Rain World, Environments and Scale
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- Опубликовано: 25 авг 2024
- Rain World is an incredible game with a lot to say. I made a short video essay looking at just one part of this game, the environments.
Please check the pinned comment for corrections on the art style section. Thanks to all those who corrected me and deepened my understanding of this game :)
Music used (all from the Rain World ost by James Primate and Lydia Esrig):
Sundown (Theme I)
Pictures of the Past
RW_13
Raindeer Ride
White Lizard
Kayava
Threat - Superstructure
Random Gods (Theme III)
Stargazer
Pulse
Unseen Lands
Theme V - Credits
Inspiration and other (better) videos on Rain World:
• Rain World: Emotions i... - Rain World: Emotions in level design by Alex Pine
• Size Matters - Explori... - Size Matters - Exploring Scale in Games by eurothug4000
• Rain World: an underap... - Rain World: an underappreciated gem by Foekoe
• Rain World: A Guided T... - Rain World: A Guided Tour (review) by Jimmy McGee
• Why Rain World Has the... - Why Rain World Has the Best AI by Htwo
• Nature’s Harsh Truths ... - Nature’s Harsh Truths in Outer Wilds and Rain World by Pixel a Day
• about Rain World - about Rain World by Stuffed Wombat
• Rain World: In Defense... - Rain World: In Defense of the Unusual by Endorser
• Rain World Is Wondrous... - Rain World Is Wondrous and You Will Probably Hate It - by Israel Blargh!
• The Rain World Animati... - The Rain World Animation Process by GDC
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:01 Immersivity
1:49 Rooms
2:57 Art Style
3:55 Sound
4:33 But, Why?
5:09 Five Pebbles
9:38 Ending
11:25 thank yooz and good song
technically a ton of the "pixel art" is forced by an odd-ball resolution. Much of the assets were probably made with solid shape and are cut out that way by the resolution. The purposeful lack of anti-aliasing makes it much more pronounced, and very few game worlds can pull it off like this.
Glad to have someone with knowledge on this stuff correct me on this! This might make it faster for the devs to make rooms but it does show how purposeful the Rain World style is. They definitely use it all of the potential this system has and the game looks great. Thanks!
never even thought of that..
@@barneybradshaw so this is kind of funny to me. Ive been making rain world mods for a little while now, and ive used the same tools as the developers. There is no "lower resolution" its all the same pixel scale. they creators made an array of props and tiles. each room starts with geometry and no detail, you then go on to add materials and tiles to give basic detail and texturing. there are 3D tiles called props that add extra depth. the geometry works in 5 layers each with their own properties and tiles. last you have effects which are things like plants and rust, slime, goop, erosion. You make a very simple template for each room, and the procedural generator they created turns that into the hyperdetailed 3D artpieces you see in game, each complete with full shadow mapping. It takes a long time to make a room, but think of it if every room was hand crafted. they wouldnt look near as good, and a team of people would take like 20 years to make the game. basically, the creators used their innovative brains that made the procedural smooth animation and AI and created a super impressive tool that can help create these incredible rooms.
@@SevenRedSunsOfficial That is actually fascinating, thank you for going more in depth on especially the procedural ai generation! Insane this game is 7 years old already
Not to mention the technical implication generative animation (or whatever it was called) it can look uncanny if not pixilated because of how polygons would clip through eachother
When I reached The Leg, I found it too challenging to dare and so I backtracked, in search of Something Else. Eventually I found my way to The Wall, and I feel the experience of climbing it to be one far greater than to descend downward. The entire game was experienced in a struggle between the brutal ecosystem trying to scrape by in the time between rain storms, but the top of the wall is above that - the cycles, the ecosystem, they all melt away into the perfect environment... and yet to have finally overcome the struggles of the game... it felt empty. The accompanying grandeur felt all too fitting as I realized that perhaps there was more to life than mere survival.
On my first playthrough (Monk), through the combination of loosing track of the Overseer, and dying constantly, and not knowing the terrain, and deciding to just explore freely... I managed to funnel my way over to The Wall. There's the downward path, but it's impassable (and I wasn't going to turn around through two regions to carry the only Grapple Grub I had seen -- in Chimney), so, let's go up?
