What would you do if you could design your room in any way you’d like? No worrying about a lack of funds, wasting paint, or being stuck with furniture you’ve decided you actually hate (I thought the cow print couch would be cute, okay?) Well, My Dream Setup just might have an answer for you. This indie simulation game developed and published by Campfire Studio allows players to decorate the room of their dreams. With a selection of furniture ranging from bedroom items to computer pieces, you’re able to create the comfy little bedroom you’ve always wished for. Or, well, at least part of it.
Before I continue, I have to admit that I’m not the greatest builder in the world. I always take the easy way out and go to the gallery for my houses in games like The Sims 4, but I wanted to bust out the ounce of decorative creativity I have in my body to deliver the perfect room in My Dream Setup. Sadly, even if I were a building connoisseur, I didn’t get much of a chance to show off my skills.
When I first booted up My Dream Setup, my ears were met with very upbeat music (that doesn’t seem to change) that got me in the mood to decorate. I started a new game and was given a bare, square room, save for a window and a door. My eyes almost immediately trailed to the weather button in the corner. I was very pleased with the cozy atmosphere that this simple yet interactive feature introduced. Altogether, that would be a great way to describe my experience with My Dream Setup: simple yet interactive.
The layout of My Dream Setup is very straightforward: a room to decorate and a few buttons in each upper-hand corner. There are no instructions or guides as to what each button does, so you’re free to explore as you please. One of the first things I did was go into blueprint mode, which let me delete and build walls, windows, and doors. Don’t get too excited about your supposed freedom, though, because if you try to make any shape other than a rectangle, you’re met with the message “room must be in rectangular shape before you can exit.” That means you can’t make two rooms that connect, and you can’t have a rectangular room with a wall running halfway through the middle. It truly has to be just a rectangle. I’ll admit I was pretty disappointed by this, but with more buttons to click, I moved on.
In furniture selection mode, you’re given different categories to delve into to find what you want to add to your room, and each category has a different number of options. Some categories, like the paintings, weren’t too bad with how many items they offered, but others, such as the bed selections, were definitely lacking. After you put down an item of your choosing, you can pick it back up, rotate it, duplicate it, delete it, or change its color. Aside from that, there’s not much else you can do. There’s also the option to change your floor and wall colors. With the floors, you’re stuck choosing only one option, but you can paint the walls one at a time, allowing for cute little accent walls.
One of my favorite experiences in My Dream Setup was building my computer setup. Instead of it being one big object or only picking out the table, chair, and monitor, I also had a choice of keyboards, mouses, desk mats, and the actual PC itself. Getting to mix and match made the setup truly feel like my own, but then the lack of being able to do that with anything else, for example, not being able to pick out a bed frame, sheets, and pillows, left a lot to be desired.
I also enjoyed a bunch of the little things. You’re able to turn on and off most of the electronics, like the lamps, wall lights, television, and computer monitors. Rooms save automatically, you can copy and paste any color codes in-game, and furniture placed on top of other furniture can all be moved together. That being said, there are also the little things that could make the experience so much better. The lack of an automatic snap feature for the wall lights, not being able to continuously duplicate items, not being able to turn the camera smoothly, not being able to put certain items in corners, and only having five save slots are a few examples of quality-of-life things that could be changed to make the experience more positive.
All in all, I think it’s safe to say that the idea is definitely there. With a low price of only $5.99, if you’re someone who enjoys building rooms beyond your imagination, then there isn’t much to lose by buying it. Still, with the lack of furniture items and, at times, frustrating and restraining mechanics, it can feel like the game isn’t complete because it isn’t my dream setup quite yet. My fingers are crossed that these issues can easily be fixed in future updates.
Despite the limiting factors, I would still recommend My Dream Setup. I had fun getting to put together a room I, no doubt, will not be able to afford in real life for a very long time. But hey, a girl can dream, right?
Inanna played My Dream Setup on PC with her own copy.
