Last week we released 30 coloring pages of Bible ABCs. Today we're excited to release 28 Bible Memory coloring pages! Using the 'memory palace' technique of memorization, each artist is provided with iconic illustrations to help memorize key words of each verse. This is a proven memorization technique that has been used for thousands of years. Even Shakespearian theaters were designed around this principle for the actors to remember their lines! So enjoy, learn and share these 28 completely free Bible verse coloring pages absolutely free!
Bible Coloring for Kids: 30 Free pages to print!
Here's a printable PDF featuring some of our favorite Bible characters and illustrations! Download, Enjoy, and share with your friends!
RELEASED: Bible Coloring for Kids! Free
After quite a few requests, Salvation's Story is happy to release our artwork as a coloring book! Download the free version which features 12 pages of Bible characters! Or purchase the full version for only 99 cents and receive an incredible 31 pages of artwork!
RELEASED: Noah's Bible Memory
In case you haven't heard, we've released Noah's Bible Memory on iOS and Android! This game allows the player to easily learn 25 Bible verses through the simple to use 'memory palace' technique! Give it a try, and let us know how you do!
28 Bible Verses to memorize of Power, Faith, Hope and Love
So, a major aspect of Noah's Elephant in the Room comes in the form of Bible memory. Really, I like to think of this game as a Bible memory game. So how do I convince kids to play a Bible memory game?
The secret to Noah's Elephant in the Room is that when you start the game, you may not even realize that there is a Bible memory aspect to it. You'll probably have a ton of fun running Noah's giant elephant around the ark, discovering all the animals, breaking all the crates, scaring the birds, and avoiding the sons as long as possible. AND THAT'S WHERE I HOOK YA INTO BIBLE MEMORY!
Imagine you're playing Pacman. Pacman is great! There are wonderful challenges to overcome and strategies to master. However, if the designer of Pacman said, "If you play this 2 minute minigame, Pacman will level up and be permanently 20% faster!" Now, the people who think Pacman is an 'okay' game, might not bite, but for people who are REALLY enjoying themselves and want to be on top of the leaderboard (or just beat their sibling), this is a no-brainer! Now if the designer said, "There are 28 unique powerups for you to unlock!" the players who want the VERY best Pacman are gonna unlock all 28.
So, to break it down:
STEP 1 - Make the core game awesome so that players WANT to keep playing it!
STEP 2 - Make the powerups so awesome that the players WANT them all!
STEP 3 - Make unlocking powerups INSANELY FUN!
I'll wait for another blog post to talk about Step 3. I think I've come up with a way that makes Bible memory INSANELY FUN. No more logging verses away in short term memory and forgetting them soon after. No more mental strain either! Just straight up INSANE FUN.
Let's talk about the elephant in the room...
Introducing the latest game to be coming out of Salvation's Story! Noah's Elephant in the Room is Pac-Man meets Bible memory in the ark! The video above should give you a feel for the general game mechanics, so check it out! The cool stuff happens when the Bible memory aspect arrives. The players are able to 'power up' their elephant through memorizing different Bible verses. To fully upgrade the elephant, the player will have to memorize 25 Bible verses! Learning Bible verses in the game will be tons of fun, and I think kids are going to LOVE it! I'll touch more on the Bible memory mechanic in a further blog post. So stay tuned! Noah's Elephant in the Room is coming!
Noah's Bunny Problem - Released!
In case you didn't know, Noah's Bunny Problem is out now for iOS and Android! So much was learned over the course of making this game, and it's wonderful to have it out there! So I hope you enjoy it! If you do play it, please let me know below! And if you REALLY love it, please leave a review on iTunes or Google Play! Those mean so much to me!
Noah's Bunny Problem - Coming soon!
Noah's got a problem.... and it's multiplying.
Hey there, everyone! I've switched gears and have been charging away at the next game from Salvation's Story, "Noah's Bunny Problem". The bunnies have escaped from their pen and have made their way to the deck of the ark! It's up to Noah to block them from jumping into the water, and to stop kissing and making other bunnies!
Hopefully it's a really fast paced and fun game. Noah is such a fun character to animate. I'm sure someone who's tasked with such an incredible challenge is super organized. Now add in a ton of wild animals in a confined space, and SOMETHING crazy is gonna happen! My hope is that I'll be able to release a whole series of fun Noah games. Time will tell! The game should be out in the coming months (fingers crossed). Until then, enjoy these behind-the-scenes videos!
Red and Yellow, Black and White....
A couple weeks ago I was struggling to come up with the letter colours for the Bible Reader app. Then it dawned on me. "I'll just use the colours they've always been!" That's right. The colours they've ALWAYS been.
