The sci-fi colony sim RimWorld is finally ready to start taking names and even backstories from Kickstarter backers who pledged for those tiers. The indie game also nabs Starbound and Gnomoria artist Rhopunzel.
RimWorld’s creator Tynan Sylvester reveals the design rules the art style must follow, as well as a sampling of the new look. He’s also been working on sound and modding.
If you’ve pledged to put your nametag or creative backstory in RimWorld then it’s time to start thinking up something clever for those pirate raiders, colonists, travellers, and traders.
”Web wizard Hypolite has created an online system that will allow you to add your character names and backstories into a database. Each time we release a new version of the game, I’ll pull the data from the database and put it in the game itself,” said Tynan Sylvester. RimWorld Creative Rewards System.
Colony life is also undergoing some visual alterations. ”I’m happy to announce that we’ve got eminent game artist Rhopunzel working on the in-game art for RimWorld! Rho has worked on several awesome indie games. The most recent was Starbound, with pieces like this scary skeltal dragon or this crunchy mech,” continued Sylvester.
”Some people have asked how much the final art will change. Up until now, I’ve done all the art in a simple, iconic style. Rho will be working in a similar style (though at a much higher level of ability). We’re sticking with the vector look because it satisfies RimWorld’s design constraints very well.”
”The goal with this art isn’t just to look good – it must satisfy a specific set of design goals.”
In RimWorld to look at a character they must tell you:
◾ Their identity (who, exactly, is it?)
◾ Their team (raider, colonist, trader, etc)
◾ Their general category they fall into (fighter, worker, researcher, farmer, etc)
◾ Their facing
◾ Their apparel (possibly several layers)
◾ What they’re doing
◾ Maybe, in the future, their current equipment or weapon
Sylvester is also overhauling the game’s sound system and preparing RimWorld for a mod invasion.
”Up until now I’ve created simple sounds myself from free source files found at freesound.org. The code would then just play the appropriate sound file directly. This filled the gap enough for my own pre-alpha purposes, but now that we’re getting serious about audio it’s clear something much more is needed,” he explained.
”Upon starting the system for authoring real sound definitions, it became clear that it is really just a particular kind of modding. So that work has also become work on the modding system in general.”
”When the whole mod system is done, you’ll be able to mod the game, including changing and adding animals, weapons, foods, buildings, and other object and content definitions, while the game is running. This will also support adding and changing images, again, without closing the game.”
Check out the latest RimWorld Kickstarter update for more.
