Since we’re working in conjunction with the great people at kongregate.com, and the games on that site are mostly small Flash projects, you might be wondering what kind of game Lila Dreams will be.
Simply put, it is a massively multiplayer game with a Flash interface. Most of the game logic (the gameplay rules) is programmed in Java and runs on the server. Lila Dreams is very different from anything on Kongregate, which is not to say it’s better, just that it’s a huge game and is probably not what you would expect to find on the site.
Just in case you don’t know, a “massively multiplayer online game” (often abbreviated “MMO”) requires large numbers of players to simultaneously co-exist in a virtual world, playing together and living in the universe of the game. Very often, there’s a lot of belligerence towards Bad Guys that threaten the well-being of the Good Guys. World of Warcraft is probably the most popular example of this type of game. Lila Dreams is nowhere near as big as that game, but it’s very ambitious for a tiny team like ours–just three sexy men. 
So, it’s like WoW?
Not really.
World of Warcraft is a medieval/primitive setting, whereas Lila Dreams has a mix of varying levels of technology. There’s even a touch of science fiction.
There are no elves, dwarfs, or other Tolkien-derived player races. There are no dragons, orcs, or other Tolkien-derived creatures. There’s no magic. Well, there are “powers” that might be analogous to magic spells, but in terms of the setting they are psychic powers and not spells. So, there’s no magic. 
There is no level grind. Level grinding is when you do boring tasks like killing cellar rats over and over to watch your game character become more powerful so you can kill bigger cellar rats. I personally do not like level grinding, and I think that it puts the focus of play on the experience of grinding rather than on the experience of the game world. I am working hard to design systems that do not require grinding so that the game world itself is the focus of fun.
No level grind, but there is combat: juicy, 2d platforming combat with RPG-like mechanics! This wasn’t always the idea, though. I originally wanted the game to not have combat at all, but in the end I decided that combat is something that a lot of people want. And we aim to please! So, then I decided that if there must be combat, I will find a way to avoid level grinding. I’ll talk more about the combat systems in later posts. It’s very early in the development cycle to be giving out details.
There is a kind of crafting, and it’s a central part of the gameplay. All I can say for now is that you don’t craft items–you grow them. Yes, gardening. 
But in a surrealistic game world where plants are not just plants. But I must not give away too much! (It’s very hard for me not to spill the beans! Oh how I fight!)
So, it’s nothing like Wow?
Well, kinda.
You get to make a character, choose what to wear, fight exciting battles against a bestiary of insanely weird creatures from Lila’s mind, team up with friends and explore strange places, meet in towns and emote at each other, get to know helpful NPCs (non-player characters), grow items in your garden, and manage your character’s abilities and inventory. We’ll see how much more we can cram into the game before launch, but we also hope to keep building on it after launch to make it even better.
So, yeah, it’s got things in common with many other MMOs. It’s just a lot smaller than most MMOs since we don’t have even 0.01% of the budget of something like World of Warcraft.
When can I play?
My, aren’t you just full of questions. (Or not, I don’t even know if anyone is reading this blog to be honest!)
It’s coming out this year. And there will be beta testing for a while. [Clarification update: beta testing won't begin for quite a few months. My apologies if this was not clear. Bad, naughty Jason!] That’s as specific as I want to be. But it’ll be worth the wait!!
35 comments ↓
The line for beta testing forms behind me
I’m so excited for this game! The idea goes beyond creative and the art looks amazing. AND no grind! Anyway, thanks for doing the blog, it will be an awesome place for kong fangirls/boys to come and drool and dream.
So be it. You are the first one on the beta testing list.
We really appreciate your support!
Just wondering, I’ve seen that a lot of games are pirated across the web, how do you intend to combat this?
Hi, Katsu!
One nice thing about a multiplayer-only game like Lila Dreams is that each player has an account and must be logged in to play. Once the player has logged in, nobody else can use that account, so accounts generally are not useful if shared publicly.
In case you aren’t familiar with how a game like this works (and I apologize for the wordy explanation if you are), the “client” is the part of the game that you interact with in your web browser. Just like most games at Kongregate, Lila Dreams will have a Flash “client” which will be your window into Lila’s world. But there’s a majority of the game actually running on a remote computer (the “server”) that players have no direct access to. The client (the Flash part you play in your browser) talks to the server (the remote computer) and gets all the game content and logic from it. In a very literal sense, the game only partly runs on your computer. The other part runs on the server, which is inaccessible to people who might want to pirate the game. That makes the game very secure from piracy.
So, since the data and game logic resides mostly on the server, there’s not really much to pirate. There’s no “download” version to install, because the game content (levels, etc) are sent to the player’s computer as he or she plays. The client is really just a mediator between your input as a player and the result that comes back from the server.
That’s not to say that hackers can’t get into the server and cause trouble, but many cases of piracy that plague downloadable games are eliminated in the case of Lila Dreams.
Hope that explained it clearly!
Do you think you might encounter any delays? Also, what is the combat like? I mean, is it like Mario, as in stomping on the enemy’s heads and whatnot, or is it like MapleStory, just without the level grind?
PS: *Cough*Betaspotplease*cough*
Good question, Ethan! But, unfortunately, it’s a little premature to discuss the combat system.
*fights back urge to spill every bean in the place*
I can say that it is not like Mario. There’s no jumping on anyone’s head. At least, not for combat reasons.
Combat is not really like Maple Story’s, either, because there’s a lot more to it than just pumping the “attack” button mindlessly. The combat has pretty deep gameplay potential (that is, you will have a metric ton of options and strategies).
