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[gingerbeardman]

Reached out to the devs about the Vita version

Thanks for that!

I'm actually fine however it comes out. Vita if Ryder only platform I own it if their list. But I'd rather play the game at its best.

 

[taoofjord]

Absolutely loving the AI interactions being shown. It's something I've always wanted to see and I've never understood why so few games try to do anything other than a binary aggressive/non-aggressive system.

 

[Hedge]

Somehow the Slugcat creeps me out. Just the entire concept of a slug with the forefront of a cats body just sends shivers down my spine.
Having said that, I love the lizards animations.

 

[More_Badass]

Some info on an intriguing new system

So as you might expect, quite a few new mechanics have been added recently as we are polishing up the gameplay experience, but Joar just put in something we call the Karma Gate system and it's a total revelation imo. Some aspects are still being worked out, and I'm sure he'll want to talk about it further when he's free, but basically it's a system that requires the player to survive a certain amount of cycles in a row in order to progress through region gates.

This was implemented initially to prevent the tendency of players to throw themselves through the terrain as fast as possible trying to find the next region/shelter/etc, or to just quit when a rain cycle comes in. It slows the pace a bit and rewards a more cautious approach, which is cool. But more importantly imo is that it really brings out the "scarcity" aspect built into the bats/food sources. As you devour bat nests and fruit, they deplete, forcing you to search further and further in the region, and with the map tool you now strategize routes that will allow you to find food and also reach the region gate before the rain hits.

Plus it forces you to become really personal with the local creatures as you are stuck with them for a period of time, and that highlights the procedural creature generation so you get to really experience their individual personalities and how their opinion of you develops. From my perspective, this Karma Gate mechanic totally tied all the aspects of the game together, so I'm *super enthused*.

 

[More_Badass]

A lengthy post from Joar explaining how the Karma Gate system works, the rationale behind it, and how it influences pacing/gameplay
https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=25183.msg1232162#msg1232162

 

[More_Badass]

Some more interesting details on the game, regarding the general play structure and rain cycles

Currently the rain cycle is semi-randomized between 600-800 seconds, so 7ish to 13ish minute range. Seems to work well! The distances between the shelters / region gates / food sources etc have been laid out with this general range in mind, but we'll probably tighten it up further as we test.

Another important mechanic point that's related to all this is that the new OOOO|OOO feeding system, where 4ish food items is required to survive a rain cycle, but any additional food up to 3 is held over the next cycle. What this does is make is so that if you want to explore without taking the extra time to hunt down a bat nest, you have to have to fill up on food the previous round, effectively stockpiling it, which heightens the risk because you really dont want to die and lose that food once you've already spent a cycle prepping. It's fun and stressful!

So basically the game has kind of a roguelike-ish duration. Shorter play sessions with persistent aspects carrying over.

 

[More_Badass]

A lengthy update about the lizards' new "social memory"
https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=25183.msg1235841#msg1235841

The idea here is that there'll be some adaptive difficulty because of this: the game being soft on the softies and hard on the tough ones. So if you're a fighter brawling your way through Rain World, Rain World will respond in kind, whereas if you're a pacifist the game will also chill accordingly.

 

[WPS]

A lengthy update about the lizards' new "social memory"
https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=25183.msg1235841#msg1235841

Awesome, I was hoping for something like this.

The tech and mechanics behind the game sound amazing and I'm planning to buy the game to support the devs on general principal, but as an actual game I was afraid it would be far too difficult for my scrub-tier skill level and I would spend most of my time being eaten by gloriously programmed fauna.

This makes it sound like I can play through the game somewhat more easily as long as I'm not a jerk to the lizards.

 

[More_Badass]

Awesome, I was hoping for something like this.

The tech and mechanics behind the game sound amazing and I'm planning to buy the game to support the devs on general principal, but as an actual game I was afraid it would be far too difficult for my scrub-tier skill level and I would spend most of my time being eaten by gloriously programmed fauna.

This makes it sound like I can play through the game somewhat more easily as long as I'm not a jerk to the lizards.

