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!!