CCGR

Tell us about yourselves and the company. When did you start the company and why?

RPC

The Rebel Planet began as an idea back in the birth of the 90s between Peter Churness (CEO) and Tom Hilpert (Creative Director) whilst they were in Seminary. It wasn\'t until 2003 that both decided to create a video game of their idea. This was the birth of Rebel Planet Creations. That original game idea was a pre-flood fantasy RPG with a very deep and original storyline. But the scope ended up being way beyond our current budget and resources which is why we tabled the game for a simpler Zelda style game. Now that Axys is done we\'re back to working on that original flagship product as well as looking into Axys sequels.

CCGR

Tell us about Axys Advetures: Truth Seeker. How long have you been working on it? What is the story?

RPC

From initial idea/concept to release it took 16 months. 12 months being development and another 4 getting it to release. The story to the game revolves primarily around it\'s message. Without the game\'s message there is no story, the story was written on top of the message. It is primarily based on some concepts presented in Neil Anderson\'s book \'The Bondage Breaker\', the concept of strongholds the enemy may gain in our lives due to believing lies. Although there was a lot of input from all our team into the story, it\'s concept and design is mainly based on the game\'s Lead Developer, David Lancaster and his personal struggles with faith and discovery of who the God of the Christian faith really is. There are so many lies about God\'s Character, how He sees us, what He thinks of what we do and what He thinks of us when we sin. When we believe such lies it really robs of us discovering one of the most freeing and amazing relationships, between God and man. It seems clear in general Western society a consistent misunderstanding of who God is. People speak badly of Him, some who claim to know Him fail to love. This game was an expression of who God is and how sees us, about the lies that we may believe about Him and the truth that sets us free. For example, when we sin sometimes we\'re overwhelmed with a burden of guilt and shame. We don\'t want to face it and we especially don\'t want to face God. This may be because we believe lies about him. We may be afraid he will condemn us, place expectations on us, mock us, shun us, shame us or even reject us. That fear of God robs us from embracing his grace and mercy, his compassionate heart, his love...he gives us freedom to fail. That when we do mess up he\'s there to restore, uplift and encourage us, not to place burdens of guilt or shame on us. He\'s there to set us free. When people recognize who God is and what he has for us, it really opens their hearts to knowing Him, knowing how he sees us, knowing that we are so important and precious to Him.

CCGR

Were there any stumbling blocks or set backs during the development of AA:TS?

RPC

We have been very blessed to have avoided any major stumbling blocks. The biggest set back would have simply been the unexpected development time, and the long unexpected time it took us to get the game from completion to release, it took about 4-5 months.

CCGR

Can it be compared to another game? What is unique about it?

RPC

Gameplay wise, we\'ve always compared it to zelda/mario styled games. Our initial concept was only for Zelda but due to restricted resources we threw in a large platformer/puzzle element into the game. It is mixing Mario/Zelda gameplay elements along with a unique humorous charm to the characters, a great Christian message, a huge amount of gameplay as well as being challenging, it really can\'t be compared to one game alone as it is so unique in such ways. We are very proud of what we have accomplished and hope that fans of the game will enjoy it as much as we do.

CCGR

Will it be available in stores? If so which ones?

RPC

Yes, the game is currently available at Family Christian, Parable Group, Berean, Munce Group and Northwestern bookstores and from our website at www.rebelplanetcreations.com.

CCGR

Will there be a sequel?

RPC

Yes. We don\'t know how many sequels there will be, our hope would be that the game sequels never end...only time will tell if that happens. We are going to be taking a good look at some of the more popular games, including The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, as a huge learning point/basis for our next title.

CCGR

Have you implemented everything you wanted in AA:TS? Is it everything you hoped it would be or better?

RPC

When we began our focus was to make the game as non-ambitious and as simple as possible because our resources couldn\'t handle anything else. Everything that has come from this game has exceeded our expectations and we attribute that to God\'s blessing on us and our company. We really believe he is at work in our games and when we let go and allow him to work his wonders he simply amazes us.

CCGR

Do you have any questions or comments to our readers?

RPC

David Lancaster says Peter Churness is the greatest human being on planet Earth!