The sad failures and glorious successes of PlayStation Dreams – Feature

Dreams – the reality was never quite what it could’ve been (pic: Sony)

A reader looks back at PS4 game creation tool Dreams and examines why it didn’t have as much of an impact on gaming as it deserved to.

For me, it was Ron Rosen’s game Mr Robot And His Robot Factory. Released in the early years of microcomputing, it was easily identifiable as a platform game. The cool aspect was that it let you design your own levels. People have talked about that breathtaking experience when what you tapped on the keyboard, or how you moved a joystick, affected something on your telly. I gather it’s this notion that inspired the pioneers of video game consoles. Mr Robot went further, albeit in a basic way, by giving you some control over the nature of the game itself.

Mr Robot was not a complete anomaly. Level designers would also be found in Boulder Dash Construction Kit. Or the motorcycle game KikStart 2. The trend continues in the modern day, with people allowed to make their own Doom levels or engage with Super Mario Maker.

There is a step up from level making. It involves designing the logic, gameplay, and possibly other elements. That is, creating your own computer game. To do this, in the eighties, you’d probably need to indulge in the horrors of machine code or assembly language. Or hope that someone would release a package that lets you generate your own games. There were attempts to let enthusiasts do just this. For fans of shooting sprites, you were given Shoot ‘Em-Up Construction Kit. Those with a more narrative inclination could try out The Quill or Graphic Adventure Creator (GAC).

The developers of GAC were Incentive Software. They would produce some of the early 3D games for home computers of the era, such as Castle Master. While today their Freescape system can be seen as offering you the chance to lurch around a fairly mediocre landscape, it has to be judged by what was possible at the time. More importantly, they would release their system to the public to produce their own inventions. In 1991, through the publisher DoMark, you could get your hands on 3D Construction Kit.

The idea of creating a 3D playground is pretty close to Media Molecule’s Dreams. In both cases, they are ambitious attempts to give the user some real manipulative power over what goes on in their computer or console. Dreams is unarguably bigger, better, and smoother.

With the upcoming withdrawal of further support for Media Molecule’s creation system, I thought it might be appropriate to offer a few comments and personal experiences related to Dreams. For those who don’t know, it was an attempt to offer console owners a creative multi-feature studio – from creating 3D objects, music and animations, to games or even educational tools.

Despite the apparent keenness of one Sony employee, talking of a 10-year plan for the title, it seemed that this was not a set-in-stone and hotly pursued strategy approved by Sony. If it was, they certainly made a hash of it. In fairness, I agree with critics who argue the developers themselves made a major misstep by not including an extensive enjoyable game within the package itself.

As the argument goes, it worked well for LittleBigPlanet and it could have really helped out Dreams. Yes, we did get Art’s Dream from the developers quite some time later, but Media Molecule’s post-release mini-adventure was a classic example of too little, too late.

One of the reasons commentators have suggested Dreams didn’t achieve massive success is because being all-powerful results in complexity. Alternative game making software might not be as powerful but entails a less formidable amount of learning. Anyone with grand ambitions who opted for Media Molecule’s latest release will realise that creating even a fairly sophisticated game takes a lot of graft.

Somewhat ironically, this very issue of performance versus ease of use was related in the opening paragraph of a review of the Amiga version of 3D Construction Kit (The One for Amiga Games, June 1991): ‘The trouble with DIY games packages is that usually they either require the user to have the brains of Einstein, or they’re simple to use but incapable of creating anything worth playing.’ The reviewer goes on to suggest that 3D Construction Kit and the earlier GAC doesn’t fall into this trap. It might well be said that Dreams does fall into the former category of this dilemma.

Another key problem with Dreams, which was an issue its developer had considering addressing, is its mediocre export options. Once you create your project, you can only share it with people who own Dreams. Even royalty free, you can’t produce a standalone version if any interactivity is involved. Using the PlayStation Share feature, you might be able to export screenshots and animations to Twitter or YouTube, but that’s it. In contrast, some of the retro titles I’ve mentioned let you save out your projects for anyone else to indulge in. Assuming they owned a compatible computer.

