Dreamfallen (ii)
In the first postmortem, I looked back at the critical reception of the game. In this oft-delayed second instalment, I look much further back in time, to those halcyon days of the early noughts when nothing seemed impossible. Here, now, I finally bring you:
Dreamfallen part (ii), in which I talk about the long(est) journey from idea to reality
Despite repeated denials by yours truly over the years, the sequel to The Longest Journey began life soon after the first game was released.
While I didn’t want to jump right into a sequel – certainly not a sequel starring April Ryan on a quest to save the Balance – and while most of the TLJ team was immediately devoured and chewed up by the then-growing and insatiable Anarchy Online machine, I wanted to get my ideas for the continuation of the story down on paper before they had faded from memory. Not surprisingly, a lot of what was written back in those days made it into Dreamfall – and a lot of it didn’t.
Someone recently reminded me that both Dreamfall and The Longest Journey are stories about stories, and that was definitely the genesis of the first TLJ 2. Conceived in mid-2001, code-named Unification – and then, later, Static//The Longest Journey – this was the meta-story taken to its (il)logical extreme: a story about a story about stories and dreams and the power of imagination.
Unification featured a 16-year old Asian-American protagonist named Mica who went on a search to find her missing boyfriend, and a large corporation manufacturing a powerful and mysterious device linked to dreams. It also had some twists and turns that, if they’d come about prior to Dreamfall, would probably have caused a big controversy, and would certainly have split opinions firmly down the middle. (Or, perhaps more likely, 90/10: I think a lot of die hard TLJ fans would have been quite upset.)
While I’m not going to reveal my ideas for that game – it could spoil future stories set in the same universe – I soon realised that we needed a more conventional story leading up to the future events hinted at in TLJ.
During the next couple of years, while working on a number of online games¹, I would write several proposals for a sequel, including a massively multiplayer online role-playing adventure titled The War of the Balance² (I even blogged briefly about that one back in 2002). Some of these proposed games were peripheral to the main saga, but most continued the story of the twin worlds and of the Balance. Central to the later concepts was also the search for April Ryan³, whose disappearance had formed the basis of most of my ideas for TLJ 2 since day one. Another thing that most – if not all – of them had in common was a new protagonist, always a young woman, as well as multiple playable characters and intertwining storylines, sometimes set in different time periods⁴.
In early 2003, while officially working on another massively multiplayer title⁵, I submitted a pitch for two consecutive titles designed to wrap up the saga: The Longest Journey: Journey’s Crossing, and Journey’s End. This was the first time the name ‘Zoë’ appeared; her character had already gone through a number of revisions and name changes. In Journey’s Crossing, Zoë was a 17-year old Shifter who lived with her father, and studied nanotechnology. The game took place a decade after the end of the first story, and the central premise was that the player would need to find, and save, April Ryan.
For all intents and purposes, Journey’s Crossing was Dreamfall⁶.
One important element in the concept for Journey’s Crossing (indeed, for all prior versions of TLJ 2) was that it would no longer be a ‘pure’ adventure game. In fact, the game was supposed to incorporate several role-playing elements, as well as action and combat, together with the traditional story based and puzzle heavy adventure gameplay in a more free-roaming world. The game world was also supposed to be more dynamic, with large environments, day-night cycles, passing seasons, and physics – all of which would have an impact on the gameplay. I had made ‘my’ point-and-click adventure game; I wanted to move on, and the story warranted a different approach. The design team assigned to the project – at this stage, we had received the necessary support to start working on the documentation and a playable demo – were on board with the vision: we wanted to create a ‘next-generation’ adventure, one not bound by the mechanical limitations of the first game or the genre.
This was the starting point for the game that would first be known as The Longest Journey: Static⁷, and, eventually, Dreamfall. In the spring of 2003 – while completing a tech demo for NBT to be showcased at that year’s E3 in Los Angeles – we began working on the actual technical design for TLJ 2. At this point, my co-writer – Dag Scheve – also joined me in developing the story, the characters, the setting, and, crucially, the central themes. This was also when we created ‘the Faith model’⁸, which mapped out all the different characters’ journeys through the game.
