The cycle of publications about games seeking investments or a publisher continues. Up next is an article about the Russian team Sunday Morning Meet-up Studio, which is developing an ironic adventure game called Jesus Christ.
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Jesus Christ
Irina Rusakova, the project author, shared information about the project.
Irina Rusakova
About the Team
The Jesus Christ team consists of almost 12 people. Several scriptwriters—since the game is narrative-driven—two game designers, programmers, artists, and a marketer.
We all started as students in the game design department at the Higher School of Economics, where the project originated six years ago when the idea first appeared. Now, several years later, we've formed a team to bring our idea to life. The team members already have experience in project development at game studios and freelancing, and we bring this experience to our game.
Jesus Christ
About the Project
Jesus Christ is a point-and-click adventure with elements of a visual novel and mini-games, set in the celestial office. We tell the story of "hippie" Jesus and his complicated relationship with his father, his career in an office, and his escapades in a heavenly bar.
Our strong suits are vibrant and memorable art and a reimagining of familiar themes. The game about the divine office consists of seven days during which Jesus prepares for the divorce of Adam and Eve and also helps mortals.
Slide from the pitch
Each day contains various activities: the player will face God Yahweh, chat with Jesus' diverse colleagues, play cards with Satan, and have heart-to-heart conversations in the bar.
Currently, one day-episode is completed, the mechanics for all mini-games are prepared, and the main storyline has been written. Since all key processes in the team are already established, we plan to complete development within the next year and a half.
About Gameplay/Mechanics
Jesus Christ balances between point-and-click gameplay with its puzzles and a visual novel. The key mechanic is making story choices in dialogues and progressing through the narrative. However, one of our main tasks was not only to create an engaging story but also to diversify it with unique mini-games.
We aimed to make these mechanics meaningful rather than just adding them as a formality. They are directly linked to the story: the work in the divine office is presented through mini-games, helping mortals and colleagues.
For example, tasks to help people are designed in interfaces resembling "Wikipedia" and "Photoshop," while conversations with the best friend take place in a chat window resembling "Telegram."
Jesus Christ
About the Target Audience
We have a very clear target audience—we aim for young people (hello to "Zoomers" aged 16 to 25) who grew up on cartoons about Hercules and are now fans of "Hazbin Hotel" or "American Gods." Our target audience is primarily international—we are looking at English-speaking countries and Asian markets where games of our genre are particularly popular.
Among our closest references for the target audience are VA-11 HALL-A, which sold about 1.5 million copies, A Date with Death, which has been played by over 600 thousand people, and the relatively new The Roleplaying Gods, which sold about 100 thousand copies in half a year with minimal marketing expenses.
Slide from the pitch
About the Business Model
The project plans to move forward using a premium model, through direct sales. We conducted extensive research and, based on references, set the price at $15 per copy. This is slightly lower than that of Roleplaying Gods but aligns well with the purchasing power of our audience.
About Metrics
We are currently aiming for approximately 25 thousand wishlists. We have created a detailed marketing strategy for this—focusing on social media promotion and influencer partnerships. We plan to launch this strategy closer to the release—about a year before.
What We Are Looking For
Our game requires investment—according to our business plan, to complete "Jesus Christ," we need about 60 thousand dollars. This money will go towards developing the remaining six day-episodes of the game. We are also interested in finding a publisher and marketing support by the time the game is ready for release.
Jesus Christ
How to Get in Touch?
Irina Rusakova, the project author:
- Telegram: https://t.me/murmupa
- Email: murmupa.games@gmail.com