Thread: Lucid Dream Game Idea

I like this idea. Back when I wanted to learn game design, I wondered what it would be like to play a game based on lucid dreaming. My idea was a RPG style game where you earn points, level up, gain more dream controll, etc. Your would have a dream guide to teach you how to play and give advice on game elements. Your screen would get blurry under certain circumstances. You could fight, socialize, experience nightmares, and do a bunch of common dream stuff. Just a few things that I think would be cool to have in the game.

Hi.
I completed my deploma in 3d modeling and animation. I havent played with 3d for a couple of years but i think its like riding a bike.
Let me know if i can be of help with modeling side of things. I use (maya)

Sounds good maxy. That would be a big help!

Well I adore the idea of this game, but the only thing I can contribute is imagination. I have yet to achieve a lucid dream, so constantly thinking of ideas for the game would probably help. I think the concept of shared dreaming could help the game greatly. For example: there is a main villain throughout the whole game, but he is very vague and almost never seen. He is rather only mentioned to the main character by other side characters. Every land represents the dreams of one of your friends in the waking world and you must help them overcome a personal problem (it could later be revealed that it had to do more with your problems than theirs). The more you help them, the more you figure out about your villain and the more "powers" you get, which were previously blocked by him. The main villain sends his minions after you and your friends. Close to the end, you find out that the main villain is actually your bad side and the minions were characteristics you needed to overcome. It's a little obvious for a plot twist, but that depends on the presentation. The waking life should be used to show that the main character is an average joe just like you and me - someone people can relate to or find in one of their friends. Waking life should also be used to show the interests and experiences the main character has - they would reflect on the dream world. I also think that it would be nice for the main character to be self-ironic and constantly have monologues in his head to joke about himself and the predicaments he's in - that would freshen up the game. The monologues can be used to reflect on the reaction of your main character to the dream world and help you get under his skin. If there is one thing I've learned from all the stories I've watched/played/read, it's that the story has to be immersive - as long as you achieve that other flaws can be neglected. I was also thinking of 2 types of game modes - sandbox and story. You use clues in sandbox mode to access new parts in the main story. That will be hard to achieve, but it could let the player practice his dream control or just run around free. It will give a feeling that you yourself set the pace of the game (adding bonus missions or collectibles in sandbox mode would further increase that feeling). Think about the time in which the story will develop (now, 10 years ago, a century ago) and the main characters personality (making the personality customizable would be great, but very hard, because it would mean variations in the ways the game develops and such, which mean extra work). There are other things spinning around in my head, but I'll write them when I refine them more.
I apologize for finding out this late about the whole thing. Are there any other things I should follow besides this thread and the idea board? I want to read through everything suggested up until now so I can build upon it. Updates on how things are going would be nice too.

Edit : I also appreciate a good game soundtrack and have plenty downloaded. I can be a "sound-tester" if that is any help at all.

I can't be bothered reading through the whole topic, but I trust someone has already mentioned how just about everyone has suggested, talked about, or tried to be involved in the production of a lucid dream based game.

You'll be better off working on this privately than getting everyone to add their two cents and clutter your focus on what to do.

Originally Posted by Loaf

I can't be bothered reading through the whole topic, but I trust someone has already mentioned how just about everyone has suggested, talked about, or tried to be involved in the production of a lucid dream based game.

You'll be better off working on this privately than getting everyone to add their two cents and clutter your focus on what to do.

There are other games out there loaf. I didn't notice until after I posted this idea. I should have realized that if I think of something,
it is probably already out on the web.

That's what I usually do when I have an idea--go look on the web. Then, if I can't make a million dollars on it, at least I can
buy it without having to bring it to market.

Originally Posted by Rman

Then, if I can't make a million dollars on it, at least I can
buy it without having to bring it to market.

Yeah good luck with that lol.

