Weird Video Game Dreams
Well, I never have interesting dreams, normally. A lot of my dreams are routines or about work (usually about a class behaving badly). Some are the classic "forgot to do my homework" or "somehow forgot to attend class ALL SEMESTER" dreams. But one thing that has been kinda cool about the whole pregnancy thing is I get to have FEAKIN' SWEET dreams that I NEVER get to have when my hormones are not on overdrive!
I've had dreams about my book characters, dreams about people I haven't seen in years (usually with a cool twist like we are all dressed in Victorian garb or something) fun romps with family members...
But the most interesting dreams I have had have actually been about video games that don't exist but SHOULD. The two dreams I had most recently played out a little like introductions to the game, kinda like the sort you would see at E3 or some other announcement event.
The first one I had a few weeks ago. It was a gritty looking title which had the sort of "hardcore" graphics and edgy grime which would probably impress even the most elitist gamer. But instead of being another typical copycat 3D shooter, this game was more of a problem-solving, adventure/action game.
In this game, instead of being some 1980's action hero special forces reject, you played the part of a special investigator/detective who made it his personal mission to seek out and find kidnapped children. And I'm not talking just ordinary kidnapped children, these are kids who are being held by seriously dangerous criminal organizations who keep them locked in abandoned buildings with armed guards and shit. Just to appeal to the "hardcore" gamer the guy has all kinds of crazy gadgets which he can use to help him find/rescue the kids, but think more "Batman" and less "more/bigger guns = better." The main character is more like an ordinary superhero than military, just a regular guy/cop trying to do the right thing.
The game plays more like a combination of old PC adventure games where you examine things, interact with objects and try to solve puzzles. In between are some action sequences where you have more real-time action, which would probably make the game an odd blend of seemingly opposite elements which may not appeal to traditional "hardcore" or "casual" players but would probably be freaking awesome to people like me who are somewhere in the middle. Just to add to the craziness of the gameplay, the introduction of the game involved the title character landing a helicopter on a neighboring building to where the child was being held. Then he had to navigate the condemned structure to find the trapped child in the basement of the adjoining building. It was filled with peeling paint, rusty metal, concrete, all kinds of nifty atmospheric elements. My dream ended somewhere around when he found the kid and was trying to lead him back out before the criminal organization caught them.
The next game was even better XD This one involved a Nintendo E3 announcement. When the presentation began, they said that they wanted to go back to some little known Famicom franchise and revive it in an unusual way. The video they showed began with a montage of famous NES titles which were known for being breakthroughs in graphics such as Battletoads, Bucky O'Hare, Mega Man 6 and things like that... a lot of late NES titles.
Then the screen faded to a title [which I'm pretty sure my mind invented] that Nintendo made back in the late 80s but only released in Japan. It was some kind of space saga/actionRPG/shooter/spacebattle game, with surprisingly nice 8-bit graphics of large destroyer style ships and anime dudes. Kinda like the NES Japanese game "Jesus Kyoufu no Bio Monster"* but with action gameplay more akin to arcade style shooters or the infamous "Zero Wing" on Sega Genesis.
Then the screen faded to black and these words splashed across the screen: "The game was a moderate success. But one thing was missing... YOU!" and then it goes back to an 8-bit nostalgia reworking of the title for the Wii U. But now the main character is in love with "you" (i.e. you are his girlfriend/boyfriend that he always talks about and you serve as his inspiration/motivation). You kinda watch over him in the 3rd person or possibly as someone who is more like a spirit guide in that you are not "actually" present when events unfold but you are aware of them. But the kickass part was, he now responds to things you say/do while the game is in progress using the Wii U Gamepad mic.
So, for example, if something bad happens he would respond to your wailing into the mic. Or if he's about to do something and you want/don't want him to do it,, he will listen for a "yes" or "no" from your end and your spontaneous response would actually alter the course of the game! In other words, the game responds to your emotional responses to it, and your emotional connection changes the course of action! It was SO BAD ASSED!
I told my programmer brother about the two dreams and he thought I should write them down ^_^; He said they sound like the kinds of ideas he wishes he could pursue but he can never figure out how to do it, or how to get the resources together to do something like it (he's usually a team of 1 so that makes life hard ^^; )
Anyhow, I just thought I'd share them :)
*"Jesus Kyoufu no Bio Monster" is a Japan only NES title which was a space adventure game. It's one of those games where you just flip through menus to progress the story, such as choosing to talk to people, give them items etc. I never played it all the way through. This was mostly because when I first saw the thing online years ago, it was in Japanese only and we clicked blindly through the menus until something happened. (Which isn't a good way to play a largely text based adventure/story game). Since then, someone has kindly translated this 80's anime style gem and you can now easily get a patched ROM online. Someday, I may actually play the thing for real XD
I've had dreams about my book characters, dreams about people I haven't seen in years (usually with a cool twist like we are all dressed in Victorian garb or something) fun romps with family members...
