Join us on February 5th and 6th for our second CGDC: Virtual event!

The Christian Game Developers Conference is a unique event, focused around encouraging and edifying those who are interested in both making games and glorifying God. This year, the conference is going digital for the second time with two days of talks, workshops, and fellowship.

We believe that games can do more than just provide fun entertainment, that they have the ability to impact one’s soul. You don’t have to be a Christian to attend this wonderful conference — everyone is welcome! Christianity is just the very foundation this awesome conference is built on.

Conference Schedule

In between talks, a virtual lounge will be available where you can optionally sit in small groups with other attendees and talk together using your web cam and microphone. Catch up with those you know and meet someone new from the CGDC community!

Saturday, February 5th

8:00 AM PDT

Speed Networking

Join this optional session to automatically pair with other CGDC members one-on-one for five minute sessions. After the five minutes are up, you will be automatically paired with another person participating in the speed networking activity!

8:30 AM PDT

CGDC Virtual Lounge

Grab a seat at a table in the virtual lounge and chat with other attendees before the talks begin!

9:00 AM PDT

Conference Welcome and CGDC Year in Review

Welcome to CGDC: Virtual 2022! We'll talk about what's going on at the conference, and look over the past year (and a half) since the previous CGDC: Virtual to highlight the activities that have been going on in the CGDC community.

9:30 AM PDT

Jack Dunbar - Brain to Table: How to Make Ideas into Games

In 60 minutes we will create a board game prototype from original ideas generated by the crowd in this interactive workshop. I will challenge the group to consider five elements of a game required to turn an idea into a reality: theme, mechanics, components, allies, and threats.

The workshop will be oriented around 5 big questions:

• What is this game about?
• How is it played?
• What do I need to play?
• Who is going to help me and how?
• What's going to stop me from making this game?

I will use the example of my own game with my early prototyping photos and illustrations for teaching and to begin the brainstorming process.

11:00 AM PDT

Alex Peterson - Making Games with the Open 3D Engine

An introduction to the Open 3D Game Engine, providing an overview of the engine's key features, workflows and how it compares to Amazon Lumberyard.

12:00 PM PDT

Jeff Warrender - You Said This Would Be Fun

Tabletop game design is a craft, and there are skills designers can cultivate to excel at that craft. Christian games present particular challenges that map well onto these principles of game design and motivate the craft. Games can help us tell stories, interact with friends and family, and cultivate critical thinking skills, all things the believer needs to be an effective witness for Christ in a complex and constantly changing world. But building games on the solid foundation of Engaging, Motivating, and Challenging our players, we can create memorable games that will delight our players for years to come.

1:00 PM PDT

Paul Bury - Press Releases Help with Exposure

An encouragement to all Christian Game Developers to send out press releases. This increases their exposure, coverage and more. People won't hear about your product if you don't tell them about it. Gaming media has a large reach.

2:00 PM PDT

Jason Leadingham - Voice Acting with Christian Integrity

We'll be talking about the voice acting side of the industry, and how Jason maintains his Christian witness and balances voice acting as his side hustle while also serving as a pastor/Church planter. He will talk about the biblical command of sabbath rest and scheduling your time so you can be your best not just at voice acting but as one of God's children and a member of your given family.

3:00 PM PDT

Nathan Ediger - How to Create Your Own Cheat Codes

Let's dig into how cheat devices like Game Genie and Action Replay work and how to find values in RAM to create your own cheat codes.

4:00 PM PDT

Chris Skaggs - What if I were King?

As 2020 was closing out God asked me a weird question, "What if you were the king of the games industry? What would you do? What would you even want?" Since then I've been asking this question to many people as a way to frame our thoughts way beyond a 5-year plan to a 100-year horizon.

The topic leads to a very different way to look at our callings, our crafts, and how we pursue this crazy call to make games for God.

5:00 PM PDT

Chera Meredith - I Don't Know What I'm Doing, But I'm Doing It Anyway

Game development for beginners. I will be sharing how to get into game development for those who have an interest but aren’t sure where to begin. I will talk about the technical and mental obstacles and discuss techniques to getting through those.

5:45 PM PDT

CGDC Virtual Lounge and Prayer

Grab a seat at a table in the virtual lounge and chat with other attendees! Now that talks are done for the day, the virtual lounge will be open through the evening for attendees to connect.

Prayer will be available for the first 30 minutes after the last talk of the day. Take a seat at the "Prayer Requests" table to connect with a prayer team member.

Sunday, February 6th

10:00 AM PDT

Speed Networking

Join this optional session to automatically pair with other CGDC members one-on-one for five minute sessions. After the five minutes are up, you will be automatically paired with another person participating in the speed networking activity!

10:30 AM PDT

CGDC Virtual Lounge

Grab a seat at a table in the virtual lounge and chat with other attendees before the talks begin!

11:00 AM PDT

Amin Josua - Recreating the Historically Authentic World of Jesus

In all kind of modern media we find reconstructions of Jesus' time which are not correct - according to current archeological, cultural and theological studies. But how de we find the correct data and displays and how do we need to treat internet sources, encyclopedia entries or other literature? This talk gives an best practice guide line and experience report on how we handled this for our project ONE of 500, which hard learning we made and why we think you should know how to research accurately.

12:00 PM PDT

Andy Geers - The Medium is the Message: Avoiding the Perils of Adapting the Bible into a Game

Many people have attempted to adapt Bible stories into video game format - but how do you do that well without undermining the message and purpose of those Bible passages? Why are there so many David & Goliath video games that test your skill & ability, when David's message to Goliath is that "the Lord saves not by sword & spear"? In this talk we will examine some of the perils and pitfalls for Christian video games and consider ways that they can be designed in a way that better communicates the Biblical message.

1:00 PM PDT

Vincent Michah'El Donatelli - The Video Game Production Pipeline

We will review and discuss how an effective and efficient production pipeline should look through both phase and task. After we get through the QA portion of the pipe, we will touch on sales, taxes, and vacation! We will discuss the different classifications of art and which department would handle the specified tasks. When it comes to interdepartmental tasks, this talk will be more art-centric vs. programming centric. Essentially, this is a crash course in running a game studio.

2:30 PM PDT

Jorge Herrera - Video Games as Places of Faith

Through my own research I've mapped out the landscape of how gamers have come to hear the gospel message. Through streamers, Christian games, community formation and inhale about what this means for the Church.

3:30 PM PDT

Andrew Lowen - How I Made $400,000 Crowdfunding a Christian Game

Get a deep dive into why Deliverance raised hundreds of thousands of dollars on Kickstarter, and how you can do the exact same. Learn from a Crowdfunding expert that has raised millions for other creators and actively works with IP’s like Skyrim, Fallout, Star Trek, & more!

5:00 PM PDT

Kris Murray - Community Game Lessons

How does one attract talent to help with your game? What about keeping the talent interested? When conflicts arise how do you resolve it without burning bridges? The Community Game had over 100 volunteers with over 20 active at a time. Will be discussing what worked and what didn't work.

5:45 PM PDT

CGDC Next Steps

Now that the conference is over, what's next? How do you keep connected with other Christian game developers? We'll go over upcoming CGDC activities and how you can get plugged in.

6:15 PM PDT

CGDC Virtual Lounge and Prayer

Grab a seat at a table in the virtual lounge and chat with other attendees! Now that talks are done for the day, the virtual lounge will be open through the evening for attendees to connect.

Prayer will be available for the first 30 minutes after the last talk of the day. Take a seat at the "Prayer Requests" table to connect with a prayer team member.