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[jamesprimate]

yo check dis big new kickstarter update:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rain-world/project-rain-world/posts/1117067

basically summarizes the past months devlog so maaaybe not much new for hardcore thread peeps, but adds a new video and some unseen screenshots / background info 

[Christian]

!!!

Many of the creatures in Rain World have procedural elements to them, meaning that their color, size, shape physical attributes, behavior, etc., are unique to *that one creature*. So each time you start a new game, you will encounter unique bestiary with a new personality. But for now its mostly just cosmetic, so more on that when we flesh it out

Whoa, that's awesome!

[Torchkas]

So what is going to happen in the game?

It isn't just going to be a large physics simulator, right?

[Christian]

So what is going to happen in the game?

It isn't just going to be a large physics simulator, right?

No.

It's a stealth platfomer with a focus on exploration and AI. The world is divided into a series of regions, each one designed like a mini-metroidvania. In this world, a killing rain batters the surface, so between downpours, you need to leave your den and gather food, while avoiding and evading predators like the vulture shown on the last page and various lizard species. Your food source migrates and is limited, gradually forcing you to travel to new areas and explore other regions. Regions are designed around specific mechanics and themes: the first is a general introduction to the world and gameplay, the sewers focus on water and aquatic species like leeches, the canopy is all about platforming and dealing with the vulture, etc.

 I asked the devs about the game's structure a few weeks back:

The game will not have a "story" like a castlevania game, with characters, dialogue and a pre-written conflict that ends with "last boss, destroy the 'base'". Still, we do plan to have a narrative - but instead of applying the narrative on top of the game mechanics we want to build the narrative inside the game mechanics. The core gameplay will be about nothing but survival, but by adding a few twists to that we want to evolve from that core and create something that makes it less monotonous and gives a meaning to what you're doing in the game world. At the end of the game there should obviously be a sense of accomplishment.

Think of how a game like Castlevania has a pre-written story, and a game like Minecraft has no story at all, but you make your own goals in a sandbox-type world. We want to be somewhere between the two, not entirely giving up the sense of progression that Castlevania has, but neither the feature of creating your own goals and completing them within the frame of the game mechanics that Minecraft has.

[chriswearly]

the vulture is really cool, the clumsiness even adds to the realism. if he was not so terrifying, he might even be loveable. if hitting his head that hard has no effect, I doubt a rock will do much either. how do you defeat a monster like this ?
the smoke could probably do with a bit of alpha? the much diskussed appendages could probably work quite well as feet... I'm currently not sure what to think of them. I'm also wondering why one is bigger than the other, but asymmetry is not something that unusual in nature.

Well I have several theories:
While it does have "shells" on its cranium and back areas, its underbelly and neck regions are just flesh, so a nice spear throw should do some splintering damage (especially considering how impossible that'd be unless the Vulture is on the same level as you(I WISH WE COULD AIM OUR WEAPONS *WINK* but no it's fine the way it is)).
Also, though it has the tentawings, I imagine lots of spear throws, especially at the joint where they connect with the back, could 'pin' each tentawing to a wall-- OR, if you throw enough objects, SEVER the tentawings off completely!


Also, Joar, someone commented in the Kickstarter about the preemptive Vulture shadow-- that it should be reversed: flowing from bottom to top until the real creature enters the screen. I think that person might be on to something, especially if you're trying to show the Vulture coming from farther away in the z-axis.

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

Been a while since I have checked in here (a regular opening to posts on this forum!), and damn, this just continues to look increasingly excellent. The skull vulture (skulture?) is tremendous, and I *really* like how its AI seems to behave.

[jamesprimate]

well SOME of the clumsiness is that there is no behavior AI attached, etc etc. there is still quite a bit more to do on this beast in that regard, Joar just skinned it nicely so we could present a solid kickstarter update. Same goes for the shadow, which he whipped up in like 30 minutes after i nagged him about it XD. For that amount of time it looks damn amazing haha, but yes im sure there will be some tweaking in the near future.

@cwearly: youre not too far off actually!

@christian: thanks for the backup!

its true that we dont go too much into the narrative stuff here, but thats intentional for a few reasons: first is that there is still a lot of work before that stuff is all nailed down. We still have a few gameplay mechanics that would be essential to the current narrative concept that we havent even started exploring yet. Naturally the game is evolving while we build it, so talking about the narrative aspects when entire sections of the current plan may or may not exist doesnt make much sense.

Also is that from my perspective, I really want people to go into the game fresh. (Yes, even you Chris!) For us, Rain World is a mood piece, and the experience that we are trying to create is that of a lost creature in a strange world. We DONT want you to know some things, thats the whole point Joar and I were actually just having a conversation about this, where at some point we'll be at that weird point where we'll have to start choosing what to devlog about so as not to spoil too much. Probably not for a little while yet though!

Occasionally we get the physic simulator comments, and that makes sense as a HUGE part of the work that Joar is doing (literally the entire past year) is building the game engine, which is... basically a tricked out rain world physics simulator. If you are used to seeing games done from prefabbed dev toolkits perhaps its a bit slow (and believe me, from our perspective it is infinitely worse hahah), but the result is the look and animation that "is Rain World" so thats what were doing, however painful and tedious it might be 

[JLJac]

The alarming shadow is really nice and shows how beautifully they are rendered, but then I would take out his 'second' shadow that is right behind the creature.

