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Dream Day Developer Diary Written by Cara Ely, Senior Producer – Oberon Games 2.28.08

This exclusive to Just Adventure developer diary discusses what motivated Cara Ely to get into gaming and what drove her to create the Dream Day series which is currently available at JA Casual Games.

I have always been in the entertainment industry, but I started on the TV/movie/photography side; first as a talent agent, then a casting director, then as the Production Manager for a commercial photography studio. I knew about the games industry because my older brother, Michael, is also in games. He worked in the “core” game side of the business, but he was the reason I considered the possibility of having a career in games. He and I always say that we are a good fit for the games industry because our father was an engineer with the Army, and our mother was a ballet teacher; we grew up with a good mix of left brain and right brain parenting.

In 2000, when I was ready for a change, I noticed that Sierra Online was looking for an Associate Producer position in their casual games division. They particularly needed help hiring and directing voice talent, and writing scripts, so my background lined up very well. I got the job, and have been in games ever since. At Sierra, I started on the “You Don’t Know Jack” games, then moved onto the Hoyle Games team, where I eventually became a producer. Vivendi Universal eventually bought Sierra and closed the studio (my first taste of the instability of the games industry!), and I started with Oberon Games in 2005.

I thought of the idea for Dream Day Wedding during a brainstorming period at the studio. We were all tasked with coming up with new game and theme ideas, and it struck me that there were not many games on the market with a distinctly beautiful or “Martha Stewart-esque” look or feel to them. I also wondered why, if the casual game market is predominantly female, there weren’t more strongly female themes in games. I personally find many elements of wedding planning very appealing — flowers, cakes, beautiful fabrics, stationery, and so on – and I thought that those things could be a compelling part of a casual game. I could also imagine lots of places for the series to go – the other “Dream Days” that could be celebrated.

Oberon took a chance on the idea, and thanks to an incredibly talented development team, we were able to bring the game to market in just over 12 weeks (definitely the shortest development cycle I’ve ever experienced). Dream Day Wedding launched on Valentine’s Day of 2007, and the response to the game was (and continues to be) incredibly positive. We followed it with Dream Day Honeymoon, and (most recently), Dream Day First Home.