Here’s the website address if you live in the UK or Republic of Ireland: http://www.superbookdvdclub.com/
And here’s the website address for US residents: https://www.cbn.com/giving/special/option.aspx

Your support of signing of to the Superbook DVD Club will help CBN to produce more episodes (over 100 episodes are currently planned for production) and eventually make them available at much reduced prices for evangelism to a world-wide audience.

As a further little incentive to join us on Facebook we’ll be selecting a random person in the next 4-5 weeks from our Facebook page and give them a copy of one of the new Superbook animations. We’ll announce the winner in our next email newsletter!

In addition, we’re planning to run lots of further competitions in the future where you can win a variety of animations and games from our website! To become eligible to win of these prices, go and like the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/hopeanimation!

Superbook producer John Schaeffer: “I think what our biggest thing is: How do we reach a generation to give this message that there is someone who loves you – he created you, he has a purpose. But how do you do that in a way, that if they don’t go after the Bible and read it and go to a Christian bookstore – what do you do? We have to find a vehicle and a medium and that’s what animation is strong.”

In each episode of Superbook best friends Chris and Joy are faced with an everyday problem that Superbook helps them to solve by actually placing them in the stories of the Bible and letting them meet and interact with biblical characters.

In Superbook’s pilot “David and Goliath” children learn that they can conquer giants when they trust in God’s power. Creation broke tradition by taking the familar story of temptation and sin in the garden of Eden all the way back to the fall of the angel Lucifer. And by July 2011 CBN plans to complete 10 more episodes, 13 in total encompassing Scripture and lessons from Genesis to Revelation.

“When you think about the Bible stories, when people watch it whether they are believers or not, there’s some kind of spiritual truth that resonates in them and I think that’s why the original Superbook series, you always hear so many people saying it touched them.”

CBN created Superbook as part of a campaign to reach Japan nearly 30 years ago. It was a monumental success drawing a weekly audience of nearly 4 million people. During the fall of communism in the 1990s Superbook aired across the former Soviet Union where millions of lives where changed through the Superbook series and more than 100 countries watched the original Superbook series. It was translated into more than 43 languages, viewed by an estimated half billion people.

The updated series will reach billions more. With the best writers and producers and CG animation the new Superbook Christian Animation rivals major studios like Disney and Pixar.

“Probably the show that’s as epic as our is Starwars Clonewars. Usually characters you see on typical animations, there’s maybe 3 or 4 characters on screen, only a couple of set pieces. Our show has typically 22 characters and episode, 15 of them are talking characters. The set pieces we use are very epic – Pharao’s palace. Our shows are almost like mini movies.”

Every detail and historical account is back checked for accuracy and cultural credibility. In Exodus, Superbook producers were challenged with what really happened to Pharao.

“You want to see how we handle the death of Pharao or the escape of Pharao, you have to watch it, you have to watch closely to see how we handled it.”

And people are invited to do more than watch the Superbook Christian Animation.

“The 22 minute show is a catalyst and a vehicle to get kids draw into the Bible. But we want them to have tools to learn and experience the Bible more. And so we have to bring them into the interactive site whether it’s on the web or an App. We have to make sure it’s in an area that they’re comfortable with.”

Here are the Season One Working Titles:

01 Creation – “In The Beginning”
02 Abraham and Isaac – “The Perfect Gift”
03 Jacob and Esau – “A Quest For Forgiveness”
04 Exodus – “The Perfect Choice”
05 Ten Commandments – “Laws of the Land”
06 David and Goliath – “A Giant Adventure”
07 Daniel and the Lions Den – “Roar”
08 Christmas – “The First Christmas”
09 Miracles – “The Miracles of Jesus”
10 Palm Sunday – “Of Palms and Passover”
11 Easter – “Mother and Child”
12 Saul/Paul – “The Road to Damascus”
13 Revelation – “The Alpha and the Omega”

Graphics

The game’s graphics are quite good for a game of its calibur. It is a side scrolling game and therefore won’t be the graphics of your normal RPG’s like WoW, Guild Wars, etcetera (which Christians shouldn’t be playing anyhow). Most side scrollers really are truly lame in their graphics and expecting this game to be the same, I was hesitant in buying it. However, the graphics and scenery were extremely enjoyable and at times I just stared at the screen to take in the complete beauty of it all.