But let’s look at some of the positives of this innovative piece of kit. Although a minor point, it’s fair to say that this was a laudable achievement, with the team genuinely wanting people to explore their artistic impulses. Some projects don’t achieve greatness because they don’t deserve to. That isn’t so much the case with Dreams.

A while ago, it was claimed that a user of Dreams was offered employment by a software company. It’s unlikely their current profession will involve a bespoke piece of console software but it was Dreams that highlighted their abilities. Part of the aim of Dreams was that people without expensive PCs and a myriad of software packages may have been inspired to play around with a range of creative endeavours, from music to animation.

Media Molecule’s product is certainly a finance friendly way of testing the waters. In comparison, the aforementioned 3D Construction Kit would have vaporised about £50 from your bank account. That was back in the early 1990s, so I’m assuming that an inflation adjusted estimate would be even more scary! No wonder Amiga Format, while giving it a high score, did comment that it was ‘a touch expensive.’

Of course, Media Molecule might have preferred people didn’t use Dreams just as a stepping stone. I still hope they take comfort from the fact that even if their product wasn’t a spectacular commercial success, if only a few people have been motivated through their time with it to enter the industry that’s still a pretty cool thing.

You can make anything in Dreams (pic: Robert Pomfret)

In the future, something along the lines of Dreams can work if it is hierarchical in difficulty. Imagine at a basic level being able to just spawn your appropriate monsters, pick-ups and platforms. At another tier, one can edit the nature of the graphics themselves. And at some other level, maybe the logic itself is up for tampering. The point is that perhaps an ideal game creation system offers different points of entry.

For some, it’s fun enough just creating cute new levels with pre-set objects. For others, who wish to try, it can offer something more challenging. Just make sure you package the whole thing with a full-length enjoyable game, so no-one experiences buyers’ remorse.

Dreams did allow you to import other users’ creations for use in your own game world. And, in fairness, the company somewhat gradually introduced `templates’ for particular game genres. But rather like Art’s Dream, it felt somewhat basic.

This article has spent some time offering an overview of Dreams that is a little impersonal. So, I hope you’ll let me conclude with my own experiences of using this product. I’m sad to see its support wane, but I don’t regret buying it. This is because it re-affirmed something I like to believe but can sometimes feel like just a pleasant thought: with practice, you can achieve things you weren’t really sure you were capable of.

My first encounter with Dreams involved at least a tinge of disappointment. The introductory scenes and tasks were a little too child-friendly. I spent a fair bit of time getting through the initial tutorial tasks. It wasn’t particularly difficult. Yet, when I set about making my own graphics, I was pretty hopeless. Maybe Dreams was just a bit rubbish? I couldn’t use this attribution for my failure, because others were clearly making impressive experiences with it.

Looks good enough to eat (pic: Robert Pomfret)

It probably took me two or three weeks, working on and off, to start getting the hang of things. The tutorials had taught various tools but realising why I really need to use the grid for alignment, or alter the basic shape forms before using them, took me an embarrassingly long time. In the very early stages I probably struggled even to create a realistic looking floppy disk. But, with a fair bit of work, I ended up creating a reasonably convincing replica of the 1980s BBC Micro. Not perfect, but pretty good for someone whose potential graphical talents had been almost erased from their genome.

Some creations just didn’t work out. Others were not too bad. Anyone who follows Dreams will have heard of designer John Beech’s stunning breakfast creation. Well, my own efforts at digital diets were less amazing. That said, it’s still beyond anything a visually illiterate person such as myself imagined they could do.

Dreams has probably been one of the most novel creative experiences I’ve been provided with. I didn’t remotely achieve everything I wanted from the platform, largely due to lack of effort. Media Molecule’s tool taught me the value of patience and not to discount my potential without at least giving something a good go.

It showed me that someone without any history of art achievement could improve and do something they’re pleased with. No, it didn’t make me a professional artist, but it suggested there might be more ability lurking in my psyche than I had previously shown. For this, I’m very grateful.

By reader Robert Pomfret

The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

A reader looks back at PS4 game creation tool Dreams and examines why it didn’t have as much of an impact on gaming as it deserved to.