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[oyog]

So I'm pretty late to the game with this comment but I only just caught up on the last six(?) pages. Have you guys decided to go with the blinky arrow for the shortcuts? I think it works well based on this footage:

Woohoo, new gameplay!

It's not too obtrusive but I still don't feel like it fits with the atmosphere of the game. It feels artificial in a game that (as far as I've seen) is entirely organic.

I'd like to revisit the idea of bugs to show a player there's a shortcut nearby. It might be interesting to use a swarm of bugs settling or being agitated as a player gets close to designate a shortcut.

[HopelessComposer]

It's not too obtrusive but I still don't feel like it fits with the atmosphere of the game. It feels artificial in a game that (as far as I've seen) is entirely organic.

I agree that the arrows don't fit. They kind of cheapen the atmosphere, I think. I'm sure there's a better way to show holes in the wall than this, hahah!

The music was a little drone-y in that gameplay video, too. This game is giving me strong Out of this World vibes...it might work better with a less intrusive soundtrack.

That said, this game is still looking great. =)

[Wlad]

The music was a little drone-y in that gameplay video, too. This game is giving me strong Out of this World vibes...it might work better with a less intrusive soundtrack.

I really like the music.

[HopelessComposer]

Oh, no. I like the music too. It just didn't fit the scene as well as it could, in my opinion. =)

[JLJac]

It's not too obtrusive but I still don't feel like it fits with the atmosphere of the game. It feels artificial in a game that (as far as I've seen) is entirely organic.

I'd like to revisit the idea of bugs to show a player there's a shortcut nearby. It might be interesting to use a swarm of bugs settling or being agitated as a player gets close to designate a shortcut.

A main theme at play here is the contrast between artificial and organic. You might have noticed how the environments are very industrial, but the creatures living in them are not. So the digital vibe from the shortcuts are not a problem to me because of that reason. What is a bit problematic is that we want to keep working machines to a minimum - you're supposed to look at old machinery, but not interact with it a lot. The shortcuts as they are are obviously an exception to that.

I'm not the hugest fan of the bug idea because it would introduce a living element to every room, always. The palettes of moods we can create is limited if we can't have just an empty room with nothing living in it. As the world is rather barren, and creatures are generally the only objects allowed to move, creatures become natural focal points with a lot of gravity to them. I want to keep it that way - if you spot something living you should be cautious and intrigued - living things shouldn't be scattered all over every level.

Update 357
WIP death rain. Doing it as a shader this time around, which is kind of difficult.



Hm, the gif capturer really went hard on this one... With the full framerate, it appears denser, and has a downwards movement going through it - making it look like it's falling rather than flickering between different images, hehe. The unpleasantness of it comes through though!

[Caspar2000]

Seeing the youtube with music adds very much to to the experience of this devlog. I read the log often and I am used to seeing the gifs only. I would love to read (or hear) a bit about the development of the music. It gives so much depth to the scenes.

[Christian]

For me the aspect that stood out is the color of the arrows. The pale while sticks out IMO. If they were more "industrial" (rusted or a reddish ember glow/etc., the kind of stuff you'd see in a foundry), I think the shortcut indicator would seem more subtle

[jamesprimate]

death rain is looking suitably brutal! you seem to be all in on shader black magick, very nice.

as for the long going shortcut debate, i think it will make a LOT more visual sense in actual game context than in the default rooms Joar is using for test purposes. wait and seeeeee! coloration and brightness is certainly something worth considering though.

Seeing the youtube with music adds very much to to the experience of this devlog. I read the log often and I am used to seeing the gifs only. I would love to read (or hear) a bit about the development of the music. It gives so much depth to the scenes.

thank you! i feel the same way, ahah. yes there is a lot to talk about for that O_O, but we will probably wait until we have the audio engine implemented before going too much into it here. right now i have about 100 tracks in various stages of completion, but they are kind of on the shelf for now until we have the regions constructed and the specific scenarios / narrative stuff all nailed down tight. dont want to put TOO much cart before horse, etc.

But long story short for all of that, the focus is going to be on atmosphere, audio being a blend of ambient textures and "music-like" elements woven through, with more "song-like" elements used to set mood for specific locations / scenarios. I imagine "washes of sound and strange music" that weave in and out of the gameplay. Also we have a notion for some procedural-esque properties with how the audio is handled, so perhaps you never quite hear the same audio environment twice.

Anyway, hope that answers the question a little, or perhaps tantalizes for future interest!

[Lucs]

Previously I said I didn't like the shortcut arrows but I just watched the new gameplay video (several times ) and I must say they actually do fit well. They can be easily spotted without being too big, they doesn't really bother and go well with the industrial aspect of the world so I just withdraw what I said about them before


Regarding the music, it's just perfect, fits the mood. I can't wait to listen to the whole soundtrack.

Keep up the great work, I have the feeling Rain World is going to be the best indie game of the year. 

