Difference between revisions of "Dream: Land of Giants"

[[File:Project_Dream.png|thumb|210px|The only known screenshot of ''Project Dream'' (Nintendo 64 version), featuring Edison]]

'''Project Dream''' was an unreleased RPG video game that was originally to be developed for the Super NES, but was moved to the Nintendo 64. It was eventually redeveloped into what is now ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]]''.

''Project Dream'' started out in 1994-1995 as a seafaring RPG for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, with the intent of being [[Rareware]]'s masterpiece on the console, using the ACM (Advanced Computer Modeling) technique of bitmapping pre-rendered graphics, much like the ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey_Kong_Country%7C Donkey Kong Country]'' series.

There was a demo of the SNES version with a full introduction sequence and one level, and according to composer Grant Kirkhope, if it still exists, it may be locked away somewhere at Rare's headquarters. Mr. Kirkhope had also commented this on the demo, "I was blown away. It looked beautiful and a step up above the ''Donkey Kong Country'' games."

At one point during development, it was determined that ''Dream'' was too ambitious for the SNES, so it was moved to the Nintendo 64DD, to be redeveloped as a 3D RPG in the style of ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Ocarina_of_Time%7CThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time] ''(which was first shown at Nintendo Space World in December 1995), featuring a unique 3D terrain system with environments created by stretching out the polygons.

However, the Nintendo 64 lacked the processing power needed to maintain these types of environments at a steady frame rate. Taking inspiration from ''Twelve Tales: Conker 64'' (which was being developed by the ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_Instinct_(1994_video_game)%7C Killer Instinct]'' team, and would eventually become the adult-oriented ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conker%27s_Bad_Fur_Day Conker's Bad Fur Day]''), along with Rareware's previous experience with platforming games, ''Dream'' was remade by the development team (whose members had also worked on ''Donkey Kong Country'') into a 3D platformer in the vein of ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_64%7C Super Mario 64]'', but kept some of the elements of the RPG. 

After deeming the game's main protagonist, Edison, to be too "generic", Rare began to experiment with several woodland characters that had previously been secondary characters, including "a dopey dog, a rabbit that looked like a man, and a bear." That bear character would eventually become [[Banjo]]. 

Eventually, ''Dream'' was scrapped, and the development team started over from scratch, creating ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]]''.

 

However, eventually ''Project Dream'''s seafaring setting would be used as a inspiration for Rare's newly announced game, ''Sea of Thieves'', which was revealed at the E3 2015.

Along with that, near the end of May 2015, Tim Stamper brought up a rumor on Twitter that there were two prototype cartridges for ''Project Dream''. He had then allegedly found one of the rumored cartridges in his closet in early June, as he then began to tease the fans with a humorous scenario in which he had to capture it. As of current, the cartridge was successfully captured in an [[Ice Key|ice key]], and is currently buried in a shady spot by Stamper's dog. 

In July 2015, a blank sprite floppy of ''Project Dream'', along with storyboard images and concept art sheets, have surfaced on eBay UK. The auction will end on July 19th, 2015.

==Plot==

''Project Dream'', while not offering too much of a story, tells the tale of a boy adventurer by the name of [[Edison]] who, along with his girlfriend, [[Madeleine]], gets tangled up with a bunch of no-good pirates named Flintlock Jock, Grim Jim, and their leader, the infamous [[Captain Blackeye]], who commands the pirate ship known as the ''Mudplugger''.

==Characters==

*'''[[Banjo]]''' - He was originally designed to be a secondary character. However, he would later appear in his own [[Banjo-Kazooie|game]].

*'''[[Captain Blackeye]]''' - The infamous captain of a pirate crew and main antagonist of the game. He later appeared as a character in ''[[Banjo-Tooie]]'' at [[Jolly's|Jolly's Bar]] in [[Jolly Roger's Lagoon]]. He repeats the words "Once, I had a dream...", which may be a reference to his original role.

*'''[[Grunty]]/The Giant''' - Gruntilda was originally meant to be a giant in the N64 version, but was later changed to that of a wicked witch for ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]]''.

Other minor characters, such as Bully, were also recently revealed by Grant Kirkhope on his website. 

==Music==

Even though ''Dream'' was not released, [[Grant Kirkhope]] (composer for the music of ''Banjo-Kazooie'') had already composed 107 tunes for it. Some of these songs reappeared in one form or another, in the ''Banjo-Kazooie'' series, as well as other Rare games, such as ''Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise'', ''Donkey Kong 64'', etc. Grant has released some of these on [http://grantkirkhope.com/dream.html his website]. Alternatively, one can listen to these tracks on YouTube.

[[Category:Unreleased games]]