''Weird Dreams'' is a cinematic platform game developed by Rainbird Software which was published for the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

. A modified version served as the visual component to a phone-in quiz on ITV's ''

Motormouth ''Motormouth'' is a Saturday morning children's television series that was produced by TVS and broadcast across the ITV network for four series, running between 3 September 1988 and 4 April 1992. Each series generally ran from the autumn of ...

''.The Bird Sanctuary
/ref> The game was planned for release on

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Si ...

and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

, but both versions were cancelled.

Plot

The background story is told by a 64-page novella with 19 chapters written by

Rupert Goodwins Rupert Goodwins (born 23 May 1965) is a British writer, broadcaster and technology journalist. He began his career as a programmer for Sinclair Research in the early 1980s, working on the ZX Spectrum ROM. He moved to Amstrad after it bought th ...

. Steve is in love with his attractive coworker Emily. Unbeknownst to Steve, Emily is possessed by a

daemon Daimon or Daemon (Ancient Greek: , "god", "godlike", "power", "fate") originally referred to a lesser deity or guiding spirit such as the daimons of ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology and of later Hellenistic religion and Hell ...

named Zelloripus who was banished to Earth, stripped of most of her powers, and trapped into a human female due to unspecified crimes done to other daemons. Emily sees a chance to let someone else suffer and stifle her boredom. She tricks Steve to take three pills she has mixed to "cure his flu". While the pills do cure him, they also grant Zelloripus access to his body and mind. His dreams become both more lucid and strange, each one getting more intense and painful. Steve's psychiatrist does not understand what causes the dreams, and neither does Steve. He refers him to a

neurosurgeon Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peri ...

. After his health dramatically declines, Steve undertakes brain surgery in an attempt to stop the dreams. Under an anaesthetic, he slips into one more dream, possibly his last.

Gameplay

The game starts where the novella ends, with Steve lying on the operating table and slipping into the dream world. Steve is controlled by the player through numerous surreal worlds. He can collect certain weapons and items on these levels, but with a few exceptions, cannot carry them to another level. Steve has no health meter, but there is a heart rate monitor, which goes from 75bpm (normal) to 100bpm (in frightening situations) to 170bpm (shortly before death). He immediately dies if he comes into contact with an enemy or an obstacle. He can also die if he remains too long in certain areas such as the Country Garden, where a

lawnmower A lawn mower (also known as a mower, grass cutter or lawnmower) is a device utilizing one or more revolving blades (or a reel) to cut a grass surface to an even height. The height of the cut grass may be fixed by the design of the mower, but g ...

will come and decimate him. When Steve dies, the game returns to the scene in the operating room where the surgeons attempt to save him. There are no save points in the game, and instead of score points the player's progress is stated as a percentage and a time counter. It is possible to activate an ingame cheat code for infinite lives: the player has to be standing in the right hand side mirror in the Hall of Mirrors (working as a hub to access the scenes) then input the morse code for S.O.S. (3 short strikes, 3 long strikes, 3 short strikes) using a specific key from the keyboard ('Help' key on Atari ST). There are 15 different enemies/challenges, 7 different death animations and 5 different musical scores by C64/Amiga musician David Whittaker on the Amiga.

Barry Leitch Barry Leitch (born April 27, 1970 in Strathaven, Scotland) is a Scottish video game music composer, responsible for the music in many games spanning multiple consoles and personal computers. Most notable is his work from the '' Lotus Turbo Challen ...

did the music for the Commodore 64 and PC version. The game also features a couple actual pieces of music, such as Country Gardens and Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Development

The general plot was conceived by the developers, and Rupert Goodwins was asked to write the novella included with the game. The scenarios in the game are not based on Serrano's own nightmares, but are inspired by the paintings of

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in ...

Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including '' Time Bandits'' (1981), '' ...

's cartoon animations for Monty Python, and on odd observations. After a visit to the dentist, Serrano developed a phobia of teeth, which is noticeable in the design of the monsters, many of them having mouths with large teeth. The game took over a year to produce.

Release

'' Computer and Video Games'' did a competition called "Ooooh What a Nightmare Compo", which required participants to send a picture of their worst nightmares. The judging was done by a professional artist and the winners received blow-up fish bathtoys and Weird Dreams/Motormouth T-Shirts as prizes.

Reception

''Weird Dreams'' received mixed reviews. While most critics praised its visual style, there were some criticisms depending on the game platform. Frustrating difficulty, long loading times, and a disappointing soundtrack were common criticisms, albeit not unanimous.

References

{{reflist

External links

''Weird Dreams''
at Gamebase 64

at Atari Mania
''Weird Dreams''
at Lemon Amiga 1989 video games Amiga games Atari ST games Cancelled Amstrad CPC games Cancelled ZX Spectrum games Commodore 64 games DOS games Telecomsoft games Video games about nightmares Video games scored by Barry Leitch Video games scored by David Whittaker Video games developed in the United Kingdom Horror video games Cinematic platform games