Hello. I''ve noticed that when ideas come up on the forums that are suggestive enough, people just seem to braindump and I''m hoping that may happen in this case. I''m thinking this is relevent to any game in which the character sleeps but it''s probably most open to exploitation in RPG/IF/Adventure type games. Dreaming. A lot of things can happen when you dream, here''s my thoughts for a few of them. Visions and prophecies; albeit a bit contrived, such episodes could further plot, act as hints if a player is stuck, and foreshadow. Nightmares; either reliving horrible things that plague the character''s past, allude to possible, failing outcomes of current plot threads, or revisit parts of the game already completed but maybe with a terrible twist. Another world; here a dreamlands aspect of the character is actually transported to another world in which they could possibly interact. This may be as corperal as allowing the character full movement, combat, etc. or as astract as jumping around to meet with the unconcious of other entities whom meet in the dream world. Now, dreams may be introduced randomly, after plot points, on specific nights (when the stars are right, heh), or they may be induced by taking various drugs, magic, or by being poisoned. So, hopefully that''ll spark some comments for how dreams and dreaming could be further used in game. Obviously, for programming considerations this sort of thing would be easiest to implement as black screen and text; also, such simplicity would make the dreams more adaptable to the game rather than having carefully crafted 3D dreamscapes play through cutscenes. Then again, if the player has control in the dreamworld and the dreams are not just mere narratives, then there would need to be some sort of interface to accomodate them. Another thought I had is that, a la Lovecraft, a character could become progressively more skilled at dreaming and, though at first their experience would be narrative, later they would obtain the abilities to question other dreamers or spirits receptive to the dream world. Another option is that the character could encounter collective unconciousness in the dream world and be made privy to certain historical secrets about the world; this would pretty much be a tool for delivering information about the world''s background which may or may not pertain to the current game plot. I anticipate a debate regarding whether dreams should be cinematic plot concerned devices, or rather just surreal episodes to lend a bit of atmosphere. This is not too important and would depend on the game. What''s more interesting is how dreams could be used in these, and other, functions.

Final Fantasy 8 had dreams as part of the story. While dreaming, they took control of different characters in the past.

For a different idea, how about when you sleep / dream you take control of a different character? Perhaps in some different dimension or perhaps not. But the key would be time passes while in the dream state. Also key would be being able to switch states relatively at will. Coordinating between the two would create interesting gameplay. Imagine this, the main character is being hunted by enemies, his dreamland alter-ego could save him, but to do that his main character has to sleep and be completely vulnerable while controlling his alter-ego.



Jack

There´s actually a bunch of games that have done this... Many of the old adventures, Longest Journey (in a way)...

God, I don''t want this to become another topic where I write a whole essay to explain myself lol.

I think the first thing to think about is what purpose that "dream" component has in the game. It can be used just as a part of the story and to make it interesting (like FF8). Dream can be a part of game system, which is used to, say, increase your stats... like psychochinesis, telepathy etc. There was a isometric horror adventure game on PC (can''t remember the name... Phanta something or rather?? or Sanatorium? something like that) where dream was actually the platform of the game. So making the entire game a dream is also one way to go...

They are all different concepts, though they all involve dreams.

You know Wheel of Time book series by Robert Jordan? Aes Sedai (kinda magicians sort of people) could go into world of dreams, with or without a special artifact, depending on their strength. And often alter the reality by doing so.
I guess more games could use that sort of idea, where one could complete it by partially going into the dream to do certain tasks. Or do everything in dream to finish it. Or do without dreams completely. All depending on how you feel like it. So long as the real world and dream world give distinct features on advantages and disadvantages, this might be an interesting strategic element in a game.

Return to Zork did this as well. Morpheus (the antagonist) would come into your dreams and taunt you. That is, if you remembered to put the luminite on the desk to ward off the pesky Grues.

Use the WriteCoolGame() function
Works every time

um, only a few things to add.

1) Dreams are the most abused plot devices out there. I''m sure we''ve all had the experiance of watching a STV episode, in which voyageur is taken over by aliens, its crew taken to labor camps, and janeway sentenced to death (not that it would be a bad thing). The unlikely hero, Harry Kim, leads a heroic resistence against the aliens, and is just about to save the captain, when the alein assasin almost kills him as he leaps in front of the assasan''s blast, saving the captain but almost difinately killing him.... and.....wakes up. Going through all that emotion and then told is was all a dream is very embittering.

2) The sliding between worlds idea can be really cool, when done well. Robert Jordan''s "World of Dreams", in which one can travel to other places and "look but not touch", and the ability to speak to wolves while asleep are good examples

Dreams are overused, agreed. But as plot twists such as you mentioned. I''d _never_ propose something so passe. I was thinking mainly that dreams could be used to convey information about history about the gameworld via collective unconcious or other dreamers, or be used to relive past game events but perhaps altered in some signifigant way. In fact, dreams could be changed to reveal alternate pathways a player may have taken; a good way to recycle unchosen plot points that have been coded in the game but avoided by the player in lieu of some other option. Of course, everone here is far past simple game design choices such as forcing plotline A, B, C. So I suppose if you have unused game code you''re probably already doing something wrong, nevermind trying to salvage it through dreams.