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.