The basic structure and story of TLJ2/Static/Dreamfall remained relatively consistent from the summer of 2003 until the game was released, although our protagonist went through some changes. In the first few drafts, Zoë was younger, wealthier, and more spoiled, but after relocating her from rural England (and the affluent gated community ‘Summertown’) to Casablanca – a decision I’m very happy about – she developed into a more interesting and layered character struggling with her faith in herself and her world. Interestingly enough, in those early drafts, Zoë was quite geeky and something of an ‘accidental magician’: strange things had a tendency to happen around her, something that was supposed to be reflected in the gameplay⁹. Her surname was also Alvarez, not Castillo.
April, on the other hand, changed very little from those first notes I made after wrapping up TLJ in November ‘99. It was always my intention to have her marked by the years she spent in the wilderness, damaged by the events in the first game, and embittered by her many sacrifices. Her journey was already decided, and had been set in motion by the climax to the first story, and there was no going back. The same went for other key characters in the universe, like Brian Westhouse, Crow, and Cortez.
Several other returning characters were actually cut from Dreamfall as time went on, however, including Abnaxus – who had been left in a very bewildered and tragic state following the events of TLJ – and Ben Bandu (ditto: Dreamfall was always a darker and more tragic story, and there were few happy endings). The reason for cutting these characters was simply that there were already too many stories to tell, and their tales were better left for another game – although they remain important. 3D models and animations were even created for these characters, which goes to show that these decisions are often made at a later stage.
Through that first year of production, details of the story would morph and change and go through numerous drafts and iterations, but the core quest would always remain the same: the search for April Ryan, and the quest for (f/F)aith.
In the next instalment of ‘Dreamfallen’, I’ll look back at the actual production, and talk about the challenges and problems we encountered along the way, and how the final game took shape.
—
¹ Including Midgard, which was cancelled in late 2001; Anarchy Online, where I did some design, wrote a novel, and headed up the launch of the story; and a couple of other titles which never developed past the concept stage.
² Which obviously didn’t come to pass. Not to say it won’t: I think it’s a brilliant setting for an MMOG, and there are some things that won’t really work in a single-player adventure/action game (e.g. big, epic wars). So while a TLJ MMOG would, for obvious reasons, not be the right game to conclude the saga, don’t discount the possibility of a parallel multiplayer universe at some point.
³ Or, as one of those early concepts stated: “The dreamer is lost. The dreaming is close. The dream will devour us all unless the dreamer is found.”
⁴ One interesting idea had the player playing the same protagonist – a proto-Zoë – at different stages in her life, as she searched for April Ryan. You would play this girl/woman as a child, a teenager, an adult, and an old woman. Conceptually, this was intriguing, but it was a bit esoteric, and it would have been difficult to pull off well.
⁵ The one that readers may remember as NBT (and GameSpot dubbed ‘Bob’): it’s since been resurrected, and we’re now officially in production.
⁶ Which means that Journey’s End lies somewhere down the road. And no, that’s not Dreamfall the Next.
⁷ The Static was actually the name of a story based action-adventure game I designed back in the mid-90s – a game that explored the boundaries between reality and fantasy, inspired by the works of Philip K. Dick, and which I feel is conceptually close to the movie The Matrix.
⁸ Attendees to some of my talks about stories in games will recognise this model.
⁹ In fact, Zoë was supposed to learn various magic spells through the course of the game. This mechanism was, for a variety of reasons, cut relatively early on, though the essence of it lingers: Zoë has powers that have not been explained. Yet.
Yeah, they were good -I found them too.
Speaking of absorbing and developing ideas: for Mac-using writers on here, especially Wiki fanatics, I’m quickly finding this program indispensable.
Flying…. meat?
Those of us who bought the LE have an advantageous position here
Speaking of LE it’s a pity I didn’t get the art book thingy. I like looking at concept art and comparing it to the game… It’s one of the many crazy things that I do.
Yes, it’s a program that generates a virtual pork chop that boomerangs across the Internet and retrieves all the relevant data for your writing, encoding it in the marrow.
