Dreams | Live Support Ending

[Moonface]

So this has been making the rounds on the internet today and rightfully so. This is so far the most impressive thing I've seen done with Dreams!

[Moonface]

Someone recreated the Unreal Engine 5 demo in Dreams!

[Moonface]

Okay, so whether you care for Dreams or not is irrelevant here, because this is nothing short of awe inspiring:



This is a full-ass game someone has made here that is so well done you could release this as a standalone title. It did get a trailer but it isn't on YouTube, so here it is from Twitter:

[ShiraNoMai]

Yo that person is HELLA talented, holy shit. It all looks like it feels perfected and very well playtested and thought out. Everything, down to the minor animations and interactions you can have with objects. Mega kudos. Would love to give this a whirl if I could

[Moonface]

Yeah, this is the sort of thing that really shows the true potential of Dreams, but it took this person a year of learning the tools and another year of development to produce that level, which is the biggest downside Dreams has. It isn't like LBP where something amazing can be pumped out in significantly less time so it requires people dedicated enough to spend the time to produce this stuff and it also requires people to be patient enough for gems like this to be made.

I honestly think Dreams needs to be put onto PS+ sooner than later because as much as levels like this are really good, I can't see people wanting to buy the game for the rare chance something this good comes along. It also relies on even knowing something like this has even been released in the game to bother going back to play it, because I wouldn't be booting the game up every so often in the hopes I can even find this, especially if it's like LBP where a lot of the best stuff was never easy to actually find unless you knew where to look.

[Moonface]

Live Service Support for "Dreams" Ending
Media Molecule have announced this morning that live service support for Dreams will be ending on September 1st, 2023. This is due to the developer failing to define a sustainable path for the game going forward.

You’ll continue to be able to play, create and share Dreams with others after September, but we won’t be releasing any more updates to the game or events such as DreamsCom, All Hallows’ Dreams or the Impy Awards.

We do have a few more updates on the way, including the much anticipated Tren, and a significant improvement to animation and our last Create mode update.

We will continue to share and celebrate creations in Dreams with the wider world on our social channels, our streams, Impsider roundups and more. We will be continuing our in-game curation work to make sure the Dreamiverse feels as alive as it always has been, and to surface amazing creations from you, our community, for everyone to enjoy.

Other things of note are that trophies which will no longer be earnable due to the end of live service support will be changed to prevent the Platinum trophy from being inaccessible, and that the promised multiplayer functionality will not be getting added to the game. The full rundown of changes can be read in the release notes linked below:

Source + Full Statement: https://docs.indreams.me/en/whats-happen...ort-update

---

Not surprised to see this happen, since I feel Dreams never really took off. The idea was neat, but I don't know how you make a game appealing to the wider market when there's nothing but a name and premise to pitch in advertising for it. The game doesn't really have a face, mascot, or set visual identity, so marketing the idea/concept is the only consistent thing to pick and I just don't get how you do that in a way to reach the players who aren't getting the game solely for the creation suite. At least LBP had a face, a mascot, and a set visual identity that could be used to market it as an actual game, instead of just asking people to pay $60 for the ability to make stuff. I also think the game was only decently marketed at all when it was in beta and early access, and when it finally launched officially it just shuffled out the door to zero fanfare except from those who were already playing the game.

Sony should have put this onto PS+ ages ago to give it a big boost, although I still think this would have been the inevitable fate for the game. I love LBP but this game didn't really have anything to make me care, and I'm not paying money to gamble that user creations are being made frequently enough and at a decent enough quality to justify the purchase. Almost anything I see made in this game is neat, but it's almost always just a concept demo rather than a fully fleshed out experience, and I don't know why anyone would pay money to play tech demos.

Hopefully Mm dial it back if they go for another creation style game, but I wouldn't be surprised if they move on to doing more games like Tearaway and drop the whole creation side that's made up most of their games until now.

[ShiraNoMai]

...I also think the game was only decently marketed at all when it was in beta and early access, and when it finally launched officially it just shuffled out the door to zero fanfare except from those who were already playing the game.

It wasn't helped that this quietly launched a month prior to the beginning of the pandemic, and the gaming scene was hot on the trails of Doom Eternal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, so it was LONG forgotten. I actually wonder if they had waited a month, if things would've turned out different. Especially if they added more marketing to it, then could've pitched it as a fun thing to do with all your free time at home.

Ah well. Shame this happened, though. Lots of work went into this game, I imagine; for the plugs to get pulled from underneath them on it probably really sucks. At least they've got support onto their next project. I agree though, hoping it's more of the Tearaway direction than the creation-maker side.

[Moonface]

...I also think the game was only decently marketed at all when it was in beta and early access, and when it finally launched officially it just shuffled out the door to zero fanfare except from those who were already playing the game.

It wasn't helped that this quietly launched a month prior to the beginning of the pandemic, and the gaming scene was hot on the trails of Doom Eternal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, so it was LONG forgotten. I actually wonder if they had waited a month, if things would've turned out different. Especially if they added more marketing to it, then could've pitched it as a fun thing to do with all your free time at home.

I think it was also quiet because the game had been talked about for so long everyone forgot it was still in early access, and more attention was brought to the game when it was in early access than when it actually launched officially. It reminds me of the internets reaction to the announcement of Multiversus going away until 2024 so the team can work on it in preparation for the full release following the feedback and lessons learned from its early access state, because everyone believed the game had actually released already and forgot it was actually still in early access. The only difference is Multiversus is going to be notable when it relaunches due to the distinction between its EA period and official launch period, whereas Dreams just quietly switched over with little fanfare.

People saying elsewhere this game would have succeeded more had it been on PC are deluding themselves I think. Why would anyone spend money to use the creation suite of this game and be locked into its ecosystem when you can go grab Unreal Engine for nothing and make something that will get your foot in the door of the game development industry and/or at least let you sell your creation to anyone on any store front you can get it onto. Anything made in Dreams is locked to only those who own it, and I don't see why any PC player would impair themselves in that way if they're into creating stuff.