Daydream Software
Their first game was "Safecracker", a point and click adventure game published by DreamCatcher Interactive. The game had a tumultuous production, starting when GT Interactive bought initial publisher Warner Interactive Europe. Daydream Software went public in late 1996. The company's goal was to increase its economic and decision-making freedom, and to secure the ability to select a publisher at the end of each game's development rather than at the beginning. President Jans Phersson-Broburg argued that self-financing Daydream's future games with money from Swedish investors, instead of obtaining "funding linked to specific projects" from publishers, would offer the developer more stability, flexibility and room for growth. For Daydream's public launch, roughly 20 million kr worth of shares, or 45.5% of the company, were offered to investors in Sweden. The initial public offering was a success, and Daydream opened on the Stockholm Stock Exchange's Stockholm Börsinformation (SBI) list in January 1997. Daydream was eventually able to buy back the rights to "Safecracker".
Project Dream
After Nintendo released the SNES, Rare decided to use the profits they made from Nintendo Entertainment System games to invest in Silicon Graphics workstations. Rare used this high-end technology to develop "Donkey Kong Country" (1994), which received critical acclaim and became the second bestselling SNES game behind "Super Mario World" (1990). After finishing "Donkey Kong Country", Rare staff decided to apply the technology to a new game that was not a platformer. They settled on developing a RPG, as they were all fans of the genre. The codename "Dream" was chosen because they wanted their RPG to have a fantastical, magical feel. "Dream" used "Donkey Kong Country"s graphics technology to an advanced level. It was inspired by Japanese RPGs and LucasArts adventure games; the team wanted to combine those games to create one with a "Rare flavour". "Dream" was developed by Rare's "" (1995) team and was announced in 1995.