaps played by some of their friends. Our plan to is to release a game they will want to play because the gameplay is rich and the storyline is deep."
You can find out more on Bible Chronicles: The Call of Abraham at the developer's official website.
