Elizabeth

1: What is your name and role with 2ndcity Studios?

My name is Elizabeth Baillie, and I am the ‘Student Co-ordinator’ for the postal and email Bible lessons. I am also looking forward to being involved in interacting with the children who play the game once it is up and running!

2: If you could sum up a typical work-week in your role, what would it look like? (100 words)

My role is mainly co-ordinating with the students and volunteer markers of the monthly Bible lessons (sent out by email or post) – answering their letters and emails, editing and preparing the lessons for printing each month, and keeping all our computer records up to date, sending out certificates and awards that are earned. The incoming mail is opened each day, recorded, queries responded to; then sent out for marking. Once back in the office, we return the student’s work to them, either by email or by post, whichever they prefer. We also send out Prayer Newsletters every couple of months.

3: What makes you excited about the game project? (100 words)

It is exciting for me to see how much easier it is to reach many more children with the Gospel through a computer game than we ever could through posting out the Bible lessons. They spend so much time playing computer games now, and if we can teach them God’s story through this method, their time would be well spent. They would learn more about God’s love through interacting in the game, and I pray that they will meet Jesus and get to know Him personally as their Saviour, as a result of being involved in His story themselves.

4: If you could tell all the world about the BEST part of the project, what would it be?

The BEST part of the project to me is that it will be an alternative way to reach many children and young people with the Gospel, teaching them how they can be a part of God’s story, and make their world a better place to live in!..

Brook

1: What is your name and role with 2ndcity Studios?

So I’m Brook Warner and I’m the Game Director. I run the Game Team – they call me “The Quartermaster”. My role is quite multi-faceted, but I will explain some of the elements here. The first part of my role is to maintain and hold the ‘vision’ for our Game project. This is probably because I have been involved with the project the longest, and I was part of the original team who devised and conceived the idea. This role means that I make sure that all the decisions that we are making are in line with the overall vision of where we want the project to go. Much like the Quartermaster on a ship, I am responsible for steering the game along the best course of action, and so I do a large amount of the “Quality Assurance”, which basically means I check over all the work done and make sure that it’s correct.

The next part of my role involves making sure the game team themselves have work to do, are on task, and being productive. This involves maintaining project tasks, goals, and milestones, and creating efficient pipelines for them to work effectively. I also do a large amount of scheduling, and working out what things need to be worked on next, when, and how much time we can allocate to them. Another major part of my role is then in the strategic direction – which really involves a lot of meetings and decisions!

 2: If you could sum up a typical work-week in your role, what would it look like? (100 words)

A whole lot of meetings! I reckon that 50% of an average week for me is spent in meetings. Our week always starts with staff meeting (or meetings) on Mondays, where we catch up with what is going on in our weeks. I also have a daily standup meeting with my game team where we talk about the day’s tasks. I will then have casual meetings with each of my team members throughout the day and the week to catch up on individual matters. I will also have meetings with Carl, the CEO to talk about strategic matters, and at least one or two meetings with our tech partner to talk about developments and matters arising. I will also meet with the writing team and do some work on the Quests with them. The rest of my time is spent updating our schedules with current progress, checking and developing the work that my team has done, answering emails, and organising more meetings!

 3: What makes you excited about the game project? (100 words)

For me, the exciting part is the fact that it is so new, but so obvious. Game learning has really taken off lately as being such an effective method of learning, based on the repetition, the ability to fail softly, and the immersive nature of games. The ability to be involved in something pioneering and new is so exciting for me. On a more personal level, I love the fact that my job utilises so many of my strengths and things that I have learnt along the way before starting this job. I’ve dabbled in art, programming, audio, project management, writing, theology, and leadership. So I feel that, although I’ve never done anything like this before, and I still feel quite over my head sometimes, that I have a base level of many of the skills needed for my job.

 4: If you could tell all the world about the BEST part of the project, what would it be?

Using Game Learning to teach kids about a story, a way of seeing the world, and a way of impacting their own worlds.

Natalie

1: What is your name and role with 2ndcity Studios?

Hello, I am Natalie, I am the illustrator of the team, officially “Lead Concept Artist”, or “The Smurfette Aviator”

2: If you could sum up a typical work-week in your role, what would it look like? (100 words)

It is very various, sometime chaotic : meetings and a lot of talk, ideas bubbling around, organizing and researching references, joking and fighting, laughing, praying and caving, visualizing the story, characters, clothes, atmospheres and then… translate all this into pencils or color drawings!!!!

So….. like on a small plane, we need a lot of check-ups, fuelling and momentum, always looking at maps, compass, instruments, directions, weather and target!

3: What makes you excited about the game project? (100 words)

The whole vision of the project, its multiple purposes and the “target” itself is exciting. I really hope we can sort all this out in the best possible way.

4: If you could tell all the world about the BEST part of the project, what would it be? 

The message itself, the fact of involving young teenagers and children in a story that goes “behind” and “above” the usual games, that connects the virtual world with the real life and grows a sense of a higher, bigger, fuller sense of “belonging”.

Bringing the  important values of life taught in the Bible in a fun and natural way . Communicating  through a virtual world that becomes actually alive for players in their families, communities, in Christian churches or camps, etc.

We want them to do this in a fun and joyful way, where sharing  becomes complementary with a deeper learning and inner growth. While building our game, we experience this process ourselves.

Tim

 1: What is your name and role with 2ndcity Studios?

My name is Tim Cleary and I dream things and then articulate them in the form of sentences like this one. People around here call me the mad scientist.

2: If you could sum up a typical work-week in your role, what would it look like? (100 words)

I read a lot – I guess I have this theory that as much as goes in, if im lucky i will get a third of it back in the form of content and creativity.

I dream a lot – I try to spend a whole lot of time imagining what characters do for fun, how they relate to each other and how the player might like to relate to them.

I play games as much as I’m allowed to – My wife keeps this to a minimum, but I like to keep tabs on the weird and wacky cool games out there – only to make sure they haven’t stolen our ideas!

3: What makes you excited about the game project? (100 words)

I believe we have the potential to do for a new generation what CS Lewis did for his, in turning scriptures into an alegory and making them digestible for a younger audience. We are delivering the story of the Gospel in the language and form that connects with young people today, a game. There is still robust theology and deep learnings but it is packaged in a world that is full of vision and theatrics to compete with any of the best virtual worlds out there.

4: If you could tell all the world about the BEST part of the project, what would it be?

The greatest feeling I get is seeing a character I have dreamt up and journeyed with take form as an illustration, seeing my colleagues face when they finally meet the people Ive been talking about for so long but haven’t been able to introduce them to.