RPG Element

The game has a skill system (even if there are only a few skills to research into). It will be important to determine exactly how you want to play. Do you want an offensive Brute or a defensive Knight? Go full defense and it may take longer to kill an enemy, but it will also take longer for him to kill you. Go full offense and if your attack speed is fast enough you’ll get the first hit. If your attack is high enough, that first hit will kill your opponent (this will require a heavy dependence in focus on starting abilities and the use of your Blessings if you are to succeed against bosses). You can’t reset any points you research into your skills. Focus is a completely different set of stats that you can reset your invested points in to rearrange and is extremely important to the success of your toon. There is no customization of your toon. The game takes on its view of an accurate portrayal of the “cartoon” version of Pilgrim’s Progress’ main character so you won’t be able to change hair color, height, clothing, or even play as a female. However, the point of the game is to play from the view of the main character, so I didn’t consider that a negative thing.

Difficulty

The game plays into 3 difficulties. Normal, Difficulty, and Expert. You can only choose expert by beating the game in Difficult. Normal is extremely easy game play. Go full attack and zeal with occassional research in your defense and you’ll be able to 1-hit anything except bosses. Bosses will require a bit of juggling with blessings, but it’s nothing you can’t handle. Since you can travel from beginning to end as much as you want throughout the game, it is very easy to level up in any area you can handle without much effort and then continue on to the next spot with stronger enemies already set up to 1-hit them as well. You can just proceed straight through as well without taking the time to level up for that advantage if you want. This will be a bit more challenging and require a bit more skill. Expert mode with all the secret hidden crosses (which gives great bonuses), and maxed out starting abilities starts off about as easy as difficult mode. However, attempting to use the (level up here until I can 1-hit in the next location) more time consuming and a bit more skill-requiring. As you progress, you’ll soon find that to stay in an area until you can 1-hit in the area you are in will almost be unfeasible as the xp gain is far more worthwhile on creatures in later areas. It is better to go against creatures that will occassionally kill you if you aren’t careful than stick to creatures which you can 1-hit kill with ease (and you won’t be able to 1-hit much in this mode either). While I felt that Difficult mode was too easy, Expert mode plays out exactly the way I would have hoped Difficult would, and that is a wonderful thing.

I literally play this for hours each day. As someone who doesn’t like side-scrollers, I am rather addicted to this one and HIGHLY recommend it to anyone interested in this game. However, it does operate based off the books. So, if you are one of those people who hate Christians like Hitler hates the Jews, this game just isn’t for you. But if you live by the Christian tenant that all men are created equal and are open minded enough to enjoy a game that might teach something you don’t completely agree with (or don’t mind playing a game that is teaching something you already know and agree with) then this is definitely the game for you.

The Pilgrim’s Progress Video Game is a very detailed, exciting journey through the vast world of John Bunyan’s novel and includes many secrets, adventures and quests. The aim of the game is not only to reach the Celestial City but also to make a difference on the way by helping the people you encounter throughout your journey.

If you want some help with the Pilgrim’s Progress Video Game, Scott has created a comprehensive, in-depth strategy guide that will give you answers to all of your questions and reveal all of the secrets that can be discovered on the way…

Click here to download the Pilgrims Progress Strategy Guide

The story is inspired by the works, writing and style of C.S.Lewis (e.g. the Chronicles of Narnia), animated classic Walt Disney musicals (e.g. Beauty and the beast, Lion King, Little Mermaid) and draws a lot on the parables told by Jesus Christ.

It is a fast paced story with lots of twists and turns and includes 6 catchy, Disney style songs that break up the story and add a further level of depth to the animation.

I’m very excited that the animation is now finished and I’m currently in post-production working on the audio, sound effects, trailer and website.

In order to release the animation on DVD and BluRay I will now need to raise about £2,500 – £3000 for production, licensing and software costs. If you would like to help me reach this goal to get the movie released please go to our webshop and order a copy of one of our DVDs or the newly released Pilgrim’s Progress Game! Alternatively, if you feel prompted to support this project with a donation, you can also do this via the donation buttons on the right hand side.

