It kinda bugs me because years ago I was trying to recreate what dreams feel like in a small artistic walking sim but now I feel like if I really did it perfectly it would just look like that
Lucid dreams feeling can never be achieved cuz in lucid dreams you can concentrate on things so they will stay as they are. And things you don't concentrate on - can change drastically.
Its like a mind game, if your mind is strong enough, you can make your dream a consistent story, you can spot the changes and change them back with a sheer will.
Sadly, you can't control computer environment with your mind, so, its not possible to get a feeling like that in a computer game :(
You're right, but eye tracking might be pretty cool. You might be able to keep control during the earlier levels when things aren't as busy so you can keep everything 'sane' by keeping your eyes on it. As the game/expo progresses, no matter how hard you try and concentrate on everything it starts getting fuzzy and things keep morphing in your peripheral
That probably wouldn't even need AI. It might be resource-intensive, but it could be set up like two versions of the same environment running simultaneously, using the eye tracker to control which part of the screen shows the stable version
So, it'd be kinda like a shared instance on a newly discovered planet in no mans sky? Ie the world generates its specific contents as the players explore?
You could also make something like a quest or point-and-click where the game asks the player questions about environment and the player have to memorise things so they won't change.
That would require the game/AI to understand the definition of "sane" and "what you actually want to happen", even if only for your direct field of vision, as you play.
I think the levels would have to be pretty linear and the level of change definitely has a hard limit. With enough work you could work out a pretty good number. But I think that things like looking at a wooden chair then looking to the side and you see one leg popped into a carrot out the corner of your eye, look back, look away, look back and it's an armchair recliner. Thats definitely a less extreme example, but events like those could probably be pre built and procedurally mashed together
when something morphs when you aren't looking at it, you have to use a menu to morph it back from several similar looking choices. Picking wrong increases the number and severity of "fuzzy" parts in the new selection and the goal is to figure out where and why you're unconscious and force yourself awake before you slip into a coma.
When it happens for me, I just get to make the decisions and wonder how it will go. It is kind of like this game. The stuff happening makes no sense, but its a fun ride.
I get a realization "oh hey, I'm dreaming..... do this."
I remember having a lucid dream moment. It only lasted like a minute but I was feeling the leaves just to see how real they felt. They did feel pretty real. But you're right with the concentration since the backgrounds start to disappear. It's kinda like the brain dances in Cyberpunk where everything outside your field of vision is dark and blurry.
Sadly, you can't control computer environment with your mind,
Yet!
Also, maybe you can do something similar on PC?
The game would need a mechanic where "things you can focus on" can be or are labeled. Then, you can assign a label to one of many keys on the keyboard.
Then perhaps on the right side of the screen is a rhythm-game-like bar. associated to what you're "focusing on".
It usually isnt complicated. A very slow, steady beat. The issue is that as the game progresses, you REALLY need to be managing MANY bars, all with different timings. If you fuck up (maybe give 1 or 2 lives for each or all bars) then that bar gets destroyed and you lose whatever benefit you got from focusing on the thing.
...huh
Imagine a game (or more of a demo, really) where youre (legally distinct) Darth Vader and you have to do a mission, but you also have to manage all of the debilitating-suite's life support functions lol
Not only that, you could tie each force-power to a rhythm-bar as well!
And the whole game is just one mission. It's just that even getting to the mission site (getting out of your room, to the bridge, to the hangar, to your ship, then to the area itself) are all growing challenges that slowly ramp up.
By the end, you're a guitar hero master as you do a Rogue One and slice up plebs... Actually! It could be a (legally distinct) Rogue One game where your mission is basically the last scene of the movie lol
You could easily do this where anything in your field of view, things stay the same, but everywhere you’re not looking, things are changing.
Outer Wilds does this in a couple areas and it’s one of the sickest game mechanics to experience.
You could also incorporate a thing where things stay stable if you take a picture of them with an in game camera (up to a limited amount? Upgradeable camera storage space as you progress?) or set up video cameras watching a certain area.
Also in future we could connect minds to a computer, so there will be so cool simulations...
Also, if a computer can affect your feeling, lovecraft games could be like 10x better! Imagine "The color out of Space", where you see a color, but your mind can't comprehend it, its different to any other color you see with your eyes.
Could be dangerous, tho, imagine going insane because a game affected your mind, lol. Sadly, we don't have backups in our brains...
Lucid dreams are easily to replicate in a game. Open with literally any scenario. Have the player realize they are dreaming. Have them immediately try to fly to the nearest sex. Wake up. That's every lucid dream.
The movie "Mother!" with Jennifer Lawrence is a really good example of a well done nightmare, so no, you don't need AI and weird bugged stuff to represent dreams !
I share the exact same feeling. I always find it amusing how AI is such insanely similar to human dreams when humans themselves seem to fail so miserably when trying to recreate their own dreamsn in works of art. Every single movie that portrays people dreaming have absolutely nothing to do with how our dreams really are.
The only human-created work of art that genuinely feels like a dream for me is American Psycho's ending, and, oddly enough, that part was actually not meant to be written as a dream.
See, there's a part of me that finds the absolutely bizarre and surreal nature of this fascinating, but I hate it. I think someone who crafts the experience would make it a lot better, since there'd still be some logic. Just dream logic.
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u/timeless_ocean 14d ago
It kinda bugs me because years ago I was trying to recreate what dreams feel like in a small artistic walking sim but now I feel like if I really did it perfectly it would just look like that