Happy now?
Hey Ragnar, I’m currently playing Runaway 2,
I highly advise you check it out. In particular the camera work/cut scenes and the character animation, very natural movements and cell shading is used on the characters as well, but most of all the camera work and character animation/movements is what caught my eye. Your “guys” might steal some ideas from this and use that for TLJ3
Steal is such an ugly word.
wow, finally, the 2nd part. thanks Ragnar!
p.s. and, well, sorry, i HAVE to say this after reading AL-97′ post: russian localization of Dreamfall is just horrible! it is absolutely lifeless, words used for “Undreaming” and other “neologisms” are just wrong… and so on and so forth. even though it is possible to switch to original english voices and subtitles, i would say that for those russians who don’t speak english well enough the game was completely ruined by translators.
At last
. Thanks for that Ragnar.
According to the statement: “Which means that Journey’s End lies somewhere down the road. And no, that’s not Dreamfall the Next” there is another game to develope and that would be The Longest Jounrey IV? Is that correct? Or You story is not to have an ending?
In regards to Christmas, I made a Christmas card for you Ragnar but the stupid postal service bounced it back to me because apparently I didn’t calculate the postage correctly
Should have used FedEx.
It seems you’ve got yourself your first blog-appearance related complaint Ragnar.
Thanks for the second part of the postmortem. Now I’m ready for more.
I really enjoyed reading this post mortem! It’s a good thing to read how you really works over there!
I just wish that this game never ends…Ragnar..pls make it as long as possible…keep up with the good work…Merry Christmas 2 all
What I’d like to know is what else is yet to come in the TLJ universe. Ragnar, you’ve hinted here (and elsewhere, if memory serves, but mostly here) that there are other stories to tell within that universe that are NOT April’s and NOT Zoe’s and may not have anything to do with those characters or the preservation (and/or termination) of the Balance. Don’t get me wrong; I’m dying to see what comes next in the “main” storyline. However, I’m more interested in hearing what else is out there than in speculating how this plot will evolve (I’ve done plenty of that elsewhere, believe me). I’m content to wait for the next game (whatever that ends up being) and seeing how things pan out.
But, long question short, are there any serious possibilities that the TLJ universe will be further expanded in other stories? Do you have such stories to tell still? Is April’s story merely a single thread in this tapestry, or is it truly a tale of such monumental significance to the world that it is the “important” one, and not simply the first? All stories are important, of course, but I’m speaking relatively.
Okay, so perhaps that’s several questions. Ugh. That’s what happens when I post comments while I should by all rights be sleeping. I suppose I’ll look to that…
Zoe has powers that have not been explained, eh? Sounds like “She’ll be back” to me.
To say nothing of APRIL, who had the power to become an Artisan.
I take it that this is looking to be at least a quadrilogy?
I’d love to find out more about the earlier versions at some point.
cool that what i’ve been thinking is actually confirmed. I mean, ofcourse it seemed self explanitory enough why zoë would end up in arcadia after being drugged, but at the same time, it was so unexpected when you selectively forget the first TLJ.
“Yeah! I mean, it’s not like we assassinated JFK, faked the moon landings, and had Diana killed, all from out secret base in Guatemala, paid for by drug money, and maintained by former members of the Russian mafia. That’d just be silly.”
The FBI would like to have a word with you…
:p
thanks Ragnar, VERY interesting article!
Conceived in mid-2001, code-named Unification – and then, later, Static//The Longest Journey – this was the meta-story taken to its (il)logical extreme: a story about a story about stories and dreams and the power of imagination.
You’ve just proven beyond all reasonable doubt that the destruction of the Balance is extremely close, and I haven’t even finished reading yet.
While I’m not going to reveal my ideas for that game – it could spoil future stories set in the same universe – I soon realised that we needed a more conventional story leading up to the future events hinted at in TLJ. (I hope this is quoting right)
A) While it’s merely speculation, I think you just did: You planned on actually killing off certain main characters, right?