Many hours later...
What the hell is an Echo and why is it so gloriously shiny?!
And, there's clearly another path here, but, it's just out of reach, even if I had spears and tech to somehow reach it. And then I knew for certain, The Wall is a sink: a double return path only. I've been going backwards for hours...
@@T3sl4 if you use some tech movement you can do a backflip and throw a spear down. Then you just need to get another spear and boom you just skipped all of shaded citadel, the leg, the underhand, and five pebbles. then you can go the wrong way with a bit of luck and just go backwards back into the underhang, left, and then back into chimney canopy, now with a neuron light. or you can just let him shove you back out and traverse filtration in darkness or with a lantern.
@@BrotherLongLegs8 Yeah, looked up how to do it, later. Even brought a neuron to Moon and read some pearls
Yea I think going up the wall is a better experience, but I really like the [outskirts industrial garbage shoreline shaded] pathway, so I end up going down usually, as it’s waayyy too hard for me to go up the wall from the exterior
Yea I think going up the wall is a better experience, but I really like the [outskirts industrial garbage shoreline shaded] pathway, so I end up going down usually, as it’s waayyy too hard for me to go up the wall from the exterior
It is always nice to find another Echo, someone who just cannot leave Rain World behind.
I live in a place where most of the land was formed by an ice age stream bed. But if you venture out of the city, you can climb the surrounding elevations and in rare circumstances you are able to see very far into the land, like 300 km away. I was able to see a wide mountain range within 180° of my vision with all of these countless peaks, most of which I do not even know the name of. The first time I saw it I was in awe because I have never experienced this kind of scale before. Since then, I am obsessed with recreating the experience of scale with art.
Considering the use of sale in Rain World is more important than I noticed. Of course, it had an unconscious effect on me and changed my point of view about what I have experienced in the game so far. But it is an achievement to bring it out so clearly. I think it is crucial to understand the appeal of Rain World. And, on a personal note, I also think that your video might have explained, why these moments in Rain World struck such a chord in me. Thank you for that!
...Alright, I'm gonna start calling my fellow Rain World enthusiast Echoes, that logic is _too good_ to pass up.
@@dochatter3638 I got inspired by @StuffedWombat
Search for: Stuffed Wombat about Rain World.
Easily the best video essay made about Rain World.
so this is kind of funny to me. Ive been making rain world mods for a little while now, and ive used the same tools as the developers. There is no "lower resolution" its all the same pixel scale. they creators made an array of props and tiles. each room starts with geometry and no detail, you then go on to add materials and tiles to give basic detail and texturing. there are 3D tiles called props that add extra depth. the geometry works in 5 layers each with their own properties and tiles. last you have effects which are things like plants and rust, slime, goop, erosion. You make a very simple template for each room, and the procedural generator they created turns that into the hyperdetailed 3D artpieces you see in game, each complete with full shadow mapping. It takes a long time to make a room, but think of it if every room was hand crafted. they wouldnt look near as good, and a team of people would take like 20 years to make the game. basically, the creators used their innovative brains that made the procedural smooth animation and AI and created a super impressive tool that can help create these incredible rooms.
I hope one day Rain World will show up in retrospective as forgotten masterpeace that was not built for everyone , but for those who was ready to understand
I have beaten this game 13 times and counting, and yet still I get chills from the stargazer room at the top of the wall. Every time I go there I have to stop and watch and listen. I love this game.
HELL YEAH!!!!
This and the "Emotions in IeveI design" video you mentioned are great. The more subtIe aspects of Rain WorId are rareIy taIked about, but they're what reaIIy make the game speciaI. I'm gIad to see some appreciation for them.
Thanks! I wanted to find something that hasn't been talked about much in a video on this game before, glad you enjoyed it. :D
Great video!! Your descriptions of the various areas in the game are very vivid
Rain world is amazing, i love five pebles and unfortunate development, at first was super hard, but the sound, the visuals, the rooms, the gravity, the commitment ive made to get through, idk, it deeply inpacted me. Today im on my 2nd playthrough and can so easily transverse almost too fast. Its really one of the most immersive game ive played, and bonus for the physics on the game.
