Dreamers of Dreamons (An Experiment)

A week away from my PC gave me some inspiration for how to streamline this project...

My parents were away on yet another of their holidays last week, and I was tasked with looking after the fussy, needy, poorly-trained dog. As with the previous times this has happened, I used the opportunity to get away from my PC for a bit, because it’d be cruelty to expect the poor animal to spend all day in the prison cell I spend all my own time in.

That meant I had a lot of time just sitting around on my phone, scrolling through Reddit or YouTube. I intended to use the opportunity to do some other stuff I’d been putting off - like replying to messages here or from a handful of people who I’ve been meaning to reply to for weeks or months - but… I don’t know, excuses. Couldn’t focus, something like that. I don’t know.

I did however have some ideas - inspired by what I did with Memody: Sindrel Song - for how I could approach my Dreamons game in a way that makes completion feel more accessible for me. I spent the past three or four days drawing a bunch of concept art for that.

I also spent today writing some overwhelmingly long post on my Patreon in which I blurted out all the art and details at once, like I have in the past… but rather than actually posting it, I’m wondering whether to try something different instead.

Years ago, to tease the development of another project (Divine Dreams, was it?), I posted an image showing silhouettes of character art I’d drawn… but I don’t think I ever posted the revealed art, for whatever reason? I don’t know, it was ages ago. Felt like a shame, though.

So! Here’s a bunch of silhouettes of these character designs I spent the past few days drawing:

Essentially, the revised idea for the game is that you’d be playing as a therapist (or similar) who’d have six clients, or dreamers. You’d meet with one per day, have a first-person one-on-one conversation with them, and then you’d enter into an ‘argument battle’ inside their mind against opponents that reflected what they just talked about. The battles would use the battle system I already have, but they might be more deliberately tactical, even puzzle-like (rather than mindlessly mowing down waves of fodder like in a typical JRPG); the existing mechanics and slowish pace would make this work well, I feel.

Each dreamer would have an associated dreamon, who’d be the embodiment of the issue they’d come to therapy to resolve. Most would serve as the end boss of their dreamer’s narrative arc (with some variation in the formula to keep things interesting).

Maybe the biggest mistake I've made with Dreamons so far is treating it similar to MARDEK, or other JRPGs I've attempted to make in the past: as a vast(ish) fantastical adventure through some imagined world (specifically the Alora Fane setting, or at least some aspect of it). The thought of the scope just feels so overwhelming, though, and progress has stalled as a result.

By contrast, I was able to go from conception to completion with Memody: Sindrel Song within about six months, because its scope was limited to just dialogue scenes and the songs, with a tiny cast of characters and a clear, formulaic structure that kept my creative decisions within reasonable bounds.

The more limited, rather regimented revised gameplay loop I’m imagining for Dreamons is something like this:

• A day would begin, and a client would enter your office and sit in a chair. It’d be first-person; you’d have no visible form. They’d mostly monologue at you a bit, though you might be able to select replies to some questions they ask, with your answers altering the state of the battle that comes after (eg adding buffs, debuffs, or more or different opponents).

• Then, you’d be taken to a preparation screen where you could alter your avatar’s appearance - using skins and body parts acquired from previously bested opponents - and change your equipped skills.

• Then, you’d enter into a battle, using the existing mechanics. Each battle would have its own set characters and would work kind of like a tactical puzzle with an expected strategy and a not-insignificant chance of loss (though no consequences if you did lose; you could simply retry).

• You’d win a skill and the skins and parts of the opponents you faced that you could use to customise your avatar in future battles.

• Repeat.

I’d be doing away completely with any roam-around field sections, which is the biggest reason this feels so much more doable than what I was trying to work with before.

There’d be six or seven weeks, and you’d see each client once per week. Each would have their own character arc, and they’d all develop alongside one another. The clients probably wouldn’t ever interact with one another.

I’m supposed to be working on remaking my website (plus a bunch of other life things…), but I might spend a few days trying to incorporate the ideas I’ve had into the game to see how they feel to play with. While doing that, I’ll post art and descriptions of each of these pairs of characters (dreamer and dreamon) on separate days on my Patreon. I’ve already mostly written these as part of one huge info dump I originally intended to post, but it might be more interesting for everyone if I split it up.

So that’s the experiment! I’ll be curious to see if it’ll help build up interest in the project, both for others and myself.

I might delay those daily Patreon character reveal posts until next Monday. Until then, I’m curious to hear your thoughts, especially about where I should post such things (I want being my patron to feel worthwhile, but I suspect posting on Twitter/X or Bluesky would get more attention). I do read all comments even though I’m terrible at replying!

In the meantime, I’ll work on incorporating these ideas in the game.