Why Would You Make a Video Game? I Thought You Championed Books & Reading!

New Green Ember Book AND Game We Don’t Do Video Games But…

Why Would You Make a Video Game? I Thought You Championed Books & Reading!

(Stay tuned for the giveaway.)

I’m a book guy. Books are a technology I deeply love. Good job, Gutenberg. Kudos. Some may think that books have always been around, or even that novels have been universally praised as a welcome technological invention. Who would dare doubt the formative power of Pride and Prejudice, Treasure Island, or A Tale of Two Cities?

Widely regarded as profoundly valuable now, novels were early on met with great suspicion, similarly to how many reluctant/discerning/worried parents approach video games today.

For most of us, it’s not about rejecting video games outright just because they are a fairly recent tech invention. Many of us are cautious about them because we doubt their capacity to be formative in a wholesome way for our families.

If video games aren’t a fit for your family, I respect that. I’m not a big video game person, myself. That is, I don’t play much. Our kids play some, but not too much. It’s not central to our life. But I believe a few things that make me keen to operate in that sphere for the good of my own kids and the kids of the world.

I think…

Video games exist.
Most kids play them a lot.
There aren’t enough games built with love & care for kids.
Our game is made with profound love & care for kids.
Our game is made with their hearts, souls, and delight in mind.
We are not preying on them, but praying for them.
We are not trying to extract maximum dollars from them (or you).
We aren’t making a game in opposition to reading.
We are (audacity alert!) making an integrated game and novel.
We think this will lead to MORE reading.
We believe more reading of good books is good.
We know lots of boys don’t read.
Publishers aren’t offering much for boys.
The boys would rather play video games.
We made a very boy-friendly game and book.
We believe this means more boys will read as a result.
I wrote a book that is deeply and morally formative for boys.
Girls will also dig it.
Girls read much more widely than boys.
Lots of girls play video games too. (More and more every year.)
Girls of the future (and present) need boys to be shaped by moral stories.
Civilization needs noble boys.
The boy your daughter may someday marry or the neighbor boy is probably playing video games a lot.
What if we reached him through our game and that led him on a journey?
What if he played the Green Ember game, then read the books, then read better and better ones?
What if this game changed his life and your daughter’s life and had a compounding cultural impact for generations?
I don’t think kids should spend too much time playing video games.
We designed our game to have natural limits.
Kids should play outside.
Kids should read.
Kids should pray and have a devotional life.
We are your biggest allies in this stuff.
We are not against you.
I understand the clarity and safety of hard boundaries.
I appreciate it when you understand my heart in this.
I love you.
I’m such a devoted ally to you and your family.
I care deeply and work extremely hard to serve you and your kids.
I’m on your side.

Those are some things I believe and assert and affirm. They give you some insight into why I have worked so hard to help create a game that is so radically hospitable and loving to kids. This might help you understand why we are, at the moment, tying the game and book together and asking for folks to back us in this audacious endeavor.

Back The Kickstarter

We’ve heard from so many of you that you are grateful we are choosing to show up in this space and love these kids enough to fight for good media.

I am soooooooo grateful to everyone who is encouraging us and enthusiastically backing and sharing the project. It means the absolute world to me.

We have BIG goals. We want to start making a ruckus in this video game space. We want better media for our boys and for our girls.

And this is how it starts.

I’m on your side,

Sam

Back The KickstarterGiveaway!

We’re giving away an exclusive Green Ember Collector’s Box!

One lucky winner will receive:
Collectible NES-style game cartridge
Handmade Helmer crochet rabbit
Limited edition lenticular card
Sword bookmark
Stickers

To Enter:
1⃣ Follow @sdsmithereens and @story_warren on Instagram & Facebook if you are on those platforms.
2⃣ Visit the Kickstarter page and read through it.
3⃣ Let us know in the comments: What’s the most compelling reason to back this project that you spotted?

Bonus: send this to a friend for extra entries! (Let us know you did so in the comments.)