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Lila Dreams blog posts an interview with Jason McIntosh
Lila Dreams is a tiny little MMO that we've been following somewhat closely here at Massively -- from the descriptions we've seen so far (of an entire virtual world set inside the dreams of a little girl), it seems like an intriguing experimental departure from your standard online game. And now, over on their blog, they've got an interview, translated from Portuguese, that sheds even more light on this innovative little online game.Unfortunately, there's not too much new here, but the interview does follow some familiar and interesting news about the game: players will be able to actually change Lila's moods using game mechanics, and the setting of the game will change based on whatever mood she has at the moment. While there probably won't be the videogame standbys of swords and plasma guns (though apparently there will be "a mix of modern, medieval, and future stuff"), we are told that players will be able to wander instanced areas with groups, so there will be some MMO conventions in there, tweaked as they may be.Lila Dreams remains a unique little blip on our radar for now -- the game, as we've said before, will eventually be hosted on Kongregate as a 2D Java and Flash game. There's a long way to go until release -- at least a closed alpha, beta, and then an open pre-release period, but we continue to look forward to it.
How Lila Dreams was able to do a lot with a little
Here at Massively, we're slowly becoming bigger and bigger fans of Lila Dreams, a tiny little MMO with some big ideas so far. The latest post over at the dev blog talks about how they made the best use of things that would normally be thought of as limitations in MMO design, and actually came out of it with more creativity than if they'd used more traditional MMO technology. The game is built in Java and Flash and is only 2D, but instead of settling for cheap animation, the designers actually used the drawback as a benefit, and designed a 2D scheme that lays down a set of bones, which can then be customized with any art that the designer wants to put in. What that means for players is customization -- the animation is designed around movement, not specific art, so lots of clothing or items or shapes can be put in their places, and the animation will still work.It also means, they say, that anyone can be designing animation, since instead of drawing frames or creating movement, you're just dragging keyframes around until they look right. The idea itself isn't necessarily new (lots of designers have used this "paper doll" philosophy, and of course letting anyone do animation doesn't guarantee that Lila Dreams will be anything special), but it's a good sign of the creativity of the Lila Dreams team that they took what most MMO developers would see as a negative (the limitations of Java and Flash), and made something interesting out of it. Can't wait to see they game they're cooking up.
Lila Dreams devs are blogging up new MMO insights
Back in late January, Eliah posted about an interesting little MMO called Lila Dreams, that was intriguing for a few reasons. Not only is it being developed as a 2D game in Java and Flash on Kongregate.com (a website probably most known for the extremely popular Desktop Tower Defense game), but the premise sounds terrific: the game takes place all inside a little girl's dream, with platforming and "gardening," and "mood-based world altering." Sure, it might not appeal to the Counterstrike crowd, but to experienced game players and developers that just sounds perfect.Since we first posted about it, the developers of the game have been blogging, and now there's quite a bit to read there about the process behind the game, including some good tidbits about how to make an RPG without a grind, and how to include microtransactions that vibe with both players and the people who want to make money from them.It'll definitely be interesting to see what comes of this. It certainly seems new, and as a great movie once said, the new needs friends.[Via KTR]
Lila Dreams: a different kind of MMO
Most of the big MMOs that are coming up fit in the basic Tolkien-derived fantasy mold: Warhammer Online, Age of Conan, and so on. There's nothing wrong with that per se; I'm with the many who believe WoW is the best MMO yet, and I recently started playing the Mythos beta and having a lot of fun with it. However, every once in a while, something comes along that breaks the pattern and stands out, like a refreshing breeze. EVE Online, as I'm told, is one such game.Here's another: Lila Dreams, by Creatrix Games, "a small game development studio located all around the world." It's set to launch this year on Flash gaming site Kongregate; the game's back end will be in Java, and the interface will be Flash. Here are some things I could glean from the blog: No magic (though there might be "psychic powers") No level grind No fantasy setting or races 2D platforming combat with "RPG-like mechanics" Gardening -- but "in a surrealistic game world where plants are not just plants" Players will apparently be inhabiting the mind of an 11-year-old girl named Lila Mood-based world-altering as a result of player cooperation It sounds interesting, anyway. For more, check out the concept art or the blog on the game's site. This is one game I would love to play in beta.[via Boing Boing]
