Dreams

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Dreams Oct 3, 2015 11:32:42 GMT

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Post by Jägerbomber on Oct 3, 2015 11:32:42 GMT

Media Molecule's first live dev diary about Dreams

Unfortunately, it's very choppy, but it's not that important that you watch every moment rather than listen.

However, they do show off behind the scenes of the piano scene from the E3 demo.

Also he shows off the test display where he shows off how the 3D models can become more or less painterly with sliders.

They're also going to be showing off some surprises at Paris Games week at the very end of the month.

Last Edit: Oct 3, 2015 11:32:36 GMT by Jägerbomber

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Dreams Oct 23, 2015 16:25:59 GMT

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Post by Jägerbomber on Oct 23, 2015 16:25:59 GMT

Listening to the new MM livestream.

By the way MMalex is talking about it, the focus between movie and gameplay is actually about the same as LBP, which actually confirms that gameplay is actually a huge part of it rather than it being mostly movies. However, I think it's automatically going to trend to more movie-like stuff than LBP did.

Also, apparently (somehow) links between levels (/Dreams) are a huge thing. I'm still not sure exactly what that means. They're definitely emphasizing sharing your dream pieces and creations between other creators, but I still don't know if just story levels will be the main place where you'll see blatant mixes of dreams.

And, like shown before, you can make your creations and models as "tight" or "loose" as you like - Dreamy or less dreamy. I am curious what the outside borders of the level would look like if you mostly turned down the dreamy part of it. I'd assume you'd have a marked 3D cube or rectangle in create mode with a modifiable "outer space" color. Then you'd fill it in with 2D movable textures (and 3D models) which you can paint (shown previously) and place and angle them how you want. You can make the surroundings however you want, even with no dreaminess. I guess kind of like working in Source Filmmaker... but more intuitive.

He's still not specifically saying how "large" these 3D dream areas can be, but again emphasized links between dreams to make expansive "dreams." Of course LBP has that now. Here's hoping loading times won't be as horrendous this time.

They'll be appearing at Paris Games Week on the 27th, so I'm definitely excited.

Wouldn't it be frickin' amazing if you could actually import 3D models into this from PC?.... NEVER going to happen, but that would be amazing. Of course some people are gonna sculpt models to look like characters we know and such. And some might be really good. Others... I'm sure not so much. icon_lol

Oh damnit... I'm gonna have to buy the "new" Move controller aren't I?... Annoyed that I might be limited in some way with the old one, if they even allow it at all. I bet they won't.

Last Edit: Oct 23, 2015 16:49:21 GMT by Jägerbomber

spaceboy Administrator Posts: 1,088	Dreams Oct 23, 2015 19:09:59 GMT via mobile Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by spaceboy on Oct 23, 2015 19:09:59 GMT I don't remember seeing confirmation of the new Move controller.

Jägerbomber Administrator Posts: 15,692	Dreams Oct 23, 2015 19:14:30 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Jägerbomber on Oct 23, 2015 19:14:30 GMT Is that not a thing yet? I honestly haven't been paying attention to it. As far as I knew, it released already.

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Dreams Oct 25, 2015 17:35:47 GMT

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Post by Jägerbomber on Oct 25, 2015 17:35:47 GMT

Somebody made a better summary since I only caught the end of it.

Below you can read a summary of the info that he provided.

The user interface of the game is being redone in time for Paris Games Week.

The game is being optimized and now it runs faster. The development team shaved off about 30 milliseconds per frame.

The team makes videos for Sony roughly once a month to keep them up to date.

In the Props and Special Effects tray there’s a feature called “hard edge” that lets you model more crisp and precise builds like architecture and spaceships.

The team started transitioning from PC to PS4 about two years ago. Since then, the tools have been improved.

Experimenting with the tools and trying new things yielded much better results than the developers initially expected.

Dreams doesn’t just have sculpting tools. It also has music tools, assembly tools (that let you assemble other people’s builds) and animation tools (that simply let you record what you do on the screen, more details will come at a later time on this).

The first cut of the “Bear Dream” E3 trailer was made in a single day. Everything (excluding the music) from it was captured on a PS4, even if the tools evolved a lot since then. The music was not made in Dreams, but was still created by the same developer that made the trailer.

The “Bear Dream” trailer inspired another developer to build a snow boarding game.

At Paris Games Week we’ll see something that has to do with “people.”