People hate on five pebbels to much, i love the region
@@doomchromee8648it’s fine when you have a map but I went in a giant loop back to the start over the course of like 3 hours and then quit the game for a week
so now I hate the region
When you find a new RUclipsr with a Rain World commentary as their first video you know the channel is gonna be good.
I don't really even know what I can say. You nailed the narrative of the experiences gained from the environments. Both 5P and the void sea have been some of the most engaging moments of any experience I've had in the past, and it puts my hairs on end listening to someone speaking of it like this. Excellent work.
It's crazy to me how you can have no clue what is happening in the game at times, yet still feel the same emotions as the characters in it. Like the ending of the game. New players don't understand ascension or what it means, or even that ascending is what they're doing. Yet you still feel that bittersweet sadness when it happens. It's so crazy.
Great video, and of course it's neat to hear myself get mentioned :)
Generally scale is much easier to convey in 3D games than 2D games, the limited amount of information you can fit into the more confined camera of a 2D game means you have to use clever methods to imply scale. Aside from the ideas you mentioned, there's a few other lovely details.
In a few places, the game lets you see something massive both up close and far away - like how you spend half the game exploring an iterator, and then you see a handful of other iterator towers in the far distance, or how that one void worm you get to see up close, but the others are shown mostly as a distant swarm of lights. The instance you interact with up close is way too massive to fit into the screen, but you get more familiar with its sheer scale and use it as a reference point to compare to other instances. The void sea is not just scary in its scale because of that one gigantic void worm you get to see up close - what's scarier is that you see hundreds, thousands of them implied in the distance, creating a scale so grand that, well, it's hard to think of anything that compares.
The fact that there's a zillion different rooms to explore and you complete the game only seeing a tiny fraction of its world definitely helps imply scale as well. Many other games create worlds to facilitate the protagonist and gameplay, they have worlds built around the main character. In Rain World, the world is so, so much bigger than you.
I fought so hard, for almost 6 years for this game to get the recognition it deserves. I (and some other people) constantly sent comments on Curious Archives videos (who I found through his Serina videos, another project I had been following for a while), because I thought that was the right channel to review this game. Eventually the video came out, and I believe my reply is still the top reply on that video. A pretty lengthy comment explaining my opinions and history with the game over the previous almost 6 years (I believe this was at the end of 2022).
The public opinion, perspective and awareness of the game changed forever after that video. Now it stands alongside recent titans of indie games, such as Hollow Knight and Celeste. There was a time back in 2017 where everyone in the community knew everyone, the biggest RUclipsr was TurtleToad, who sometimes made videos that broke a thousand views. For 7 years, I have not been able to leave Rain World behind - I have in a sense, become an echo.
One mod region that absolutely blew me away was "The Mast". That shot when you reach the top of the exterior and stare out into the vast distance was such an awe-inspiring moment in the vanilla game but the mast really built on the moment by allowing you to visit one of the distinct objects in the distance (the antennas that tower in to the sky). Climbing the mast was a challenging experience but I have so much appreciation for how the creator honoured that vision of the distant lands and reaching the top stuck with me almost as much as the experience of the base game. This game and the community are such a passionate bunch of individuals that I'd urge anyone on the fence to take the plunge. It took me nearly 5 years to actually commit to a full playthrough but I'm so glad I finally did.
Rain World is gorgeously hard. It perfectly encapsulates being an eat or be eaten cycle.
And Rain World Downpour continues to hit us with these moments from encountering Moon in Spearmaster to the ending of Saint. I really hope the Watcher DLC (and all future installments for Rain World) has more moments like this.
