Stephanie Bendixsen: Don’t rage-quit games, build your own with Dreams

Ever thrown down a controller and rage-quit a game, thinking “I could make a better one than this”? Dreams gives you the opportunity to do just that, writes Stephanie Bendixsen.

Game development studio Media Molecule is … something else.

There’s just no one quite like it when it comes to pure and unadulterated creativity. Since the well-deserved success of the Little Big Planet series — I’ve marvelled at how the studio has continued to push the concept of in-game level creation tools and building options to the forefront of their ideology.

It’s not enough for this team to push out excellent games — they invite gamers to seek out some buried creativity within and have a go at building a game of their own.

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Dreams lets gamers seek out their buried creativity and have a go at building their own game.

And they’ve traditionally done this by including the very same game-building tools that they themselves use to build all those wild, quirky equal-parts-charming-and-challenging platformers we love so much.

When the studio announced they were working on a new project, my mind raced with the possibilities.

There’s seemingly no limit to what Media Molecule can build — so at Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2015, I eagerly devoured the announcement trailer of what they were calling Dreams.

It was spectacular. It was moving, emotional, visually poetic in every way. I was thoroughly and completely spellbound.

But … what was it exactly? I didn’t see anything in the way of gameplay.

No identifiable character or singular world — no real structure of any kind. Just a series of beautiful images, animations and 3D models of strange and wonderful creatures.

It didn’t really make sense.

Dreams is currently in early access mode.

And admittedly, for a long time Media Molecule didn’t really know what it was either. They were building something wonderful, but it hadn’t quite taken shape yet.

It was at this point I started to get a little worried. Unfettered ideas without structure can often be the downfall of any creative venture.

Fast-forward to 2019 and I have just this week downloaded the first release of Dreams, which is currently in early access.

What we’ve ended up with, it turns out, is not a game at all. But a game-maker. A 3D modelling tool. An animation program. It’s all of these things — and more.

And it’s absolutely marvellous.

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Gamers can start building their game from scratch.

It’s daunting at first. Diving into this experience, there’s so much available to you at your fingertips that it’s tough to know where to start.

There are, however, a series of incredibly stylish and comprehensive (and fun) tutorials to teach the basics of shaping and moulding the world. Or rather, what will be the world — once you’ve built it.

Starting from scratch, you can build the earth, the environment — adding lighting and texture. You can drop-in some creatures — pre-made designs, or those you’ve made yourself. It’s possible to make anything from scratch.

You can add rules to any object: a bounce. A glow. An electric shock.

AI in your characters to teach them to walk or fight or interact with the player. It’s all there — if you have the patience to learn it.

Dreams lets gamers build an endless dream world filled with possibility.

Not to mention the huge implications for young people who are interested in pursuing a career in game design. What a magnificent way to encourage the first steps into the realm of game-making or animation.

If it all sounds a bit daunting to you, “the average gamer”, it might be worth exploring what others have created first.

In keeping with Media Molecule’s approach to community engagement, design and player creativity — one of the best parts of Dreams is “surfing the dreamiverse”.

This allows you to play other creators’ games, see their art, watch their animations and offer advice, feedback and praise. You can even “follow” creators to be notified of new work they upload.

And when a blank canvas seems like too much to contend with, assets within the game can be used as a starting point, from which you can “remix” or change and build from.

Designers can push themselves with monthly creator challenges.

It’s absolutely genius.

Monthly creator challenges are posted for designers to push themselves with by working within a framework. The best of these are chosen and showcased in the hub.

Truthfully, I’m not sure if I’ll have the time (or creative brain power) to spend building something as elaborate as I’ve seen already in Dreams, though it is incredibly fun to just explore and tinker.

But I have spent many happy hours just scratching the surface of what has already been uploaded by other users. And there’s something magical and exciting about that, isn’t there? The pooled resources of gamers from around the world, sharing their ideas and imagination for all of us to enjoy. Like a collective of creators working together to provide a constant flow of content and entertainment.

And that, ultimately, is what Media Molecule set out to do with this ambitious project. Build an endless dream world filled with possibility — for gamers themselves to bring to life.