DreamsCom ’22 – our gigantic community-first games expo, by the way made entirely in Dreams – has now been over a year. It was great to see all our player-created booths on the virtual show floor and interview Dreams developers live on our Twitch channel. So many good things! Who knows? (We. We knew it. Now you too!)
But don’t worry if you missed something, because the show floor is still playable in Dreams! Check it out*, poke around, maybe discover some secrets… We won’t give too much away, but suffice it to say that there are some pretty cool surprises for those of you who hunt for every hidden treasure.
Guess what? All of these amazing creations featured at DreamsCom ’22 are still playable in Dreams today. We’ve selected just a few highlights from this year’s lineup – check them out below. (If you want to see them in action, catch up on our VODs on Twitch and even hear the creators themselves talk about their games!)
Protoland
By Paulo-Lameiras
The Pixel Prince of Dreams returns – this time in 3D. Yes, the creator of Impy-winning side-scrolling shmup Solar Blast has turned its hand to the third dimension and the results are mesmerizing. Against an eerie background – a sky full of stony repeating cloud structures, a nostalgic field of flat green – we cycle through the weapon wheel and shoot drones. Things get even more surreal when we discover that we have the ability to freeze time. We slow everything down to a crawl in areas where we suddenly feel surrounded so we can aim shots better and calculate platform routes faster. It’s clear from these two preview levels that Paulo’s understanding of level design translates well across the dimensions – as diligent secret fighters looking to get the most out of this demo will find out.
deformation
By Orksom
A concept so good it needs no set dressing: in this puzzle platform demo you are physically connected to a corpse. Your goal is to navigate a mysterious coastal bunker, carrying this dead weight (apologies, old bean, but the truth hurts). Still, they’re not completely useless: The gas mask that connects you to the body may be your first clue that your stamina meter is connected to it, so you’re in this together for the long haul. Thanks to some heavy animation and physics, the process of learning to cleverly navigate obstacles and threats while picking up and putting down your limp sidekick is curiously engaging.
Community Garden Showcase
By Nephrendil
Gardens are meaningful places. In a garden, growth is everything, small victories are celebrated and communities come together to share knowledge – even to support themselves. Asset artist Nephrendil has a deep understanding of this, and it’s a sight to behold; they’ve held community asset jams to populate the Dreamiverse with a huge variety of low-thermo (read: easy-on-scene memory limits) flora that anyone can use in their own creations. All entries are presented in interactive showcases that show what is possible when a community nurtures something together. With season one coming to an end and the fruits of everyone’s labor left in full bloom, we’re looking forward to seeing what comes of this.
battlepigz
By FlashMedaillon
They say war never changes, but Battlepigz begs to be different. We would say that seeding an elite unit behind enemy lines, meticulously groomed, is a very different kind of conflict. This real-time tactical shooter also lives up to its concept in this generous demo; there’s an expertly crafted and presented tutorial and three full levels of the 40 promised for the five campaigns in the full release. Anyone familiar with shmup classics like Cannon Fodder will feel right at home in this pig squad – and there’s real tactical depth here, with a variety of ways to delegate your troops and sharpen your approach to each mission.
Spiders have 4 legs
By Pierogi-boi and Phreakerz
Looking like it’s crawled straight out of the indie bestseller category – that creepy, dripping 2D painted art style is to die for – is this QWOP-esque, motion-based challenge. You control the titular four-legged friend by hovering your cursor over its paws and then manually dragging them to the next position. Simple, right? Until you see the fiercely competitive Race leaderboards and realize there are countless ways to optimize your gyroscope-powered skittering to beat your friends’ times.
liminal
By Rammstein53452 and matizzle1
If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past year, it’s that the Community absolutely loves liminality. Endless stairs, empty hallways, strange looking offices… (Okay, that last one isn’t liminal, it’s just Mm Towers on any given Tuesday.) So here’s a concentrated dose of just that. Rammstein53452 and matizzle1 have taken a new approach to this demo for their upcoming psychological survival horror shooter; this is a pleasantly long mill with highlights. Expect everything from apocalyptic orange skies framed in giant glass walls and concrete tunnels, to humanoid forms wrapped in plastic and horrific encounters with faces emerging from the darkness. With accurate audio design and perfect tempo, this bodes well (or maybe a really bad one?) for its planned September release.
*Internet connection required for online play.
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