As for beta signups, we’re not officially starting a list yet (except for Alison!) but Kongregate members will get priority when the time comes quite a few months from now.
Nice fresh ideas, gentlemen. Looking forward to seeing how this develops. I like the little bit teaser art, the backstory AND thank goodness for not creating yet another fantasy MMO! No elves!!!
Woot. This looks remarkably like a game I sketched out a design for a while back, but lack the time and resources to work on. I’ve often said that there needs to be more innovation within the design space of MMO games, and this certainly seems to fit the bill. I suppose I should check out this Kongregate thing if it gives me a shot at the beta later.
Ooh, this sounds fantastic, just the sort of thing I was hoping somebody would do! I’m definitely keeping tabs on this, and would love to be a tester! My girlfriend is even a Flash guru (as in, “did game programming for one of the first-ever commercial web animations in Flash”) so we might even be able to give some useful debugging tips. Good thing I already signed up for Kongregate!
Dofus is a flash-based MMOG with a Java backend and it really works so I’m sure the technology you’re using will definitely be able to create something great.
I stopped playing Dofus because of the repetitive level-grind that was involved which is why Lila Dreams sounds so awesome to me. I’m really looking forward to seeing this. If you still need beta testers then count me in!
you have been boinged
Consider me in line behind Alison Claire! This sounds like tons of fun!
As a long time MMO player and a supporter of the independent game developers, I eagerly look forward to what you folks are making here. Sign me up for the potential beta tester list! Here’s to something new and different…
Thank you, everyone, for your kind remarks. It truly means a lot to us!
And… we’re on boingboing?!
Heard about this from boingboing, and i’m really impressed by the concept! can’t wait to give it a shot. Would absolutely love to help beta test!
I also saw this on boingboing. This is something I would really like to try out! Any room in the queue?
I just wanted to clarify so that there are no disappointments, in case I was not communicating well. We’re not actually ready for beta testing.
It’s still really early in production, and beta is quite a few months away. (Heck, alpha is a few months away!)
So, please hold that thought and don’t go anywhere!
We definitely want lots of you to beta test with us. But, I need to put together an automated way to handle those requests before I can start to accept them. Oh, and the game needs to be playable. 
In the meanwhile, I hope you will stick around to enjoy more concept art, more blog banter, and more other stuff!
Thanks again to everyone. This is going to be a lot more fun with friends along for the ride!
Questions were asked for in the first post but i figured it would be seen better in the most recent one. How open source friendly do you expect to make the game? You mentioned using java and flash so its going to be a browser based game? Which means I will be able to play on my Ubuntu machine?
cheers
You really oughta start collecting email addresses for your eventual beta, and/or a mailing list.
BTW, you’ve probably seen it, but A Tale In The Desert is a MMO with fairly similar sensibilities — albeit no combat whatsoever. http://atitd.com/
I’d love to be an alpha/beta tester! Waiting a few months is no big deal
zorkers, the only requirement to play is a web browser with the Flash 9 plugin. (In theory–in reality, there are hangups even with that, but 99% of people should be okay.)
I second Merreborn: can we please have a mailing list that will tell us when Lila will be out? I am excited already!
Oh wow… I keep telling people that I want a gardening simulator. Maybe this will satisfy my urges!
Please tell me if you guys are going to start sending out a newsletter thingy so I can sign up for it. Ohh I want to beta test it SOOOOOOO much!!!!!!
Sounds impressive. I wonder how you guys are going to cope with the limitations set by a platform like Flash. Other mmo projects were made but most with a fully downloadable client. With content being served “just-in-time” is a big thing and I am very curious about how will that be.
Well they say they’re using Java as the backend so I would imagine that Flash is used purely for the graphics and UI. In that respect, Flash is probably perfect and I wouldn’t imagine there’d be that many limitations.
Really appealing project! I’m looking forward to playing it (one more beta!)
For instance, getting into a character’s mind, having psychic powers are share characteristic; I’m so thrill about those concepts in a MMO.
The theme concept and some elements mentioned remind me so much to Tim Schafer’s Pyschonauts, game that I love. I guess that some inspirations came from there
I’m looking into ways to let you guys sign up for Big News and eventual beta spots, but also please consider getting email updates from this blog. It’s pretty handy since the blog posts go right to your inbox.
And you can be guaranteed that any big announcements will be made here.
Tomoru and Fyorl, our Technical Director and Programming Deity (official title) will be blogging here from time to time, so he can answer all your questions.
Looking forward to it, and following your every step.
Is it 2d isometric?
Could u release some early concept sketches? pretty please?
rodrigot, if you missed it, there is a small (but growing) gallery of concept art on the main Lila Dreams website.
I’m up for beta testing.
Amazing ideas… cannot wait to see what you guys come up with. Will this use the ‘Free to Play’ model and use ads for revenue or are you going for the traditional pricing model?
Just wondering
I will pass this site around to everyone I know…
Thanks
kevbo, the game will use micro-transaction sales for primary income (free to play, buy items optional), in addition to ads since it will be hosted at Kongregate.com. They run ads in a little panel attached to the right side of the game screen.
I know lots of people are probably curious about how the micro-transaction stuff will work, so it’s likely I’ll blog about that soon.
And thanks for your enthusiasm!
Oh, I have an idea! Why not get these companies to advertise IN GAME not in ads. You could have like little billboards in some of the places. Just an idea.
I’m interested in the game also, and I never would had heard of this game if it weren’t for wikipedia, from a link in SecondLife. Anyways I’m interested in beta also.
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