• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Rain World continues to look amazing

R

Raticus79

Seek victory, not fairness
I'm really looking forward to this one.

Also curious to see if it winds up taking off on Youtube due to the reaction video potential.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Messofanego said:
That rain is some mind bending shit.

I love how unsettling and uncaring this world is. More so than Limbo or NaissanceE.
Click to expand...
You really feel small, outnumbered, and "outgunned" essentially. When a vulture's shadow swoops across the screen, you get the same "oh shit, hide, hide now" feeling I bet an actual little animal would feel

But at the same time, given your moveset and tools, you feel capable enough that, with the right timing and knowledge, you can survive.

Like the best platformers, your entire moveset is available from the start. It's up to you to learn the moves and learn how to best use them. The devs described it as a Metroidvania, but there are no keys or new abilities to unlock. The only gating is your own skill level

O5Qwu.gif


BIcEo.gif
 
B

B-B-Bomba!

Member
More_Badass said:
Like the best platformers, your entire moveset is available from the start. It's up to you to learn the moves and learn how to best use them. The devs described it as a Metroidvania, but there are no keys or new abilities to unlock. The only gating is your own skill level
Click to expand...

Didn't know this, it sounds like great design. I play so many games where unlocking abilities brings a poor taste to the mouth. On the one hand you feel like you only spend maybe 5-10% of the game playing it the way it's meant to be played. On the other hand, the character makes no sense at all being pointlessly weak to begin with. Too often it feels like the design process was one of robbing the player of skills at the beginning, rather than actually adding something deserved.
 
M

Messofanego

Banned
More_Badass said:
You really feel small, outnumbered, and "outgunned" essentially. When a vulture's shadow swoops across the screen, you get the same "oh shit, hide, hide now" feeling I bet an actual little animal would feel

But at the same time, given your moveset and tools, you feel capable enough that, with the right timing and knowledge, you can survive.

Like the best platformers, your entire moveset is available from the start. It's up to you to learn the moves and learn how to best use them. The devs described it as a Metroidvania, but there are no keys or new abilities to unlock. The only gating is your own skill level

O5Qwu.gif
Click to expand...

omg that hand animation is amazing. "Bitch pls"
 
M

More_Badass

Member
If you're interested in the AI aspect, here's a recent update where the dev talks about the elements of the scavenger AI (the monkey/chupacabra-like animal)

Interestingly, the personality of a scavenger influences its physical appearance as well
Working on scavenger AI! They now have a super rudimentary idle behavior similar to that of the lizard, which I want to expand a bit on when they are more generally functional. Also I've started on an attacking behavior, where they will chase you if they have a spear or other weapon, and otherwise they will go retrieve a spear or other weapon - seems to work nicely!

One interesting aspect of their AI is that they will have a bit different personalities. I've gotten started on that already, by generating a personality type for each individual. The personality consists of three base stats and three derived stats. The base stats are completely independent of each other, and may thus appear in any combination. They are

Sympathy
Energy
Bravery

From these three more stats are derived. Those are

Nervous (high energy, low bravery)
Aggression (high energy and bravery, but low sympathy)
Dominance (Depends on energy, bravery and aggression)

The derived stats are heavily influenced by the base stats, but there is a little window for them to fluctuate and define their own value randomly, so occasionally you might get an off-shoot.

These stats already feed into the behaviors of the scavengers a little bit, and will have a heavier influence when I get to the more intricate behavior. For example, a nervous scavenger will have a hard time sitting still while idling, and will twitch and look around itself all the time.

Also it was low hanging fruit to feed these into the cosmetic appearance procedure, so now their looks depend a bit on these different stats. The cosmetics are allowed to fluctuate randomly but will gravitate a bit towards certain values, so while you might get the occasional lazy+skinny individual it will be more common to get lazy and chubby ones. Dominance has an impact on antler size and general body size, mean ones are more prone to the narrow pupil-less slits for eyes etc.
Click to expand...
 
M

More_Badass

Member
The cool thing about that GIF is that it's 100% AI-driven. That's the kind of stuff that happens independently of you.

