Mingle Games’ Calming Lia could help you fall asleep

Mingle Games has unveiled a game that could help you get better quality sleep. Calming Lia is a night-time “match-3” puzzle game for iOS devices.

The Prague, Czech Republic-based indie game studio created Calming Lia to reduce the negative effect of playing games before going to sleep.

The free-to-play mobile puzzle-adventure game features hand-drawn art and charming, vivid character animations. Intended specifically for night play and encouraging the use of the iOS Night Shift mode, Calming Lia gives players a variety of quests and in-game elements that make each level a fun, challenging puzzle to solve.

The story of Calming Lia focuses on Lia, an imaginative young lady who lives in the world, dreaming of a dreamland when she sleeps, and Bao, a friendly bear with endearing raccoon-like features who represents Lia’s courage and well-being throughout her adventures.

Above: Mingle Games’ Calming Lia has blue tints that make you drowsy.

Image Credit: Mingle Games

“The main inspiration for developing this game comes from my daughter’s frequent nightmares,” said Vladislav Spevak, the managing director at Mingle Games, in a statement. “It was important to me to create a game that can be played at night and help calm the brain so that the player can have a good night’s sleep. Calming Lia is designed to deliver a compelling yet restful experience as you get ready to go to bed.”

Players will travel the world, from the depths of magical woods to the peaks of mountains, and farther on and into the mysterious land of dreams. By using unique match-3 mechanics to release positive emotions and fend off the “Boogie Man” and his nightmarish cohorts (spiders, wolves, monsters, etc.), players can improve Lia’s abilities to face her fears and remain calm so she can freely explore her imagination.

“Night gaming” is a term the company uses for describing certain features that reduce the negative effect of playing games before sleep and also help or enhance the ability to fall asleep, thus improving the quality and length of players’ sleep.

The three important features of night gaming featured in Calming Lia include soothing music, played at about 60 beats per minute. That pace has a proven impact on the body, mind, and a person’s emotions. It slows down the brain’s overactive thought process, enabling the player to relax and get rid of tensions.

It also has sleep-friendly colors. The company says there is significant evidence proving that blue light emitted by all kinds of electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, TV screens, laptops, and others can have a profound effect on our sleep.

Calming Lia features a special “night mode” option in the game menu that automatically suggests switching on a special filter that reduces the blue light at a certain time to make sure any kind of gameplay experience will not have a negative effect.

And the game features distraction. A busy mind is a well-known enemy of sleep. Minds don’t know such things as a perfect time for worries or imagination, the company says. Wandering imaginations or minds occupied with worries just before bedtime are quite common due to more time to think. Sleep experts recommend doing something that will distract the mind from stress and overactive thought processes. Solving challenging puzzles, such as the ones in Calming Lia, can be one of them.

Spevak founded the company in Prague in 2012. It has funding from LRJ Capital. It previously launched Dark Lands, which has had more than 6 million downloads to date and still gets more than 6,000 downloads per day.