B) Yes, & those events directly involve said main character who needs to remain alive. Meanwhile, all other important characters need to be preparing for said future event which leads to lots of destruction & hopefully no major explosions. (explosions are lame)
Her surname was also Alvarez, not Castillo.
Typo… >_>
Also: Good call.
Her journey was already decided, and had been set in motion by the climax to the first story, and there was no going back. The same went for other key characters in the universe, like Brian Westhouse, Crow, and Cortez.
I may be reading too much into this, but perhaps I’ll have to revise my theory of the Prophet from the Blue of the Kin to the more popular Red? Nah, I’ll leave it where it is & check the score after the game.
I think it’s a brilliant setting for an MMOG, and there are some things that won’t really work in a single-player adventure/action game (e.g. big, epic wars).
On the contrary. Big, epic wars require you to be fully immersed into the game. Where’s the sense of scale when you’re being distracted by the jerk in the corner ruining your immersion?
⁶ Which means that Journey’s End lies somewhere down the road. And no, that’s not Dreamfall the Next.
Meaning it’s more than a trilogy…?_?…
⁷ The Static was actually the name of a story based action-adventure game I designed back in the mid-90s – a game that explored the boundaries between reality and fantasy, inspired by the works of Philip K. Dick, and which I feel is conceptually close to the movie The Matrix.
Sounds awesome. I also like that you’re a fellow Philip K. Dick fan. (Blade Runner back in theaters 2007!)
Anyway, I’m done with my whimsical commentary (I need a spell checker) for now, but I do have one request:
Make your 3rd game in this universe the best one yet! Give it depth & character & exploration & discovery & story & all of that stuff! Make it another amazing experience!
Hmm… On further thought, I do have one bit of advice for the next game:
Don’t cut so many things. Dreamfall ended about when it felt right, but you can always rework things to make them better & end up with a longer, broader (but equally deep), more open game. Not that linear & tight didn’t work for Dreamfall, but I’d like to see the third game expand some.
So Cortez will be back? But by your dark description there, it seems he might be somewhat changed…
There’s one theory that he’s Eingana. (apologies for spelling, as always)
it’s always very fascinating for me to watch how author talks about his own creation (It’s doesn’t matter what the subject is: movie, music or (pc/video)game). And when author talks with love and pride of his creation it’s like you receive a small quantity of the inspiration that author invest in the subject.
You can definitely feel the difference between an inspired work & something the creator just threw (through? – no, threw?) together for the sake of making it. I can tell just by looking at my own ideas & works. Now they’re mostly limited to humble & lowly YTMNDs recently, but the end result always feels better even to me when I’ve been inspired by the idea the whole way through.
I’m rambling again without a point, or at least without knowledge of my reason. I should take a break…
Okay, last post here for a while:
First of all, I can’t say I learned anything new about the games’ stories here. I’ve had a few theories confirmed a bit more so than they were previously (I mean there’s always the possibility that I’m completely wrong with theoretical work) but I didn’t truly discover anything. Although I was sort of expecting the main portion of TLJ’s story to be a trilogy…
The other thing. One final bit of very strong advice/request/begging.
In The Longest Journey Part 3, Dreamfall the Next, or anything that fills in Journey’s Crossing/Journey’s End or even the Brian Westhouse prequel or whatever side story you make or any MMOG you unfortunately fill things in with…
PLEASE MAKE THE INTRO SLOWER!!! =O
Especially to Arcadia. We all know about it, yes, but it can still be magical just by execution alone. Discovery isn’t the only hair-prickly thing in the world. Neither is (necessarily) an epic unveiling.
So I personally would prefer you to continue starting your games in Stark, with somewhat slower introductions to the game, and for you to keep Arcadia in a more wonderous air. Basically I want slower pacing to beginnings, of whatever sort. I’m a very patient, often lazy sort of person. I like meandering stories as much as I like fast paced ones.
I think I’ve reached the same point as the previous post. Anyway, if you read this Ragnar, I hope your understanding is as good as your ability to coherently write.
