The Dream Machine (it's an adventure game)

edited November 2011 in General Chat
It's pretty nice. Think Grim Fandango meets Wallace and Gromit or something.

There’s nothing else out there that looks like this game, and there’s precious little out there that plays like it. It’s a real treat. - RockPaperShotgun

this game is gay I don't even know what I'm trying to do
- SHODANFreeman


drea2.jpg

Play it here
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Comments

  • edited January 2011
    Is it from New Zealand?
  • edited January 2011
    taumel wrote: »
    Is it from New Zealand?

    lmao, no. It's not underrated enough
  • edited January 2011
    Okay, i just wanted to be sure. Then i can give it a try. I already had my beer ready, just in case.
  • edited January 2011
    Trih-pah! :D
  • edited January 2011
    It's another great point&click adventure with puzzles which are not targeted at Palin voters and it even is crossplatform available, bought.
  • JenniferJennifer Moderator
    edited January 2011
    I just played the first chapter. That was great! :)

    I love the art style. I love the story so far. I love the atmosphere. I want to see how it ends. I just hope they're able to make their deadlines for releases of the next three chapters.
  • edited January 2011
    Wow...this game is...well it's weird...and lol @ Shodan.
  • edited January 2011
    That seems really nice so far, beautiful animation.
  • edited January 2011
    It's a great adventure! Beautiful, different, interesting, finally something you don't need to feel ashamed playing as an adult. More realistic and still interesting problems instead of the pseudo crap they normally want you to care about. I dislike that i can't download and more own the game but the game is winning me on the other aspects so that i bite into this sour apple.

    Interesting characters, thoughts and dialogues, puzzle design so far is good but also not very good as well. The game just wins on the adult aspect, the style and the atmosphere. I'm very happy that thanks to the different development technologies and the digital distribution small indies get their chances and come up with such great adventures.

    In my opinion this and other games also illustrate how TTG is wasting all their ressources others could only dream of and somehow manage to come up with worse games with each release.

    Anyway back to the game, if you can get over the fact that you have to play it online, i recommend buying it, it's a great experience and also illustrates a better episodic gaming. The game is cheaper (€14) than a TTG season but also offers less content/playing time compared to pre BTTF episodes.

    So far a 9/10.
  • edited January 2011
    tdm1.jpg
    tdm2p.jpg
    tdma.jpg
  • edited January 2011
    Wow. Those screens are... wow. Why aren't there more claymation games!? (besides the obscene amount of work that goes into them...)
  • edited January 2011
    Not only this, it also has a good story.
  • edited January 2011
    Yeah, I finished the free chapter, and I'm hugely impressed. The dissonance between the beautiful graphics and the (understandably) cheap-feeling interface and animation is a bit jarring, but the writing and music are great, and the puzzles seem solid.

    I'll likely wait for a downloadable copy of the rest of the game, though. I don't much care for how uneven the performance is in the browser.
  • edited January 2011
    The second chapter is better, creepier, longer and features better puzzles than the first one, oh and it ends with a cliffhanger. From there on you probably know what to expect. I doubt that you'll see it as a download in the near future because they will first have to release all chapters. Maybe if they alter their policy and they will be ready until then, it could end up in a Humble Bundle #3?

    But honestly it worked perfectly in the browser for me. I had zero glitches, you get an account, login with it, it gets streamed in the background, save&load your games, it just works.

    For this price and the quality experience i didn't want to miss it right now as well as i wanted to support them. The inventory is minimalistic but honestly it worked better than what BTTF offered and it gets the job done. The story/characters evolve and the atmosphere is brilliant.

    The best adventure since Machinarium.

    Thanks @JedExodus for bringing it up and @New Zealand for not beeing involved.
  • edited January 2011
    Well, that was interesting. A good little game, but not quite for me. I wish the makers every success with this, it should do well.

    And if anyone's stuck on the circuit breaker puzzle, here's a hint:
    go through as few resistors as possible.
  • edited January 2011
    taumel wrote: »
    Things

    Fair points. Maybe I'll nab it earlier anyway, since letting the plot simmer in my head for awhile has made me somewhat anxious to find out where they're going with this. I've certainly spent a lot more on a lot less deserving.

    One nice thing about it being distributed the way it is: it makes piracy pretty much impossible.
  • edited January 2011
    Well, you could spread your login, investigate your browser cache and redirect absolute links, ..., so never say never.

    But i understand this, i also hestitated to buy the game due to the online only version but as i was playing the game i completely forgot about it and i expect them to put the files on their servers at some point when things cooled down anyway, may it be for the customers or a bundle, who knows.

    It just doesn't make sense to complain about TTG all the time and then when something better/different shows up not to support it, so i hit the purchase button and i haven't regret it. The only problem is that i'm now excited for chapter 3. :O)
  • edited January 2011
    taumel wrote: »
    Thanks @JedExodus for bringing it up

    It is my duty to serve you citizen
  • edited January 2011
    Your majesty?
  • edited January 2011
    taumel wrote: »
    Interesting characters, thoughts and dialogues, puzzle design so far is good but also not very good as well. The game just wins on the adult aspect, the style and the atmosphere.

    If you haven't played it already, there's a puzzle in Chapter 2 that had me jumping with joy as I grabbed a pen and paper as I realised the solution. :D
  • puzzleboxpuzzlebox Telltale Alumni
    edited January 2011
    taumel wrote: »
    if you can get over the fact that you have to play it online

    I was going to save it to play on a long flight... guess not. :(

    Looks beautiful though - I love the handmade quality. Will definitely check it out.
  • edited January 2011
    @JedExodus
    I had a hard time figuring out how to open up the safe. And this was a good puzzle in my opinion, i enjoyed it a lot.

