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Rain World |OT| Concrete Jungle

Granjinha

Member
They seem to be awfully oblivious in the economic aspect of game making. Or at least unfazed:



One week before the release, and they see the realities of their game's design, which can throw nigh impossible situations to the player (even in the dev's eyes) and they don't seem worried. They are more like "yes, dice rolls" or "oh yeah we will have to tweak this part to improve the balance..."

I don't think it's oblivious or anything like that. It's more like they recognize the game can create impossible situations because of how the creatures and the world itself behaves.

Didn't STALKER and Oblivion have moments when you'd go to an objective to already find the item taken or someone killed due to game's AI/systems? That seems to be the nature of having AI that does its own thing

I'll have to see how it feels playing in the full game. In the alpha, I got good enough to backflip over lizards and spear them to walls consistently, and would pick out fights more than flee.

You know, backflip is the one move i didn't get a quite clear hang on how to do it whenever i wanted. Pls teach me sensei
 
They seem to be awfully oblivious in the economic aspect of game making:



One week before the release, and they see the realities of their game's design, which can throw nigh impossible situations to the player (even in the dev's eyes) and they don't seem worried. They are more like "yes, dice rolls" or "oh yeah we will have to tweak this part to improve the balance..."
Didn't STALKER and Oblivion have moments when you'd go to an objective to already find the item taken or someone killed due to the game's AI/systems? That seems to be the nature of having AI that does its own thing

I'll have to see how it feels playing in the full game. In the alpha, I got good enough to backflip over lizards and spear them to walls consistently, and would pick out fights more than flee.
 

oldboss

Member
Ha, the low score reviews don't affect my hype one bit. Can't fkin wait.
Tbqh, the AI is what I'm most excited about, even more so after the story posted earlier.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Yea the Rock Paper Shotgun review has turned me off.

Sloppy controls + random enemies + distant checkpoints = No bueno

EDIT: Stuff like this

It is astounding that, after navigating twenty or thirty screens, you will die because a random enemy has spawned off the edge of the screen, impossible to see, and snapped you up with its tongue.

Is just all the no.
 

prudislav

Member
Dev reactions from the comments of RPS article
Were not doubling down on too many of the issues we are hearing. Talking with a couple of journalists who were struggling under deadlines, it seems that a few minor tutorialization changes or additions could smooth out things quite a bit. And control / movement improvements are very easy once we know what to look for, etc etc.

We already have updates underway, adding additional game modes such as multiplayer and additional narrative content geared toward players who might not want to sink 60hr in, etc etc., so expect to hear more from us once we survive the madness of this initial release!
 
Dev reactions from the comments of RPS article
That's good to hear.

Some of that new content will be a narrative loop about slugcat pups, according to the devlog. That will basically change the entire game if the pups concept is the same as it was in 2014.
Also a potential sandbox mode where you can throw together creatures you discover to see how they interact
 
Dev reactions from the comments of RPS article
Related, dev comment in the devlog
Woah these reviews are mixed! The best ones are amazing and the worst ones are brutal. Yeah the game is unfair, that's true - and yeah, we'll definitely be trying to smooth out the experience a bit. Adding more shelters would probably make a big difference for example. Need to have this crazy mix of input cool down a bit before making decisions though!

I actually have no idea what happened to the polygon reviewer - there isn't any mechanic that sets you back further than where you started to my knowledge! It seems to me they just had a really sour experience with the game - we've seen the same thing with streamers, some have a bit of luck, figure some things out, feel rewarded and appreciate it. Others have bad luck 5 times in a row, fail to figure some key element out, get frustrated early on and (understandably) gets into a mood where they can't really appreciate it even after they actually get to move forward.

That said, I think their frustration is real and valid of course, and it's still 100% on us! Work ahead, but for now let's just see where stuff is as the dust settles!
 
Screw it I pre-ordered on EU PSN, the "Spend 50€ get 10€ back" promo made it a bit easier.

I love exploration and mysterious worlds and I think I can handle the frustration, we'll see how it goes
 
The divisive reactions make me more interested, especially because a lot of it seems to stem from RNG AI. Been following this too long to even consider jumping off now, and the positive reviews sound like exactly what I thought this was. Lezz do this.
 
IS THIS GAME GOING TO BE GREAT?

I really, really hope so. I already bought it on a wish and a prayer. I'm honestly pretty in the dark about it outside of the gifs and occasional footage that have surfaced over the past few years. Been interested in it since the moment I first saw it though. Like Hyper Light Drifter and Night in the Woods. And those both turned out alright. So, here's hoping.
 
also heard there is going to be a sandbox mode and if the creature clear out new one take it's place(a new species will take over its den), from what the dev said.
 

FHIZ

Member
So why is my PS4 not pre-loading this? I've seen people with it downloaded, but when I got to the library on my console to try and manually start the download, all I get is a "check back soon" page.

EDIT: Just found out about a trick where you search in your library and the download option should come up, but still... should have did this automatically last night, right?
 
