Since the Low Res Jam ended in late 2024, we've been hard at working turning Dreamflower into a game that's better than we had ever thought we could make. This being our first larger-scale project, I've been learning a lot about optimizing, lighting and layering. One of our initial questions when starting to make the game was, "How big can the scene tree get before something needs to happen?" And we found that it can get pretty big, especially when all the assets are around 8x8 pixels in size. 

Another element that's been crucial to the development of the game has been take it to weekly play-testing events in Brooklyn to get player feedback. These sessions provided tons of clarity on what players expect out of a platformer and metroidvania which has contributed a huge about to the overall feel and look of the game. The work-loop has been to add/adjust new mechanics, make sure things work on a larger scale through some custom optimization scripts, then take it into play-testing to see how people interoperate it.

About the Game

The game begins with our protagonist, Flower, entering their room and slamming the door behind her. They're upset about something and walk to the middle of the room, crumples to the floor and falls asleep. Flower wakes up in a dream-like representation of their room and all their stuff is alive and happy to see them. Flower is so excited to be with their friends and they all start to party together! Suddenly, a silhouetted figure comes out of Flower's mirror and casts a spell that kidnaps all Flower's friends. They escape back into the mirror. Flower runs deeper into their dream to rescue their friends and confront their inner fears. 

The game takes place in a representation of a young child's dream. I'm imagining that flower would be somewhere between the age of 10-14 so they're struggling with beginning to come to terms with fears that are more rooted in reality while still surrounded by the charming protection of childhood. This mostly manifests in the game's imagery. We're going for a dream/liminal style in a retro 320/180 resolution.

Recent Progress

It's been so long that instead of listing out all the progress made, I made two compilation videos detailing our progress up into maybe a few months ago. We're planning on doing a full redesign of the background tiling (with the same, or similar, assets) so the level design will look a lot different than even the final stages of the last video. Enjoy the videos! Maybe I'll get better at documentation someday!

Game Jam Features ReCap

This video contains mostly progress made during the 2024 Liminal Jam

Demo video of the New Features!

This video contains many of the post-jam improvements to the game.

FYI: The build that's available to download is still the older concept of the game from the Game Jam. We plan on releasing the fully updated game early 2026. Subscribe to stay updated!