DitherDream

The Archipelago

DitherDream is a trippy little exploration game set across an archipelago of strange islands. In each island, you must attune to the world to reach your next destination. This can mean attuning to specific objects to open the portal to the next island in the primary cycle, or activating other means of going to other places in The Archipelago. Each island is a unique, hand crafted experience, some with unique mechanics, and all beautiful in their own way.

How to Play

DitherDream controls like a typical first person game, and is generally enjoyable by those of all skill levels. There is no danger, and no time pressure when traversing the primary cycle. However, accessing the many hidden areas of The Archipelago will require taking time to fully understand the islands that you traverse, and most of the world is hidden.

Exploring The Archipelago

You have access to a diagram of The Archipelago that will gradually fill in as you visit more and more islands. Every session begins at the center, but from there you can navigate your way across the primary cycle, a circular network of small islands known to you as Ways. Many of the Ways will have a little stub next to them on your diagram, indicating that attuning to that island more deeply will allow you to travel deeper into that region, instead of continuing to traverse around the primary cycle. Successfully doing so is one key to unlocking the secrets of DitherDream.

The World Breathes

Every pixel of The Archipelago is alive with bits of motion and flow, and learning to interpret that motion will serve you well. With a careful eye you can learn to understand the intent of the world, and let it guide you.

Content Warning

Some of the islands are shaped a bit like adult humans that don't have clothes on. Those islands typically have things running through them that could be interpreted as injuries or sickness. Due to the art style, the overall effect isn't very explicit, even when climbing all over them.

The Past:

The first version, available for free on my patreon, was made for a 1-Bit game jam. I saw the rule saying that we could only have two colors on screen at a time and I just had to bend it around in circles. The rest flowed from there.

The Future:

This is something of an Early Access vertical slice, a short version of the full vision of the game. Now that the basic concept is solid, our intent is to finish the game sometime within 2024, via updates at least once per month.

• Far more worlds to explore: While exact numbers are difficult to predict without locking the game into deleterious expectations, we expect that at least two dozen more worlds will be added.
• The price will likely increase as development continues and the delivered game expands.