Thread: Project Lucid - The Lucid Dreaming Bits!

Hi guys! If you haven't already, check out this thread about Project Lucid.

I realized after posting that I didn't explain the lucid dreaming parts of the game at all. That was a bit daft, right?


So here is a quick breakdown of some of the lucid dreaming (and general dreaming) concepts that I'll be entertaining in Project Lucid. I suspect I am forgetting things though, and things will change, so don't expect things to always be exactly as I say below. Just let me know what you think, this is the most important part! It MUST be a good representation of lucid dreaming. Doesn't need to be exact, but it does need to correlate with what we know about dreaming.


1) The Real World
In Project Lucid, the real world will be set solely in the game character's own house. He is apparently living there himself. He is a practicing lucid dreamer, but he has extra help. With a high-tech lucid dreaming mask, he can not only boost lucidity, but also connect with other dreamers through the Dream Realm (that's where the MMO bit comes in, and will likely be the main attraction).

"Death is the veil which those who live call life; They sleep, and it is lifted". I like this quote because it suggests that sleep is like death. In Project Lucid, the Dream Realm is like a place on a higher plane of existence. In the universe's lore, heaven is in fact a similar place, but on an even higher plane. To be more precise, they exist on higher dimensions. In the lore, they are "real" places, just not physical like we know it, as it's all made of a great consciousness.

The mask which the guy uses sort of helps his brain make sense of all the noise so that his subconscious can make out other people. It is however only an aid and you must still train your character to get better and better in the Dream Realm. When you think about it, it's like practicing for going to heaven!


2) Lucidity Level
Lucidity Level is the rank of a player. It shows how experienced the player is in the game. A player of high Lucidity Level will have gained more control over the Dream Realm and better stats (as explained below).
I know a few people from DV who have a really high Lucidity Level in real life!


3) Stats
Clarity stat will affect how distorted things appear. High clarity will make things look clear and normal. Low clarity will make things look weird/wavy/distorted.

Stability stat will affect how "weird" things are. Low stability will cause things to get very random. Buildings growing or srinking, or just disappearing, or random stories starting and stopping.

But clarity and stability will be easily gained by standing still and looking around, or even by doing:


4) Reality Checks
Yes! There will be reality checks. How could I not put RCs in there. I want to make RCs both part of the game AND potentially help people get into the habit of reality checking, should they wish to use it that way. I don't want it to just be a button you press and the guy does a RC and your stats go up, it needs to genuinely engage you and cause you to think deeply about it.

I can imagine pressing a button to start the RC process, and the character holds his hand in front of his face (and it's a first person game, don't know if I said that already), and you maybe have to click when something weird happens to the hand, as if you're saying "whoa that's weird. that's weird. that's weirder!". Each correct click given causes an increase in clarity and stability and every time you reach full, you gain some points towards your Lucidity Level.

Definitely let me know what you think of this one. I really do not want to do RCs wrong.

I was also thinking, since Reality Checks irl can be pretty much anything, and since RCs can be very personalized things; I'd like the scripting (and possibly the normal crafting) side of Project Lucid to involve RC creation.


5) Dream Guides
The universe involves Dream Guides! These are characters which act like your guardian angels. They are part of you, part of your soul. However, you must find your Dream Guide. Your Dream Guide could take the form of a person, or an animal. That form could change too depending on your game character's personality. Personality is determined from a bunch of things, like how many people you kill, the amount you build, the amount you fly, and all sorts of other data I can easily grab from the game.


6) Dream Stories
I did mention dream stories in my previous thread, but my idea has changed a little bit since then. I am creating an algorithm which will generate randomized stories in Project Lucid. This will take a long time to get right and it probably won't even be ready for pre-alpha release. I do however want it to be included in the alpha release.

But I was thinking recently, "how can I possibly create an algorithm that will create true dream-like stories? I could use AI... but I'd have to write an insane amount of dream story examples for it to work, it's just impossible!"
Now where the heck could I possibly get thousands of dream story examples? Duh! Dreamviews Dream Journals! What if I write my AI algorithm specifically designed to take in data from DV DJs? Do I need permission for this? I don't know, but I'll sure find out.

If I can do it right, I could not only build an AI bot capable of writing a basically unlimited number of unique dream stories, it would also leave me with the ability to add another feature: dream journal importing. It would literally just be a copy-paste of text into the game, and it would tell the AI to create a story based on it. It wouldn't be exactly right, it might not even seem anything like the dream you had, but it would create quality game content, and I think that's a really cool idea. Also if I get permission, I could perhaps add a feature that allows DV members to import their entire DJ into the game.

All stories that are created within Project Lucid will remain in the Dream Realm forever. People will stumble upon these stories randomly as they can appear at any time. I may also let people see all the stories they've discovered, and allow them to replay them.

I really need opinions on this one too! It's going to be really tough to develop so I need to know it's wanted!


7) Dream Signs
It was Heavy Sleeper who came up with this, and even helped develop the idea into a plan. He is my Angel of Dream Signs

Dream Signs, like RCs should be part of the game as a way of gaining clarity and stability, but also give a nice Lucidity Level points bonus. It should also help us lucid dreamers train our minds should we want it to.

Dream Signs will appear by nature of the universe (nature programmed by myself). But basically, every moment that passes in the game has a random chance of a random event happening. There are many many different actions that could happen, but if the same thing happens twice, the game picks up on that and basically tells the system "give me more of that later" by increasing the odds of that thing happening.

There's a bit more to it on the technical side, but in the end, you get events that can recurr. If you notice that something has happened before in your dream, observe that event for as long as the event is happening, and the universe rewards you.

Compare this to real life, when you notice a dream sign, you must pay attention to it to get any real benefit. Also question reality, but having this integral feature in Project Lucid could potentially help train yourself to question things more. Dunno, what do you guys think?