Ragnar, thank you for renewing my interest in computer games. Convincing myself to sit behind a computer a play just “another” game was becoming nearly impossible. However, after buying Dreamfall on a whim(my conscious told me so!) I found myself intrigued and immersed by the characters, writing, visuals, and just about everything else. It is definately one of the better narratives I’ve ever experienced in a computer/video game. I can’t wait to read the next part of Dreamfall’s postmortem.
Just a few critiques on the game:
1. The straight forward puzzles helped move the story forward. The lack of illogical puzzles helped prevent those awkward pauses in the action that occur in numerous adventure games.
2. Stealth wasn’t such a problem. It worked and served its purpose. I wish there were more instances in the game where stealth was useful. Combat, however, was awful. Every time, it took me out of the game, and that is the last thing you want to do. I see why it was added, but it was not fun at all. The controls felt way too stiff and looked awkward. Traditional MMO combat with conditional abilities might have been a better option.
Note: Overall, I don’t think the gameplay is all that important here. You want to give players enough “game” to experience the story and not too much, or they’ll be fumbling with all these controls and be pulled out of the narrative. For example, in a game like Tomb Raider, you want the gameplay to be over the top and exciting. You are thinking, how do I get to that cliff over there? And that is whats fun in TR(I just finished TR:Legend). In Dreamfall, the game is the story. You’re more pressed with what is going to happen when Zoe shuts down DreamNet or how is Faith involved with all this, and that is what is fun here.
Dear Mr. Tornquist,
When Dreamfall was released, fans of the original everywhere rejoiced… In particular, many widescreen-monitor-owning were especially ecstatic to discover that Dreamfall featured a stable and easy-to-use native widescreen support… Many were impressed… Including many critics that had disliked the game for other reasons…
Unfortunately, the original, of course, did not feature widescreen support despite its “widescreen” viewing window; resulting in a nearly unplayable experience with the aspect stretching combined with the low resolution of 2000-era games…
However… this leaves me and surely many others to wonder whether it would be possible for you and your crew to possibly develop a patch or “director’s cut” edition of the original game so that we may re-play it on our new, modern machines… I wouldn’t guess that it would be extremely difficult since the game is already displayed in a widescreen format with embedded letterboxes… Perhaps have the upper menu be on auto-hide when the cursor approaches the top of the screen and be semi-translucent? And perhaps have the dialogue be super-imposed on the play-screen?
We understand that you are a very busy man… Most likely already hard under-way on a new title, but if it would be possible, I am sure that legions of your loyal fans would be eternally grateful if you did release an update.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Joe Herron, a loyal fan.
If they were to port/remake the original for the Wii, they would already have the prerenders for the 480i fullscreen aspect ratio, and they would have to rework things to fit the backgrounds in 480p widescreen… Add maybe a few updated character models & some redone CGI…
I still really like that idea… I bet it would sell pretty well, being on a console. A console with 4 million units already shipped…
Great update and please get Joss Whedon to direct the TLJ/Dreamfall movie when you make it. You guys must read from the same book.
Grrr…All you ‘ve given to me is the need of the next one ….it was really good and…really incomlete.i don’t even know if you’re working on it
:/
Do tell me… will we see another game genre in the sequel of dreamfall? Dreamfall genesis was a point-and-click game. Dreamfall became an adventure game. Can we wait for a surprise on that chapter?
Dreamfall has too many questions to answer, but aparently (i didn’t play TLJ) there are questions about old characters that are also unanswered. So… here’s an idea… answer the questions about the old characters, answer the questions hanging from dreamfall, and converge them all to one point. You’ll get a game full of revelations and surprises to the fans.
Be well…
Generally, I don’t have anything against either sneaking or a bit of fighting in adventure games, if it ties in with the story and is somehow needed to get the story going.
However, one of the reasons, I bought the original story, way back in 2000 or 2001, was the fact that April couldn’t die, which, I found was a very strong selling point for me – just having finished Broken Sword 1 and 2, where, irrc, you could die (somehow), if you didn’t do the correct things in the correct order. But I didn’t midn this, since it actually felt like it was necessary to get the story going i.e. to progress the story.
I’ve been reading (and now also benn playing a bit of Dreamfall) about the fighting sequences in Dreamfall, and many people think they are either a)
very annoying or b) not necessary to advance the story of the game.
