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[jamesprimate]

"Slagcat" apparently 



for real though they can call it whatever they want for 30k retweets and 40k likes

[oyog]

"Slagcat" apparently 
---
for real though they can call it whatever they want for 30k retweets and 40k likes

Holy shit! Congrats on finding that potential player base (or it finding you)!

Out of curiosity, from someone outside the world of game development, how much localization would your game need before a release in Japan? Is that the sort of thing Adult Swim will handle, given the release on Vita?

[jamesprimate]

A LOT apparently. For the initial release we have the game in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish and Portuguese, but doing a Japanese localization would be an additional *6 months* 

From what I understand this is not just the time for translation and the minor adjustments to the way the game sets text for asian fonts, but also because Sony certification in Japan is massively more scrutinizing and arduous process than it is for western release.

So we're holding off on it for now :/ I think the idea is to wait until we have all the planned post-release content updates in before doing a proper Asian language localized version.

[fall_ark]

A LOT apparently. For the initial release we have the game in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish and Portuguese, but doing a Japanese localization would be an additional *6 months* 

From what I understand this is not just the time for translation and the minor adjustments to the way the game sets text for asian fonts, but also because Sony certification in Japan is massively more scrutinizing and arduous process than it is for western release.

So we're holding off on it for now :/ I think the idea is to wait until we have all the planned post-release content updates in before doing a proper Asian language localized version.

Still willing to help with Chinese localization but I know it won't be priority

Honestly though Unity's pretty good with CJK language.

[jamesprimate]

Are you ready, Slugcat?

[Crispy75]

[Teod]

Full sized version here. Del's art looks amazing, as usual. She's so good with color and light - the picture is so vibrant, I bet it would look glowing even on paper instead of a monitor.

But what is it? Main menu background? A big poster for a convention booth? Some other Important Presentation Piece?

[kennoley]

Are you ready, Slugcat?

I smell a release date coming soon 

[Christian]

Now you guys are just teasin' 

Love that art. Slugcat looks ready to me

[jprosk]

Brb saving this pic

[ANtY]

Brb saving this pic

how did it go? are you back already?

[theEasternDragon]

Are you ready, Slugcat?

'Scuse me. I need to go get my holyshitthatisamazing-o-meter repaired. It it thoroughly broken.

Looking good as usual. To be honest, I try to avoid this devlog. If I think about it too much, the waiting will drive me mad. The hype is real.

Also, in regards to Japanese localization: the English speaking world has to put up with Japanese games lacking localization for a while. Let's have it the other way around for once.

[jprosk]

Brb saving this pic

how did it go? are you back already?

it went well. i will be sure to spam it generously in the days preceding rain world's release.

[theEasternDragon]

So, kinda random question: will there be a difficulty setting?

I don't think this has ever been mentioned, but I think that it would be a good idea, (maybe as an update down the line).

For instance, you could have fewer sources of food, more aggressive creatures, etc. Something like the difficulty system from The Long Dark.

The reason I bring this up is because of the whole "lizard wizard" thing. At a certain point, there will be those who have played the game so long that they want more of a challenge, either because the game becomes too easy, or because the world has become too nice through player actions.

This is mainly for the masochists mind you, as I doubt most of the player base will be too enthused with it. But still, it would be nice to have.

I am aware of the whole "global reputation" system, wherein the world becomes more hostile the more hostile you are. What I am talking about is something which does this from the start of the game, (in addition, I don't imagine the global reputation system affects food sources).

What do you guys think of this? Does this sound like a good idea, or is it just me?

[Wolvered]

I remember that James once said that they were trying to put in place a system in which the difficulty ramps up if the player has a fast progression, I don't know if it is the global reputation system, but it sounds a little different from it.

And yeah, personally, I think it would be a good idea, maybe even something like a cone of vision, like in Darkwood, which would make the game super hardcore.

But from what I know, having the world becoming nice to you in a way that you almost don't have to fear the predators anymore would be pretty much impossible. Furthermore, the more you progress in the game, the more it becomes difficult.

Even in the demo, surviving in suburban is rather easy once you get the hang of it, but surviving in chimney canopy is very hard, no matter the level.

Look at James, even when he tries to progress without going to the shelters to get to the rain part, he most often ends up in the jaws of a vulture or in the belly of a daddy long legs. So in all honesty, I think that the game will really be difficult anyway: my opinion is that surviving in the later biomes of Rainworld (Such as shadow urban) is at least as hard as surviving The Long Dark in interloper mode.

[jamesprimate]

HYPE! Im so stoked about this illustration. Most platforms require a "Hero Banner" for the store pages and all that, so thats what this is. Has to be able to arrange itself into all manner of ridiculous formats and sizes.

So, kinda random question: will there be a difficulty setting?

I don't think this has ever been mentioned, but I think that it would be a good idea, (maybe as an update down the line).

Yeah we agree. From what I hear its pretttty hard right now. (After playing it for 5 years I have no perspective of course.)

The concept of the game is just unfair sometimes (and thats the point!), but its been a real challenge to hit that balance where it maintains the mood and intended mechanics but also is generally playable. We've spent a lot of time tweaking it in its current state, but it's something that we want to address in future updates in a more clever manner. Some things we definitely want gated behind the high difficulty level, and we dont want an "easy mode" per se where you can just uncover all the map and thats that. But Im considering adding some alternate narrative paths in the current world that would satisfy players of lower skill levels, but also maintains some mystery of what else is out there.

I remember that James once said that they were trying to put in place a system in which the difficulty ramps up if the player has a fast progression, I don't know if it is the global reputation system, but it sounds a little different from it.

That remains to a certain degree, but in testing it was found to be pretty frustrating as the difficulty seemed fairly random from the players perspective. Also it basically broke the whole mechanic of being able to develop relationships with creatures, since you could be playing in a non-aggressive manner but suddenly creatures would be more aggressive just because you made it through a few rooms. Basically it was a good idea in theory, but less in practice, so we opted for just tuning the overall difficulty "better", whatever that means.



On the topic of difficulty, one thing thats really become apparent (and interesting!) in testing the game is that some people seem to naturally just be really good at Rain World, and its often people who you wouldnt necessarily expect given the supposed difficulty. I've seen 12 year old girls who "just wanted to play the slugcat game" get like 10x farther than seasoned gaming bros on their first try. I think it's because the game rewards observation and caution? So if a player goes in guns blazing expecting normal platformer behavior they're going to get destroyed, but if they play like a prey animal, hiding, observing the surroundings and learning about the behaviours of the creatures before making big moves, they will do well. And this might actually benefit players who dont have years of videogame genre conventions under their belt.

I dont know how well that will go over, but Im pretty proud of this actually!

[Finbonne]

Every time I come back to this devlog (Twice a week honestly) I get more excited than the last time!

[JLJac]

The difficulty being too low definitely isn't a problem, I'd say. I've played Rain World for years, and I still really struggle with certain passages - it's by no means a walk in the park. And I know the code and every little trick. We have been thinking about some kind of setting or similar going the other direction though, to enable less fanatic players to have some feeling of closure without necessarily see all of the cool stuff that's there for those willing to dive deeper. It won't be for this release though ~

[jamesprimate]

a wild Joar Jakobsson appears! :O

[absolute8]

Can't wait til' this is ready. I need more brutal adventure games in my system!