Media Molecule talks about conservation and the future of dreams

More than a year after release, Dreams stands out for its unique combination of game creator and sharing platform. But one aspect that has attracted much criticism over the past year is its preservation. For a very long time, memes and unfinished “Dreams” buried the best that the platform had to offer, making it seem like there wasn’t much to play with. It’s a reputation that’s hard to shake. But since late 2020, Media Molecule has started investing heavily to address this issue, building a team to try and make finding quality creations a much smoother experience.

Dreams is the Media Molecule creation engine / game available for PlayStation 4 and 5. It allows gamers to create music, art and video games using a wide variety of tools, which they can download on the game’s social hub called Dreamiverse.

So far, many incredible creations have been released on the platform, ranging from episodic PS1-style RPGs like “Tales of the Dark City“To spherical shooters like”Retica. But many in the community thought that Media Molecule could do more to put these creations in front of gamers.

When the game launched in Early Access in 2019, Dreams only had a single row of creations that players could scroll through, making it difficult to separate the good from the bad. Over time this evolved into several categories with only a few of these sections being organized manually, such as “MM Picks” and “What We Play”. The studio used categories to highlight creations worth playing and pieces featured in Media Molecule’s weekly live broadcasts. But it still wasn’t the most intuitive approach to connecting gamers with the best in the game.

Kotaku spoke with Media Molecule Studio Director Siobhan Reddy and Dreams‘live product lead Abbie Heppe on the studio’s recent efforts to improve curation at all levels.

“One of the great things we did in the last half of last year was make Abbie the live product manager for DreamsReddy said. “It was a very big step forward because the live [aspect] is sort of its own product… We’re on a big recruiting campaign right now because to make the progress we want, we need programmers and designers. What really excites me about all of this is that Sony is really behind what we do and investing in the studio to grow.

The studio has hired several curators and editors who put forward the best dreams. Over the past few months, the team has introduced several new categories, including curated listings for racing games, escape rooms, visual art projects, and arcade games. Now it’s much easier to find the type of creations you want to play or to stumble upon something interesting. It’s a good change from word of mouth.

“It’s one of those things I wish we had started earlier, but Dreams is a learning process, ”Heppe says. “Since December, we have made a very big effort to make the front page of Dreams really connect people to the content they’re going to want to play and bring out the best things. There is really no shortage of great things. ”

Much of this curation work so far has been about keeping a close eye on the creative community to make sure they don’t miss an opportunity to highlight something of interest. But it’s also about finding natural ways to resurface old creations to coincide with annual or seasonal events. A good example is the recent overhaul of the Impy Awards, Media Molecule’s annual awards show for Dreams. To coincide with this year’s event, the studio showcased a number of creators featured on the front page. Media Molecule did the same this month for International Women’s Day, allowing gamers to rediscover the best dreams created by women. This included the first person visual novel “The widowWhich was designed for Halloween and the challenging yet rewarding platform game “Beat Runner. “

“People spend a lot of time making these games and making these really great creations,” Heppe says. “And like being able to rotate them in or out or say, ‘This week we’re presenting these topics,’ and then being able to bring back games that were released a year or a month ago. is really important. There is some and cooking at [the curation] that we certainly don’t want.

The inspiration for many of these changes came from the streaming platforms. Reddy cited Netflix, Apple TV, and Amazon Prime as inspiration.

“The thing that I looked at the team [try] perfecting is being that content platform, and actually learning all the tricks of the trade and how long should [playlists and banners] to be up there and how to bring people back. And it’s really fascinating because there is real art, ”Reddy adds.

Heppe and Reddy suggest more changes are coming, but this investment in conservation already seems to be paying off. Engagement is on the rise, Heppe says, with existing players and creators spending more time playing and engaging with Dreams. The studio has also started expanding this effort to potential players outside of the gaming community, hiring former Edge editor Jen Simpkins to oversee more editorial content and weekly roundups for the website. The biggest problem with Dreams has always been his wrong message about what he really is and what he has to offer players. Letting people who are unsure of the game know what to expect might convince some potential players.

“I share a lot of things in Dreams with my parents who love music videos and the different things people do, ”Heppe says. “[But] how to get that person maybe like that in the Dreams Platform?”

While conservation has been one of the biggest issues raised by community members, another feature that remains a hot topic is the ability to export and monetize Dreams to reach a wider audience outside of the platform. -form. At the moment, it is only possible to export and monetize video, audio and images from Dreams rather than a complete creation. Media Molecule co-founder and artistic director Kareem Ettouney, however, told GamesIndustry.Biz that the studio intends to allow creators to release their games outside of the Sony ecosystem and “to other devices and beyond. “

Asked about it, Reddy said the feature is still under development.

“It’s complicated, and we have to do it the right way, and we have to do it in a way that works with Sony because we’re a big organization,” she adds. “So I think for ages we’ve been saying to the community, ‘We’re working on it,’ and we’re still there.”

Even with the export to tablets at the moment, Media Molecule still plans to bring more to Dreams.

“Right now we’re focusing on the players and the communication,” Heppe says. “But as we start to plan what the next few months will look like, it brings a little more personalization to the playlists and really connects players with the content they want to see. We have already noticed that after investing in curation, some of our players have started to engage more. It was a very good sign. And I think it was a step in the right direction. But like I said, it’s a journey.