And you can see the scavengers sharing spears towards the end. They can carry up to four spears, so they'll share spears with scavengers that have none if the situation is desperate enough
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Some more details on the depth of the scavenger AI
Apart from all this aggressive behavior stuff, I have started working on making their behavior dynamic. They are able to change their behavior towards other creatures depending on context - for example a vulture or a lizard with its jaws occupied by another poor creature is considered less dangerous as it can't bite, and one that is carrying a pack member might actually turn into a target for aggression rather than a threat to flee from depending on the individual's aggression, bravery or sympathy stats. The logic there being that if you are extraordinarily un-aggressive you won't use violence, if you're cowardly you won't take the risk of a rescue mission, and if you're terribly unsympathetic you just won't care about your friend being hauled off.
Click to expand...
More details and GIFs here
 
Arkos

Arkos

Nose how to spell and rede to
Halo 4:

Wasn't there a whole turret/mech section in the first level or am I misremembering???
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Approaching a scavenger pack: the annoying jerk way vs the calm friendly way
FatalSplendidCamel.gif
ZestySlimGoldeneye.gif
Click to expand...

They now have some basic ability to interpret player behavior and react to it. If you're cool, they will also play it cool - if you antagonize them, they'll respond in kind. In that first gif, they go into a behavior where they're threatening me (they're pointing spears at me, but that animation might need a little work to bring the spear out of the body's silhouette), and by not moving, I show that I've given up. If I would've continued jumping around, harassing them, they would probably have given me a spear to the gut.

Their behavior is not always the same - it's influenced by their personality stats, the group, and the group leader. As the group leader has an influence on all the others, coming across a squad with an unsympathetic or aggressive leader might end up worse than one which has a nice chieftain.

They each track an individual relationship to you, and there also exists a number which is sort of your general reputation among the scavengers. If you commit violence against them or throw spears in their general direction, they will start disliking you - the specific individuals that saw you do it at first, but down the line all scavengers you come across. On the other hand, if you save the life of a scavenger, they'll start liking you more - especially that particular individual. If they're very fond of you, you can hang out as one of the pack.
Click to expand...
 
W

Weltall Zero

Member
It feels like we've been waiting for this game forever. But it's a really complex game with lots of dynamic systems so it's to be expected.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Here's a new clip showing off slugcat/scavenger/vulture interaction
Here's a recent clip i liked that illustrates the Scavenger's friend/foe system a little bit:

https://twitter.com/RainWorldGame/status/707027795449262080

This Scavenger has never encountered a Slugcat before, so is initially wary and moves to create distance. When Slugcat approaches with a spear, the Scav draws its own spear anticipating a fight, but then as no action is taken by the player, it switches to a less lethal rock.

When the vulture comes into view, it changes things up a bit, as it's considered a much more immediate threat. But you can still see the Scavenger targeting both the slugcat and the vulture with its spear as the moment-to-moment threat level changes. Then the slugcat spears the vulture behind the fleeing Scavenger and you can even see the moment of re-evaluation as the Scavenger decides "eh alright, you're cool" before they both escape underground as comrades.

A lot going on in 22 seconds!
Click to expand...
 
M

More_Badass

Member
oldboss said:
I cannot put into words how excited I have been and continue to be for this game. It really cannot come soon enough.

@More_Badass : any chances of this dropping before E3 ?
Click to expand...
Idk, 2016 is definitely confirmed, but I've asked them and they're not sure. The game is in that final stretch of development, all regions complete, but they're adding set piece rooms, the narrative, creatures that haven't been revealed, audio and music, polish to all the regions, multiplayer etc.

So there's still a lot to be done.

But the game will be one of the biggest metroidvania-style maps ever. Around 1,427 rooms
In comparison, Shadow Complex's base was 780 rooms and Knytt Underground's main area was 1,363 rooms
 
D

DedValve

Banned
Sometimes (especially noticeable on the flying creatures) the animations make it look like its 3D.

Its so weird in that I haven't seen such fluid 2d animation. I think a big reason is because a lot of 2d is hand drawn proportions are exaggerated whereas since this is procedurally generated it is "restrained" in how much it moves causing for a super fluid motion.

Not a knock on this game at all it helps with that alien (in every sense) vibe. This whole world is just abnormal, alien, cold and very unwelcoming. Its not familiar at all and I LOVE that.

Really feels like it got the Metroid feel right even if it may not be metroidvania (no idea if it is).
 
M

More_Badass

Member
DedValve said:
Sometimes (especially noticeable on the flying creatures) the animations make it look like its 3D.

Its so weird in that I haven't seen such fluid 2d animation. I think a big reason is because a lot of 2d is hand drawn proportions are exaggerated whereas since this is procedurally generated it is "restrained" in how much it moves causing for a super fluid motion.