Hey guys I'm new here, but I have some suggestions on how the game would play out as far as how the main character would become lucid. I think that the character should follow a strict path through the storyline while he is not lucid, but the storyline should include random changes in scenery, like dreams commonly do (and by random I mean using a random function for the time, and another random function to choose a scenery change out of a list of executable events, which can be done in the main game script for you programmers). To become lucid the player could have a certain amount of time to do a RC before the scene completely changes, if they are fast enough in preforming the RC, then they would become lucid and gain lucid powers such as flying, walking through walls (no-clipping), possibly telekinesis, and summoning. Also If you are going to have leveling skills, some skills could be Rcing (leveling this could give you more time to RC before the scene changes), and a skill for each lucid power as well that would give you more control. You could also maybe have some scenes in the waking world as well, kind of like in Assassins Creed. P.S. I like the sandbox idea for when you become lucid.

Originally Posted by v3nge

Hey guys I'm new here, but I have some suggestions on how the game would play out as far as how the main character would become lucid. I think that the character should follow a strict path through the storyline while he is not lucid, but the storyline should include random changes in scenery, like dreams commonly do (and by random I mean using a random function for the time, and another random function to choose a scenery change out of a list of executable events, which can be done in the main game script for you programmers). To become lucid the player could have a certain amount of time to do a RC before the scene completely changes, if they are fast enough in preforming the RC, then they would become lucid and gain lucid powers such as flying, walking through walls (no-clipping), possibly telekinesis, and summoning. Also If you are going to have leveling skills, some skills could be Rcing (leveling this could give you more time to RC before the scene changes), and a skill for each lucid power as well that would give you more control. You could also maybe have some scenes in the waking world as well, kind of like in Assassins Creed. P.S. I like the sandbox idea for when you become lucid.

Thanks for your attention! We are working on some of these concepts. I think you'll like it when it's done.

Thanks again.

I like the Idea, being a bit of a gamer. But I have several fears with this.

-Dreams are so intricate, ever changing and vivid that it would be impossible to recreate many dreams even with the worlds most powerful supercomputers. Computing power doubles every year, and around 2035-ish computers will be as powerful as a human brain. It's possible then, but hard to imagine now.

-A game would only appeal to sight and sound. When I dream, I feel wind, pet kittens, and eat things. games can't replicate that. If you created a VR simulator, than LDing would be useless because the VR simulator would appeal to what you would do while LDing.

-The game would cause people (like me) to have more Screen Veiw Dreams (Dreams of playing video games,watching tv) I want active LDs.

So to the level you may be thinking of; I used to play Spore Galactic Adventures. If you purchase spore, the Galactic adventures expansion pack allows you to create full 3D gameplay without weeks of scripting. All it's missing is the lucidity aspect, but you could still act out dream scenarios such as flying or meeting your dream guide. Now if your looking for a game that would create dreams, everyone has a style of dreams that the game would not replicate. You would not find your dream signs, or the dreams made by the game would be too real or too surreal. But It's and Idea in the right direction.

Originally Posted by Typho

I like the Idea, being a bit of a gamer. But I have several fears with this.

-Dreams are so intricate, ever changing and vivid that it would be impossible to recreate many dreams even with the worlds most powerful supercomputers. Computing power doubles every year, and around 2035-ish computers will be as powerful as a human brain. It's possible then, but hard to imagine now.

-A game would only appeal to sight and sound. When I dream, I feel wind, pet kittens, and eat things. games can't replicate that. If you created a VR simulator, than LDing would be useless because the VR simulator would appeal to what you would do while LDing.

-The game would cause people (like me) to have more Screen Veiw Dreams (Dreams of playing video games,watching tv) I want active LDs.

So to the level you may be thinking of; I used to play Spore Galactic Adventures. If you purchase spore, the Galactic adventures expansion pack allows you to create full 3D gameplay without weeks of scripting. All it's missing is the lucidity aspect, but you could still act out dream scenarios such as flying or meeting your dream guide. Now if your looking for a game that would create dreams, everyone has a style of dreams that the game would not replicate. You would not find your dream signs, or the dreams made by the game would be too real or too surreal. But It's and Idea in the right direction.

Thanks for this post. You certainly seem to know what we are after. I'll have to check into Spore Galactic Adventures; still, I have to trust the team. We are talking about what we want and the programmers seem to be on board, so I feel good about where the game is going.

Curious to see, how are things coming along?

