Dreamview Weekly Roundup #49

Hello, friends. It’s been a weird couple of weeks for us - and quite possibly for you, too. Does anyone else have a ‘comfort game’ they like to play? We’ve got a fair few. One of them is, undoubtedly, Dreams.

Biased? Us? Well, maybe. But - without meaning to sound too gooey - the Dreamiverse is a source of happiness for us every day. In it, we see countless creators telling uplifting stories, unexpected friendships formed through music jams, therapeutic toy-games, people expressing themselves and being celebrated for it… It’s a lovely, hopeful place to escape to for an hour or two when the world outside is looking less than friendly.

With that in mind, we made you a gift: a special in-game collection of Dreams creations with certified Good Vibes. (You may recognise a fair few of them from blog posts past!)

For this week's Dreamview Weekly Roundup, we've written short reviews for five creations in the collection that we haven’t yet written about on The Impsider - but we wholeheartedly recommend that you spend a chilled-out evening with the full collection if you could really use a boost right now.

Musicalia#

by Glitch_Me_Up

Prepare to merrily lose hours of your day to this brilliant physics-based music toy. Nominated for Best Innovation and Hidden Gem Dream at last year’s Impy Awards, it presents you with a blank screen, projectile emitters (which you can set to a particular BPM) and a series of stampable shapes. Then, it tasks you with making a tune out of it all. Most of the shapes are designed to produce a sound when hit - a bass drum, a guitar chord, a synth - while you’ll use others to guide your projectiles into your carefully constructed zones of sonic potentiality. It’s essentially what you might get if you combined pinball, Line Rider and Electroplankton. Of course we love it.

Capchapon - Dreams Capsule Machine V 0.9

by llCaptain_Morgan, Yah_Deh and The_Sci-Fi_Guy

Capsule toy machines - also known as gachapon - are basically professional joy-dispensers. Pop in a shiny coin, turn the tactile crank, and watch as a capsule rumbles down the chute to deliver you a tiny gift. llCaptain_Morgan’s virtual tribute captures these contraptions perfectly, from the feeling of turning the crank to the unexpected delights that arrive for you to pop open and marvel at, as emoji confetti rains down. The twist? Each prize is a coMmunity-made effort that represents its creator.

Fly#

by JaquanBoss16

The cover art alone would make this creation worthy of a feature - a truer depiction of sheer joy and freedom we’re surely never seen - but the titular track is a stunner, too. Gentle, rhythmic synths and kick drums lay a firm ground beneath this piece, as flutes and chimes pick out a melody that alternately soars and dips, before coming in to land.

Cardboard World Kit#

by Tricobalt

Sometimes, creating something from scratch can feel a bit overwhelming. When you’re really having a day of it, even searching for the right assets in the Dreamiverse can feel too much. That’s why coMmunity-created kits are so lovely: built and curated around particular themes, they’re a one-stop shop for you to easily pull pieces out of and assemble into a scene. Tricobalt’s new Cardboard World Kit is a wonderful example, featuring a variety of charming corrugated cardboard props in various painted designs. Just look at that fluting detail on the inside. Phwoar. There’s even a blank slab of brown gold (what do you mean, that’s a weird thing to call cardboard?) that you can easily chop and paint to create your own custom props.

The Warmest Hug#

by devileyesam

A blue-hued blanket of snow melts away into a warm orange sunset, and a flurry blows towards the viewer’s perspective. In the very midst of it all, a couple on a bench sit closely together, sharing warmth. We never see their faces, which only adds to the curious feeling of witnessing a private, perhaps significant moment. The forest watches on silently, as delicate original music plays and the scene ends with a quote by poet Kahlil Gibran: “Kindness is like snow. It beautifies everything it covers.”

Want an easy way to view all of these creations - and more! - in one convenient collection? Check out the playable edition of this week's Dreamview Weekly Roundup right here in Dreams!