We're living in an age of mass, democratised creativity – or at least that's what the technology industry likes to tell us. You can shoot a movie or record an album on a smartphone, you can become a household name with a webcam and a YouTube channel, and you can download any of a dozen applications and build a video game from nothing. But the latter is an intimidating notion. Games are ultimately complex mechanisms, constructed from code, involving physics, narrative, animation and audio. There has been a deliberate effort within the industry to make creative tools more accessible, arguably spearheaded by Unity, a technology that both powers games and lets users create them – and yet, designing and constructing a game can feel overwhelming.

As a digital artist and experimental games designer, I was one of the first in line to dive into Dreams – a PlayStation 4 game that aims to give everyone the ability to unlock the potential artist within – when the developer Media Molecule opened up limited early access in April. From the breadth of its artistic toolset to the community of creators it is enabling, Dreams feels like the start of a genuine revolution in accessible, creative play. The promise was that Dreams would represent a space where almost anything is possible, and Media Molecule has somehow got closer than I ever imagined. Dreams is hard to sum up succinctly, but it sits somewhere at the intersection of art studio, game engine and vibrant creative community hub. Almost the first thing new players see is a fun video of the development staff, smiling together in their office and holding up handmade "Welcome" signs.

The latest game by Media Molecule, the delightfully whimsical studio behind LittleBigPlanet and Tearaway, was first teased at the PlayStation 4 reveal event in 2013. A Creator Early Access was released on Tuesday (April 16th), mere hours before Mark Cerny, a systems architect at Sony, revealed the first details about the PlayStation 5. Dreams, then, was dangerously close to missing an entire console generation. I was nervous to boot up Dreams and see what Media Molecule has been slaving over for so many years. Part of me was sure the package couldn't justify such a protracted development cycle. From the opening screen, though, it was obvious where all the company's time and resources had gone.

Ever yearned to chisel a sculpture, compose a symphony or design a gigantic neon metropolis? Tue 6 Feb 2018 11.38 EST Last modified on Tue 6 Feb 2018 11.42 EST Most homes hide abandoned easels, guitars and origami kits, all bought with good intentions to express the latent creativity that grownup life can easily stifle. You might want to unlock it, but the effort is too intimidating. Media Molecule, a game developer based in Guildford, believes that video games can help. A studio populated by artists, musicians and creatives of all stripes, it is best known for the successful LittleBigPlanet games – cheerful adventures with a hand-crafted look and a novel "play, create, share" philosophy, letting players remix the levels and make their own.