I didn't know this growing up, but I kinda have a superpower. It took me until my college years before I realized not everyone assigned a colour to each letter! Actually, it was when I was browsing through the internet and came across this wikipedia article on Synesthesia (I LOVE wikipedia). I had no idea I was unique in this way! Ever since I was a kid 'A' has been 'red', 'B' has been 'Blue' and so on. It's pretty odd. Every word has a colour in my head. I tend to remember peoples' names by colour as well (Andy = red, Bobby = blue, etc). If the colours don't flow well together, they're kinda of 'marbleized' in my brain.
So yeah, the colours you see above are what I see when I think of each letter. Well, almost. Some letters are more vibrant/brighter/darker when I think about them, but I gotta fit them into my game's colour palette! I don't think any kid wants to drag around a pure white 'i' on a white background!
Now that you know your ABCs....
Prototype 1: The ol' "wiggle of disapproval".
IT'S TIME TO READ!
I might as well get it out in the open. The next app out of Salvation's Story will be a reading app! I'm pretty excited about this one. It's not JUST a reading app, here are the things I want kids to learn through this app:
- Spelling
- Phonics
- Memory verses
I find that my memory verse skills are really lacking. I remember a time when I would learn a new Bible verse every week! I was a 'Pioneer' in Awana, and I had my little Awana book to help me out. The verses that stuck with me were the ones that were accompanied by an awesome illustration. I felt those illustrations really sent home the message for me. That is what I hope to accomplish with this latest app. Kids will learn how to spell words from the Bible, then use those words in a Bible verse, and then be presented with a fun animation describing the verse!
It's going to take a bit of time, but it's already coming together faster than I expected!
HOW YOU CAN HELP
I need verses! Are there any Bible verses you would love to have your children learn? Tell me! For animation's sake, try to keep them simple in complexity. While John 3:16 is an amazing verse, trying to convey the idea of God loving and saving the world through the sacrifice of His Son for those who believe may be a little difficult in a 5 second animation!
So bring on the input!
Something's brewin'.....
Unity 3d and Playmaker. So exciting, right? RIGHT!?!
Hey, everyone! Joel here! I just wanted to keep you up to date with what's going on at Salvation's Story! Things have been very exciting around here lately. Bible ABCs for Kids had a big update and sale in August, and people all over the world are downloading the app! I got married to the love of my life just 3 weeks ago as well! Woohoo! I couldn't be happier. I've also received some great freelance, and though it's taken some time away from working on more Christian apps (tell your friends about Bible ABCs for Kids!), it's been putting food on the table and I'm very grateful.
I have found the time recently to start on the next bigger and better app from Salvation's Story! The picture is a sneak peek at what I've been up to. Programming can certainly be challenging, but it can also be very VERY rewarding! Expect some cool visual updates soon (state machine charts like above aren't too exciting for 99.9% of the population), and perhaps some videos of the progress. I want to do a much better job this time around of keeping you all informed, and giving you a glimpse into the development/creative process!
Talk to you soon!
Joel
P.S. And the more people download Bible ABCs for Kids, the more time I can devote to making Christian apps! Feel free to download ABCs below!
99 Cent Sale!
It's back to school time! As such, from today until August 31st, Bible ABCs for Kids will be marked down from $2.99 to just 99 cents! Hurry and save on this awesome deal!
God bless!
Joel
UPDATE! iPhone and Android support!
Salvation's Story is thrilled to release the first update to Bible ABCs for Kids, and it's a big one! The top 3 requests: iPhone support, Android support, and bird animations, are all in! A ton of time has also been spent on stability improvements.
I want to thank each one of you for your help and guidance! If you have anything you want to see in the next update of Bible ABCs for Kids, send us an e-mail at salvationsstory@gmail.com or just comment below!
God bless!
Joel
BIG UPDATE COMING!
Hey, everyone! I just wanted to give you a heads up that the new build of Bible ABCs for Kids (FREE as well) has been submitted to the app store! Fingers are crossed that it gets approved within the week. With this HUGE update comes the biggest request: iPhone and Android support!!! Also, our favorite blue bird chirps away with fun celebration animations (you can 'poke' him too!). A large amount of time has also been spent on optimizing memory usage. For anyone who has had stability issues with Bible ABCs for Kids, this update will make you VERY happy!
I'm totally pumped about this update! I think it's the version I would have loved to release right off the bat. Better late than never! :)
Joel
The first review!
