Lucid Flash Game

Hello All, I'm currently in the process of making a lucid dreaming based flash game for my degree (a little bit like a very simplified broken sword) and I would love to hear what ideas you all have. Check out some screenshots here.

http://www.lsmmd.com/lucid/

THE IDEA -

Basically your character starts of in the waking state, you can look around, and check out all the normal point and click stuff - turn lights on and off, taps, look at the computer, turn the TV on play music etc. There will be a control bar where you will be able to choose ot go back to bed. When you do this , you enter a dream stage - these are essentially interludes to the game, which you have very little control over, (check a very first draft of one out here http://www.lsmmd.com/desert.html). When these end you enter the false awakening state - very similar to the waking state except things start to go strange, and this is where the reality checks come in.

Im going to put all of the standard ones in, lights dont work, the cd you play comes out distorted, text changes and is unstable etc. This is where I need your help. If you look at the screenshots you can get a good idea of what can be changed. What could be in the bath in the false awakening stage? what could come out of the taps? What could you see in the mirror? And also, what can I put in just for pure weirdness novelty value?

With everything you notice in the false awakening state, (basically everything you click on), you're virtual lucidity increases, and you get closer to the final stage - the lucid stage, where you get to choose where to go, summon other characters (perhaps others also playing the game online).

I would love to hear any ideas, suggestions, criticisms, and pretty much any opinion on this so far - due to the nature of the game, the possibities are endless, and this is what I'm having difficulty with. I will post the finished results back here in a few weeks time!

Thanks,

Lukas

Looks so damn awsome!!!! :o

About the mirror in the bathroom. Normaly in dreams mirrors are very blury.

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Originally posted by lukas
Hello All, I'm currently in the process of making a lucid dreaming based flash game for my degree (a little bit like a very simplified broken sword) and I would love to hear what ideas you all have. Check out some screenshots here. *

http://www.lsmmd.com/lucid/ *

THE IDEA - *

Basically your character starts of in the waking state, you can look around, and check out all the normal point and click stuff - turn lights on and off, taps, look at the computer, turn the TV on play music etc. There will be a control bar where you will be able to choose ot go back to bed. When you do this , you enter a dream stage - these are essentially interludes to the game, which you have very little control over, (check a very first draft of one out here http://www.lsmmd.com/desert.html). When these end you enter the false awakening state - very similar to the waking state except things start to go strange, and this is where the reality checks come in. *

Im going to put all of the standard ones in, lights dont work, the cd you play comes out distorted, text changes and is unstable etc. This is where I need your help. If you look at the screenshots you can get a good idea of what can be changed. What could be in the bath in the false awakening stage? what could come out of the taps? What could you see in the mirror? And also, what can I put in just for pure weirdness novelty value? *

With everything you notice in the false awakening state, (basically everything you click on), you're virtual lucidity increases, and you get closer to the final stage - the lucid stage, where you get to choose where to go, summon other characters (perhaps others also playing the game online). *

I would love to hear any ideas, suggestions, criticisms, and pretty much any opinion on this so far - due to the nature of the game, the possibities are endless, and this is what I'm having difficulty with. I will post the finished results back here in a few weeks time! *

Thanks, *

Lukas

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Hey there and welcome to the forum!!

I think I really love your game idea, and you know, I am going to probably do something like that in 3d, called Lucity (a city where you can live waking life, but when you go to bed, your character automatically knows he or she is dreaming, and there is a 3rd hidden area [I am not going to say anything more!])
LD video games I love!! :smitten:
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask! :wink:

WOW, I'm impressed :) Can't wait to try this out!

Great screenshots! :D You'd better get top grades for that project!

whoa, righteous...i especially love the very last screenshot...very dreamlike :)

i'll try to think of some ideas and get back to you...

Thanks for all of your feedback!

I am also considering putting some kind of feature in (at least for the prototype/demo) where users who have reached the lucid stage can then some how influence the others who aren't. Also some way that users who are playing the game at the same time can communicate...Like you could play as another person's dream character...any ideas?

nesgirl119 - would be intrigued to know more about what you're thinking of doing? Also you mention LD computer games, are there actually any you know of?

Thanks!

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Originally posted by lukas


nesgirl119 - would be intrigued to know more about what you're thinking of doing? Also you mention LD computer games, are there actually any you know of?

