Media Molecule doesn't make what you'd call "typical" games. LittleBigPlanet was a 2D platformer yes, but it also gave players a plethora of tools so they could create their own levels. LittleBigPlanet 2 expanded on this, letting creators run wild and make entirely different types of games. That mentality continues with the studio's upcoming Dreams, a project that's as much about making games as it playing one.
In an interview with Game Informer, Media Molecule co-founder Alex Evans revealed some of the stranger aspects of Dreams, including the name of the actual engine it runs on, how long of a game you can make, and more. Read on for a few highlights.
Dreams runs on the "Bubblebath Engine"
Everything you as a player will experience in Dreams is created in Dreams - it's a bit tautological, but basically what this means is you'll have access to the same creation tools that Media Molecule did making the game when you go to make your own creations. Still, what to call the engine actually powering Dreams? Evans said it's known as the "BubbleBath Engine," thanks to a community naming contest from 2015.
You can make a game that literally takes years to complete
This answer came in response to Game Informer asking if there would be time limit on the films you can make in Dreams (because yes, along with games, you can make films). "You can make 100 levels in a map, and then you can put 100 maps in a map, each with 100 levels, and then you can put 100 of those in a map. So you can make a level that's like 100 to the power of four, which is... a hundred, thousand, million levels long. So if each level's a scene, then that's a few years." I'm not sure how literal Evans is being here (for example, 100 to the fourth power is a hundred million, not a hundred thousand million), but even if the truth is just a fraction of this estimate, that's still a massive amount of time you could spend in Dreams.
Dreams runs at 60fps... sometimes
According to Evans, Dreams will run "as fast as it can." If your creation is relatively simple, the game should hit 60fps no problem. If you've got loads more assets, the engine will start to chug a bit, and you'll likely see a dip down to 30fps. Theoretically you could really stuff your project full of art and models to go even lower than that, but it's not recommended. And yes, this means the game will scale better on a PS4 Pro than the base model.
You can make Half-Life 3 (and all your other dream games)
Sure, it won't be officially Half-Life 3, but Evans did say you could use Dreams' creation tools to finally make all those games you wish had come out but never did (and hey, there's even a plot outline from former Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw you can base it on) . Legend of Dragoon 2, Dungeon Keeper 3, a new Twisted Metal, it's all on the table. Evans did suggest staying away from anything too copyright infringement-y of Disney properties though.
The co-founder of Media Molecule "hates" the company name
Maybe this is less about the game itself, but it's still interesting to know that Evans apparently hates the name "Media Molecule". While founding the company, Evans floated the idea of calling the studio "Brain Fluff". He's got a good sense of humor about it now though. "I mean, what a nightmare. Luckily Mark [Healey] won with Media Molecule - which I hate, but it's better than Brain Fluff."
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