Difference between revisions of "Dream: Land of Giants"

The plot revolved around a young boy, Edison, who caused trouble with pirates. The Super Nintendo version of Dream used an isometric perspective and had a fairy tale-like theme. After transitioning to the Nintendo 64, the project became a more complex 3D RPG that had a greater emphasis on the pirate theme. Eventually, Dream was scaled back into a 2.5D linear platform game starring [[Banjo]] as the main character. The game was reworked into a 3D platformer similar to ''[[mariowiki:Super Mario 64|Super Mario 64]]'' and would become ''Banjo-Kazooie''.

[[File:Dream LoG screenshot 1.png|thumb|200px|A screenshot of the Super Nintendo version, showing Edison walk in the woods]]

The Nintendo 64 version of ''Dream'' ran into a number of difficulties. According to engineer [[Paul Machacek]], the team spent a lot of time writing level editors and creating environments, but they "couldn't quite get a hook of a game". [[Steve Mayles]] deemed Edison as out-of-place among the cast of pirates and "too generic" and nondescript to begin with, so the team experimented with replacing the boy with an animal protagonist.<ref name="rrevealed"/> The team tried recycling existing designs for non-playable characters, including "a dopey dog, a rabbit that looked like a man, and a bear." They gave the bear, who would eventually be named [[Banjo]], a backpack for storing his adventuring items and had him become the new protagonist. The game was too ambitious for Nintendo 64 hardware, as it lacked the processing power to maintain the environments at a steady framerate; taking inspiration from ''[[conkerwiki:Twelve Tales: Conker 64|Twelve Tales: Conker 64]]'', a recently developed title of the time, the team decided to recreate a different 3D platformer game that would become ''Banjo-Kazooie''.

There is a known demo of ''Project Dream'' featuring a full introduction sequence and one level. The player would take control of Edison, a young boy wielding a sword, and he had a newly-befriended pet dog, Dinger, who assisted him during his adventure. Dinger had a primary ability of digging for buried objects and scampering off independently from Edison. The level took place in a forest and swamp filled with trolls, whom Edison would fight with his sword. Occasionally, a [[Stomponadon|massive dinosaur]] (only seen by its large foot) would attempt to crush Edison, and the shaking leaves and virtual camera warned the player when the dinosaur was approaching.

[[File:Edison artwork.png|thumb|150px|Edison, the main protagonist]]

*'''[[Edison]]''' - The main character for the SNES version. He got himself in trouble with a crew of pirates lead by Captain Blackeye.

*'''[[Madeleine]]''' - Edison's girlfriend

*'''A strange, unintelligent rabbit''' - This character was going to be a secondary character in the SNES version, but he was later put under consideration for the main protagonist, when Edison was considered "too generic" and was scrapped.

*'''Dinger''' - A dog who was one of the secondary characters that was under consideration for being the main protagonist when Edison was scrapped. At the beginning of ''Land of Giants'', he was a companion of Edison.

*'''Ella''' - Edison's girly and princess-ish younger sister, who was originally going to have a high pitched voice. Her original name may have been Leela Burns.

Dream LoG screenshot 1.png|Edison walking through the woods.

Dream LoG screenshot 2.png|Edison attacking an enemy with his sword

Dream LoG screenshot 3.png|Edison fighting an enemy, with Dinger at his side.