DreamsCom ’22 – our huge community’s first game show, made entirely of Dreams – is now over for another year. It was a blast checking out all of our player-created booths on the virtual exhibit floor and interviewing the Dreams developers live on our Twitch channel. Lots of good stuff! Who knows? (We. We knew. Now so do you!)
However, don’t worry if you miss it, as the show floor is still playable in Dreams! Go explore*, explore around, maybe uncover some secrets… We won’t reveal too much, but suffice it to say that there are some pretty nice surprises in store for those of you hunting. Find all hidden treasures.
And guess? All of these amazing creations featured at DreamsCom ’22 are still playable in Dreams today. We picked just a few highlights from this year’s lineup – check them out below. (If you want to see them in action, you can catch up on our VOD on Twitchand even hear the creators themselves talk about their games!)
Protoland
By Paulo-Lameiras
The Pixel Prince of Dreams returns – this time, in 3D. That’s right, the creator of the winning side-scrolling game, Solar Blast, has turned their direction into the third dimension, and the results are mesmerizing. Against a strange backdrop – a sky with a repeating cloud texture in stone, a flat green field with a nostalgic feel – we spin through the weapon wheel, shooting at the drones . Everything becomes more illusory when we discover we have the ability to freeze time. We slow things down to gather information in areas where we find ourselves suddenly surrounded so we can aim better, calculate faster moving routes. It is clear from these two tasting levels that Paulo’s understanding of level design is also shifting in dimensions – as diligent secret hunters looking to get the most out of this demo will discovery.
Stress
By Orksom
Such a good concept that it doesn’t need to be dressed up: in this puzzle-platformer demo, you’re physically linked to a corpse. Your goal is to navigate a mysterious beachside bunker, all while carrying this deadly weight (sorry, old pea, but the truth hurts). They’re not completely useless, though: the respirator that binds you to your body is probably your first clue that your stamina meter is linked to it, so you’ll be in that’s a long way. Thanks to some weighted physics and animations, the process of learning to intelligently navigate obstacles and threats while picking up and placing your extra floppy is curious.
Showcase Community Garden
By Nephrendil
Gardens are meaningful places. In a garden, growth is everything, small victories are celebrated and communities gather to share knowledge – even to sustain themselves. Property artist Nephrendil has a deep understanding of this, and it’s a pleasure to see; they ran a community content breakdown to get Dreamiverse in with lots of low temperature flora (read: easy scene memory limit) that anyone can use in their own creations . All entries are featured in interactive demonstrations showing what can happen when a community comes together to nurture something. As Season One comes to an end, leaving the fruits of everyone’s labor in full bloom, we’re looking forward to seeing what happens next from the season.
Battlepigz
By FlashMedallion
They say war never changes, but Battlepigz begs to be different. We could say that a team of elites planted behind enemy lines, divided into groups of nine, is a rather different type of conflict. This real-time tactical shooter also lays out its concept in this generous demo; there’s a guide professionally created and presented, and three full levels out of 40 promised in five campaigns in the full release. Anyone familiar with classics like Cannon Fodder will feel at home in this squad of hedgehogs – and there’s real tactical depth here, with a variety of ways to delegate forces and hone your approach to each task.
Spiders have 4 legs
By Pierogi-boi and Phreakerz
It looks as if it’s straight out of indie bestsellers – that creepy, dripping 2D art style is sure to die – is a QWOP-style, motion-based challenge . You control the tetrahedron by hovering the pointer over its pins, then manually dragging each to the next position. Simple, right? Until you see the intensely competitive Race scoreboard, that is, and realize there are countless ways to optimize your gyroscope skateboarding to beat your friends’ time.
Liminal
By Rammstein53452 and matizzle1
If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past year, it’s that CoMmunity absolutely loves vanity. Endless stairs, empty hallways, odd looking offices… (Okay, that’s not nominal, it’s just Mm Tower on any Tuesday.) So here’s a dose of focus. of that. Rammstein53452 and matizzle1 took a new approach to this demo for their upcoming psychological survival – horror shooter; this is a pleasantly varied highlight reel. Expect everything from apocalyptic orange skies framed within giant walls of glass and concrete tunnels, to human forms encased in plastic and gruesome encounters with filled faces. peeking in the dark. With its precise sound design and immediate pacing, this is a good omen (or, perhaps, a very bad omen?) for an expected September release.
*Internet connection required to play online.
