OCS no. 1
OCS no. 2

Weird Dreams

General info

Not Amiga Original

Relationships

WHDLoad

2021-04-18

Stats

6,333

Conversions

Atari ST/E
Commodore C64/128
PC (DOS)
Tandy PC/IBM PCjr

OCS

Version info

No
Max 1, Sim 1

Features

Credits

Concept, Game design
Game design
Concept, Game design

Hard Disk Installer

No

Releases

Year
Name
Licence
Type
Country
Publisher
Languages
Manual Languages
Disks
Rarity
1989
Weird Dreams
Commercial
Full Price
USA
English
English
1
One version is common, at least one other version is rare
1989
Weird Dreams
Commercial
Full Price
Rest of the World
English
English
1
One version is common, at least one other version is rare
1989
Weird Dreams
Commercial
Full Price
USA
English
English
1
One version is common, at least one other version is rare

Notes

[1] Original release contents contain a novella by Rupert Goodwins, which details the background story of the game (and serves as manual lookup protection also) [see HERE].

[2] Distributed in Germany by Rushware.


TRIVIA:
[1] WEIRD DREAMS was in development for just over a year, and developer Herman Serrano drew upon several sources of inspiration for the game design and graphics:

"I wanted to do a game about nightmares. None of those featured in the game are based on my own dreams — they're more odd observations, I suppose. There are several nightmarish elements - there are a lot of teeth. It's because I had to go to the dentist - I hadn't been for about three years. The dentist turned out to be this strange Chinese looking guy with an Australian accent, and he tore my mouth apart. After that I had a phobia about teeth, and they seemed to creep in everywhere."

One less enamel-based idea, which was dropped because there were just too many to implement, was a tree of heads. "It was an idea for a painting originally," Herman confesses, "as were some of the other ideas. All the heads were asleep. As you approached the tree, the heads nearest would open one eye then both, and as through a sort of telepathy all the others would wake up."

Fortunately there's a possibility that this and other sequences may make an appearance in a sequel. Some of the imagery seems reminiscent of the work of surrealist artist Salvador Dali and other elements of Terry Gilliam's Monty Python animations. Were both a source of inspiration? "Yes." Herman confirms. "I've always been fond of surrealists like Dali, and Terry Gilliam's wonderful."

As far as other graphic artists are concerned, Herman's impressed with Mark Coleman's work on Speedball and Xenon II. "I'm really Into animation," he enthuses. "One thing I hate is computer game animation where two or three frames are used to animate a figure. There are 16 frames involved in the main character's walking alone. This could have been cut down, but James being the programmer we didn't need to. For Weird Dreams' animation I spent ages researching Eadweard Muybridge's work. He did masses of studies of people and animals, and produced some very early cinema-style frames of animation, like people walking, picking up buckets and so on." [Source: The One for 16-bit Games review, Issue 9 (June '89, pp78-80), courtesy of the Amiga Magazine Rack]

[2] A modified pre-release version of WEIRD DREAMS, designed to gain publicity and exposure for the game, was used as part of the weekly competition of ITV's 1980s/90s British children's TV show "MotorMouth" (see HERE for more info.).

At the time, however, developer Herman Serrano wasn't so sure that the TV exposure proved terribly helpful:

The appearance of Weird Dreams on ITV's MotorMouth before its release in the shops may well have increased public awareness, but for a game which centres around so many nightmarish surprises it could have proved more detrimental to its success than instrumental. Herman agrees: "Not only did people think it was a question and answer game, but it gave too much away and made it look too easy."

[Sources: The Bird Sanctuary and The One for 16-bit Games review, Issue 9 (June '89, pp78-80), courtesy of the Amiga Magazine Rack]

Conversion Notes

Based on 1989 Rainbird Atari ST release.
PC versions: CGA, EGA, VGA, Tandy

Screen info

OCS
Screenshot OCS no. 3

Screenshot OCS no. 4

Screenshot OCS no. 5

To activate the SOS cheat you must be standing exactly like this.