It was like all the boxes in Broken Sword 3; they also somehow felt out of place in an adventure game — somehow. I do, however, understand (somewhat) why Ragnar is feeling the need to do something to advance the adventure game. I’m just not sure that putting (clunky) combat in an adventure game is the way to go, especially if the only reason do so is
- shall we say – attract other gamers from other genres – which do not (yet) have played an adventure game. I’m not saying that this was the reason behind it, since I simply cannot know that, but to me, at least,
well…
Look, the point is that I’m not totally against sneaking or combat sequences in adventure games, but they need to be put in there, so they are tied to the story, not as afterthought.
“We wanted to create a ‘next-generation’ adventure, one not bound by the mechanical limitations of the first game or the genre.” (R. Tornquist) Personally, I do not think that Dreamfall could revolutionize the adventure game genre… actually, I think it has the potential to revolutionize the ‘film industry’!
Well, let me explain myself… if I was to describe my buyer profile when it comes to video games, I’d say that I acquire a new game 2-3 times a year! I tried different genres in the past (including MMORPGs), but have never really found my cup of tea… I’m not really what you’d call a gamer! My pleasure is not to beat friends at solving puzzles, at killing enemies or at levelling up… it is to fully immerse in another reality… feeling, discovering, experimenting! Actually, the same when I read a novel or watch a movie, except that virtual reality makes the experience more complete… In fact, I’d love to have elements to interact with when watching a movie – this would make me feel like I’m really part of the story; I would feel responsible for the encountered success and defeats! And this is what I’ve found with Dreamfall.
I’ve really got emotionally involved in this adventure – and would find it delightful to see more artworks of this kind… though I don’t think it should be considered as a game. You simply have to figure out how to find your way around and how to react, and that’s the fun of it! I understand that those who played The Longest Journey and were expecting another point-and-click game might have been disappointed, they were expecting to put their mind at work. That’s not the point here, nor is the point to improve your fighting skills! Actually, combat scenes are maybe not adding much to the storyline, however I think they’re necessary for adding to the suspense. You know you can die, you feel a bit tensed. Happily, combats are not to difficult to pass through or can be avoided, I would have hated to end the journey because of continuously dying…
As written in this blog – Dreamfallen (i) – papers “outside of the traditional gaming channels” have welcomed Dreamfall. Actually, I think it would gain much more at being presented another way to the public… a new genre in itself! There are many non-gamers who do not know about Dreamfall, and would surely enjoy it (though they should probably train first with the controls)! Superb soundtrack, peculiar landscapes, lovable characters and above all, a pulsating storyline… could we ask for more?
I’m late on commenting on April being Kian’s sister but if they are what about April calling the White in TLJ ‘Mother’? I though she was a sort of relative to the Draic Kin? And I would think that it’s pretty clear that they have some chemistry between them. Plus they don’t look alike. And if they are sibblings then Kian is also the brother to the White in DF. And How come he would deny his ancestry if he was? And how come they would remember one another when April forgot everything about Acardia (if the theory of them being sibblings is true then she must have been in Arcadia before or Kian must have been in Stark, right?). No, the soulmate theory is much easier to believe. Have you never got the feeling that you knew someone you never met? That they were familiar whitout having met them previously? Beside, Lady Alvane is friend with Crow and we can see him speaking with her about the event of TLJ. If Zoé was Lady Alvane how come she can open shift portals? (April came through one when openning the locked mysterious door that was miraculously open.) I would even go as far as to say (if my memories are good) that Crow did call the old Lady April at the end.
Anyway, I just wanted to underline some things.
Yours truly,
Adrastea W.
Is there any info available online regarding the Faith Model you refer to in the text? I’m always interested in reading and learning about the art of narration, I’d love to read what you Ragnar have to say about it.
Damn you spoiled the game with this crappy ending, you idiot… also, put some more thought in the storyline, you are obviosly out of ideas.
however the gameplay is amazing, sad you ruined the story intirely by removeing aprial from the main role, and killing her at the end.