    @puzzlebox
    Yep it sadly isn't optimal for such situations, although i'm not sure if you can stream upfront a whole chapter to axe downloads during gameplay but in reality chances are big that something will go wrong, Murphy's law.
  • edited January 2011
    @JedExodus
    So, how far art thou?
  • edited January 2011
    Oh i've cleared it all. Sat some time aside to do it last night. Waiting on the next few chapters is gonna be pretty gruelling. I really wanna know what happens next :(

    I loved everything about it, it's tone, it's art, the puzzles, everything. I don't think i've played an adventure game that excited me this much since The Longest Journey.

    I could wax lyrical about it all day, but I gotta go pretty myself up for work.

    If we're the demographic that Telltale's aiming for then they should play this thing and take a few notes, if not then bull on with things the way they're doing them. It seems to be working for them so far to say the least
  • edited January 2011
    What they could improve in my opinion are the puzzles, whilst they are good, they just lack this extra kick the graphics offer. I've sent them an email and asked for an rough estimation, let's see what happens. Whilst i was browsing their website, i think i saw a few screen about the next chapter which seems to play on a boat trip or so.

    I think they've told me already that at least i'm not part of the TTG demographics so i doubt it, not unless there will be some more serious revolution at TTG. What otherwise was stopping them until now?
  • edited January 2011
    I got an answer and they say that they are looking into the subject offering a offline version as well, although nothing has been decided yet.

    In my opinion this sounds like that at some point you'll see it offline as well. Personally i can life with a business model like that it's online for a hot anti piracy/maturing phase and after that available as a download, most of the time.

    They are hoping to release chapter 3 by the end of march with a development time of roughly three months for each release.
  • edited January 2011
    Oh nice one, thanks for the detective work Taumel :)

    If the next episode/chapter's March/April It shouldn't be too bad a wait at all :)
  • edited January 2011
    Well, i think you have to let things go in the meantime and once it's done be happily surprised. Otherwise three months are a long time to wait but better this way with hopefully convincing results again. :O)

    Kaptain Brawe was good already but The Dream Machine is very good.

    Btw have you heard about Gemini Rue? It sounds good from the story. Although i don't mind simple graphics at all, i dislike the style of it but if the rest is as convincing as they say...
  • edited January 2011
    I must admit, I wasn't overly impressed by the game. Graphcis are nice - and Morton looks like he's straight out of Grim Fandango if that was claymation.

    The puzzles weren't particularly clever or fun, and the characters were generally not very interesting. The atmosphere reminded me a bit of Dreamweb, which is a game I love. The Dream Machine isn't quite as dark though. I would like to play more of it eventually, but right I just started playing Machinarium for the first time. What a charming game that is.

    And I'm really looking forward to trying out Gemini Rue. It looks like a mix between Beneath a Steel Sky and Flashback.
  • edited January 2011
    Did you play chapter 2 already?
  • edited January 2011
    I haven't bought the series, so I can't play chapter 2. I'm not going to spend money on a series I'm not sure about, especially when there's so much else I want to play first.
  • edited January 2011
    Okay, i just was wondering because the points you've mentioned are a lot better in chapter 2 than in chapter 1, so i would have been surprised by your critics after you played chapter 2 as well.
  • edited January 2011
    Yeah, I know, maybe I'll pick it up when it's on sale. If it ever goes on sale. If they decide to release an offline version, I might opt for that instead too.
  • edited January 2011
    On sale?

    Uhm you can buy/play chapter 1 and 2 right now and i would be surprised if you don't get the offline version once one might be ready then as well, everything else just doesn't make sense. But you're free not to like/buy it, i just was confused by what you wrote.

    Another thing, did anyone play 999? I just sneaked a bit into a video of it and i'm not sure if i like it or not. I guess i do have some problems beeing fond of the reading and interacting switch.
  • edited January 2011
    taumel wrote: »
    On sale?

    Uhm you can buy/play chapter 1 and 2 right now and i would be surprised if you don't get the offline version once one might be ready then as well, everything else just doesn't make sense. But you're free not to like/buy it, i just was confused by what you wrote.

    Another thing, did anyone play 999? I just sneaked a bit into a video of it and i'm not sure if i like it or not. I guess i do have some problems beeing fond of the reading and interacting switch.

    On sale as in, when there's a deal for it at a reduced price.
  • edited January 2011
    You mean like the currently offered 20% off deal?

    I agree, it's a little bit hidden as it's only on their front page. Somehow they really don't want you to know.

    20pa.jpg
  • edited January 2011
    taumel wrote: »
    You mean like the currently offered 20% off deal?

    I agree, it's a little bit hidden as it's only on their front page. They really don't want you to know.

    In fairness, it's still a bit of an asking price for something that you don't know for certain will get finished. It looks prohibitvely expensive to make with low returns
  • edited January 2011
    2.75€ per episode, including taxes.

    That's a lot for you, for a non mainstream hand crafted game of this quality in a non mainstream genre? We definately have different opinions on what's expensive.
  • edited January 2011
    If it were a lot for me I wouldn't have bought it.

    Just that there's no certainty in it being finished so some people might wanna hold on to their money and sit tight
  • edited January 2011
    Why do you think it's uncertain that the game will be finished?
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