If your nightmares made games, what would they look like?

[SplashChick]

Battletoads.

[Dylan]

Hm, the most common theme in my nightmares is an oppressive, malevolent entity which forces me down or overpowers me. It's frightening because whatever is opposing me is clearly very much more powerful than I am, I can't even muster the strength to get up from it. These apparitions usually appear as odd dark images, like a shadow that's constantly running up my stairs, a face appearing on my wall, or even a giant pig's head with a corpse coming out of the mouth and holding a woman (now that was a freaky one). For some reason, these always seem to take place in my bedroom or house. It sort of makes me think of what feeling a demonic presence would be like.

[Zach]

Hm, the most common theme in my nightmares is an oppressive, malevolent entity which forces me down or overpowers me. It's frightening because whatever is opposing me is clearly very much more powerful than I am, I can't even muster the strength to get up from it. These apparitions usually appear as odd dark images, like a shadow that's constantly running up my stairs, a face appearing on my wall, or even a giant pig's head with a corpse coming out of the mouth and holding a woman (now that was a freaky one). For some reason, these always seem to take place in my bedroom or house. It sort of makes me think of what feeling a demonic presence would be like.

When I was younger I had similar dreams to those, only mine were a bit different i'd have a relatively normal dream but then wake up paralyzed, where I couldn't move even so much as to close my eyes and I'd feel like a really fat person was sitting on my chest trying to choke me. This would go on until I'd regain control and scream. This stopped happening to me a few years back now most of my nightmares revolve around me being chased by a monster that looks just like the wraiths from Doom 3 an it's always one step behind me this goes on until I reach a dead end turn around and wake up just before it bites at my throat. So I'd have to say if my nightmares were a videogame it would be that part in Deadspacr when Isaacs being chased by the invincible necromorph that's always one step behind you, that part of the game made me so tense an stressed I had to have my cousin play it for me.

[J T]

The Penumbra developers have some really interesting related ideas:

http://frictionalgames.blogspot.com/201 ... aning.html

[Niode]

Dylan and Zach, what you have experienced is Sleep Paralysis. I used to suffer from it a lot when I slept alone (still do, very rarely when the Mrs. is out of town). It started when I trained myself to lucid dream (where you are semi-conscious in your dream state) the world is almost the same but certain things never work, light switches, clocks, general stuff. After doing this for a couple of years sometimes I would get the falling through the bed feeling as I start to lucid, and then I'd get stuck. I'd try to get myself back up from beyond the bed but cannot due to hands pushing down on me. Always, many hands, disembodied. Eventually they will push me down and I'll begin to lucid fully. Very frightening the first time it happened. I found the more it happened the more I try to co-operate with the hands the faster it would pass. Anybody else experiment with lucid dreaming?

[Luke]

I'll get more in depth later JT, bit for now I just couldn't resist saying:

Batman Dark Tomorrow.

Good thread, but requires a response that would take a while.

[REPO Man]

Anybody else experiment with lucid dreaming?

I want to.

[DerekG52]

As I had a vivid nightmare last night, it would be a survival game vs Jason. Though I believe in my dream he was nearly invincible to fire (tried the lit match + hairspray on him)

[Zach]

Dylan and Zach, what you have experienced is Sleep Paralysis. I used to suffer from it a lot when I slept alone (still do, very rarely when the Mrs. is out of town). It started when I trained myself to lucid dream (where you are semi-conscious in your dream state) the world is almost the same but certain things never work, light switches, clocks, general stuff. After doing this for a couple of years sometimes I would get the falling through the bed feeling as I start to lucid, and then I'd get stuck. I'd try to get myself back up from beyond the bed but cannot due to hands pushing down on me. Always, many hands, disembodied. Eventually they will push me down and I'll begin to lucid fully. Very frightening the first time it happened. I found the more it happened the more I try to co-operate with the hands the faster it would pass. Anybody else experiment with lucid dreaming?

Wow I never knew what exactly it was that was wrong with me, sleep paralysis is a terrifying thing, it hasn't happened to me in a few years but i'm still scared that it could happen again. And I've always been interested in trying lucid dreaming.

[Ack]

Yeah, I get sleep paralysis as well, though very rarely. Instead of disembodied hands, I tend to see a hooded figure standing over me in the corner of my vision, and I'm entirely unable to move. Unfortunately, I've never experienced a lucid dream, but I can tell when sleep paralysis is about to begin because that strange falling-away feeling begins, so now I immediately snap out of it when it starts.