In the game i am designing, dream could have a very important role if only I knew how to represent it. I would like to focus on those dreams wich have some contacts with reality, not the very abstacts ones. I thought maybe to have some nice visual and sound distorsions, but something lack, this special dreamy touch. So guys, if you have any ideas on this, I will be your slave for the next ten incarnations (well, if you don''t give me orders and I am not forced to actually do anything contrary to my opinion )

Final Fantasy 7''s dream sequence was quite good. It had some abstractness in it, which is very appropriate for a dream.

-Jussi

Why not using the same fx as in TV or movies or cartoons ?

You know the strangely softly moving border lookin like waves...
As for sound you could add some bass to them.

Just suggestions.
Remember that if you want the player to understang he''s in a dream you must rely on the same trick as used in other medium.
(medias?)


-* So many things to do, so little time to spend. *-

I had already thought of this, but what I am looking for is how to represent the merging of things into one another, you know when you see a desolated landscape, but at the same time it represents your fears. May be add a voice to describe some of the elements...

Try blending a face or simple animation over the top of said landscape. Kind of like they do in cartoons to show an evil person''s influence over an area (I''ve been watching Dragonball Z)

Merrick

quote:
You know the strangely softly moving border lookin like waves...
As for sound you could add some bass to them.

Yuck, i hate these becuase they are two obvious. When you dream you rarely know that you ARE dreaming. It should be done very slightly so you have to clue things together to work out if you''re in a dream. For example: you never take damage or people''s attitudes have changed. There should also be a clue that you''ve become unconcious so the player won''t turn the game off in frustration because they think that there''s a bug in the game. That''s my opinion anyhow.


I love Game Design and it loves me back.

Our Goal is "Fun"!

How about black & white for dreams?
Or you could make most of the dream black & white, except for the most important thing in the dream. Say, your PC is dreaming about murder he/she has to avenge and everything is grayish except for the blood which is dark-red. Or a dream is a hint that some mirror is actually a portal to another dimention, so the reflections in the mirror would have a bit color, while originals are grayscale.
Adding a blur on top of all that would probably make it more "unreal".

Think about what happens when you have a dream. Say your character is standing, and they begin walking in one direction, they change their mind and decide to go another direction and when they turn around they are in another location. I''ve never seen many good dream sequences. There was an episode of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer that had a show where the characters were being hunted in their own dreams, I think that episode had about one of the best reprentations of a dream I''ve ever seen. I don''t remember the name of the episode, I believe it was last season''s finale. Dreams are basically strange amalgamations of life experiences and knowledge. The problem is the same one that is created when a surrealist artist starts his picture. Even when you switch locations in a dream, they may seem totally unrelated at first, but usually they have a common thread.

JD

I like the black and white idea , it would be great for some dreams. Perhaps it would be better not to represent all dreams in the same way. There should always be an element which indicates to the player that he is dreaming, but I agree with you Paul, it should not necessarily be obvious. Like in Matrix, the character doesn''t know if he is dreaming or if he is awake.

Actually, I think the black and white idea is cool.
DungeonMaster, in fact you should look more at the photography in The Matrix, and in other movies in general.
I Carrie (stephen king), the end sequence was recorded at night, but with so much light that it looked daylight ... except there was something different (no shadows), plus all looked so shining.
As well, David Hamilton uses a lot of this blurry shiny effect to make things look more ... yuck... I dunno ... sweet, or dreamy.
As well, in Fincher''s Seven, the lighting settle excellent atmospheres of fear, sadness, terror, depravation, etc.
(the same guy worked on Alien 3 for the lights... hence the similar feelings)
In the Matrix, if you look more carefully, there is no red in the false reality. The sky is blue green, everything is greyish, pale, not a lot of saturation in the colors... on the other hand, the real world is much more colorful, yet dark.

As well, in the case of dreaming, you can use more symbolism.
A child and an old man talking to you to represent your own persona at different stages in life, animals that can talk and represent something (a Lion and a Licorn to represent great Britain). I would recommend H.P. Lovercraft and the Dreamlands to get ideas, as well there is an RPG , "CAll of Chtulhu", with a background book on the Dreamlands, probably there are plentyful of tips for representing the dream state.

But mainly, I think you should try to play with colors... if you liked the Matrix, then look again, and check out the colors, and what this mean, how it make you feel. Just look at any "stylish" movie to get the idea (Fight Club ? Anything by DAvid fincher ? The Alien moveis ? ...)

youpla :-P