Not a knock on this game at all it helps with that alien (in every sense) vibe. This whole world is just abnormal, alien, cold and very unwelcoming. Its not familiar at all and I LOVE that.

Really feels like it got the Metroid feel right even if it may not be metroidvania (no idea if it is).
Click to expand...
The map is in that style of a big open world of interconnected rooms, but there aren't any abilities to unlock. The devs described it as a skill-based gating. Once you master the moveset, you'll be able to reach more places
 
O

oldboss

Member
More_Badass said:
Idk, 2016 is definitely confirmed, but I've asked them and they're not sure. The game is in that final stretch of development, all regions complete, but they're adding set piece rooms, the narrative, creatures that haven't been revealed, audio and music, polish to all the regions, multiplayer etc.

So there's still a lot to be done.

But the game will be one of the biggest metroidvania-style maps ever. Around 1,427 rooms
In comparison, Shadow Complex's base was 780 rooms and Knytt Underground's main area was 1,363 rooms
Click to expand...

Thanks.

I'll wait as long as it takes and I'll be there day 1.
 
F

Fushichou187

Member
This and Ghost Song are the only games I've KS'd in the last couple of years and I can't wait for either of them. The creature animations going into Rain World alone are a sight to behold.
 
F

Funyarinpa

Member
Looks so damned good.

Edit: Doesn't seem that it'll be coming to Vita, no mention of it on the campaign page at least. Still getting it quick on PC.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Funyarinpa said:
Is this coming to Vita? Not sure. Looks so damned good.
Click to expand...
Asked the devs last month. Still coming, but after the initial PC/PS4 release
A Vita port is still planned, but it'll definitely be something we do after the initial Steam/PS4 release as there will be changes that will inevitably have to be made in order to fit that format and spec. We've kept Vita in mind for much of the development, from the screen aspect ratios we've chosen to making sure that level design, but optimizing the finished rain world for the limitations of vita CPU/GPU/RAM/shaders will be a thing that takes some time and effort for sure and we cant even guess at what it will take until we start the work.
Click to expand...
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
More_Badass said:
Devs have been a bit quiet lately, but they revealed something new lurking in the ruins in a recent update

UnconsciousConfusedIndianhare.gif
Click to expand...

These are some of the more interesting creatures we've seen. Most of the creatures we've seen so far look organic but these ones almost appear to made out of energy with how they move in what appears to be streaks of electricity/power and have those weird almost holographic looking "heads".
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Graphics Horse said:
Have thry shown any backer designed creatures? I think that was a thing. I suppose they could just be minor cameos to find though.
Click to expand...
Here's one
NegligibleRequiredFairyfly.gif
Click to expand...

But in general, Joar said many of the creature designs are informed by backer suggestions
Quite a lot of the creature ideas are not solely mine any more, rather they're a blend of James' ideas for what would go well with the regions mixed up with the backer suggestions. We have quite a lot of backer suggestions, so we generally try to combine them with James' region-specific requests whenever possible.
Click to expand...
 
N

Noogy

Member
I'm constantly amazed by the tech in this game. It's really doing stuff that no other game is attempting, 2D or polygonal.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Noogy said:
I'm constantly amazed by the tech in this game. It's really doing stuff that no other game is attempting, 2D or polygonal.
Click to expand...
Besides the AI and animations, the thing that always impresses me is the shadows. They really give the environments a sense of depth, even more so in dark areas.

DishonestIncredibleCanine.gif


And every movement you and every other creature makes is seen in their shadows.

Also the distortion and effects of water is super impressive

hOYq8.gif
 
Q

qko

Member
Reminds me of Out of this World/Another World. Will be picking this up if it comes to a console I own.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Digital Foundry: Stellar Blade PS5 - Digital Foundry Tech Review - An Ultra-Polished Action Game
32
3K
Vroadstar replied
MVG: The PS5 Jailbreak is here - and its looking good!
2
64
19K
Pejo replied
Digital Foundry: Retro Marathon: Sony PlayStation/ PSOne - Every Launch Game Tested!
32
2K
sachos replied
Digital Foundry: Sea of Thieves Goes Multi-Plat: PS5 and Xbox Series X/S Tested!
2 3 4
190
10K
Physiognomonics replied
MVG: What was the N64 Expansion Pak actually used for?
Retro Hardware
17
2K
Astral Dog replied
Top Bottom