After the sad announcement earlier this year that Sony was ending support for Dreams, its whimsical collaborative creation platform for games and art, the last thing I expected to be reading today...
After the sad announcement earlier this year that Sony was ending support for Dreams, its whimsical collaborative creation platform for games and art, the last thing I expected to be reading today was the announcement of a new first-party “AAA” game released on it. Tren is charming and delightful, an obvious labor of love. It deserves the widest possible audience.
Also surprising is that its release coincides with Dreams’ inclusion in the free August games available for all PlayStation Plus subscribers. So if you’ve got a membership and a PS4 or PS5, check it out. There’s tons of impressive user-created content on there, novel tools to create your own, and of course the exceptional Media Molecule originals like Tren, Art’s Dream, A Long Climb Ago, and Ancient Dangers: A Bat’s Tale. Also somebody made a full-scale recreation of Hogwarts which must be seen to be believed. There are countless other treasures hidden in Dreams as well.
I’m still a bit heartbroken that a proper PS5 version was never released, and giving the cold shoulder to PS VR2 was a major misstep in my opinion. As far as anyone knows there are no plans for a Dreams 2, so at least enjoy the current one while you can. This month it’s singing a spectacular swan song.
Dreams is an amazing game/engine. It’s such an incredible piece of technology. As a game developer, it really is a dream (hehe) to work with. It taught me so many things about game...
Dreams is an amazing game/engine. It’s such an incredible piece of technology. As a game developer, it really is a dream (hehe) to work with. It taught me so many things about game design/development. I think my favorite part is probably the built in modeling capabilities. I wish that this was something other game engines had. Additionally, Media Molecule did an incredible job of gameifying the creative process. I spent literal years on some of my projects in this “game”. Unfortunately, the game I spent the most amount of time developing only got like 40 thumbs up.
When they announced the end of support for Dreams, I didn’t take it very well. It was incredibly humbling to see a game developer I respect and admire experience failure. It made me want to give up on being a game dev myself, because I figured if MM couldn’t do it successfully, what makes me think that I can? The whole thing was weirdly metaphorical. I literally felt like my dreams had been destroyed.
I haven’t given up yet though. I switched to using Godot. It really isn’t the same, but I’ve tried to learn to love the process without expecting any sort of success. In some ways, I think that this is the most important lesson that dreams taught me.
Anyways, give Dreams a try. There’s nothing else like it in the world.
I bought Dreams when it was available in Early Access, but for whatever reason it fizzled out quite quickly for me. Probably a lack of creative aptitude on my part coupled with the jump in...
I bought Dreams when it was available in Early Access, but for whatever reason it fizzled out quite quickly for me. Probably a lack of creative aptitude on my part coupled with the jump in complexity compared to the naturally more restrictive Little Big Planet. If this were software available on PC, like RPG Maker, I think it would be a huge hit with those more creatively, but less technically inclined. It's probably the best example I've seen of taking something that is normally very technical, and making it primarily visual.
On the topic of impressive creations though, I recall seeing this trailer for Trip's Voyage sometime last year and being thoroughly impressed. If "Made in Dreams" wasn't plastered in the bottom right corner I think you'd be hard-pressed to tell. Looks as good, if not better in some respects, to something like A Hat in Time.
I can't help but wish we lived in a timeline where dreams was released for free and got upgraded for the ps5. The community around it was small but dedicated and while I never got into the...
I can't help but wish we lived in a timeline where dreams was released for free and got upgraded for the ps5. The community around it was small but dedicated and while I never got into the creation side of things I enjoyed surfing through all the content.
Lets hope MM's next project works out better for them, I know it probably won't happen but I'd kill for another proper little big planet.
After the sad announcement earlier this year that Sony was ending support for Dreams, its whimsical collaborative creation platform for games and art, the last thing I expected to be reading today was the announcement of a new first-party “AAA” game released on it. Tren is charming and delightful, an obvious labor of love. It deserves the widest possible audience.
Also surprising is that its release coincides with Dreams’ inclusion in the free August games available for all PlayStation Plus subscribers. So if you’ve got a membership and a PS4 or PS5, check it out. There’s tons of impressive user-created content on there, novel tools to create your own, and of course the exceptional Media Molecule originals like Tren, Art’s Dream, A Long Climb Ago, and Ancient Dangers: A Bat’s Tale. Also somebody made a full-scale recreation of Hogwarts which must be seen to be believed. There are countless other treasures hidden in Dreams as well.
I’m still a bit heartbroken that a proper PS5 version was never released, and giving the cold shoulder to PS VR2 was a major misstep in my opinion. As far as anyone knows there are no plans for a Dreams 2, so at least enjoy the current one while you can. This month it’s singing a spectacular swan song.
Dreams is an amazing game/engine. It’s such an incredible piece of technology. As a game developer, it really is a dream (hehe) to work with. It taught me so many things about game design/development. I think my favorite part is probably the built in modeling capabilities. I wish that this was something other game engines had. Additionally, Media Molecule did an incredible job of gameifying the creative process. I spent literal years on some of my projects in this “game”. Unfortunately, the game I spent the most amount of time developing only got like 40 thumbs up.
When they announced the end of support for Dreams, I didn’t take it very well. It was incredibly humbling to see a game developer I respect and admire experience failure. It made me want to give up on being a game dev myself, because I figured if MM couldn’t do it successfully, what makes me think that I can? The whole thing was weirdly metaphorical. I literally felt like my dreams had been destroyed.
I haven’t given up yet though. I switched to using Godot. It really isn’t the same, but I’ve tried to learn to love the process without expecting any sort of success. In some ways, I think that this is the most important lesson that dreams taught me.
Anyways, give Dreams a try. There’s nothing else like it in the world.
I bought Dreams when it was available in Early Access, but for whatever reason it fizzled out quite quickly for me. Probably a lack of creative aptitude on my part coupled with the jump in complexity compared to the naturally more restrictive Little Big Planet. If this were software available on PC, like RPG Maker, I think it would be a huge hit with those more creatively, but less technically inclined. It's probably the best example I've seen of taking something that is normally very technical, and making it primarily visual.
On the topic of impressive creations though, I recall seeing this trailer for Trip's Voyage sometime last year and being thoroughly impressed. If "Made in Dreams" wasn't plastered in the bottom right corner I think you'd be hard-pressed to tell. Looks as good, if not better in some respects, to something like A Hat in Time.
I can't help but wish we lived in a timeline where dreams was released for free and got upgraded for the ps5. The community around it was small but dedicated and while I never got into the creation side of things I enjoyed surfing through all the content.
Lets hope MM's next project works out better for them, I know it probably won't happen but I'd kill for another proper little big planet.