Dreams was designed to allow for players with any level of experience a chance to create their own game levels and games, but the requirement of motion controls has been a point of contention for its community. Dreams is currently in early access, so this issue can be addressed before the game fully launches, and Media Molecule does seem receptive to the feedback on the controls so far.
At the moment in order to control Dreams' cursor, you need to use the Dualshock 4's sensors or the PlayStation Move controllers. The use of those motion controls has been noted by the community to be a bit inefficient, to say the least, constantly forcing players to readjust things to utilize the cursor properly. Another point against the motion controls requirement is that players with some physical disabilities can find trying to play Dreams an unnecessary challenge. Providing the option of using more traditional control schemes and peripherals has been a large part of player feedback on the game so far and Media Molecule has taken note.
Jon Beech, a senior designer for Dreams, stated recently to Game Informer:
For us accessibility is really important and that includes accessibility for people who have difficulty using motion controls, so things like mouse and keyboard help with that. So yeah, anything can happen in regards to [accessibility]. For us it’s just a matter of prioritizing motion-free control that uses the PS4 and then later down the road we can look into possible mouse and keyboard support.
It makes sense that Media Molecule would focus on expanding the control options to the normal use of Dualshock 4 controllers, but it is good to see that they will still be looking at support for mouse and keyboard from that point.
At the moment though, the team is most focused on the first big update for the game that will be coming out in May that will be adding more tutorials and templates, game assets, Dreamiverse social abilities, and will be raising the level cap past 100. Nothing has been given as far as a time frame for when we might see the implementation of the ability to use normal controllers for Dreams, so we'll just need to wait and see how quick Media Molecule can make it a reality.