I’ve included some draft cover designs for the animation with this post to give you a small impression on the look and feel of the animation…

Please pass on the links to our website to any of your friends that you think might be interested in this animation or Christian movies, animations and games in general! Our Google ranking is not that great yet, so we do rely on people telling other people about this project…

Many thanks and God bless,

David Hutter

“The Pilgrim’s Progress” is an allegory of a Christian life, starting from the time a person learns of Jesus to the time when they die and reach The Celestial City (Heaven). In the game you take control of Christian as he journeys from his doomed hometown, The City of Destruction, and toward the Celestial City. The novel is in the public domain and is available free on the internet! It is well worth the time to read as no movie or game will likely ever do it justice.

To order your copy of “The Pilgrim’s Progress Video Game” click here. Please also send us some feedback about this game via a comments box on this page or the contact us section of the site. We aim to answer all your emails and generally love hearing from our site visitors!

Artist Profile: Scott Cawton (Texas, USA)
Scott Cawthon, a graduate of the Art Institute of Houston, Texas, is an independent animation producer living in Texas, USA. He is father of two children and has created several independent films, including Noah's Ark, The Pilgrim's Progress, A Christmas Journey and the Jesus Kids Club as well as the Pilgrim's Progress Video game.

Artist Profile: Jesse McPeek (Texas, USA)
Jesse loves making cartoons and loves God. It was only a matter of time before those two worlds collided! His desire is to reach the world with the Gospel and teachings of Jesus Christ. Not everyone will listen to a sermon or go to church… but most everyone will watch a cartoon. Jesse uses cartoons to reach others with the message that is so dear to his heart.

Artist Profile: Logosdor (Hornsby, Australia)

Logosdor works as a creative Christian team who loves to create and give in secret. Who we are doesn’t really matter. Who Jesus is — is everything.

I found reading about this quite fascinating as we artists from Hope Animation continually struggle with finding a right balance between Christian content and entertainment. It also made me wonder whether the church is encouraging and preparing a new generation of believers to step out and impact the culture through music, film and media? If the most influence is exerted through music, art, media and films why are so few Christians working in this field or preparing for a career in this industry?

Later in the book Steve Stockman continues: “The Bible uses a wide array of creative ways to communicate truth: law, history, poems, songs, literature, lament, prophesy, proverbs, dreams, angels, miracles, parables, preaching, epistles and visions. When the evangelicals of the world decided that the Word preached was God’s most efficient way of communicating, they overlooked the fact that when Jesus was born, God was saying, among other things, that those ways were not sufficient and that the Word had to become flesh (John 1:1, 14). God’s Word is much more than words. Modernity coerced Christianity into taking the flesh and making it into words again. Art suffered. It was not clearly defined and conclusive kind of rationalism. It left feelings hanging. Stories or songs might stress some points of theological truth and fail to cover other aspects of the Gospel. They missed the fact that Jesus left the crucial doctrine of atonement out of the Parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15: 11-32).”

I love Christian teaching and sermons. I also love Christian media and films. Nevertheless, I am always astonished at how few Christians are interested in any kind of Christian entertainment or art at all. Last week in my quiet time I came across this verse from Mark: “With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.” – Mark 4: 33-34. I was really struck by the sentence: “He did not say anything to them without using a parable.” Parables are fictional stories, entertainment for Jesus’ audience in a time where there wasn’t any TV around.

This really encouraged me as my vision for Hope Animation is to create a series of parable based animations in increasing quality that explains a lot of spiritual principles in a way that is very accessible to a Christian and Non-Christian audience and is also a lot of fun to watch. The first part of this series – Strawinsky and the mysterious house – should be available later this year and draws a lot from the classical Disney story telling principles. We aim to also release some materials that allow you to explore the themes in more detail with your Sunday School, Youth Group or in your own time, building on Jesus’ example: “But when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything.” In the meantime though, feel free to visit www.hopeanimation.com to view some of our already completed animations!