Yup, that's actually what he was saying in the post. The game was too hard, so this new mechanic adjusts the gameplay dynamically based on how you play. Be friendly and perform positive actions, and the ecosystem will in turn be less aggressive. Be vicious and aggressive, and the world will react accordingly.

 

[Theecliff]

thank you for all the updates, badass. been subscribed to this thread for a long while and seeing an incredibly ambitious game like this evolve in such a way has been fascinating.

 

[More_Badass]

Now this is interesting

There's a new creature (or something) coming up! Working on the "overseer".

The visuals are still WIP - more details will be added, I don't know about the color, etc etc. They're able to produce small holographic projections, and I want some of that going on around their heads to give them a bit more character rather than just being a tube with an eye.

These guys will be encountered throughout Rain World, where they zip around and... watch. Creepily! They're observing the creatures, and are extra interested in the more intelligently behaving ones. Your inter-region movement and deliberate actions will quickly attract their interest.

 

[Turnstyle]

Spotted our friend Slug Cat has a cameo in this months PS Plus game Shutshumi, as a power up:

 

[More_Badass]

Overseers are coming along

Spotted our friend Slug Cat has a cameo in this months PS Plus game Shutshumi, as a power up:

Ha, cool. I hope Slugcat becomes an indie mascot/cameo character like Meat Boy and Shovel Knight have

 

[Gaz_RB]

Slugcat is so cute!

 

[Samemind]

Overseers are coming along

Ha, cool. I hope Slugcat becomes an indie mascot/cameo character like Meat Boy and Shovel Knight have

I love these guys' look, very nice animation.

 

[More_Badass]

Looks like a certain someone had a little cameo in Adventure Time

 

[More_Badass]

10 minutes of gameplay/discussion from PAX East
https://www.twitch.tv/twitch/v/62338801?t=5h16m40s

 

[Crispy75]

A few notes:

There is a timer in the UI for when the rain comes
There are cutscenes
They are content complete and into beta testing

 

[More_Badass]

A few notes:

There is a timer in the UI for when the rain comes
There are cutscenes
They are content complete and into beta testing

All very exciting

And now some other exciting stuff

Scavenger outposts!
Scavengers have rain deer skulls on poles here and there throughout Rain World, and they hang out underneath them. If you approach, they'll make clear that it's not OK for you to pass through the outpost. Trying to force your way through will be met with violence, and a general bad reputation impact with scavengers. If you offer some nice gifts though, they might let you through.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

This game sounds super fascinating

 

[More_Badass]

New KS update and at long last gameplay with audio and music integrated

3 minutes of footage with annotations about the music/audio

At this point Rain World has around 1400 screens of playable terrain covering 12 huge regions, so naturally the music has to be equally gigantic in scope to match! To help me with such a monstrous musical task, I've brought on the talents of composer Lydia Primal to help out for the past few months, and between the two of us we have written over 3.5 hours of music for Rain World (!!!) That's *quite* a lot and we are very proud of the results!

And if that weren't enough audio for you, in addition to the more standard musical events which are used to convey narrative or create a mood for locations, etc., we've also installed a dynamic "threat music" system: Each region has 10 or so layers of audio that can fade in or out depending on how much danger the player is in. They all work together and vary by context, so that it should be a constantly evolving musical experience!

 

[More_Badass]

Scavengers continue to sound amazing

Scavengers can send out a "kill squad" to hunt you down if they really hate you, or if you've transgressed an outpost, or both. Kill squads are not to be played around with - they will track you region wide and wreck you once they find you.

Personally, playing with these kill squads hunting me really revived the fun to my experience by introducing a tension I haven't had from lizards etc in a long time now...
...As they use ranged combat, the safe spaces in any given terrain are way smaller - I can't just jump from pole to pole to avoid them. Rather, when setting myself up with the challenge of traversing a region while being hunted, I've found myself resorting to weird paranoid tactics such as moving stealthily between crawl spaces under the floor, or traverse the level up in the rafters rather than on the standard floor level, out of fear that they might suddenly pop up and throw a spear at me, approximately 1.2 seconds between my first spotting them and being dead.