On my first playthrough I think I took a pretty... odd route to say the least because I never had to go to shaded citadel and see that really cool opening to the leg, and I never went to the shoreline to see the moon, I basically just suffered but it was a very beautiful journey! My favourite part of the game was after you make it past five pebbles and get out to the top of the wall when you see the huge city in the background and how big it seems. Going dark, dingy rooms for hours to a bright open landscape was simply breath-taking
Its amazing how I didnt actually think about the scale of Rain world until the spearmaster ending, when the camera moves up and reveals a massive sky of iterator cans as far as you can see. Its also amazing how it can not only blow away your sense of physical scale but also the scale of time. The way the lore is told to you when youre most immersed makes you really imagine the scale of time and this especially blew me away when playing saint, not only seeing how much the landscape and creatures had changed but also the history that is revealed to you by echoes and the ending
You know, it occurs to me that that visual of the slugcats swimming into a large ball of light brings to mind another scale entirely - that of fertilization of an egg.
Absolutely beautiful summary, wonderful writing! Great points made as well :)✨. Being a long time fan of this game I never really knew how they used scale for worldbuilding, and after watching it’s just astounding to me how well they did it. I’m still stunned by how many background layers there are in the top of the Wall, with the iterator cans and great abandoned city of Five Pebbles. It’s catching up to me how absolutely huge it is.
Fantastic well-made essay video, the music used and points made are well though out, so great work ^^💕! Loved hearing Pulse for the void sea ending segment, unfortunately it wasn’t in the main canon game (although me and many fans love it) and you using such a rather obscure song proves how much of a fan you are ig :). Pulse gang pulse gang 👀✨. Anyways, hearing Unseen Lands after that for the ending cutscene was also well thought out, coming after something so alien with Pulse, then one of the first jingles you hear in the game is beautiful. Also, hit me hard in the chest when you used Theme V for the credits, both Pulse and Theme V (now named Reclaiming Entropy) have been put to astoundingly good use in the Downpour DLC and it was so neat to hear!! Unfortunately I didn’t know too much on Theme V before Downpour, but it would’ve hit so much harder if I had known and loved it XD. Lovely you’re a fan of it, you’ll love how it was used in Downpour I can guarentee :)💝💖💕
Anyways, thank you for the video ^^✨💫
Wow! Thank you so much for all the support here! Although I barely talked about it in the video, the music is one of my favourite parts of the game and I just had to put in my favourite tracks. Even though they weren’t in the base game (originally), they feel like they fit into parts of it so well. I’m very exited to hear that they are used in Downpour! I’m not that far into it at the moment, I’ve only beaten gourmand, as I’ve not had that much time to play it but I can’t wait to get further in. :)
You've managed to excellently capture and express one of the biggest things that makes Rain World the experience that it is with a video that takes great inspiration from it. Hats off to you, sir!
even though i have 700 hours in this game this video still managed to give me chills. you're amazing
Amazing thumbnail with the letters growing with the rest of the scene. perfectly showing exactly what you are talking about instantly.
I am starving for RW analysis videos, i made few posts myself, but community seems mostly interested on fanservice, and not the game itself. I'd love to see more videos like that and less generic fanarts. Good job, though, video is well put together.
What do you refer to with "fanservice"?
@@very-mean-spirited-lizard Neverending stream of fanarts and animations featuring same characters over and over again, while actually intersting lore/mechanics breakdowns and analyses are sparse on all RW related platforms.
@@dannadx3840 Thanks for the clarification, because I thought "fanservice" usually means something quite different and can only ever be provided by the IP owners. Like inside jokes from the discord being used on official announcements and such. I was irritated because this does exactly NOT happen.
Now I understand what you actually mean. You have to keep in mind though, that more people enjoy drawing than writing essays. Also most people (like with every video game) are pretty young. I very nuanced take on Rain World will therefore be the exception than the rule. And imo it is okay to just like something and not make a science out of it, especially when you are still in a phase where you do not commit to anything and just explore your interests. I would say that this is a huge part of the demand and supply dynamics for the endless content about RW creatures. But is Rain world very different from any other game in that regard?
On top of that, I think you have to value what is there. Most games do not even attract people who write essays about analyzing the game. Rain World does though.
