Difference between revisions of "Dream: Land of Giants"

|released=Canceled

''Dream'' began development sometime in 1995 by the same development team as ''[[mariowiki:Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest|Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest]]''. The game was an isometric RPG for the Super Nintendo titled ''Dream: Land of Giants'', and it utilized the Silicon Graphics technology of the ''[[mariowiki:Donkey Kong Country (series)|Donkey Kong Country]]'' games but to a more advanced level.<ref name="retrogamer">"The Making of Banjo-Kazooie," Retro Gamer issue 36 (March 2007), pages 18–25</ref> The team decided upon the codename ''Dream'' because they wanted the game to have a fantastical, magical feel to it.<ref name="rrevealed">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w72kj20YNA0 Rare Revealed: A Rare Look at Dream] on YouTube</ref> ''Dream'' was inspired by Japanese RPGs and LucasArts adventure games, and the team wanted to combine those games into one with a "Rare flavor."<ref name="retrogamer"/>

As development progressed, ''Dream: Land of Giants'' became too large to fit on a Super Nintendo cartridge, and the Nintendo 64's introduction made the Silicon Graphics technology obsolete. Therefore, the team decided to port the game to the Nintendo 64.<ref name="retrogamer"/> Following this transition, the team gradually dropped fantasy-related elements as they did not want the game to become "too childish."<ref name="rrevealed"/> ''Dream'' was gradually being developed into a much larger RPG, featuring pirates rather than giants. [[Captain Blackeye]] was planned as the main antagonist in the Nintendo 64 version.

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 Edson 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''.

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

*[[Edson]] - A young adventurer who grew up in a village, but decided to leave and go to the "big wide world." He was planned to be the protagonist of the game.

*[[Madeleine]] - A blond woman who wore a white dress and was Edson's girlfriend.

*[[Banjo]] - Originally a minor supporting character who eventually became the protagonist of the final product, ''Banjo-Kazooie'', alongside [[Kazooie]].

*[[Captain Blackeye]] - An evil pirate who was planned to be the main antagonist, having his own crew and ship.

*Grim Jim, Flintlock Jock and Big Belly - Three of Captain Blackeye's crew members.

*Ripper - Captain Blackeye's dog and crew member.

*Captain Cockeye - A captain who acted as a mentor to Edson, and was described as a "good pirate and a bit of a mad professor."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140822043530/http://grantkirkhope.com/cockeye.html ''Dream Compositions Cockeye'']</ref>

*Unnamed rabbit - Planned to replace Edson after he started "losing his edge," but was eventually also replaced by Banjo.

*Dinger - Edson's dog who followed him around and had many abilities that aided him during the game, being found inside a hole near the start and rescued by Edson. As the team felt Dinger was getting too many abilities and making Edson limited in comparison, they decided to give the protagonist all the abilities back.

*[[Tiptup]] - Planned to be a minor supporting character, much like Banjo originally.

*Unnamed dinosaur - A large dinosaur who walked through a room, shaking everything, making leaves fall and potentially damaging Edson. It eventually became [[Stomponadon]].

*Bully - A troll who "was like the Troll guarding the bridge in the story of '{{wp|Three Billy Goats Gruff|Billy Goat's Gruff}}'."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140822043541/http://grantkirkhope.com/bully.html ''Dream Compositions Bully'']</ref>

===3D artwork===

Piccolo concept art.jpg|[[Tooty|Piccolo]]

Captain Cockeye Dream concept.jpg|Captain Cockeye