I had a really intense moment where I saw the squad enter the room, so I hid under the floor. Lying perfectly still I could see something like 8 scavengers gather on the floor above me, still unaware of my exact position but spreading out in the room looking for me. They were going to see me sooner or later, so when to initiate the violent rush for the exit? Tense!

On the brighter side, if the scavengers really like you, they can send out a "chill squad" which works basically the same, except that instead of spearing you on sight they'll hang out with you as you move through the region, and instead utilize their rocks and spears to protect you from whatever lizards and vultures might be on your tail. The chill squad is not as intense an experience, but it feels really nice to cruise around with your scavenger pack! I hope it will be a cool reward for the player that puts a lot of effort into building a good relationship to the scavengers.

 

[More_Badass]

15 minutes of gameplay from Gamespot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMRWjjKm0YY

 

[Crispy75]

"When can we expect to be able to play it?"
"In the next couple of months"

OMG OMG OMG

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

15 minutes of gameplay from Gamespot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMRWjjKm0YY

Some fantastic animation.

 

[More_Badass]

Food!

 

[23qwerty]

that water looks super cool omg
this game looks so cool overall

 

[More_Badass]

that water looks super cool omg
this game looks so cool overall

Oh yeah, it looks super cool but man, is water terrifying. Like forget Depth or Subnautica. Rain World is like the Jaws of video games. It makes open water scary again.

 

[RevenWolf]

Oh yeah, it looks super cool but man, is water terrifying. Like forget Depth or Subnautica. Rain World is like the Jaws of video games. It makes open water scary again.

Ok I think you undid me on the game I love submautica but o can never go too deep (

Spoiler

hearing the reapers calling literally freak me out to the point of quitting

I been cheated a cyclops and I was still too scared

 

[Paskil]

This looks fantastic.

 

[More_Badass]

Ok I think you undid me on the game I love submautica but o can never go too deep (

Spoiler

hearing the reapers calling literally freak me out to the point of quitting

I been cheated a cyclops and I was still too scared

Thankfully you can't go deep in this because you need to breathe and you cant hold your breath too long. No, this game makes water scary purely through game design. On land, you're a wall-jumping, back-flipping pro whose agility is probably your biggest strength. But in water, you feel completely out of your element. You can't swim that well, you can't go under for too long, swimming just looks thrashy and panicked. You dont feel safe in the water, especially since the aquatic species move so gracefully

 

[RevenWolf]

Thankfully you can't go deep in this because you need to breath and you cant hold your breath too long. No, this game makes water scary purely through game design. On land, you're a wall-jumping, back-flipping pro whose agility is probably your biggest strength. But in water, you feel completely out of your element. You can't swim that well, you can't go under for too long, swimming just looks thrashy and panicked. You dont feel safe in the water, especially since the aquatic species move so gracefully

Ahh that's great to know!

I'm definitely picking this up once it's released, it oozes love and effort from the developers lol

 

[Deleted member 286591]

Those animations, my gawd.

This game is looking so good, like doing some next-level shit good. I can't wait.

Spoiler

Edit : not a junior anymore yay !

 

[dangeraaron10]

As I mentioned in another thread, a must have for me. Always wanted a exploration/survival game where you are just one animal in a strange ecosystem, as opposed to being a human that can make guns or something.

 

[More_Badass]

Was going through this thread and I had totally forgotten that this game has grapple hooks. Stuff Iike that is going to be so fun in multiplayer

 

[shiba5]

Oh yeah, it looks super cool but man, is water terrifying. Like forget Depth or Subnautica. Rain World is like the Jaws of video games. It makes open water scary again.

I saw leeches. Ugh!

Have they said whether the PS4 will be getting a physical release? Just cuz I bet the box art would be cool...

 

[Kientin]

Stop bumping this thread. I have no self control and I keep spoiling things for myself. D:

 

[Hastati]

Food!

I-is the slug cat thing supposed to be this cute!?

I haven't really been following this game at all, but the octopus deer thing and the cat ... thing have peaked my interest. I'm not sure what most of these things are, but they are cute and terrifying. The animations are just fantastic.

