Ok, so I didn’t post anything last week. I’ve flogged myself for six hours and twenty-nine minutes for that. But, really, I didn’t want those wonderful memory stories to stop coming! Go back and post one if you didn’t already.
With the titillating title of this post, I have to deliver something. And I’m absolutely dying to share what we’re doing behind these tightly closed doors, so I’m going to allow myself a smidgen of satisfaction and show off some of the pre-Alpha art Greg has done.
First, though, what the heck is “pre-Alpha?” Am I some kind of space cadet geek or something? Actually, the game production schedule is broken into some big pieces, and we just call those ridiculously ambiguous names: pre-production, prototype, alpha, and beta. Lila Dreams is in prototype now, where we’re building the main parts of the game that will support all that fun stuff we have planned. Next comes Alpha, which means we have all the major features done (but they’re probably not very fun and definitely not refined). So, “pre-Alpha” means somewhere before Alpha.
Lesson aside, here’s what you came for. (Disclaimer: this art represents one tiny slice of the game world. Don’t go thinking it’s all about monsters and combat and stuff–that’s only one focus of several. 
You probably already know that if you read this blog regularly, but someone just coming here for the art might get a different impression.)
The first of our test creatures is called a Barnockle. It’s a little multi-eyed thing that sits on pretty much any surface (sticky butt, you see) and shoots out little poisonous spores at anyone who comes near. (It’s on the left, there.)
Then we have a Shakroo. This is a boney-insectoid creature that has to hop to stay alive, so it hops a lot. Just don’t let it hop on you or those pointy feet will be stabbing you in the face. In.. the.. face! That’s gotta hurt.
And then is the conflicted Wocky. Except, it’s us that is conflicted, because it seems like a gigantic, cute, furry-tailed thing. In reality, it’s nasty and mean, and tends to stun with its sonic attack. Don’t get any ideas about petting one without special preparations which are classified right now.
There you have it, some Lila Dreams art that may or may not end up in the actual release.
While the above pics are static mock-ups, they were made with the in-game art. So what you see there is how the game actually looks right now (minus the glorious multi-layer scrolling). These are not official “screenshots,” just to be clear, but they’re a really good approximation. 
22 comments ↓
The art is simply amazing, especially the backgrounds. It really doesn’t get better than this when it comes to 2-D games. This is more beautiful than I could have ever hoped. The only constructive criticism I can make is how the Barnockle seems like it’s kind of floating, since it ends a little unnaturally on the bottom. Maybe have some dirt or grass masking the flat horizontal bottom. Although, on second thought, you most likely just pasted it on the background to show us the art… so I probably just wasted my breath.
This reminds me of Aquaria’s art (though the actual drawing style is quite different) and from what you wrote earlier, the animation style will be similar as well.
This…is..so..Awesome!!! (why can’t i think of a better word?).
The watercolour-like background is serene and wonderful, befitting for the game, even reminds me of ‘Odin Sphere’ to some extend, another scrolling 2d game.
If the battles aren’t all the focus, is it possible to have a safari or wildlife ranges around? I know it’s silly, but wouldn’t it be wonderful to have these ‘biologist’ memekins go out there and discovering the weird and wacky wilderness alltogether!
Sir Cavy, all I can say is be careful what you wish for. That’s precisely the kind of “silly” stuff I like.
I do know someone who is crazy about “photography games,” where you have to take pictures of things. Could be a neat thing to do.
Even at this early stage, the creatures are wonderful to look at, and the backdrops are stunning as well. I’m really looking forward to the game, and have been following the blog closely. I can’t see the barnockle picture for some reason, however; is it just me?
I missed it the first time too; it’s in the same picture as the Shakroo, just to the left.
Perhaps the Barnockle is the green tentacle/eye/rock creature just behind the shakroo!
‘Whoops’ already been posted.Sorry!!
Oh… Wow! That art is looking stunning! Much better than I had originally imagined ^^ The monster designs are looking pretty great too. Three cheers for Creatrix!
Is that green plant to the left of the Wocky anything in particular? Just looked out of place, perhaps due to it’s colour being a bit more brilliant than the background…? Or am I just crazy? XD
I love this. It is so quirky and free of many game clichés that I long to see what the finished cities and machines will be like. It’s also good to see some of this great game rather than just hear about it! More please!
Barnokle — I can just see him now waving his tendrils about trying to attract some poor by passer into getting too close.
Shakroo — He looks to be a skull on stilts. I can imagine him staggering around, but once he sets his sights he goes charging in.
Wocky — lumbering brute? Is that green thing next to him lunch? Kinda reminds me of a head of lettuce or cabbage. I’m not sure I’d ever trust anything that large.
Static images, but still able to evoke a certain response. These are beautiful guys. I can’t wait.
That is some pretty fantastic artwork there.
I’ve been a little conflicted about some of the stuff shown here: on the one hand, the little Memekin o’ angst looked really neat, I thought, but the base character without any gear looks pretty… bleh to be honest. But this art… well, I’m not going any time soon, I guess, so long as the characters tend more towards the level of detail we’re seeing here.
Another thing that’s keeping me is that the production of Lila Dreams seems to be incorporating elements I like to see in MMO’s, specifically Side-scroller power and the noncombat elements which, if handled well, are always nice pastimes. I’m sort of curious about how they’re going to fit with the idea of the players influencing Lila’s moods, though, I wonder? Fishing up and cooking neuroses? Tinkering together nightmares… actually, those sound kinda cool.
All I can say: minions, plz.
Those are really neat^^
It’s awesome that Lila Dreams is so far along already!
Haha, I see the barnockle now. Evidently today I do poorly at both “reading comprehension” and “spot the barnockle.”
Wow! Awesome. Speechless.
WOW. I always thought you were going to do it in that black and white line art style, but this style is amazing! Color is so vibrant. What resolution is this going to run at?
The art looks really wonderful. I loved the jungle backgrounds. Looks alive to me.
Fishy Boy, the game will run at 700×500 resolution.
The Wocky looks like a whale with legs and a tail. Which is awesome.
I’m imagining riding on the back of a Wocky, scattering the forces of happiness, smashing into some sort of emotion “control point”, and using my dastardly influence to make Lila cranky! Bwahahaha!
Brilliant! Sounds like interesting enemies “sticky but” and “hops around” — gameplay in how they move around, besides just “more hp” like a lot of action-rpgs go.
Btw I only see 2 pictures, the 2 legged spiked one with the poison spore and the giant conflicted creature (think one of your screenshots is missing).
MDK (and others I’ve confused), actually the Barnockle is the little green thing to the left of the Shakroo in the first image. It doesn’t stand out much with all the other green around it. Look for the eyes and tentacles on the path.
I’ll do better with future images.
That’s an excellent graphical style – looking forward to seeing more of this as it develops.
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