Dreamless Kingdom started when James was living in Thailand, In a city like Bangkok, where creativity and technology collide, progressive chnage of technology changes the way we create. That conversation became a turning point.
Before leaving Thailand, James had his first international show, Saturophage, which explored speculative storytelling through immersive experiences. Around this time, I joined the team, and together we worked under Fable X, creating real-world interactive experiences. One of our projects, Sornlai, was an IRL collectible game where players had to solve puzzles and scan objects for hidden clues. It was during that time that we realized we weren’t just making experimental projects—we were starting something bigger.
Dreamless Kingdom grew out of that mindset.
From the beginning, we wanted Dreamless Kingdom to feel surreal yet familiar, with an art direction that balanced stylized, 2D-inspired environments with depth and texture.
Cin, a character and environment artist, helped bring the first prototype to life. James continued developing the look, experimenting with different workflows to create an early visual style. Around this time, Jordan joined the team and helped build an early quest system in Unity using Ink, which allowed us to test interactive storytelling for the first time.
It was an exciting phase—our ideas were finally taking shape, even if they were still in flux.
After the first prototype, we decided to move the game back to Unreal Engine. It wasn’t just about switching tools; it was about setting a foundation that could scale as the game developed.
This meant restructuring everything—rebuilding core systems, setting up a new environment file structure, and reworking textures to match the evolving art direction. James took this opportunity to refine the environmental look, adjusting materials and lighting based on the updated pitch deck and level design document. With a clearer sense of direction, we established the first environment and mechanic baseline—the version of the game we could confidently build on.
Dreamless Kingdom isn’t just a setting; it’s a world with history, tension, and forgotten dreams. The idea of a place where dreams are stolen, processed, and redistributed became central to the game’s narrative.
Each zone within the world reflects a different aspect of that story. The Village is where the dreamless struggle to survive under the Palace’s control. The Forest holds remnants of forgotten magic. The Carnival, once a place of joy, is now worn down and waiting for revival. And the Palace itself—cold, untouchable, and consuming everything around it—looms over it all.
This was the phase where we moved from scattered ideas to something cohesive. Every part of the world had to feel like it belonged.
Once the world had structure, it was time to make it interactive. We started implementing the core systems—quest mechanics, inventory management, and dialogue interactions. Each element had to feel natural within the world, reinforcing the themes of discovery and restoration.
This was also the point where we started refining how the game reacts to player choices. Instead of just progressing through a linear story, we wanted the world to feel responsive, shifting subtly based on the player’s actions.
With these systems in place, the game finally started to feel alive.
With the latest build, we ran Dreamless Kingdom on Steam Deck for the first time. Seeing the game running on a handheld device gave us a fresh perspective on performance, UI scaling, and overall feel. While the game is playable, this test helped highlight areas where we can improve optimization and fine-tune interactions for a smoother experience.
From this test, we’re now focusing on:
- Performance optimization – Adjusting assets, lighting, and rendering settings to ensure the game runs efficiently across different devices.
- UI adjustments – Refining menus, text readability, and controls for a better handheld experience.
- Gameplay feel – Tweaking movement, camera behavior, and interactions based on how the game translates to a smaller screen.
This phase of development is crucial in making sure Dreamless Kingdom is not just playable but fully optimized for a range of platforms. With each iteration, we’re getting closer to creating an experience that feels seamless, immersive, and polished.
More refinements ahead, and we’re excited to push the game even further.