Screenshot OCS no. 6

Screenshot OCS no. 7

Screenshot OCS no. 8

Screenshot OCS no. 9

Screenshot OCS no. 10

Scan info

Box: OCS
Box scan OCS no. 1

Box scan OCS no. 2

Box scan OCS no. 3

Box scan OCS no. 4

Disk: OCS
Disk scan OCS no. 1

[Source: Moby Games]

Misc: OCS
OCS no. 1

Poster (Smash 4/1989)

OCS no. 2

UK Pre-release Advert (Commodore User 12/1988, Page 37)

OCS no. 3

UK Advert (CU Amiga-64 11/1989, Page 46)

OCS no. 4

UK Advert [2] [Source: Atari Mania]

OCS no. 5

U.S. Pre-release Advert (CGW 64 10/1989, Page 44)

OCS no. 6

German Advert (PowerPlay 9/1989, Page 53)

OCS no. 7

German Advert (ASM 10/1989, Page 137)

OCS no. 8

German Advert (PowerPlay 1/1990, Page 2)

OCS no. 9

French Advert [Source: Atari Mania]

OCS no. 10

Catalogue Entry [Source: Atari Mania]

Manual info

OCS
OCS no. 1

Novella (English) [incl. manual lookup protection]

OCS no. 2

Keyguide Manual (English)

OCS

At the start of the game, escape from the candy floss machine by ducking under the rotating bar until it is covered with candy floss. Wait until the bar is over the opposite side of the screen and then jump. You should catch the bar and be lifted out.

Immediately walk left and out of the screen to avoid the giant bee. Move left through the fairground and you will appear in the hall of mirrors.

Walk into the right most mirror as far as you can without actually going through. You will appear really fat at the perfect position due to the reflection. Now stop and enter SOS in morse code with the ‘HELP’ key. SOS in morse code is “…–…”. 3 quick stabs of the ‘HELP’ key, the press it 3 more times at 1 second intervals and then 3 more quick stabs. Your lives counter should now be replaced by an infinity symbol.

Conversion info

Atari ST/E
No conversion screens found.
Commodore C64/128
No conversion screens found.
PC (DOS)
Conversion PC (DOS)

CGA

Conversion PC (DOS)

Conversion PC (DOS)

EGA

Conversion PC (DOS)

Conversion PC (DOS)

VGA

Conversion PC (DOS)

Tandy PC/IBM PCjr
No conversion screens found.

Map info

OCS

No maps found.

MAGAZINE REVIEWS

Magazine
Issue
Rating
Reviewer
Release type
Review
Scans
ACE: Advanced Computer Entertainment
45 (Jun 1991)
1
Amiga Action
4 (Jan 1990)
71%
Steve Merrett
Steve White
Doug Johns
2
Amiga Computing
Vol 2 No 10 (Mar 1990)
62%
Duncan Evans
2
Amiga Joker
Jan 1990
76%
Werner Hiersekorn
1
Amiga User International
Vol 4 No 1 (Jan 1990)
5/10
Tony Horgan
1
Amiga World
Vol 6 No 6 (Jun 1990)
Dolan Yaple
2
Antic's Amiga Plus
Vol 2 No 2 (Jun - Jul 1990)
3/5
Guy Wright
0
Australian Commodore and Amiga Review
Vol 7 No 3 (Mar 1990)
Ken Simpson
0
CU Amiga
Dec 1989
80%
Mike Pattenden
2
Datormagazin
No 1 (Jan 1990)
6/10
Tomas Hybner
1
Joystick
1 (Jan 1990)
90%
Kaaa
0
Zero
3 (Jan 1990)
67%
Sean Kelly
1
Zzap
60 (Apr 1990)
60%
Scorelord
Phil King
0

MAGAZINE PREVIEWS

Magazine
Issue
Rating
Reviewer
Release type
Review
Scans
Génération 4
6 (Nov 1988)
Preview
0
ST Amiga Format
7 (Jan 1989)
Mark Higham
Preview
1
The Games Machine
14 (Jan 1989)
Preview
1

OCS

Lore Score: 63%

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