Designs and Dreams...

I don't believe I've ever been given a game during a dream, but I'm pretty sure I've developed aspects of games during sleep. I know I've also brainstormed game ideas during dreams. I'm sure I've dreamt about playing games, especially after late-night gaming sessions.

Usually a game-design dream comes when I'm trying to figure out how to balance a particular mechanism, or trying to fix a mechanic that is just not working. Also, since I'm an artist, I tend to dream about how to draw a certain picture I've been puzzling over.

Between

and

... all I can say is: Man, you're lucky! ;)

I often solve problems through sleeping and dreaming ... or even in that nice, calm, creative state right before falling asleep. Similar thing happens when I'm doing mundane, repetitive tasks like mowing the lawn or driving cross-country. Can't say I've been given something "completely new", however, in a dream.

And I've wanted to dream lucidly since I first learned about the concept over a dozen years ago. Any way to *learn* how to do that?

-Bryk

Well... duh. But I don't understand what your point is. If I see a new game being played in my dream that works when I wake up and write it down, what's "Meh" about it?

Lucid dreaming (LDing) is quite a skill to develop with the aim of inducing them, prologing their stability and enhancing clarity. Half of the skill is with the intention to LD rather than waiting for chance ;) Basically, plan ahead what you want to do during a LD by making some notes (e.g. in a dream journal). Also develop a habit of questioning yourself 'Am I dreaming?' when particularly common dream elements/themes occur in real life (as recorded in a journal, e.g. looking at a clock/seeing a cat/getting out of bed/etc.).

If you're interested in reading a ton of articles about lucid dreaming I recommend http://www.lucidity.com/ (it got me started ~6years ago and I've had plenty of them since).

Earlier this week, our group played Lord of the Rings (a co-operative game which works wonderful when someone knows what they're doing and takes the lead in group decisions). Being such a new concept it was not to my surprise that I dreamt that very night playing an abstract co-operative game (involving monopoly properties of which is anything but co-operative lol ;) ). I concentratedly made the effort to remember the mechanics, components and what theme there was. After recalling the dream in the morning with the intention to develop a game, the end result was that I matched the abstract mechanics to a co-operate theme from a previous dream.

Moral of the story? As a designer it pays to write everything down even if it doesn't make sense at the time :)

Best wishes,
Dave.

This is ironic and somewhat funny. I can only think of one small example where I've ever had a lucid dream, but it was very short and happened somewhat randomnly. However, after having the dream I become somewhat fascinated by the whole aspect. A friend told me that HP Lovecraft had a whole series of 'dreamer' stories that took place in a world that you could only get to in your sleep.

In some of the stories, there is actual conflict between some of the dream visitors to these worlds. At this point I thought to myself, what a great setting for a two player board game. Where Dreamers duel in the dream world, trying their best to scare the other person awake. Along that same lines, an Astral Projection dueling game (A la the great golden age Dr. Strange comics) might also be a great setting.

At any rate, I know I'm off on a tangent. I never did develop either of these two game ideas any further.

-Darke

I think it depends on the person. About 3 weeks ago, for example, when we first started talking in earnest about the Abstract Games magazine Shared Pieces competition, I thought to myself, "There's no way I'm entering that: I'm not a big fan of abstract games, I hate the limitations of having to use commonly-found components, and I have a hard time imagining a fun game where the pieces are all shared."

That night I dreamt a full game that followed all of the rules. I watched it being played and even heard the name. When I awoke I wrote the whole game down and modified the name ever-so-slightly, and poof, my entry is done. I've played the game several times now and it's quite workable and pretty fun for an abstract.

That was an entire game, fully explained in my dream and completely playable. On the name I just changed it from "Argent," as it was called in the dream, to "Argenta," just because I like it better. You can get entire games in dreams.

In other cases I've been shown big parts of the mechanics and needed to develop it more fully after awakening. Yes, in the dream the game seems complete but when you're awake you do have a different sense of the world and may need to change things. I've had several games that way, too.

And occasionally I get an idea in a game that doesn't really make sense when I wake up: I mean, the game is a real game but wouldn't really work in a fun manner. In those cases, though, I go back to sleep with the idea and in my next dream usually get a stronger, more playable game.

Mind you I've been practicing remembering and understanding my dreams (and dreaming lucidly) for more than a decade. I, too, once had dreams that only made sense in the dream world, but those are very rare now. They're still often incredibly fantastic (I can live in a dinosaur-filled modern world with an antenna coming out of my head that I use to communicate telepathically with ghosts, for example), but almost never nonsensical.

To each his or her own. I only ask that you not dismiss other people's abilities to do this based on your own experiences.