@@very-mean-spirited-lizard I usually stick to games that have a lot of technical/story discussion in communities: classic roguelikes, economic simulators ect, where not much space is left for fanarts and such. But rain world caught me with it's almost bottomless goldmine of lore, unlike other games of it's genre. World is masterfully weaved together, and there's almost always something to talk about. Some guy on reddit even managed to explain why stars are green not long time ago.
I see posts like that and wish for more of them, there's so much untouched potential.
A video about Rain World is a good video
1:34 INSCRYPTION!!!!!!!!
Wonderful video!! Ever since I’ve laid eyes on this game, I’ve been obsessed with the environments and lore. I can’t wait for the additional environments to come with the arrival of Downpour!!!
Always glad to see a video on RW, such a criminally underrated game, this is a very well done video aswell, be proud of it! Hope this comment boosts you to the top of the algorythm!
Absolutely amazing video
Reminded me of how much I love Rain World, and taught me some things I never even thought about, and I'm a fucking fanatic of this game! It really does show how much there is beyond, and that everyone who plays, gets their own experience, morale and conclusion.
In my opinion, the video is very well put together, I do think that there could've been a bit more commentary, but in total, a very very underrated channel and content! I did not expect such satisfying quality from a smaller creator, keep the great things up!
I was trying to get all the colored pearls to moon, but I got distracted by the new dlc, so now I'm dying constantly as artificer
absolutely incredible video! I Hope you make more.
0:13 I’m still pissed at reviewers for being shit at the game and eating it bad
Another amazing Rain World essay, i especially like the fact that it's connected to that other video explaining General Systems BUS :D
1:18 okay, that was was pretty funny. Also btw really great video. :D
This is a wonderful first video! I look forward to the next one!
Would love to see a downpour video in my personal opinion downpour expands the environment and increases that immersiveness by like 100 for like 90% of the new areas.
[Gourmand spoilers]
I’ve not gotten very far into downpour yet, still on artificer as I’ve had other things to do and games I’d rather play right now, but I am super impressed at how much detail the new areas have. I feel like I want to make an entire video about that one room in Outer Expanse for Gourmand, the one at the top of the radio tower where you can barely see a massive structure, possibly the beginning of pebble’s territory or some other plain just above a layer of thick clouds. What really throws me about it is that you can’t see the sky, it’s just structure. And you never can quite tell exactly what you are looking at. I guess I could talk about environments that hide details, whether behind screen boarders or just in the dark. That could be good, I could mention Iron Lung possibly and maybe Inscryption?
@@barneybradshaw Yeah that's though I may expect your opinions on what you want to cover change as you finish downpour but I'm excited to see your views and it doesn't have to just be about the environments though I do think that is probably one of the best qualities of rain world the atmosphere and how immersed you are in its setting.
Cool video and a cool game! ^^
I love how rain world’s original campaign is designed to make you feel small and insignificant. You just saw this gorgeous world, searching only for a way home, leaving no lasting impact on your surroundings. Then, the Hunter and all the Downpour cats make you see that even these little tiny creatures can do incredible things, and (*major spoiler warning*) save Five Pebbles from destruction, lead your entire race into migration, carry out Five Pebbles dying wish, serve as a Messenger for the Iterators & broadcast Looks to the Moon’s final broadcast, or even grant the two Iterators freedom from their cycles, finally able to ascend into the Void Sea.
Wow, I just started typing about how much I like rain world and wrote a whole essay lol.
The sound design is immaculate. I remember when I realized the game was special: the first time I heard the explosions. The explosion itself is not too special, but the ringing, god, the ringing just blew me out of the water. It’s not flashy, it’s not loud, and it’s not badass, but it benefits from the subtlety. Every time I use an explosive, I feel shell shocked. I feel like I just killed something. I don’t need to hear the bangs of the chain reaction of more explosions to know that there is one.
Dont think ive done 5P the intended route, but the feeling is very similar whek you finally climb the wall
I don’t think that there’s a proper intended route through 5P, each one can be just as insane on a first play through. I can see going up the wall for the first time being there as an incredibly cool experience. That part of the video is kinda an artifact from the old script which was far more about my journey through the game. I changed it cause it sucked and other people had done a similar thing way better than I ever could (Jimmy McGee’s guided tour video is a great one) so I made it more specific. I had to keep my experience at 5P though, just too crazy.