Media Molecule worked “very hard” on the demo that will be shown at Sony’s conference at Paris Games Week. It will be a “big big reveal” of lots of things that they can’t spoil for now.

The Paris Games Week conference is gonna be “epic.” According to Evans. Even if you’re only half interested in Dreams there will bee many more “amazing” games on display. That said, he quickly clarified that he doesn’t really know anything specific about other games. For instance. at E3. developers were backstage and no one was allowed to know what the others were going to show.

Dreams is similar to LittleBigPlanet, but still different. It’s broader and more accessible, but if you know how LBP works you probably have a “head start” on Dreams.

After E3 the folks at Media Molecule have been “coding like crazy.” They “dismantled the whole game.” Artists kept working on the E3 build, while programmers took the entire game and tore it apart, and then slowly pieced ip up together. Finally the artists got the functioning Paris Games Week version of the game only three weeks ago.

Alex Evans is “super proud” of what everyone built for Paris Games Week, but it’s still work in progress. He thinks that in six months they will look back to what they will show at PGW and think that it’s “so minimal.”

At PGW they’re gonna show “a lot,” but they’re still keeping something hidden in their “back pocket.”

Media Molecule still looks at the LittleBitPlanet games for inspiration. They cherry pick the best bits and then re-imagine what they want to be different.

Dreams is not a “movie maker.” You can make movies, and that’s useful to learn the animation tools, but ultimately it’s main purpose is to create games, so it needs logic tools for that.

Talking about memory management, Dreams is about “linking together.” If you run out of space or memory, you can link things together in a way that Evans still can’t explain. Linking things together isn’t just a memory saver, but it’s an “amazing part of the game in itself.”

You can model things very precisely if you want, down to the individual pixel, creating very “tight” models. On the other hand, you can also be very loose, creating more impressionistic models. The variety is quite high between those extremes. “Loose” modeling is easier and good for beginners, while tighter modeling puts the burden of doing a good job more on you, as you can’t hide details. It’s better for those that have already improved their skills or are already good artists.

Man, making a list on these forums sucks butt...

Last Edit: Oct 25, 2015 17:42:41 GMT by Jägerbomber

Jägerbomber Administrator Posts: 15,692	Dreams Oct 28, 2015 0:03:20 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Jägerbomber on Oct 28, 2015 0:03:20 GMT Director's Cut of the Paris Games Week presentation

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Dreams Oct 30, 2015 17:36:09 GMT

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Post by Jägerbomber on Oct 30, 2015 17:36:09 GMT

Rather than using polygons to render 3D objects, Dreams utilizes something called "signed distance field." I've read through an enormous document and watched a half-hour talk on the graphics engine and it's still difficult to break down. The results are easier to convey: It makes in-game assets far smaller, and real-time 3D modeling on the relatively underpowered PS4 a reality. It does this by sending the list of actions used to create an object, rather than the result of those actions. The character model that Ettouney built, which might run into tens or hundreds of megabytes using a traditional polygon system, apparently takes up "less than 50KB" space with the signed-distance field method. As the system is very efficient with storage requirements, it also allows for streaming and collaboration among multiple players with lower bandwidth needs.

They definitely want to do VR, but it'll probably be something they work on after it's released.

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Dreams Oct 30, 2015 22:45:17 GMT

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Post by Jägerbomber on Oct 30, 2015 22:45:17 GMT

Stream

Unfortunately the audio is absolutely awful. And most of it is standing around in the demo world unable to hear what they're saying, but the last third is definitely the best part of it where they really show off the creation tools.

(Stream moved below)

Imp's color has a slight heartbeat
Eye pupils currently change size based on eyebrow angle, which I assume is changed with the triggers, for emotion.
Of course the mouth opens with voice chat. Mouth shape can be drawn with the touchpad.

Ok, interesting... I'm not sure why, but apparently "loose" objects (objects with more painterly effect) use less memory/thermometer than "tight" solid objects. That seems backwards to me... and unfortunate?
You can get a lot bigger than the demonstration levels, but didn't say anything specific.

OMG they actually are letting us export our models for use in 3D editors/3D printing/engines, etc...
I'd assume they still won't allow importing.
But creating something quickly in this and putting in TF2... oh boy....

Still gotta do texture work though I'm sure.