The divisive reactions make me more interested, especially because a lot of it seems to stem from RNG AI. Been following this too long to even consider jumping off now, and the positive reviews sound like exactly what I thought this was. Lezz do this.
I'd argue that something being divisive is more interesting than something being universally loved or hated. At the very least, it fosters more involved discussion IMO.

I think the Waypoint article best describes what exactly made me so interested in this. Being prey in an uncaring ecosystem should feel unfair and frustrating, but it should be a natural frustration born from systems, like Spelunky or Dwarf Fortress. I'm most curious about the progression though
 

Arturo

Member
8a5tix9.jpg

Almost there, can't wait!
 
I'm away this week so won't be able to play this until I get home in a few days. I guess ideally I'd have this on a portable device. Haha

BUT I'm super hyped about this. The kickstarter and dev blog have been amazing. If anything Zelda BOTW has set me up in the right frame of mind for Rain World: exploration, emergent gameplay, the feeling of being alone, figuring things out for yourself. Hopefully that's what I'll find when I eventually jump in.
 
I'm surprised this thread is moving so fast. Indie game threads can be hit or miss on GAF. Hollow Knight went a page and a half in a day; this one is already almost at 5 pages
 
Very surprised to see the game get a bit of a bollocking in the reviews. I had it down as a critical darling for sure, but it seems the difficulty is too maddening for some. I find those complaints quite offputting personally. It's nice to have some challenge, but doubling down on the overall unforgiving elements screams too much stress to me. I'm far too much of a casual to take glee in getting battered around and sent to the last far-off checkpoint every five minutes.

Shame really, since RW's visuals and setting always looked nothing short of captivating to me.
 

Granjinha

Member
Yea the Rock Paper Shotgun review has turned me off.

Sloppy controls + random enemies + distant checkpoints = No bueno

EDIT: Stuff like this



Is just all the no.

That's really really rare. Like, if you pay attention you can almost always see what's coming. But a lot of deaths are unavoidable, especially early on when you don't really plan out where you're going.

Once you get the hang of the area's layout and which creatures inhabit it, it gets much better.

Adding shelters is actually the exact thing I think the game needs, they feel a little bit too sparse right now.

I honestly don't think it needs more shelters at the beggining areas. In the later ones though, it would ease up a lot of frustration for players.
 

etrain911

Member
The dev's charm and dedication to their game have really made me feel comfortable about the future of it, so I'm fine with it releasing the way it is now.
 

data

Member
Ugh, I can't believe we actually have to wait another 18 hours to play this game in europe even though it's already the 28th. darn you steam
 

Granjinha

Member
James is great. I exchanged a lot of e-mails with him asking about some stuff and hints and he's really helpful. Can't help but wish the game is a huge success for them.
 
The dev's charm and dedication to their game have really made me feel comfortable about the future of it, so I'm fine with it releasing the way it is now.
You should watch some of the interviews with Joar. He always comes across as very personable, and passionate about the project. There are some devs I love to hear talk about games, and he's one of them (Jonathan Blow and Inkle devs are a few of the others)

The AI is really interesting. Can't quite explain why. It feels unique.
This excerpt from the Waypoint article talks about the dev's approach to AI.
There are two ideas that started off as embryos at the beginning of Rain World's development that led to its current form. The first is found in Jakobsson's approach to engineering the AI for the game's creatures. "Instead of thinking 'how can I make this creature act and serve as an obstacle in the game' I went at it from the angle 'how can I make this creature behave in such a way that it can find food and move around and get back to its home before the night comes'," Jakobsson tells me. "So instead of the AI creatures just existing as a player obstacle, they exist in their own right, they exist there for themselves."

Compare this to the AI that drives the enemies in, say, a typical stealth game and the difference becomes clear. There are no patrol paths to learn or instant failures upon being spotted as you try to sneak past an enemy in. It instead creates living systems that react dynamically with both the slugcat and each other. As Therrien adds, "all of the creatures in the world exist perpetually. So outside of your frame they're all still alive," he says. "They're hunting food, they're getting into territorial fights, they're finding new shelters and homes and stuff like that. So you're just sorta navigating this chaotic, roiling, alive ecosystem."
 
Are there any reviewers that speak to KB&M controls? The RPS reviewer seemed to be using a gamepad which took me offguard.
I'm surprised this thread is moving so fast. Indie game threads can be hit or miss on GAF. Hollow Knight went a page and a half in a day; this one is already almost at 5 pages

It's a really eyecatching game with a unique look. (Also, slugcats.) I think that's helped its profile a lot.

Like, I don't generally like platformers but I'm really interested in Rain World. The concept of "prey simulator" is incredible stuff that I'm surprised hasn't been tackled before. Only thing that's tempering my expecations is difficulty--I don't know how far I could realistically get in Rain World if it is as ruthless as the reviews make it sound.
 

Mr. Robot

Member
I pre-ordered it, cant wait for it to unlock even with the mixed reviews, the ai sounds so interesting to not try it.

Let's do this, i'll find a way to conquer those unwinnable situations, my body is ready for this.
 

brawly

Member
Yeah, I can see why the reviews are so mixed. It's just about as farthest away from a "this is for everyone" kind of game that I've played in a while.
 
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