Getting rid of leavened food. Now a computer game
Photo: Tzvika Tishler
New start-up develops games based on Jewish tradition
In Amen Media's computer games, children look for leavened food instead of shooting at enemy's soldiers, perform missions tasked by Kind David. Company's consulting team includes rabbis who help in content development
Computer game developers have been inspired by a variety of different fields, but Hemi Ram's idea came from a particularly surprising area.
"It all started when I was appointed the manager of a synagogue," he says. "I suddenly got the idea to create a game out of it. I was familiar with games such as SimCity, Sims or RollerCoaster Tycoon – games in which you are a character or live in an amusement park, and it suddenly occurred to me as something similar.
"I thought that if one can make a game out of that, anything can become a game – the Jewish holy days, the Bible stories, anything."
Ram was joined by Shmulik Hartman, and the two began looking into available computer games. Two months ago, they founded the Amen Media company, which focuses on creating educational computer games based on Bible stories, tradition, culture and Jewish history.
Ahead of the holiday of Passover, the company issued its first CD containing two games for children aged three and up. In one game children search for leavened food, and in the other, the player is one of King David's faithful soldiers.
The company's target audience is the religious public, including Jewish communities abroad, and the two games are available both in Hebrew and English.
Not looking for 'kashrut certificate'
Amen Media is a private company based in Kibbutz Ein Tzurim's industrial zone. Ram and Hartman have raised $150,000 from a private religious investor and are working to raise an additional $2 million."The first CD is only the first stage," says Ram. "We are also planning to create games for cellular phones, games for older children and an online games portal."
The religious sector may be a problematic target audience for computer games, as there are those who refuse to bring computers into their homes and others who do not have internet connection.
Is the company seeking a "kashrut certificate" for the games it develops? Ram says Amen Media is not looking for legitimacy, but explains that "our consulting team includes rabbis, who assist us in the development of the games' contents and characters."