But the most interesting dreams I have had have actually been about video games that don't exist but SHOULD. The two dreams I had most recently played out a little like introductions to the game, kinda like the sort you would see at E3 or some other announcement event.
The first one I had a few weeks ago. It was a gritty looking title which had the sort of "hardcore" graphics and edgy grime which would probably impress even the most elitist gamer. But instead of being another typical copycat 3D shooter, this game was more of a problem-solving, adventure/action game.
In this game, instead of being some 1980's action hero special forces reject, you played the part of a special investigator/detective who made it his personal mission to seek out and find kidnapped children. And I'm not talking just ordinary kidnapped children, these are kids who are being held by seriously dangerous criminal organizations who keep them locked in abandoned buildings with armed guards and shit. Just to appeal to the "hardcore" gamer the guy has all kinds of crazy gadgets which he can use to help him find/rescue the kids, but think more "Batman" and less "more/bigger guns = better." The main character is more like an ordinary superhero than military, just a regular guy/cop trying to do the right thing.
The game plays more like a combination of old PC adventure games where you examine things, interact with objects and try to solve puzzles. In between are some action sequences where you have more real-time action, which would probably make the game an odd blend of seemingly opposite elements which may not appeal to traditional "hardcore" or "casual" players but would probably be freaking awesome to people like me who are somewhere in the middle. Just to add to the craziness of the gameplay, the introduction of the game involved the title character landing a helicopter on a neighboring building to where the child was being held. Then he had to navigate the condemned structure to find the trapped child in the basement of the adjoining building. It was filled with peeling paint, rusty metal, concrete, all kinds of nifty atmospheric elements. My dream ended somewhere around when he found the kid and was trying to lead him back out before the criminal organization caught them.
The next game was even better XD This one involved a Nintendo E3 announcement. When the presentation began, they said that they wanted to go back to some little known Famicom franchise and revive it in an unusual way. The video they showed began with a montage of famous NES titles which were known for being breakthroughs in graphics such as Battletoads, Bucky O'Hare, Mega Man 6 and things like that... a lot of late NES titles.
Then the screen faded to a title [which I'm pretty sure my mind invented] that Nintendo made back in the late 80s but only released in Japan. It was some kind of space saga/actionRPG/shooter/spacebattle game, with surprisingly nice 8-bit graphics of large destroyer style ships and anime dudes. Kinda like the NES Japanese game "Jesus Kyoufu no Bio Monster"* but with action gameplay more akin to arcade style shooters or the infamous "Zero Wing" on Sega Genesis.
Then the screen faded to black and these words splashed across the screen: "The game was a moderate success. But one thing was missing... YOU!" and then it goes back to an 8-bit nostalgia reworking of the title for the Wii U. But now the main character is in love with "you" (i.e. you are his girlfriend/boyfriend that he always talks about and you serve as his inspiration/motivation). You kinda watch over him in the 3rd person or possibly as someone who is more like a spirit guide in that you are not "actually" present when events unfold but you are aware of them. But the kickass part was, he now responds to things you say/do while the game is in progress using the Wii U Gamepad mic.
So, for example, if something bad happens he would respond to your wailing into the mic. Or if he's about to do something and you want/don't want him to do it,, he will listen for a "yes" or "no" from your end and your spontaneous response would actually alter the course of the game! In other words, the game responds to your emotional responses to it, and your emotional connection changes the course of action! It was SO BAD ASSED!
I told my programmer brother about the two dreams and he thought I should write them down ^_^; He said they sound like the kinds of ideas he wishes he could pursue but he can never figure out how to do it, or how to get the resources together to do something like it (he's usually a team of 1 so that makes life hard ^^; )
Anyhow, I just thought I'd share them :)
*"Jesus Kyoufu no Bio Monster" is a Japan only NES title which was a space adventure game. It's one of those games where you just flip through menus to progress the story, such as choosing to talk to people, give them items etc. I never played it all the way through. This was mostly because when I first saw the thing online years ago, it was in Japanese only and we clicked blindly through the menus until something happened. (Which isn't a good way to play a largely text based adventure/story game). Since then, someone has kindly translated this 80's anime style gem and you can now easily get a patched ROM online. Someday, I may actually play the thing for real XD