 

[dangeraaron10]

Got the Alpha from preordering from Humble Bundle (although I might take it to Steam if I can once the game launches). Despite my initial gripes with the Alpha I keep finding myself coming back to it.

 

[More_Badass]

I-is the slug cat thing supposed to be this cute!?

I haven't really been following this game at all, but the octopus deer thing and the cat ... thing have peaked my interest. I'm not sure what most of these things are, but they are cute and terrifying. The animations are just fantastic.

Yeah, the dev wanted to find a middle ground between the cartoonish/cute and the terrifying. Not too brutal, but also not too charming.

The animations are procedurally generated, which is why they look so smooth and natural

 

[shiba5]

Watching two lizards fight over my poor, dead Slugcat right now. They are viciously shaking and ragdolling the poor thing.

Oh now a third one joined in. The carnage is fascinating.

 

[More_Badass]

Watching two lizards fight over my poor, dead Slugcat right now. They are viciously shaking and ragdolling the poor thing.

Oh now a third one joined in. The carnage is fascinating.

Seriously. I think half the fun in the alpha is watching what happens after you die. Especially when there are different lizard types, and each is using their own unique advantage to try and steal the slugcat for themselves

So satisfying to watch the creatures interact outside of you

 

[shiba5]

Seriously. I think half the fun in the alpha is watching what happens after you die. Especially when there are different lizard types, and each is using their own unique advantage to try and steal the slugcat for themselves

So satisfying to watch the creatures interact outside of you

Yeah, what ended up happening is a vulture came out of nowhere, grabbed the lizard with the dead slugcat, shook the slugcat lose, dropped the lizard and grabbed the mangled corpse. Really cool.

Is there wall climbing? In the sewer level, I can't figure out how to progress because I can't jump far enough or climb up one area.

 

[More_Badass]

Yeah, what ended up happening is a vulture came out of nowhere, grabbed the lizard with the dead slugcat, shook the slugcat lose, dropped the lizard and grabbed the mangled corpse. Really cool.

Is there wall climbing? In the sewer level, I can't figure out how to progress because I can't jump far enough or climb up one area.

You can wall-jump between walls to ascend narrower tunnels (not the vents), and can do a lunge by holding down till you see the slugcat tense up then jump in that direction

 

[Crispy75]

Jellyfish!

mmmm tasty

 

[shiba5]

Jellyfish!

mmmm tasty

I was expecting it to sting the slugcat to death... from the inside.

 

[More_Badass]

Yeah, what ended up happening is a vulture came out of nowhere, grabbed the lizard with the dead slugcat, shook the slugcat lose, dropped the lizard and grabbed the mangled corpse. Really cool.

Is there wall climbing? In the sewer level, I can't figure out how to progress because I can't jump far enough or climb up one area.

Wow, really? Usually, the vulture just snatches up the lizard

 

[shiba5]

Wow, really? Usually, the vulture just snatches up the lizard

I just started playing with the alpha so I'm not too familiar with the critter behavior yet, but there was some funny stuff going on. At one point the dead slugcat got flung across the screen (I laughed hard) and the lizards ignored it and beat each other up for a bit.

 

[Theecliff]

Jellyfish!

mmmm tasty

well fuck, this game has jellyfish too? something tells me i'm going to avoid the water as much as possible in this game

 

[B-B-Bomba!]

Had a great time playing with the alpha, although the limitation of not being able to make any progress is starting to wear thin. Game really draws you in, I love the detail of the world, the way the backgrounds appear to be alive in simple but effective ways. Makes an effective setting for the interactions of wildlife to emerge.

Took a while to get used to the controls, they felt gimped at first, but this cooks down into detail and challenge, which is everything I could have hoped for. Watching videos I had been concerned at the 'screen to screen' gameplay (as opposed to auto scrolling), but it makes total sense when you get in there. Each screen presents challenges and options and acts as a little level of its own.

They haven't been afraid to swamp the player with branching paths. Replaying the same areas over and over I'm starting to learn what's where, but at first the wealth of options is daunting. Really looking forward to release now.