Hahahaha I see your logic - if first there is the shadow with no creature, then there should be the creature with no shadow!

Having the shadow come from the bottom is not an impossible option, but it comes with a bunch of problems. Either I flip the shadow upside-down, which would look strange, or the wing flaps would be unaligned with the vertical movement. Honestly I think the current solution works alright despite not being realistic - it looks nice, and gets the relevant information across. Strict physics correctness isn't really the subject of my perfectionism. I'm way more bummed about the shadow not affecting the first few depth layers (which you probably didn't notice until I mentioned it now) and that's the thing I kept thinking about when trying to go to sleep last night... That said, if someone comes up with an amazingly slick solution that is also more realistic, I'm game 

It isn't just going to be a large physics simulator, right?

Isn't everything? Is not ... everything?

[Connor]

KABUKI BUZZARD sounds pretty wicked actually

[Nico May]

Um, hey Joar, remember when you weren't a programmer and that made us all feel good? I'm not happy with this development.




(but in all seriousness that looks amazing go get a PhD or something when you finish rain world ok?)

[Christian]

Um, hey Joar, remember when you weren't a programmer and that made us all feel good? I'm not happy with this development.




(but in all seriousness that looks amazing go get a PhD or something when you finish rain world ok?)

Ha, yeah. Did you know the guy who did the AI for FEAR left gaming to go to MIT?

[chriswearly]

Also is that from my perspective, I really want people to go into the game fresh. (Yes, even you Chris!

booooooooooo
But well fine, I'll just come up with my own world in the meantime! And my own cool story! With hookers! And blackjack!

[Slader16]

Also is that from my perspective, I really want people to go into the game fresh. (Yes, even you Chris!

booooooooooo
But well fine, I'll just come up with my own world in the meantime! And my own cool story! With hookers! And blackjack!

and checkers? 

[AxezDNyde]

Also is that from my perspective, I really want people to go into the game fresh. (Yes, even you Chris!

booooooooooo
But well fine, I'll just come up with my own world in the meantime! And my own cool story! With hookers! And blackjack!

and checkers?  

"Bite his shiny metal 5$$!", I believe. Am I allowed to quote swears?


Also, I second that bottom up shadow. Will look as if approaching from behind the fourth wall. Shadow state is valid, looks as if gliding, which doesn't make sense right now top down, but will bottom up because it will look as if it maintains its height.

And then one more: Have you thought about a nice shrill shriek as "announcement" for the approaching vulture?

[Rat Casket]

THAT THE SCARIEST BIRD EVER

[Crispy75]

I like the way the "feathers" shrink when the wings are in tentacle mode. But I don't think they look very good when the tentacles are curving tightly. They stick out in random directions and obscure the shape of the actual tentacle.

I suggest retracting them to zero for most of the wing when it's a tentacle. Also, I think the feathers should be governed less by the rotation of their parent wing segment and more by gravity, so they form a more coherent "curtain" of strands.

Combined, this would let the player read the tip more clearly when it's hunting them and would make it very clear when the creature is climbing/walking and when it's flying.

Code:

Existing "walking" wing:

===----------------====BODY
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | 

Proposed:

===----------------====BODY
                | | | |
                    | |

Flight wing

===----------------====BODY
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
  | | | | | | | | | | |
      | | | | | | | 

The transition from walking to flying wing could ripple down the tentacle as the feathers extend.

Enough suggestions, more praise: Vulture looks amazing and I would run a mile if I were a slugcat!

[Janeator]

About the double-shadow: I think it is unrealistic but honestly I think it's better to leave it as it is now for gameplay reasons (because it's good to have the "alarm" shadow but would look weird if there wasn't one behind him.

Please make the smoke semi-transparent or at least move it behind the vulture ^^

Nice KS update!

[JLJac]

About the double-shadow: I think it is unrealistic but honestly I think it's better to leave it as it is now for gameplay reasons (because it's good to have the "alarm" shadow but would look weird if there wasn't one behind him.

Please make the smoke semi-transparent or at least move it behind the vulture ^^

Nice KS update!

Another thing is that the shadow will be able to move around in every direction, not just down. And in that case, it kind of makes sense for the player that a downwards moving shadow signifies a downwards moving creature. And yeah, it would look weird if it didn't have a shadow behind it >___< The current situation could be explained by the creature going up and back in the z dimension a bit, I guess.

Don't really do semi-transparency, it's an art style thing. But layering it below the creatures is a good idea!

I like the way the "feathers" shrink when the wings are in tentacle mode. But I don't think they look very good when the tentacles are curving tightly. They stick out in random directions and obscure the shape of the actual tentacle.

Actually, the walking wing contour is like this:

Code:

===----------------====BODY
 |||||||
  |||| 

In a very deliberate attempt to maximize the sticking out in random angles  Makes it look scruffy!

[crusty]

I'm advocating for a little clumsiness and reckless abandon in its movement and pursuit behaviors.  I love the fact that he slams into the side of that platform in one of the gifs.  Rain world is full of stuff that's gonna get in its way -- it's huge and fast and it shouldn't give a crap.

[tortoiseandcrow]

The scruffy, scrabbling, terrifyingly desperate vulture is awesome.

I still want something that can be called a sky kraken, though. Like some sort of floating man-o-war with roving tentacles.