Hello, my friends! Bedside here. I'm actually REALLY excited to show this game to you all. As some of you know, I'm working on two games at once to prevent burn out. This one is interesting however, and is totally unlike anything I've EVER done. DIMM (or dimm: either all caps or no caps is correct for stylization) is what I like to call a "Plotless-Dream-Puzzle-Epic." Why have I thrust this strange description upon this game, you ask? Well, where do we start?
PLOT
Let's start with the plot. I actually do have my own version of the game's story ready, but I'm not in any way implementing it into the game itself. This is because I wish to welcome players to spin their own tale inside the adventure. The game is set inside the erratic dreamscapes of the player character who is possibly slumbering away in his bed, or trapped in a coma upon a hospital bed, whatever the player believes is true can only be barred by the extent of his or her own imagination. Along the player's journey, they may come across a smiling snowman, or a door leading to nowhere, or a raging fire beneath the surface of water. It's up to the player to decide what this means in correlation to the character's life and/or journey. I'm also toying with the idea of setting up a page for gamers and fans to post their ideas of the game's story. And that's that. Dream, make your own story, done.
GOAL
As the unnamed player, you must guide yourself through a seemingly insurmountable amount of puzzles, games and tests. The player cannot die or lose, (the following "timed idea" is planned to be somehow implemented) however a timer will constantly take note of how long it takes for the individual to pass a full level. As a bit of fun for the gamer, one can use this final time in order to challenge friends to beat their final time. Using only fire axe as your only means of a tool, push, pull, throw, climb, jump, break, or even fall your way to victory!
ORANGES
Here are some nice screens and some more info about the game, or as I like to call them: Oranges.
The game starts here, in the "Dream Living Room." Is this perhaps where our John Doe has fallen asleep?
The puzzles and game is separated by "Dream Rooms." Having the game set in a purported sleep state
has definitely opened up interesting design choices as nothing can ever truly be wrong in a dream."
While some puzzles tickle the brain and require the use of cold, hard wit, there will be some puzzles like
this house of cards that test the player's platforming and hand eye coordination.
OTHER
The game is based off a dream that I had where I was stuck in the white room from the film: The Matrix, and I was left trying to find my way out.
The game's look and feel, either physically or through sound, was inspired by Tim Burton and the Matrix films.
Many of the rooms, while taking inspiration from real rooms from a household, contain "themes," such as a wild west saloon, an under water forest fire, and much more.
As the game is set inside a dream world, this has provided me with a setting where each room does not require many entities, allowing me to often place ten to fifteen rooms a level.
Some puzzles require players to truly think outside of the box, as they are in a dream world.
As a final statement, I would like to say thank you for taking the time to read this big description I've laid here for a project I'm really excited about. However, crafting a puzzle game is troubling as I need to find good testers that can try and attempt to solve all the puzzles and riddles that I have laid about. If anybody is interested in trying and reviewing the game, please leave a comment below and I'll get to you!
Sincerely, BedsideReaper
"I think I'm getting the 'Black Lung,' pop."
"Derrick, you've been down there for one day."
