Chris Skaggs: On Faith and Games

My first interaction with Chris Skaggs was the spring of 2011, when I walked into the office of Code-Monkeys to interview with him about a summer internship. He surprised me. The work environment at Code-Monkeys is very relaxed, in a way that one of the first things I noticed was that my interviewer was barefoot in the shared office space. Despite my surprise and nerves, Chris Skaggs was a relaxed and thoughtful man to talk to. Three and a half years has not changed that, as I discovered during my more recent discussion with him.

Chris Skaggs, speaking at the Christian Game Developers Conference.

A bit of background: Chris Skaggs grew up in ‘post-christian’ home. Upon seeing my confused expression, he explained that his parents had grown up in christian homes, but were not believers themselves. Due to their own experience, Skaggs grew up in a home that knew of christianity but with parents who did not accept it. Skaggs came into his own faith as a young adult, and now attends the Tualitan Foursquare church. He is the CTO/CCO of Soma Games and Code-Monkeys, two sister companies located in downtown Newberg, Oregon. The sister companies are both mobile app development companies that develop work from the same employees. The difference between the two are the projects and goals, and depending on the project it decides which name the project will be published under. Code-Monkeys works on contract-based jobs, creating and developing a variety of custom apps for iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Kindle Fire and Intel AppUp, as well as the web-based backend software for a wide range of web and mobile apps*. It was founded by Skaggs 14 years ago in 2000, and for him was another job. It was something that he enjoyed doing, but it was a source of income, not necessarily a passion.

In 2005, Skaggs felt a calling, or rather he felt like he was drafted. Well, as he told me, it was more of a dream. And he means a dream – the kind that is experienced over the course of the sleep cycle. From what he remembers of that dream, he discovered the shape and direction of where he was take this company. With this calling sticking in his mind, Soma Games was created almost overnight. Separate from Code-Monkeys business, but working with the same people, Soma Games creates game oriented apps. They have created games such as G: Into the Rain and Wind Up Robots.

Now, Skaggs does not consider himself to be an artist, and I can understand why. He does not create art in a traditional sense – he is not an illustrator or an animator on his team. But I see the work published under Soma Games and Code-Monkeys as his art form. Not only that, but I asked to interview him because he works in the field that I would like to work in. As the primary decision-maker behind Code-Monkeys and Soma Games, I felt like getting the insight into the interaction of the apps, games, clients and their faith would be informative to my growth as an individual and artist who is about to step out into the working world.

My initial step into the that world was when I was an intern. At that time, I remember 2 big projects that the office worked on: Bok Choy Boy and Wind Up Robots. The former was published under Code-Monkeys, the company was approached by a popular vending machine toy manufacturer that wanted to create a game around their toys, the Bok Choy Boy.

Bok Choy Boy selection page from the game app. Each Bok Choy Boy has different powers, and effect different enemies.

When I asked about how faith has influenced decisions made by the company, Skaggs explained that when they received the first proposal, the Bok Choy Boy was described as sorcery-using warriors fighting against the forces of evil. If that had been my project, I wouldn’t have noticed anything off about the wording. Reading stories that included magic, such as Harry Potter (by J.K. Rowling) and Song of the Lioness (by Tamora Pierce) was not a big deal in my household. But Skaggs and his team were thoughtfully aware that some of the audience would be sensitive the initial idea. So they suggested and redirected the story of the game, turning the magical warriors into mystical guardians of the dream world. The game turned into a story about a little girl who is given a Bok Choy Boy toy, who becomes her guardian angel to defend her mind from the evil Numb Skullz while she sleeps. These kind of subtle changes are where the company brings their faith into play. Most of the time, their work and faith do not directly interact, but it shows up in small ways like this.

Other times, Skaggs told me that they will respectfully decline a contract job. When asked about what kind of jobs (as I was having trouble thinking of an exact example of what they might refuse), Skaggs shared they have been asked to create a wet T-shirt app.

The Wind Up Robot app icon.

Talking with Skaggs, I asked him about his own thoughts about art and faith, what it means to artistic, and how their apps interacted with the conversation of art and faith. His response is one that I resonate strongly with. The goal with their products, specifically with their games, is not a desire to teach doctrine or to be religiously educational. Instead, they make sure their games reflect their world view. The worlds they create in these games, they want to make sure they are beautiful. Art is expressive, and Skaggs believes that being made in God’s image is to be creative. Through their art, their games, Skaggs and his team try to focus on creating beauty, and also develop the idea that beauty itself can be good, that beauty can be true force in the world.

And that idea, that by focusing on the beauty and the good, instead of the broken and hurt, is inspiring and a powerful drive for me.

Wind Up Robots game play.

Sources:

Chris Skaggs Interview, November 5, 2014
http://www.code-monkeys.com/

Soma Games