Review Fix Exclusive: Inside ‘Dream Alone’

Review Fix chats with Game Designer at WarSaw Games, Pawel Bragoszewski, who discusses the development process and goals for the cool new black and white platformer, “Dream Alone.”

Review Fix: How was this game born?

Pawel Bragoszewski: We were sitting in a Jabberwocky pub in Warsaw, drinking some cool craft beers and we came up with this idea of a creepy fairy tale. We discussed some ideas including gameplay, settings, overall graphics style. As simple as that 

Review Fix: What has development been like so far?

Bragoszewski: We have finished about half of the game’s levels. Current work is not only designing rest of the game levels but also working on user interface and some exciting features we can’t really talk about now – stay tuned!

Review Fix: What makes this game special?

Bragoszewski: Dream Alone has a few distinctive features. At first, it seems like another Limbo-like black and white platformer, but we design Dream Alone as a game for hardcore players. It’s going to be hard to finish with lots of deadly traps. Also, the storyline is quite unique: it’s dark and contains some really murky adult themes, although not always present in the visual layer. We want to shake the player, to make him or her come back to the game. We also created some cool features in basic gameplay like „alternate reality” – we showed this feature on game shows and players loved it.

Review Fix: What games influenced this one the most?

Bragoszewski: The first game that comes to mind is, of course, Limbo and the whole Limbo-like genre, but we think of the game more like of a “Dark Souls” of platformer games.

Review Fix: As an indie studio, what do you think you guys do differently than the big studios?

Bragoszewski: It’s no surprise we have more creative freedom, we can come up with any ideas, discuss them and test them really quickly. We had quite a few really wild ideas about the gameplay and the story, so intense that if we implemented them then Dream Alone would get an R content rating. It’s not going to be that dark and creepy though.

Review Fix: Any fun stories or wild moments during development?

Bragoszewski: We showed the game after just a couple of weeks of development on Pixel Heaven in Warsaw. We spent like crazy few days working on a playable demo. It worked perfectly!

Review Fix: What’s your favorite memory as a gamer?

Bragoszewski: There was that strategy game, Centurion, in line 90s. Basically, you fight for Roman Empire… and it had a bug, if you didn’t follow the main storyline, you could live as centurion forever. I managed to keep the Roman Empire alive until 2000 A.D.

Review Fix: How does this game disrupt the video game landscape?

Bragoszewski: We mix several ideas, we combine black and white graphics, fairy tales, dark storyline, difficult gameplay… I hope it is a unique combination.

Review Fix: Who will enjoy this game the most?

Bragoszewski: Fans of platformers, people who generally like 2D games. Also, the game is quite challenging, so if you like tough games like Dark Souls, this can be a game for you.

Review Fix: How do you want this game to be remembered?

Bragoszewski: This is supposed to be one of these games, that are played alone, in a dark room late at night and even if it is basically running, jumping and pushing things, you, step by step go deeply into the story. You go to sleep and then go back to the world of Dream Alone. That’d be perfect.

Review Fix: What are your goals for the game?

Bragoszewski: Well, to be honest -  the main goal is to be ready with a finished, polished game for the first quarter of 2018 

Review Fix: What’s next?

Bragoszewski: We’re working hard to make the best game possible. We have some plans for the future, but it is really too early to talk about.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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