Garden of Dreams

As a teddy bear, most people think you live a plush life. Loved by your child, played with all day, and cuddles all night. 

But the monsters come out at night. They come out and try to scare my friend, giving them nightmares. 

My job is to protect my friend. I go through the garden and collect the flowers that ensure that my friend's dreams are sweet.  But there are things that lurk. They fight and corrupt. If I am not careful, I will be forced to join them.

I do not want to leave my friend. I cannot leave them alone. I must fight back. They attack, and I must face them down before their corruption consumes me. 

Play as a Child's stuffed Teddy Bear, exploring the wild, winding, wondrous, world of dreams!

Dodge around enemies to avoid corruption! You can't protect you child if you become a nightmare...

Attack enemies and plants to clear your path to collect flowers!

And bring the flowers back to your Child to ensure their dreams are sweet...

for tonight....

Thesis

Garden of Dreams exhibits the interaction between a child's projected self, and their subconscious via dreams through combat mechanics and environmental exploration.

Artist Statement

This game started out with a simple premise. Thinking back to my childhood, I remembered my Blankie that I had to sleep under, with the pattern side facing out so that the bunnies could chase away bad dreams.  As I thought more on it, I began to wonder. What would the bunnies have faced? What did they do to make sure I slept safe and secure every night? That crazy train of thought is what inspired this game here. 

I thought that would be an interesting avenue to explore, and so I researched. My main focuses of research were early childhood development, specifically transitional objects, and Jungian psychology, which focused on dreams, and the relationship between the conscious and the subconscious Self. This became the premise of my game. The player is the teddy bear, and in becoming the teddy bear, the player becomes the projection of the child. So mechanically I focused on creating mechanics that would replicate a child's state. Exploring a new place, in which there are pretty, shiny things to find, and discovering scary enemies which you have to either avoid or overcome.