Thanks!

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If you really want to learn more about Lucity, PM me, and I will tell you about my ideas (beware! They are copyrighted!).
Well, they aren't officially LDs, but they do have a lot to do with the dream factor, like Super Mario Bros 2 for example, that new spongebob game coming out for the Rev, and Zelda: Link's Awakening (DSing with the Wind fish and the Dream Shrine). I haven't seen any other ones other than those ones, though.

Wow. Good luck with your game. That sounds really cool. I wish I could play it right now.

Nice.....really nice!! The screenshots look awesome :goodjob:

Hye Lukas! Welcome to the forum :okbyenow:

Game looks and sounds great. It's nice to see that combination of bitmap imagery along with the flat more traditional animation look. It also has just a touch of that "Waking Life" feel to it (not surprising since Flash was used to make the movie!)

I think you're on the right track with it. Have you put together a storyboard for this at all? I think you'll find the assembling part of the process a bit easier if you have something to work off of - some sort of script.

As far as ideas of things to put in the game: there are so many possibilities in dreams as far as characters and objects that there really is no limit. However, I think you could try something like this:
[list]1--Create a scene with basic, empty invironment.
2-- In the environment choose some main objects that 'belong' there (if it's a bathroom, you'd have a tub, sink, mirror, etc).
3-- On these main objects, pick out some "hot spots" where different objects could appear or disappear randomly.You could have a library of movie-clips with code that loads them at random.
[list]
Essentially you'd have a movie clip (tub) with other clips inside them (hot spots) and a counter on the main timeline picking out which clips to load or unload and when.

I can't wait to see how this develops! I've thought about making a game myself but I had trouble with coming up with a concept (and quite honestly, I just have too many other unfinished projects floating about!). Seriously, if you ever need some help with this don't hesitate to PM me -- I do a lot of work with Flash.

Good stuff :wink:

PS-- I've noticed in your sample that the "wind gust" thinggy that comes in when you click on the sun appears to be playing at all times - are you using the opacity to control it's visibility? You might be better off having the clip go to an empty frame or using the _visibility=false code to hide it -- the movie will play a bit smoother if it doesn't have to continuously process that clip.

Tornado joe - thanks for all of the expert advice, I didn't know waking life was made in Flash, what an absolute nightmare! I really haven't put together a storyboard at all for the false awakening and lucid states, that's actually a really good point and I'm an idiot for not doing it!

I also really like the random movieclip loading idea, thats definitely something I will try, even if it's only in a few scenes. As for the wind gust thing, that was just an idea I put in quickly and I actually don't remember how I did it! I think I'll take it out anyway I was just trying out a few visual ideas. Thanks for the offer of help, It's much appreciated and I might well have a few small questions for you in a few days :)

I really dig the graphics! Good Job!

sh***************t this looks goood.... i want more, more!!!!

wooooow


and i want a drool emoticon...

Wow, this looks really great...What's that music playing in the background.

You know what you could put in it is moving shadows or none as dreams don't really have shadows. In my dreams shadows move or they come alive as monsters so you can do that if you want. :-P

nothing else to say
that's WOAH

Thanks again for all yor great ideas!

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Originally posted by kramari
What's that music playing in the background.

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The music is snippets of nitin sawhney, I think the song is called serpents, but it is heavily processed and reversed so it's almost unrecognisable.

Nice, (though the draft had a little bug lol)

I can already see that if you actually finish this it will be great, however I also feel that it will be quite limited in freedom.

However that wouldn't take away that this can still become great :P

p.s: could you post the song (without the processing and reversal) here? (link that is)

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Originally posted by [Alpha
-0mega-]Nice, (though the draft had a little bug lol)

I can already see that if you actually finish this it will be great, however I also feel that it will be quite limited in freedom.

However that wouldn't take away that this can still become great :P

p.s: could you post the song (without the processing and reversal) here? (link that is)

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Yeah I know what you mean about the limited side of it - the way we present stuff is more as a complete concept in the form of a prototype, than a finished working version. This means that I can put a lot of extremely far fetched ideas into the game, without actually having to make them (maybe just making the stills). This is where ideas like the constantly expanding lucid world come in - when the user reaches lucidity, the game should reflect how they can do anything they like. I'm thinking of including some kind of feature where, at the beginning of the game, users make their suggestions of what they would like to do in their dreams (this would be on the computer in the bedroom, on a virtual website like this one) and these are added to a database, and possibly made. I'll find the song and post it up later!

dude, i can't wait....


when do you expect this to be finished?