Originally Posted by Shadow27

We are making considerable progress. You simply haven't seen it because
we have moved the discussion to an offsite forum where the volunteers
have room to spread out and get organized. We project a fully completed
title screen by August.

Could you pm me a link of this forum? I would lime to see what's going on.

Originally Posted by dakotahnok

Could you pm me a link of this forum? I would lime to see what's going on.

Last I recall, lime isn't a verb. Don't worry, I know what you meant.

Originally Posted by dakotahnok

Could you pm me a link of this forum? I would lime to see what's going on.

We are basically fleshing out ideas for the game right now--characters, character design, dreams, story, etc...
We all want to agree on the stuff, so it is a lot of tennis right now.

I have a few suggestions, if i'm being rude, don't bother reading the spoiler

Spoiler for Suggestions:

If they game has the element of being like a dream, it should be customizable, like:

1. You should be able to make your own character at least, and maybe other characters and enemies, if wanted

2. You should be able to make dream worlds of different sizes, like one for a single mission or an entire open world of many missions and free roam (a really cool, but simple idea for a dream would be to change the general colours of things, like set the colour of the plants or sky, day or night and things like that to make it dreamlike)

3. To keep it fun, maybe be able to make your own missions, and post them online for others. No difficult programming, just be able to choose the type of mission, (like...get to, rescue, destroy, protect stuff like that) make a space to play the mission or just put it on a place you've already made, put some mission like things in it, to make it harder and stuff like that

4. A simple thing would be triggers, like do a certain event or get somewhere and something happens

Like I said, I apologize if i'm being rude

Originally Posted by Soulnote

I have a few suggestions, if i'm being rude, don't bother reading the spoiler

Spoiler for Suggestions:

If they game has the element of being like a dream, it should be customizable, like:

1. You should be able to make your own character at least, and maybe other characters and enemies, if wanted

2. You should be able to make dream worlds of different sizes, like one for a single mission or an entire open world of many missions and free roam (a really cool, but simple idea for a dream would be to change the general colours of things, like set the colour of the plants or sky, day or night and things like that to make it dreamlike)

3. To keep it fun, maybe be able to make your own missions, and post them online for others. No difficult programming, just be able to choose the type of mission, (like...get to, rescue, destroy, protect stuff like that) make a space to play the mission or just put it on a place you've already made, put some mission like things in it, to make it harder and stuff like that

4. A simple thing would be triggers, like do a certain event or get somewhere and something happens

Like I said, I apologize if i'm being rude

Soulnote,

You sound like me. No, you are not being rude.

I think those are some really good ideas. I'll pass them along giving credit where due.

Thanks Soulnote.

Also on progress, we've decided it will indeed be 3D in C++. I believe we are on the cusp of choosing our engine.. Then we can make quick demos/proofs of concept and begin work on the main aspects of the game.

Hello, everyone! Wow, its been such a long time since I've been to DV! Since my computer shut down, I've had almost 7 Lucid Dreams! All nightmare-free! I'll post them soon... but that's beside the point. I have an idea for your Lucid game: Now please don't think this is a stupid idea, but what if we post all the most scariest, horrible, evil things that were in our most horrible nightmares... and decide which one should be the main villain of your Lucid game! That would be perfect for me, I have like a million nightmares. Each one piling up after the other, each more dreadful than the last... (shivers) lol.
I hope my idea is any use to you!

Mr. PWNGE,

Why don't you throw out a couple of your villains here. I'd like to see one or two. You can just describe them if you can't draw. BTW, I like your avatar.

In case the idea works, I call this method, GILD "Game Induced Lucid Dream."

Hey, are you still looking for volunteers? I think this is a cool idea, and I'd like to try and help out with some art/design-related stuff, though I don't know much about 3D, so I'm not sure how much I could do.

I haven't posted here in forever either.. over 3 years.. wow.

Kitties,

Your help is welcome.

This is the best idea ever. Seriously. I wish I could help out, but I only know a little Visual Basic, which is terrible for games, so I'm not much help there. I screw around in FL studio making little songs and stuff but they always turn out terrible. Plus I doubt I could stick to it (I'm super lazy lol). But good luck guys, I'm really looking forward to seeing the game.