This video reminded me of why rain world is one of my favourite games of all time
Masterpiece
Some more information on the actual visuals that has been missed:
Each room in this game is pre-rendered and integrates pre-made tiles, props, and dynamically-generated effects to give everything the look that it has. Things like the palette and graffiti are added in-game. So, it's necessary to put big quotes around "hand drawn," as there's quite a few layers that lie between anything that was, in fact, drawn, and the final result you see on screen.
Nonetheless, this was an excellent video. This game spares little effort in making you feel small and alone, and I think it does a stellar job of that.
So underrated video! You have a great point and argumented yourself perfectly. And yet still touched our feelings to the game. Thank you!
Mannn!! This got me very emotinal
I didnt notice how beatiful this game is!
Such a good game, such a good video
wow... Just wow...
This is an AMAZING first video!
wonderful video!!! it has so much feeling im so happy more people adore this game so much as i do, its simply amazing!!!
I can just imagine this ending with "now downpour am i right?"
amazing vid, hoped you talked more bout pebble/moon tho
keep the good work up
The patriarch of these design expedients is Oddwolrd Abe's Oddysee. (the old one)
This video was amazing! I totally relate to that!
Rain world is so awesome. I can't wait for downpour!
6:34 *Unfortunate development would like to know your location*
Underrated video and channel, this is so good!
I can't believe this video only has 1k views
Excellent narrative and narration.
Great video. It's so impressive how most of Rain World's components (AI, level design, game mechanics, ect) are so unlike any other game out there in their intensity and atmosphere. We'll never get another game as special as it again.
incredible
at one point in time, I remember hearing alot of buzz about this game but now its like a hidden gem.
This is such a damn good video. When you get a better microphone, come back and revoice this because I would 100% watch it again just for improved narration
Wow this video is amazing. Good job
rain world is a masterpiece
Five peppers
rainworld is an amazing game!! but,, your video is even better!
Green satelites? i alweys thaught thous was a stars
Oh yeah they could be stars, not sure why I said that in the script I guess I assumed they were satellites back then. I can see it either way now.
mabey another video
im not used to seeing one go through five pebbles from the leg lol
such a great video 8.5k views
i wish the gate from underhang to five pebbles didn't require 5 karma to pass, it turned me off from trying to go there thinking "the game probably just wants me to move forward" and ended up in me skipping five pebbles and instead going up the wall
either way, this video manages to explain exactly what i've wanted to say about this game's atmosphere but couldn't quite put into words. thank you for making this
I’m still waiting on your video for downpour.
KAYAVA
Rain World 🔛🔝
Subsribed
3:25 dont scavs do graffiti too?
Yes! Some of the graffiti is made by the scavs. It’s mostly rough, tribal lines and markings ( as seen here: github.com/LauraHannah44/Rain-World-Images/tree/main/Graffiti%20Scavs ).
However a lot of graffiti, while sometimes being faded and hard to see, is a lot more detailed and in a different style to scav graffiti, which can be assumed to be made by ancients or at least some more intelligent life ( github.com/LauraHannah44/Rain-World-Images/tree/main/Graffiti%20Tags / github.com/LauraHannah44/Rain-World-Images/tree/main/Graffiti%20Drawings ) The old logo for rain world long before it released was in this graffiti style as well.
I really like how these artworks are implemented into the game with their style and mystery. As well as the personality of the scav’s markings and the helpful sketches and warnings they have painted onto the environments to show shelters and predator territories.
Nice review! Planning to make another one?
I've never gone through five pebbles, I've always climbed the wall. seems easier
Five Pebbles is genuinely a really cool area, I’d recommend going through it at least once just from how unique and atmospheric it is.
Gud intro innit
help bc before i could actually see the home image thing my game fucking crashed 😭😭
S C U G S
3 seconds in and you're already wrong
game is horse poo
le based and le poopilled
horse poo if it was beautifuI and smeIIed Iike roses