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The Joystiq Indie Pitch: The Dream Machine

Jessica Conditt — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 20:30:00 EST

Indie developers are the starving artists of the video-game world, often brilliant and innovative, but also misunderstood, underfunded and more prone to writing free-form poetry on their LiveJournals. We believe they deserve a wider audience with the Joystiq Indie Pitch: This week, Anders Gustafsson and Erik Zaring explain how hallucinogens and Roman Polanski are making their award-winning PC and Mac title, The Dream Machine, "better than sex with Jesus."

What's your game called and what's it about?

Erik: Our game is called The Dream Machine and it's essentially a point-and-click adventure game, but we've handcrafted all the graphics using materials such as clay and cardboard.

Anders: The story revolves around a young, pregnant couple that's trying to establish a new life in a new city. While they're getting familiar in their new home, they uncover a seedy mystery involving the other tenant's dreams.

What inspired you to make The Dream Machine?

Erik: Believe it or not, back in 2008 I was driven by some kind of altruism. I sincerely wanted to give something back to the world rather than being on the consuming end all the time. I had a passion for games, handmade objects and lots of pent up frustration to fuel the development of this endeavor.

Anders: While at animation school, I read a lot about John C. Lily and his experiments with LSD and Ketamine. He had this notion that he was visiting an alternate reality during his drug-induced hallucinations, a place he thought had a coherent geography. Once he regained consciousness, he would draw maps of what he had experienced, noting down things like landmarks, geographical features and coastlines. He thought that if he had enough map pieces and then spliced them together, he would be able to slowly chart this new reality. To me, that idea just sounded so naïve and beautiful. In our game we approach dreams in a similar way.

Gallery: The Dream Machine

Continue reading The Joystiq Indie Pitch: The Dream Machine

The Joystiq Indie Pitch: The Dream Machine originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 26 Jun 2012 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Dream Machine slips into your subconscious this Friday on Steam

Jessica Conditt — Tue, 08 May 2012 23:30:00 EST

The Dream Machine, the award-winning point-and-click adventure from Cockroach Inc., is hitting Steam on Friday, May 11. To celebrate, Cockroach has unleashed the above trailer, which shows off The Dream Machine's cardboard and clay art style, while hinting at the dark secrets buried deep within the game's conscious plot.

The Dream Machine has been nominated for IGF, Indiecade, and Indie Game Challenge awards, and has won Into the Pixel and indiePub contests. If you can't wait for the Steam launch or want to give the game a go, chapters one through three are available now via its main site, and all five planned chapters are available for purchase from the same place. Chapters four and five are expected to drop "as soon as they're done," which Cockroach almost-clarifies as being "in a slew of months."

The Dream Machine slips into your subconscious this Friday on Steam originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 08 May 2012 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Handmade adventure The Dream Machine available for pre-order

Ludwig Kietzmann — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 21:00:00 EST

Though even games with multimillion-dollar budgets can claim to be handmade at some level -- those keyboards don't type themselves! -- very few can claim to be made from physical materials like cardboard and clay. It's fair to say that The Dream Machine, a painstakingly photographed point-and-click adventure by Anders Gustafsson and Erik Zaring, is a game with more substance than most.

The gorgeous indie adventure will be released in five episodes, and the first two are available now as part of a pre-order program. For 11 Euros (that's after a 20-percent discount for early buyers), you'll gain access to the first two parts and all that follow in the future. The Dream Machine isn't tethered to any specific device -- it's playable online from any computer (Mac, Linux or PC) and stores your save files and inventory safely in that great Cloud in the Skynet.

If you're curious, you can try the first episode for free right now. And if you wanted the whole thing for free, remind yourself that two guys have spent over two years squishing clay and cardboard into a game.

Gallery: The Dream Machine

Handmade adventure The Dream Machine available for pre-order originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 20 Dec 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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'The Dream Machine' adventure game looks clay-mazing

Griffin McElroy — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 03:00:00 EST

Filed under: News, In The News, Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

We're currently basking in the warm, soft glow that commonly surrounds us shortly after discovering our newest game-crush. Thanks to Rock, Paper, Shotgun, the latest object of our affection is The Dream Machine, a Flash-based adventure game from Cockroach Inc. (composed of developers Anders Gustafsson and Erik Zaring). The reason for our admiration? All of the characters and environments were handcrafted in a style reminiscent of The Neverhood. Only, well, prettier.

You can check out a trailer for the clay-and-cardboard indie title after the jump, or play through a brief demo on the developer's website. Should that snippet tickle your fancy, Cockroach is currently accepting applications to get in on a beta for the game's first complete chapter. We are so there.

Continue reading 'The Dream Machine' adventure game looks clay-mazing

'The Dream Machine' adventure game looks clay-mazing originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 22 Jul 2010 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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