I have a lasting interest in game creation platforms like this, but also in games as smaller scale experiences. I grew up spending a lot of time with Roblox and the Little Big Planet series, but also with flash games. The possibility of making things yourself, and of other people seeing those things is really cool! Playing other people's little projects, flaws and all, has always felt more intimate to me. I would argue that smaller games make a better case for "games as art" than any big budget M rated drama made to mimic prestige television.
The home of those kinds of games has really shifted over time, though. I don't want to get too negative here, but it's really sad to me to see platforms like have Flash died or how the mobile game market has shifted to prioritize games that are engineered to be addictive and profitable.
To me Dreams represents that long gone world from my adolescence. A place to share what you've made, and to be entertained and inspired by what other people have made. It's incredible the things people have made in it! Some of them are really good and stand separate from the Dreams platform, and others are pretty terrible! Both categories have their place here. It isn't perfect as a platform, and it retains some of the social media type elements that also affected the Little Big Planet series. "Remakes" and fandom content tend to be popular and get perpetuated since they inherently have a wider audience. I might be in the minority here but I find it really interesting to see how the structure of a platform like this can affect the sorts of things people make. I like playing all sorts of things here for that reason alone, regardless of quality! It's a little ecosystem and I find that just as engaging as the actual games. I could talk forever about aspects of the community and the game itself that I find interesting, or even just about specific games, but I'm not very good at writing and there's just too much to cover!
If you're interested in video games as a medium and as a vehicle for self expression, I would highly recommend giving Dreams a shot. It's not doing something new, but it's easily the best of its kind.
The home of those kinds of games has really shifted over time, though. I don't want to get too negative here, but it's really sad to me to see platforms like have Flash died or how the mobile game market has shifted to prioritize games that are engineered to be addictive and profitable.
To me Dreams represents that long gone world from my adolescence. A place to share what you've made, and to be entertained and inspired by what other people have made. It's incredible the things people have made in it! Some of them are really good and stand separate from the Dreams platform, and others are pretty terrible! Both categories have their place here. It isn't perfect as a platform, and it retains some of the social media type elements that also affected the Little Big Planet series. "Remakes" and fandom content tend to be popular and get perpetuated since they inherently have a wider audience. I might be in the minority here but I find it really interesting to see how the structure of a platform like this can affect the sorts of things people make. I like playing all sorts of things here for that reason alone, regardless of quality! It's a little ecosystem and I find that just as engaging as the actual games. I could talk forever about aspects of the community and the game itself that I find interesting, or even just about specific games, but I'm not very good at writing and there's just too much to cover!
If you're interested in video games as a medium and as a vehicle for self expression, I would highly recommend giving Dreams a shot. It's not doing something new, but it's easily the best of its kind.