Lasuni Interview: A Unique Browser Community
Questions By Bryan King (Bryan), OnRPG Journalist
Answered by Dave Stribling
Lasuni, a new browser social game with RPG elements, has come over the horizon! Developed by the talented minds at YahRly, a group of two talented entrepreneurs, Lasuni is a new game with somewhat limited features at the moment, but will expand and grow in the future. Today, I had the chance to have a discussion with Dave Stribling, art director and co-founder of YahRly.
OnRPG: Could you please introduce readers to the premise of Lasuni?
Lasuni is a new MMOG where users can explore and express themselves. There will be a variety of skills in which users can level up in such as fishing and cooking. There will also be a variety of quests, puzzles and mini-games for users to work through. While Lasuni does have many similar features to other MMORPGs, we will also focus heavily on the social aspect of the game, encouraging users to work in teams, playing games and socializing with the other users.
Lasuni Winter Setting
OnRPG: Lasuni has been released for a period of about two months now, how would you describe the development of the community so far?
We’ve been thrilled with the positive response we’ve received from the community. Currently we’re developing the game openly so users can watch our development. At this very early stage the client is lacking most of the larger and more engaging features, yet irrespective of this, users have embraced Lasuni and their support has been invaluable. I particularly enjoy gaining feedback from users and their ideas are helping to change and further refine what Lasuni is.
OnRPG: How did your team come up with such an interesting name for the game?
Honestly, it was a long, laborious process thinking of meaningless words and checking if the domain was free. We spent a long time trying to find the perfect name as it’s very important as it’s our brand and it’s the first thing users see, we wanted something interesting but not clique – hopefully we’ve achieved that.
OnRPG: Based on what I’ve seen so far, Lasuni focuses on a unique graphic style that is easy on the eyes and very detailed, how was this art style decided upon?
From the offset we decided we wanted a bright and vibrant graphical styled inspired by games such as Animal Crossing. I feel this type of graphics isn’t offensive to anybody, and allows for a more casual gaming experience.
Greetings from Lasuni
OnRPG: How has the community responded to the updates you guys have added to the game so far?
As I stated previously, the community has been extremely supportive during our development. They have responded very positively to the updates we’ve been releasing and eagerly login to help test the features for us. This has been very useful in fixing any bugs we may not have noticed. Their feedback also drives us to work harder and faster than ever before.
OnRPG: What type of events do you guys plan to coordinate to keep the Lasuni community busy?
We hope to have lots of events to keep users entertained while on Lasuni, as we develop further we plan to include lots of features to enable more interesting events, particularly during holidays with fun, and rewarding quests to users who login.
OnRPG: Based on the in-game currency system added so far, Silver and Gold will play a major role for character development. Will this system be completely free to use? How will it play a role in the game’s economy?
Silver is our free currency and is earned in-game by completing quests, playing mini games, referring their friends and more. This can then be spent on rewards such as new clothes for your avatar, new items to improve skills, and more. Gold is a premium currency which can be used to purchase VIP, and exclusive clothes and items.
OnRPG: In what way will the leveling system be prominent within the game?
As you play Lasuni you will receive experience for pretty much everything you do in-game to level up. As your level increases you’ll have greater access to better items, areas and quests.
OnRPG: Will there be items that play a role in how Lasuni develops in terms of a storyline?
In a word, yes. As we move further into development story lines within Lasuni will become more prevalent, some will be small and relate to only a few NPCs, others will be larger and unlock new areas and features, and the largest being world events where the entire community can affect the outcome.
OnRPG: As we can see in an early version of the client, NPCs will be featured within the game. How will these NPCs interact with the community? Will they be free-flowing and talk with users in real-time?
NPCs can be interacted with in two ways, one is speaking to them how you would talk to any other user, and NPCs also talk randomly which may give hints in what to do to solve a quest or gain items. The other way to interact with NPCs is talking to them in a typical RPG style, this will be used for accepting quests.
OnRPG: If you could give one reason why players who have not joined Lasuni yet should play now, what would you tell them?
It’s an exciting time to join Lasuni, as we’re developing and adding new features all the time. It’s a small yet friendly community that is very welcoming and in which you can make your mark and actually contribute towards the game with ideas and just by participating in events and competitions. It’ll be a fun and constantly changing world for everybody, we love the development, and we hope you’ll enjoy sharing the experience with us and our community.
OnRPG: What future updates does the Lasuni development team plan to add?
Our next big update is the inventory system and shop. This will enable users to spend silver to purchase new clothes for their avatars to create a more varied world! This update will include the inventory system and character screen which is how users will customize their avatars. The inventory will also be used for other miscellaneous items and is a very important feature to get completed. After that, who knows what we’ll work on!
OnRPG: What is the Lasuni’s strategy for keeping players interested in playing?
Our plan to keep users interested at this point is be honest with progress and to ensure we get updates out as quickly as we possibly can, to add features that will add depth and interest to the game. When more features have been developed we will continually work to add new quests, areas and mini-games to entertain our users.
OnRPG: What is your favorite thing about Lasuni?
Definitely the community, being able to develop a project with such a generous and enthusiastic community is a joy and they inspire me every day to work harder than yesterday. Without them Lasuni wouldn’t be possible – not to sound soppy!
OnRPG: Where do you see Lasuni five years from now?
With all luck Lasuni will be thriving with expansive environments, hundreds of quests , mini games and puzzles and a large friendly community. Though, 5 years is a very long compared to Lasuni’s mere 2 months of existence, so I’m just taking it as we go with my fingers crossed.
OnRPG: Thank you for your time!
Thanks for the opportunity to talk to you!
