Christian Game Developers Conference

Lore & Background

The Christian Game Developers Conference was founded in 2002 by computer engineer Tim Emmerich from Corvallis, Oregon, with the apparent goal of providing greater support and experimentation for Christian video games. Its first year drew 30 attendees, with subsequent years seeing 90 participants in 2003, 'over 100' in 2004, and 100 in 2005. Attendance fluctuated, with around 85 individuals in 2011 and over 100 again in 2012. In 2025, CGDC partnered with the Christian speculative fiction writers' conference Realm Makers to host a joint exposition titled Realm Makers Expo in Grand Rapids, Michigan, drawing roughly 1,100 attendees.

Attendees include members from explicitly Christian game studios as well as individual developers from mainstream, secular studios who personally identify as Christian. Many are motivated by a desire to change the wider perception of Christians and especially the negative stigma associated with Christian video games being poorly made. Developers use the event to network with other Christians and find a community of individuals who share their beliefs and experiences.

A recurring debate at the conference concerns how evangelistic Christian games should be, if at all. Attendees disagree over whether games should be overt in their Christian subject matter or more allegorical. The conference communicates core values addressing the tension between Christian ministry and selling a product for profit, encouraging developers to operate 'well-run business[es]' without falling prey to greed or 'market[ing] God like He is a product.'

Reader's Guide

The Christian Game Developers Conference holds significance as a niche but persistent gathering that addresses the intersection of faith and commercial game development. It provides a rare forum for Christian developers—whether from explicitly faith-based studios or mainstream companies—to network, share best practices, and grapple with the tension between evangelism and artistic or commercial viability. The conference's history of fluctuating attendance and its eventual partnership with Realm Makers in 2025, drawing over 1,100 attendees, illustrates both the challenges and enduring interest in Christian storytelling within popular culture. Its legacy lies in fostering a community that seeks to improve the quality and perception of Christian video games while navigating internal debates about how overtly religious their work should be.

Did You Know?

• In 2011, the event was held at George Fox University; in 2013, it was hosted at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon.
• Attendees include both members from explicitly Christian game studios and individual developers from mainstream, secular studios who personally identify as Christian.

Founding Vision and Community Purpose

The Christian Game Developers Conference traces its origins to 2001, when Tim Emmerich, founder of the small independent studio GraceWorks Interactive, established the annual gathering. The conference was conceived as a dedicated space where Christian game developers could come together, forge business connections with fellow faith-driven creators, and draw encouragement from a community united by shared religious values. In an industry where Christian-themed titles have long occupied a niche position, the CGDC provided a structured forum for collaboration and mutual support that mainstream game development events did not offer. The conference's emphasis on both professional networking and spiritual fellowship set it apart from conventional industry gatherings, creating a unique intersection of faith and craft that continues to define its identity within the broader video game landscape.

An Indie-Driven Ecosystem Without Corporate Backing

Unlike other branches of Christian media—music, literature, and film, which benefit from major record labels, large publishers, and blockbuster productions—the Christian video game sector has historically been dominated by independent developers. The absence of AAA studios working within the genre has drawn criticism regarding quality control, as smaller teams often lack the resources and polish associated with mainstream titles. This indie-centric reality shaped the very purpose of the CGDC: without a large corporate infrastructure to support networking, marketing, and distribution, developers needed a dedicated venue to find one another. The conference became a critical node in a fragmented ecosystem, enabling small studios to make deals, share knowledge, and sustain a community that larger industry structures did not naturally serve. Even major conglomerates like Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal, which operate both Christian media units and game studios, tend to keep those divisions separate rather than integrating them into a unified pipeline.

Pioneers and the Rare Artifacts of the 1980s

The landscape the CGDC emerged from was built by a small group of pioneering figures in the early 1980s. In 1982, BibleBytes produced eleven Bible-themed titles for the TRS-80 Color Computer, including Manna from Heaven, Moses' Rod, and Noah's Ark, which were later compiled into the collection known as Bible Computer Games. That same source code became the foundation for a series of Christian programming books authored by John and Joyce Conrod, with their son Phil Conrod serving as technical editor and one of the original developers. Bernard K. Bangley and his son David published Bible BASIC through Harper & Row in 1983, offering type-in programs for personal computers. These early titles were distributed through Christian bookstores and hobbyist conventions rather than mainstream game retailers, making surviving copies extraordinarily rare. The 1983 Atari 2600 game Red Sea Crossing, for instance, saw only two copies surface on the resale market, one fetching over ten thousand dollars in 2013.

Genre Crossover and Evolving Design Philosophy

Christian video games, while recognized as their own genre, rarely exist in isolation. They routinely blend with other established categories: educational titles like the original Bible Computer Games, action-adventure experiences such as Spiritual Warfare and Super 3D Noah's Ark, rhythm-based games in the Guitar Praise series, and simulation titles like I Am Jesus Christ. The design philosophy typically centers on retelling biblical narratives—Noah's Ark, the life of Jesus—or emphasizing the teachings of Christ's ministry, with the explicit goal of appealing to a faith-based audience. In 2018, Game Developer magazine, affiliated with the broader Game Developers Conference, published an article by Greg Campbell titled 'How to Handle Christianity in Video Games,' which examined the historical treatment of Christian themes in the medium and offered practical guidance for developers seeking to weave faith into their design processes. This kind of industry-level discourse underscores how the genre continues to evolve beyond its early educational roots.