TIGSource: Lila Dreams

Lila Dreams

Derek Yu — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:26:00 +0000

There’s a new indie MMO in the works that’s got people talking. It’s called Lila Dreams:

...the game is a 2d, side-scrolling platform game that takes place in the mind of an 11-year old girl named Lila (pronounced, LEE-lah). As she drifts through life, players (as a race of mental entities called “Memekins”) must deal with the emotional storms and actually guide her through events which could crush her or save her. There will be plenty of actiony combat, some RPG-lite elements (but no level grind), exploration galore, and other non-combat activities like gardening in the soil of Lila’s psyche.

Well, the concept is certainly damn cool! As well as the concept art (no screenshots yet). I’m really curious how players can interact with one another as “Memekins.”

Lila Dreams is being developed by a small team of three, and will be published by Kongregate as part of their Premium Games service. As revealed in this recent interview with Wired, the game is browser-based and will be free to play, with micro-transactions as the primary source of funding for the developers.

No hints about a release date, although Creatrix has said that they will probably launch with 30% of the game’s planned content in, with the rest to come if it does well with players.

"Lila Dreams" by Quetzocotol

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:42:55 +0000

Definitely for the micro-transactions. If it’s really good enough I’m sure I’d shell out the cash for some online items or what have you. Either way, though, the items definitely shouldn’t affect how powerful your character is, as others have said. As long as there’s not a monthly payment or a one-time payment, ie entirely optional, that’s okay with me.

Shame it’s not going to be available until Halloween at the earliest. It’ll be such a long, hard wait!

"Lila Dreams" by Gene G.

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:08:31 +0000

Holy shit, that looks awesome. I’m totally cool with micro-transactions. I personally don’t care if my character is weaker than another. I just want to play a good game without paying monthly. :\

If someone really wants to spend money on an MMO, they can go for it. I’d rather spend money on tangible things.

"Lila Dreams" by Albert Lai

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:56:39 +0000

That would be nice. I’m very interested in how this comes out, like what more or less every other poster has said.

"Lila Dreams" by toastie

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 12:05:17 +0000

What about a much smaller amount? Like 99 cents a month or something?

"Lila Dreams" by Voodoo Master

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:47:16 +0000

I’d like to reiterate the previous comments: nice idea, nice look, intrigued to see how it turns out, wary of micro-transactions. Paying for it only once does sound like the best move for many MMOs, even if you have to pay rather a lot.

"Lila Dreams" by Stij

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:38:24 +0000

I have to agree with Zeno… micro-payments seem to reward the people who have the most money, from what I’ve seen.

I don’t really like subscriptions either. Honestly, I’d just like to pay for the game ONCE and get it over with. The only (successful) MMO I’ve seen that does that is Guild Wars, though.

"Lila Dreams" by Melly

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:21:35 +0000

I’m interested in seeing what they up with for this game. Hopefully it’ll turn out to be good. Though a team of three seems awfully small for MMO developing. I hear your team needs to have a couple dozen people in it for something like that to work, since MMO’s require maintaining as well as developing more content.

"Lila Dreams" by Trotim

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 08:43:24 +0000

On Kongregate? Awesomepants.

"Lila Dreams" by gnome

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 08:08:35 +0000

Very atmospheric, very odd artwork and an interesting concept. Hope it turns out as well as it sounds…

"Lila Dreams" by Nillo

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:12:11 +0000

Personally, I’d rather pay microtransactions than a fee, because then I can play as long as I want without getting my account deactivated, and pay only when I want to.

Also, I wish that the items gained from such microtransactions will be tradable. Otherwise, the people who for various reasons cannot use them will be forever left out and inferior to the ones who can.

"Lila Dreams" by Zeno

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:54:54 +0000

Nice concept art, but I’m wary of microtransactions. While they’re undoubtedly handy from a financial perspective, unless the items purchased are purely cosmetic it leads to the rich kids buying their way to a good character. Personally, I’d rather pay a fee to get the same game as everyone else than have someone have better stats because they’re willing to spend more.

"Lila Dreams" by Zaphos

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:47:27 +0000

There was a nice surreal flash game in black and white line art posted here (I think) a while back … forgot its name though.

Love the concept art for this :)

"Lila Dreams" by chutup

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:43:52 +0000

If this game turns out to be what it promises it will probably be damn awesome, and that’s coming from a certified MMO hater.

"Lila Dreams" by Alec

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:39:11 +0000

It’d be cool to see a game made with that visual style, like just black and white line art stuff.

"Lila Dreams" by Chris

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:38:09 +0000

Seems like a quite original idea and will be looking forward to see the end product.

"Lila Dreams" by Nikica

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:19:51 +0000

Cool image there, looks and sounds good but I just want that it would be downloadable !!!