Creating with the wand controllers is really awesome. Really easy to lock the camera's viewpoint and rotation and zoom. Zoom is like zooming on a smartphone... except better because you're doing it with the wands.
Object scaling is awesome and smooth. (I wonder if it has some safety against accidentally losing an object by making it too small.)
There is a grid mode and various guiding modes for rotation and such. Yay!

Some of the creation tools are really cool and trippy-looking. shocked

They managed to make hair with rapidly spinning cubes.... even before they modified it to make it loose.
It's incredible how smoothly these models instantly mash and mold together.

This guy is way too good at this... icon_lol

Single object animation is of course very easy with the wands. Hit record and move it however the heck you want it...

They talked a little bit about making walking animations, though didn't show it. Sounds like it'll be pretty versatile.

Oh man... Needing 2 wands per person now, at least for good creation, is going to be expensive...

They still didn't show the other "games" though...

Some objects could be so heavy you need several players' imps to help move them, similar to LBP.

Game is fully playable with DualShock 4's internal SIXAXIS sensors, adding in the PS4 camera improves tracking accuracy.

Last Edit: Nov 28, 2015 19:26:55 GMT by Jägerbomber

Jägerbomber Administrator Posts: 15,692	Dreams Nov 6, 2015 21:54:55 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Jägerbomber on Nov 6, 2015 21:54:55 GMT Another stream of the incredible creation tools in Dreams. This time the audio is much better. However, the first part is Tearaway, then it's Dreams. (Stream moved below)
	Last Edit: Nov 28, 2015 19:27:18 GMT by Jägerbomber

Jägerbomber Administrator Posts: 15,692	Dreams Nov 9, 2015 16:01:46 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Jägerbomber on Nov 9, 2015 16:01:46 GMT

Jägerbomber Administrator Posts: 15,692	Dreams Nov 19, 2015 5:02:06 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Jägerbomber on Nov 19, 2015 5:02:06 GMT

Jägerbomber Administrator Posts: 15,692	Dreams Nov 20, 2015 16:48:08 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Jägerbomber on Nov 20, 2015 16:48:08 GMT Dreams stream in 20 mins. Right now it's Tearaway. (Stream moved below)
	Last Edit: Nov 28, 2015 19:28:20 GMT by Jägerbomber

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Dreams Nov 20, 2015 17:48:18 GMT

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Post by Jägerbomber on Nov 20, 2015 17:48:18 GMT

Well that was cool once again.

This time they started with an extremely detailed old bird wearing an old fighter pilot outfit standing on a floating piece of grass. Then they built a level or a world around him. Then eventually they put a door that lead them to another mainly empty dream with a really buff bear with huge muscles and tiny legs (because of course). They filled the level up a bit, then placed a previously made house. Inside the 2nd floor was a little guy who was literally an orange sphere with arms and legs. They even accidentally lifted up the hinged roof a bit with the bear's head.

When they took control of the little guy, the camera and field of view zoomed in down inside the house, which was also extremely detailed. Then they walked inside another dream doorway to another dream which was just a row of more dream doors, all leading to one of their random dreams that they've randomly made through testing. They didn't even know which they were going to get. Next was an elephant standing on 2 legs. His design kind of looked very similar to the character designs in Oort Online/Boundless. Kind of Aztec/Road to El Dorado style squared swirls for facial features and ears. Next they walked into one with what looked like a guy in a lizard/dinosaur costume. Then came a mech-type thing, and then that's where they had to cut it off.

Oh, and in the first level they were making, they showed a feature they just added yesterday. Or actually just copy/paste of it. A drainage pipe with I think basically an animated brush stroke to look like it was pouring water out of the pipe (though it was kind of the dreamy style). Or... milk as they said in this case because it was white.

Last Edit: Nov 20, 2015 18:10:16 GMT by Jägerbomber

Jägerbomber Administrator Posts: 15,692	Dreams Nov 28, 2015 19:31:47 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Jägerbomber on Nov 28, 2015 19:31:47 GMT Removing the Twitch streams above to Youtube down here because autoplay sucks.

Jägerbomber Administrator Posts: 15,692	Dreams Dec 7, 2015 17:38:03 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Jägerbomber on Dec 7, 2015 17:38:03 GMT Today's 'special' stream is starting soon on the media_molecule twitch channel, apparently with Double Fine. No comment on if it actually has to do with Dreams.
	Last Edit: Dec 7, 2015 17:52:47 GMT by Jägerbomber