Synopsis

  • A casual, 2D, single dynamic game focusing on driving the narrative using dream levels.
  • Platform: PC / Mobile
  • Game Intro: Follow Tim daily life activities through his various dream realms and see how his dreams are impacted by his daily life.
  • Goal: The aim of the game is to obtain the dream soul and pass the portal to the waking world. Which will result in his inner struggles to be resolved.  The dream soul is like a key to opening the door/portal to the waking world.
  • Main Mechanic: The arm launcher which is a robotic hand that launches our character in a dream but turns into a skeleton arm in nightmares.
  • The game is narrative based and uses different dream realm levels to drive the narrative.
  • No one dream is the same and in this game each level is a different dream connected and explained by a short story at the start.
  • Progression: It is level based with difficulty increasing each level. At the end and start of every level the player gets a glimpse of the character’s day.
  • Story Narration: Players are introduced to the character with a cutscene before they enter his dream and play the game. The Cust-scene provides the theme for the dream.

Gameplay

  • The game is one dynamic, and the main control is the hand that functions as a slingshot.
  • Follow Tim life through his dreams as he faces his fears, anxieties, and excitement.
  • At the start of each level, we get a short narrative of how his day went which provides the theme for the dream level.
  • The aim is to help Tim get through the dream back to the waking world in the morning by collecting the dream soul (which acts as the answer to the problem and hence the key to the waking world).
  • If the player fails to do so in three tries Tim wakes up in the middle of the night scared and uncertain.

Themes & Influences

  • Angry birds and its mechanism of slingshot.
  • Use of dream realm to resolve unconscious issues in life.
  • Using dreams to tell a character’s life journey.  characters.

Game Design Outcome

  • This game was created as part of a Game Jam event for which we had 2 weeks. 
  • I had worked with the mentor to come up with the concept, narrative and mechanics at which point I was assigned the programmer Quinte and we started working. 
  • I worked on the artwork as Quinte programmed using Unity. 
  • For the sound I reached out to Richard Wajman who came up with the excellent background theme music. 
  • The game was well received and concept appreciated with many inputs and ideas for future.