[JLJac]

James, I know you're kind of in the zone with the level editor stuff now, but once you re-surface I'm pretty sure people would be interested in a more in-depth description of your creative process with the music. Like, I tend to describe how I make everything down to the tiniest detail, but with the music we've pretty much only published finished results so far. Would it be possible to make some step-by-step display of how a piece of music/ambience comes into existence? I'm not all that sure how you'd display something non visual like that... But it would be cool to provide a bit more detail in that area too!

[JLJac]

Update 358

Game over screen finished enough for now!



The sound is pretty important for this one. As the level becomes darker, there is a violent rain sound that becomes louder and louder. When the screen suddenly turns black, there's a drum-like sound, and then everything is quiet. This contrast makes for a pretty dramatic effect! Then, in the quiet, you hear the first couple of rain drops hit the ground, and then the real death rain comes very suddenly, with a deafening noise. In the lingo version this transition was really sudden, but here I have given the transition to the death rain a little more build up - I don't really know which one is preferable. It was kind of cool to have the wall of white rain suddenly just be there, but this build up approach seems more organic.

The next thing I'm moving on to is flies swarming behavior. The bad news about this is that I need to re-visit the dreaded Prebaked AI Code, because flies need to save the distance to their hives within the same framework as they use to save distances to room exits. Going in there again this time the code has been behaving mostly civil though, so with some good luck it might not be too bad. If I can just create a special case for the fly creature template to make it store a few extra dijkstra maps per room, that ought to do it - and I see no reason why that shouldn't work out.

[mrKaizen]

Update 358

Game over screen finished enough for now!



The sound is pretty important for this one. As the level becomes darker, there is a violent rain sound that becomes louder and louder. When the screen suddenly turns black, there's a drum-like sound, and then everything is quiet. This contrast makes for a pretty dramatic effect! Then, in the quiet, you hear the first couple of rain drops hit the ground, and then the real death rain comes very suddenly, with a deafening noise. In the lingo version this transition was really sudden, but here I have given the transition to the death rain a little more build up - I don't really know which one is preferable. It was kind of cool to have the wall of white rain suddenly just be there, but this build up approach seems more organic.

The next thing I'm moving on to is flies swarming behavior. The bad news about this is that I need to re-visit the dreaded Prebaked AI Code, because flies need to save the distance to their hives within the same framework as they use to save distances to room exits. Going in there again this time the code has been behaving mostly civil though, so with some good luck it might not be too bad. If I can just create a special case for the fly creature template to make it store a few extra dijkstra maps per room, that ought to do it - and I see no reason why that shouldn't work out.

love it! :D

[jamesprimate]

PRETTY BIG NEWS: the first region of the game world actually is up and running! 

For the past few months I've been planning out and constructing the first playable area of the game world, a somewhat self-contained 30-ish room "suburban" region. Joar and I have been calling it "vanilla rain world", as its all about the vibe and scope of the original rain world game concept, before the game branches out and begins exploring interactions with new areas, mechanics, creatures, etc.

Anyway, the process to get it all rendered and connected and working with the new engine has been a bit tricky (to say nothing of the work actually constructing it!), requiring multiple updates to the level editor and tons of fiddling with fussy details in the individual rooms etc. But this morning after a new build and some time fiddling, it booted up smoothly and OMG IT FINALLY WORKS:



See those colored squares at the top? That means the whole region, all 30 rooms, are up and running and interconnected and talking to each-other, just like they're supposed to. You can move fluidly from room to room and it all works without a hitch. It's one thing to know that *theoretically* it should work, and totally another to have the pieces come together and it actually happen. If I had ten bottles of champagne i'd pop them all right now.

There is still quite a bit of polish to add, some of the rooms are still connecting a bit funky, but this is some solid progress. And now Im going to go get a meatball sub to celebrate!

[oahda]

I prefer the build-up version of the rain!

[Citsua]

Congrats guys!
Rain World is getting better and better. I can't wait for the final result.

Yeah, and the rain crushing that poor slugcat is BRUTAL .

[Christian]

Any chance we could get a video of the death rain? Sounds like you really need to hear it to get the full effect

But yeah, it looks brutal. Good job! And congrats on the milestone! Can't wait to learn more about those "new areas, mechanics, creatures"

[crusty]

so the rain is just a game over screen when you stay too long in one room?

[jamesprimate]

its probably been a while since we actually talked about the function of the rain huh? the rain is a perpetual cycle. "Rain World" and all that. basically you have X amount of time to go out into the world, gather food and return to your shelter and hibernate before the the rain strikes. if you dont gather enough food for that cycle, you starve. if you get caught in the rain, the above happens. if you get eaten by some other hungry creature... well thats obvious. but that is the basic game mechanics in a nutshell!

Any chance we could get a video of the death rain? Sounds like you really need to hear it to get the full effect

audio engine isn't implemented yet, but certainly we will post video when it is!

I prefer the build-up version of the rain!

the black screen rain is the kill screen basically ("game over! continue?"), with the build-up being the indication of impending doom while still playable. So 2 sides of the same coin!

[crusty]

Are you forced to migrate as the game goes on?  Has anyone ever talked about progression?  Beginning and ending of a playthrough?

[jamesprimate]

Yep! The bat nests that are your main food source deplete as you consume them, forcing you to journey further into the world each cycle in search of new things to eat.