That is totally awesome. :D Good luck with your project, I'm already looking forward to seeing more of it. :thumbup:

It should be finished in another month, although it's increasingly becoming based around concept and ideas than a playable game! Some bits of it should be playable, but unfortunately the lucid area won't be. (It's quite hard trying to create a limitless world in flash!)

omfg! luv it! are there any more of these games that's finished? cause that sure did wet my apetite

This is f***ing great. Im expetcting it so hard if you dont finish it Im going to hunt you like an animal just to make you pay for playing with my feelings...

Anyway, great idea!

This is a great concept...I'd love to see it finished.

You should check out this little flash animation...could serve as some good inspiration for your dreaming state.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/187874

Anyways...in the false awakening state (just from my experiences) besides the usual lights not working, etc....you can turn the faucets as much as you want, and all you'd hear would be the squeak of the faucets and nothing would come out. When you look in the mirror your image would not only be blurry, but very distorted and a bit frightening. Like someone took the "smudge" tool in photoshop and messed with your reflection. Also, maybe in the FA state...things can just randomly appear beside you...like a person....or insects...but nothing too crazy. One thing I've learned about FAs...sometimes it really is damn hard to tell the difference between that world and being awake.

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Originally posted by Aquanina
This is a great concept...I'd love to see it finished.

You should check out this little flash animation...could serve as some good inspiration for your dreaming state.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/187874

Anyways...in the false awakening state (just from my experiences) besides the usual lights not working, etc....you can turn the faucets as much as you want, and all you'd hear would be the squeak of the faucets and nothing would come out. When you look in the mirror your image would not only be blurry, but very distorted and a bit frightening. Like someone took the "smudge" tool in photoshop and messed with your reflection. Also, maybe in the FA state...things can just randomly appear beside you...like a person....or insects...but nothing too crazy. One thing I've learned about FAs...sometimes it really is damn hard to tell the difference between that world and being awake.

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Hey thanks for some great comments and the link to the animation - it's really nicely stylised in kind of an unusual way. Pretty messed up ending as well!

Jey, Lukas, any news..? (please answer...)

just letting you all know that the demo is pretty much finished, I've now got to make it into something that can be used by people at our final exhibition and do all the annoying things like putting all the help and hints in etc. I should be putting it up in around 3 weeks. Thanks again for all your support, ideas, and comments

:shock:

Ya know, all of my games are pure crap. I try to re make some NES games, and they're still crap. Your game makes mine so... pathetic. To think I was going to put it out when I'm done.

Other than being absolutely demoralized, I can't wait to play that game, looks awesome.

What an AWESOME idea! Be sure to send us a link to the final product. Oh! And th main characters name should be 'sloth' Cus that's the coolest name.

Right - sorry this has taken so long! Basically, the game became my worst enemy, and it started to drive me crazy - it started to become less and less about lucid dreaming and more just a random thing! It's also very very very unfinished, there are a hell of a lot of bugs in it etc, so like I've said before, it's more of a presentation tool that a game. I would love to say that I'd love to finish it but I actually can't stand the site of it anymore!

Still, I got a first for my degree, and I owe that to a lot of you here who have given me your help and ideas, so thankyou!

http://www.lsmmd.com/game.zip (57Mb)

The game runs online, but it's easier for you to download the whole thing otherwise there's a lot of waiting around to do (as opposed to just waiting around for a long time once!)

Open the file game.html.

Also if you want to see how the game would continue after you become lucid (the lucidity bar doesn't work) open the file lotus.swf

Lukas

That was crazy man. The concept has potential.

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Originally Posted by lukas

Also if you want to see how the game would continue after you become lucid (the lucidity bar doesn't work) open the file lotus.swf

[/b]

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Must drag the file from file browser onto the flash object in html page.

that looks awesome i ive gotta say im pretty critical when it comes to games moving on, the whole point and click concept is cool aswell it looks like its going to suit the game but if you want to hear from a legend of videogaming check out david cage's fahrenheit a true masterpiece, of course the finished game wont be anything like that, but it sounds like it has great potential.