Dreams, the creative suite video game maker by LittleBigPlanet and Tearaway developer Media Molecule, isn’t technically even out on PlayStation 4 yet (it’s in an “early access” state, but is still something you have to pay for. What are words anymore?), but there’s a hope within the studio that games made in it could be on devices other than the console some day .
Gameindustry.biz reports Media Molecule co-founder Kareem Ettouney said at a View Conference panel that the company wants the creations people make in Dreams to possibly be ported over to other consoles and devices, and that it’s actively looking into making that…dream a reality. At the moment the hurdle the studio has to get over is making it possible to export games made, but right now anything created in Dreams is considered the property of the creator, not Media Molecule or Sony, so some of the legality is already out of the way.
“The very limited exporting features the moment are like exporting a video, but we have in the long-term [plans for] exporting a standalone game outside of Dreams entirely — exporting to other devices and beyond,” Ettouney said. “But step one is to show our intent — so that from the very beginning we are doing this commercial concept, which means that everything you do in Dreams is yours. You can use it. People in the Dreams community have already been using it to make graphic design, album covers and stuff like that. Using it for their portfolios and showreels.”
This is all in the hopes of ensuring Dreams has a long lifespan and could become more than just a novelty, but instead lead to things like game designers using it to bolster portfolios and find jobs within the industry. However, Ettouney stressed this is only possible if the community grows. Basically, Dreams has to catch on before any of these…dreams can come true.
“Our goal for Dreams is to last for 20 years, and keep expanding it and keep adding to it and keep improving it,” Ettouney said. “But most of the PlayStation model is designed for a game to come out, it hits the market, and it makes most of its returns in the first week, y’know? If it’s a big game, it survives for maybe two or three sequels. “We need to reach [an audience] and then grow. But it’s definitely in our dreams to do Pro versions that are expanded. It just depends on a lot of things working out for us.”
It would be interesting to see Dreams become a player in game development, and it seems achievable with what Media Molecule gives players who really dig into what it has to offer. Right now the tools available in Dreams are kind of staggering. People have made things from a wide variety of genres, even recreating games (snooze ya lose, Square-Enix) and segments with the tools. In some wilder cases, people have even used it to make non-game things, like music:
