The Dream Machine FAQ

[Cockroach]

1. What is The Dream Machine?

The Dream Machine is an award-winning adventure game about dreams and voyeurism. It's built by hand, using materials such as clay and cardboard.

2. What other materials are you using to create the game?

Off the top of my head: cotton wad, pebbles, baking paper, moss, turf, pipe cleaners, broccoli, lichen, coffee grounds, carpet samples, pork chop trimmings, condoms, ping pong balls, Molton cloth, insulation foam, matchsticks, aluminum foil, latex, yarn, towels, pasta, blacklight, animal bones, and Popsicle sticks.

Among many other things.

3. Why did it take so long between releases?

We were just two (really hot) guys working on the game, and building everything by hand took a lot of time. There was no way around it.

4. Can I transfer saves between the web version and the Steam version?

There's no easy way to do this, but if you contact us we might be able to help you out.

5. Will you ever release a Linux version?

We would love to, but it looks unlikely at this point.

6. Will the game ever get achievements?

It has achievements!

7. Does the game save to the cloud?

Yes, but only the PC version. The Mac version saves to a format that we're currently unable to save to the cloud. Hopefully, this will be possible in the future.

8. Will you ever release the game in language X?

We would love to release the game in every language possible. We will however wait with the translations until the game is complete. If you want to help out with the translations, don't be afraid to shout out.

9. Will you give me a Steam key if I bought the game on your web site?

We've stopped handing out keys. It just took up way too much time to administer that. We'd get very little else done.

10. When will Chapter 6 be released?

It's out now! Go play it!

11. Does that mean that the game is actually finished now?

Yes.

12. Event X didn't happen exactly like a walkthrough said it would happen. Is that a bug?

Probably not. We randomize a lot of elements in the game to increase replayability – and we also like to change certain elements just to mess with walkthrough players.

13. Will there ever be a tangible copy of the game?

Unknown at this point. It would be nice, for sure.

14. Will you ever release the soundtrack?

It's out! Look under DLC.

15. Will you ever release an art book for the game?

We hope to do that once the game is complete.

16. The game crashed/froze and I hadn't saved in a while - have I lost progress?

The game autosaves pretty often, so if you load the autosave it should be relatively up to date.

17. Do I have to be online to play the game?

If you're playing the Steam version, no. It doesn't require an Internet connection at all (aside from the initial download of the game).

If you're playing the online browser version, then yes, you have to be online to play.

18. Why did you add the sixth chapter?

Our original plan was that Chapter 4 would contain three small dreams, but once we started working on them they grew in scope and ended up being quite big. This caused performance issues, so we ended up splitting Chapter 4 into two separate chapters – 4 and 5.

19. Does the sixth chapter mean that the story of the game has changed as well?

No. The overarching story remains exactly the same.

20. If I bought the bundle here on Steam back when the game was only supposed to have five chapters, do I have to buy the last one separately?

No, you get all of them, but we're talking about a specific bundle here - the full game bundle. It'll show up in your transaction history as "The Dream Machine Bundle". If it doesn't say that in your transaction history, then you didn't buy that bundle.

21. What if I got one or more chapters via Humble Bundle (or equivalent), do I have to buy the chapters I don't already own?

Yes. We've never sold the full game through Humble Bundle's various indie bundles.

22. Help! The Mac version of the game keeps deleting my save games!

Right-click while in-game, then choose 'Settings' from the menu. Under the tab that looks like a folder, there’s a slider that's probably set to 0. If that’s the case, try dragging it up to something like 1 MB. That lets Flash save files to your hard drive.

23. Where does the Mac version store its save games, in case I want to retrieve them from a Time Capsule backup?

They're stored in ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects/<some random string>/localhost/<the files starting with 'TDM'>

(Note that on some versions of Mac OS X, the Library folder is hidden, so you need to open it using the "Go To" menu in Finder or via Terminal.)

24. I've finished chapter X, but the game still says that the following chapter is locked. How do I unlock it?

You don't need to finish a chapter in order to play the next, but you do need to buy them. If you've bought them they should be unlocked and playable already.

25. Why are the puzzles so hard?

We want the game to be challenging, but not exceedingly frustrating. If you have a hard time solving the puzzles, there's a Hint setting that makes Victor offer more on-the-spot assistance. You could try turning that on in the Settings menu. He gets more overtly helpful the more you fail at solving a puzzle.

26. I've played the game for over an hour, but I haven't received any trading cards yet. What gives?

Games won't drop trading cards until the 2-hour refund trial period is over.

27. Chapter 1 and 2 doesn't show up under the game's DLC tab. How do I get Chapter 1 and 2?

Chapters 1 and 2 constitute the "base game" and technically aren't DLC. If you see the game in your game library list, then you already own Chapters 1 and 2.

28. The game froze and displayed a white screen with a grey circle with an exclamation mark in the center - what's up with that?

The memory error icon will appear when the game is running in a very low memory environment. It usually appears after a long play session and restarting the game should resolve the issue.

29. Will a mobile/Switch/Xbox/PS version of the game ever come out?

We'd love to go there eventually but can't make any promises right now.

30. Why is the game always on top and what can I do about it?

That should be fixed now. If you want to get rid of the game, just hit the 'B' key. That should minimize it to the tray (PC only).

31. I can't seem to pick up the parasol in Chapter 3! What gives?

You don't need to pick it up. I removed that part because I thought it was a bit too silly.

32. I'm having performance drops while getting achievements or popping the Steam overlay! What gives?

You might want to disable the Steam overlay for this title if you're having that issue.

[aumandan]

Hey, saw that you're looking for a translator. I love this game and everything it gave to me and I would like to help out and also get a chance to use my Japanese. I will check with my Japanese speaking friends as well to make sure everything will sound good. How can I reach you?

[dadadsfasd]

Why no achievments? :( Just simple ones like in the Telltale games

[D.M.E]

Shame about the achievements, I'm not entirely taken in by the reasoning either, Why? It's about the players not the creator, Steam achievements do not have any bearing on the story or how it's told, As mentioned it can be basic achievements for reaching certain milestones and/or the completion of the game. For me personaly I made not buying small games without them a condition to reign in my spending so I hope you change your mind as you'll find I'm not the only one who thinks like this, Plus if you can take the time to make Steam trading cards obtaining Steams developers tools to add achievements and do so is not a lot of work.

[Cockroach]

We might change our minds. Don't hold your breath.

[D.M.E]

Originally posted by Cockroach:

We might change our minds. Don't hold your breath.

Not a problem, I'll stick it on follow just in case though

[YoungMaxxon]

Chapter 3 and up are locked it simply says "To Be Continued..." and runs credits. I have verified my game cache and it will still not work.

[Cockroach]

Vivaleresistance16: Look under Properties > DLC and make sure Chapter 3-5 have checkmarks under the "Installed" header. That should start their download and let you play. Hope that solves your problem.

[ninpomcoop]

Originally posted by Cockroach:

<snip>

Is there an ETA on this? http://steamcommunity.com/app/94300/discussions/0/343786195673031340/#c343788552541498526 I realise and, as a fan, appreciate that development has priority, but it's simple thing to fix and would eliminate any and all associated confusion.

[Frankenstein's Raven]

Personally, I like achievements, sometimes it feels like they do distract from the game, but they do add massive amounts of replayability.

If you don't want to distract with achievements too much, you could just put some around in places where you are not doing anything much, like at the end of the game or between chapters. Not only do achievements add replayability, but they also can make you feel like you are making progress through a game.

But you know, it's your game, do with it what you want.

[D.M.E]

Originally posted by Egotistical Raven:

Personally, I like achievements, sometimes it feels like they do distract from the game, but they do add massive amounts of replayability.

Same here.

[DarkSeed]

Hi guys! What a wonderful game you have made and you're still making. TDM is a stunning jewel! Thank you so much for this piece of Art. I can't wait for Chapter 6, but you're totally right refining and improving old chapters also, this is the right way to do things! ;)

Last but not least, I offer me for future Italian translation.

CIAO!! :)

[Robert "The Swan" Mueller, III]

First of all, you guys ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ rock. Thank you for making such an incredible work of art.

Two major things to address. Achievements!!! They augment the game, my good friends. The very opposite of taking away from it! They are conspicuously missing from this masterpiece. Technical reasons? Then like hire another programmer or something.

Speaking of absolutely no excuses, why on earth would you not investigate releasing this on Linux? I promise it will not be rocket science. In fact, I'm looking at the game files right now and it's an EXE (which can be replaced by a script or some other executable whatever) that launches the SWF files. So, if you can figure out Windows EXEs and OS X app folders, I'll be ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ if you extremely talented individuals cannot write instructions for Linux that manages the SWFs and other assets in an analogous manner. There are programs to run Flash programs and manage text files in Linux just as in any other OS, I assure you.

[D.M.E]

Originally posted by Vesuvius! Fire of fire!:

things to address. Achievements!!!

+1

[Mushe]

At least add a "Finish X chapter" achievement, which is more like a progress thing, that feels nice also. And besides, to you devs, they are quite nice to track stats.

[D.M.E]

Originally posted by Mushe:

At least add a "Finish X chapter" achievement, which is more like a progress thing, that feels nice also. And besides, to you devs, they are quite nice to track stats.

That would do, I'll buy as soon as something is added achievement wise.