Megapenguin Rehatched - The First Update!

Back in June, we introduced you to Megapenguin, a pebble-powered hero whose heart is almost as big as his biceps. You saw him crash-land somewhere in the Dreamiverse during a routine migration gone wrong, you played the first three Media Molecule-made levels of his adventure, and then we asked you one not-so-simple question: can you help us help him get back to his fleet?

You answered the call in spectacular fashion. The result is the first Megapenguin Rehatched update, which is filled with a huge variety of coMmunity-made levels that tell the story of what happens next on Megapenguin’s quest. The Megapenguin Rehatched dream has been updated with your submissions, and the latest version of the game is available to play in Dreams... right now!

In this first update, you’ll see our flippered friend white-water rafting, arm-wrestling a massive pigeon, coding his way through a cave, accidentally blowing up a planet, and being rescued by the resourceful and beautiful Meganpenguin - amongst many, many other things.

Here’s our Head Penguin, Ed Hargrave, with his thoughts on how the collaborative game development project is going so far:

“Phew! Megapenguin not only has somewhere to go, but the first update of coMmunity levels sends him well and truly on his way... home? The standard of coMmunity levels is fabulous!

I love that creators have dug into the hapless chaotic good character of Megapenguin and his absurd pebble obsession. There are flashbacks, new characters and references to all sorts of other creations, which rocks! We wanted Megapenguin to be exploring the same plane of existence as other Dreams creations, and the way creators embrace that is exactly what we'd hoped for.

One of my highlights is a clever genre-defying junction that facilitates hopping between styles. In a mysterious forest clearing, Megapenguin is able to 'fine-tune reality' using a transistor radio. He's also able to smash reality with his spanner, which gave me a great excuse to teleport him to some of the weirder scenes you've created.

We're already talking about how to bring elements of your creations into future Megapenguin threads, and I hope the scenes submitted so far give you ideas for your own!”

Nice one, Ed.

For the branching paths of Adventure mode, we’ve hand-curated levels and threaded them together in an order that makes sense (well, as much as a story about a buff space-penguin can make sense). In Quick Play, you’ll find all the levels from Adventure plus extra levels, which you can play individually and in any order!

We hope you enjoy checking in with Megapenguin’s journey - and we also hope it inspires you to get involved by creating your own level to be included in Megapenguin Rehatched! There is currently no deadline for submissions, so no rush - but if you’re aiming for inclusion in the second update, then stay tuned to our social media channels for more info on a specific deadline.

You can read our level creation guidelines and FAQs via the Megapenguin hub. When your level is done, head to our indreams.me Challenges page and submit your finished scene!

Oh, and here are some bonus tips from Team Megapenguin for your second round of level entries:

• Aim to make short levels! If you start with something scaled back and achievable, it'll give you more time for polish.
• Add some sort of plot moment. Not every level needs to tell a full story, but individual story elements are a good way to make your scene memorable. The scanner is good at facilitating environmental narrative ideas (e.g. who built this abandoned spaceship? etc)
• Riff on existing ideas and mysteries! It's fun to throw in call-outs to other existing places, moments or creators. (Ho Ho Town(opens in new tab) is still up for grabs - just saying.)
• Remix! There's lots in the Dreamiverse available to be remixed, including Gigabuffbert's level from this first update.
• Give Megapenguin a choice of exits. The adventure is a big maze, so levels with multiple exits mean more pathways. Maybe one of them will eventually lead him home!

We hope you enjoy playing the new instalment of Megapenguin Rehatched, and seeing where the Dreamiverse takes our Megsy next… It’s, uh, real wild out there. Until the next update, penguin fans!