Guys, I am pumped! Michael, over at Four Point Families, was kind enough to review Bible ABCs for Kids! Not only did he review it, but he got his wonderful kids to pitch in and give their own reviews as well! I couldn't have asked for more. Hearing how kids enjoy Bible ABCs for Kids brings so much joy to me. I mean, that's who I made it for! 'Kids' is even in the title!
And 'G' is for 'God'! Creator of the sky, water, mountains, moose, bears, bunnies and everything!
So head on over and check out the awesome podcast review! Also, check out his other podcasts. He has some intriguing ideas and insights into culture, parenting, and much more!
Joel
'F' is for 'FREE'! Oh, and 'Father Abraham'.
HUGE news! 'Bible ABCs for Kids' has just been released on the App Store for iPad! I understand it can be tough to invest money in an app when you're not sure how well it'll run, how fun it is, or if it's appropriate for you kids. Well, now you can try out Bible ABCs for Kids for the low low price of FREE!
The App was released just this morning, and already the downloads are coming in! What has me very excited is that I'm seeing downloads in areas like China, where religion is very controlled. Hopefully this app can make inroads throughout the world!
Download it, check it out, and let me know how you like it! God bless!
Joel
'E' is for 'Eve' and 'Excited it's out!'
Well, I'm sure you've noticed that 'Bible ABCs for Kids' is finally out! It's a very VERY exciting time for me. It's been months in the making, and it's finally out! Amazing.
It's been incredibly awesome to hear the reviews, to read the encouraging messages, and to see pictures of kids playing with Bible ABCs for Kids. All over the world (as far as Indonesia!), people are downloading the app!
If you've downloaded the app, let me know how you're liking it! Either leave a message here, or review it in the app store!
This certainly isn't the 'finish line' to Bible ABCs for Kids, but just the start! Expect more exciting news in the very near future!
-Joel
'D' is for 'Daniel' and 'DO IT!'
The time is almost here! Bible ABCs for Kids has been approved by Apple. I'm just in the process of getting all my business stuff squared away before release. Hopefully the app will be released by the end of this month!
I gotta say, I'm so happy I've taken this step. I have no idea if the app will be a 'success' or not, but just by 'doing it' I've proven to myself that it's possible! There have been so many projects I've started and never finished. I could show you the spreadsheet I have of 'game ideas', or the countless folders of random drawings I had hoped would have turned into something complete. I find it easy to get excited about a project, but it's challenging to keep that level of enthusiasm throughout the entirety of it.
Here are a few things that helped me stay the course:
- I had a solid game design that wasn't too extravagant. Too often I bit off more than I could chew! Start small!
- I set aside a specific time each day to work on the project (whether I wanted to or not). 4 days I week I would wake up 2 hours early to focus on Bible ABCs for Kids.
- I diversified my work. If I was bored with drawing, I'd work on programming, animation, website, sound, anything! It kept progress (and my brain) flowing.
- And the biggest thing: I picked something I loved. This wasn't made to make millions. This app was made because I LOVE doing it! (Though making millions would be a nice side benefit!) When that's the foundation I'm building on, it makes it fun the whole way through!
I encourage each one of you to find an idea and 'Do it'! Maybe it's not a video game. Maybe it's a story, a song, a new hobby, a new exercise program. Whatever it is, figure out what you love, make a plan, and 'do it'!
'C' is for 'Caleb' and 'Christian Art'!
I've always been a huge fan of Christian Art, and you most likely have as well! Think about it, we have Michelangelo's 'The David' and 'Pieta' (my favorite!), countless Rembrandts, The Sistine Chapel, and the list goes on!
I feel today, when I hear the term 'Christian' game, music, art... I prepare myself for something that's not quite of the quality I'm hoping for. I don't know when 'Christian Art' turned from setting the standard to becoming something less, but I really believe Christian art should be at the top again. We serve an amazing God who has blessed each one of us with talents! We read His book which is filled with knowledge, lessons, and direction! When it comes to expressing these things, how does this not inspire us to make things great!?!
Caleb, sneaking into the land of Canaan
I want to set the bar really high on Christian Apps. I want them to be the best of the best! Perhaps I'm not there right now, but that's what I'm striving for! I want kids to play my apps not because their parents only let them play Christian apps, but because they're awesome! I want non-believers to play my apps because they want the best! How great would that be? Time will tell!
Joel
'B' is for 'Benjamin' and 'BETA'
Benjamin after discovering the silver cup!
Hey there, everyone! I wanted to invite you all to play the open Beta for Bible ABCs for Kids right on your computer! You'll have to download the unity player, but after that, have a look around at the game! Right now I've only included the letter 'A'.
Your feedback is so important to me! If there's anything that's wrong, or maybe there's something you'd like to see, please let me know below!