The Most Complex Ecosystem in any Game

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If I were to tell you ‘Rain World has the most complex ecosystem of any game,’ you might go… ‘What?’ Because Rain World doesn’t seem particularly advanced — it’s a 2D pixel art game where you play as a weird slug, how complicated could its world really be?

While there are other games with fancier graphics and denser lore, Rain World’s unique system of procedurally generated animation and complex AI come together to simulate the feeling of a living ecosystem better than (almost) any other game I’ve played. From the lizards, to the scavengers, to the daddy long legs, it’s an incredible feat of worldbuilding.

So, for this entry into the archive, we’ll uncover the fascinating intricacies of Rain World’s pixeled biosphere. Now, let’s become part of this virtual food chain…

0:00 Welcome to Rain World
0:54 Animation and AI
2:04 The Outskirts
3:56 Industrial Wastes
5:11 Drainage System
6:24 Garbage Wastes
8:03 The Shoreline
10:20 The Scavengers
12:36 Shaded Citadel
14:14 Five Pebbles
16:06 The Wall
18:16 Farm Arrays
19:57 Void Sea
21:58 Beyond the Light?

Copyright Disclaimer: Under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. All video/image content is edited under fair use rights for reasons of commentary.

I do not own the images, music, or footage used in this video. All rights and credit goes to the original owners.

♫ Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio:
Mysterious Green Fluid, Sanity Unravels, Haddonfield Horror, Alone in the Dark, Dusk, The Witch, The Vanishing, Tenebrae, The Guardian

Beauty Flow
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

#CuriousArchive #Rainworld #Worldbuilding

[sethnosek]

Great video but i think you missed the best reason why rainworlds virtual ecosystem works so well. It's because unlike a lot of games, the enemies don't just spontaneously spawn in when the player gets to a certain location and and attack, they are all already doing their own thing throughout the region and every encounter feels natural. They aren't put there just to be a challenge to the player, they're actually moving around by themselves to hunt or scavenge or escape danger and it really feels like all the creatures have their own lives that they're living

[Lifesizemortal]

I just bought this for $7 on steam and I feel like I stole it at that price. The way the enemy creatures go after each other is endlessly entertaining

[unoriginalnamehere]

I've once had this cartoony ass scenario that happened to me.
I was trying to evade a pink lizard, attempting to get to a pipe to trick it. then, a vulture appeared. Me and the pink lizard looked at each other for about a second, and BOLTED to the two separate pipes. It was the funniest thing to me, and unfortunately I left that area soon after, so I couldn't try tame the lizard.

[angrypelmeshka]

Also a perk of procedural animation is that it immerses you in the game. For example the first time you get drowned by the leaches you feel genuine panic because slugcat is programmed to struggle and it really looks like it’s also panicking

[juliet]

Correction, the animals don’t hunt specifically the slug cat, the white lizards for instance don’t wait for the player, they hunt anything, that’s what makes rainworld so special, it’s not player centric, this is an important distinction

[donutlovingwerewolf]

Interesting Rain World facts:

The Developers once did a test on a (in-game) lizard by breaking all its limbs, making it practically immobile but it then eventually figured out how to move with it's tongue, pulling itself forward.

Vultures that you stole a mask from will aggressively hunt you down, and other Vultures will attack it.

Cyan/Leap lizards can occasionally make mistakes and drop you randomly or jump into sticky situations

Several lizard types will quite literally crawl on the background if it looks like a wall.

*You* are at the bottom of the food chain. You're not the main character, Everything isn't focused on the Player. Lizards will battle Lizards, Scavengers will be ambushed by Vultures, the Bats that you incessantly hunt will eventually learn to burrow underground. And all of that happens even if you're not there to see it. It happens all the time.

There's a type of creature that has a laser pointer for a head, and it will shoot it's laser into the sky, signalling a Vulture. This is an interesting and weird defense against predators



Edit: It was fun seeing the confusion and misunderstanding that ensued 😉

Edit: There's also a new DLC for Rain World! Downpour! It has more content than even the base game! It even has FIVE new unique Slugcat variations!

[zeze]

I haven’t beaten the game so I’m not gonna watch all the way through, however i wanted to share my favorite experience with the game’s creatures so far.

I was exploring Subterranean when I saw a scav i had befriended in a small enclosed space. When it saw me it began to repeatedly extend and retract one of its limbs in my direction, as if it were beckoning me. I had seen them do this a couple times before, so i climbed into the hole with it out of curiosity. As soon as i do this a horde of miros birds stampedes over us from the direction i was headed. This was the first time I had ever seen them. I was horrified. If not for that scav i would’ve been mincemeat.

TLDR: got saved from a group of miros birds by a friendly scav who beckoned me to hide under a rock with it.

[mightnotmagic]

I'm not a fan of difficult games so I probably won't play it. But just looking at content of the game gives me this huge appreciation for it. The world looks so alive and the technology put into it is so cool to see. Really a special special game regardless of the difficulty holding it back from being mainstream.

[bluesapphire]

On the lizard ally tip, I actually managed to get 3 lizards to follow me after feeding each of them their favorite food, and surprisingly they didn’t try and kill each other within 10 seconds. I don’t know if it was a glitch or not, but for a while I had a lizard battalion. It lasted about 10 minutes before they cannibalized each other, but it was so cool.

[angelish]

As for the vultures, if you knock off one's mask it will attempt to endlessly hunt you down. In addition, other vultures will attack the maskless vulture if they see it.

[UwU-okjr]

The thing that really fascinates me about this game is the exotic, unfamiliar ecosystem. The ecosystem in real life is already fascinating but there's something about unfamiliar ecosystems that just really fascinates me. This is part of the reason I'd love to be a part of an interstellar species. I could learn about so many different ecosystems instead of just my own planet's without having to look at fictional ones.

[SleepyCoffeeCup]

You forgot that scavengers will send squads to HELP YOU as well when you get accepted into their tribe, they have different skill levels and personalities. For example, there is a scavenger that will try to shoot you even when the others tell you you're fine to pass the toll. They have emotions to show when they are frightened/stressed as well.

Lizards are also predatory amongst each other, there are bigger Lizard species who hunt specifically smaller lizar species. Usually, it's the blue Lizards who get hunted.

Eggbugs being a species who regularly get hunted down being forgotten entirely and with that the raindeer not being the only pacifist creature.

Noodle Fly mothers will NOT attack you UNLESS you harm their own kin (which is the noodle fly children) it is their entire mechanic that they are very protective of their offspring. You were holding a noodlefly egg in the video to make them aggressive towards you, but did not mention that it's what makes them aggressive?

Sorry this is just a few points i noticed that bugged me as they are quite important lol

[kaitlynboss]

I feel like the slug cat is also intelligent. They can use tools shockingly well.

[RootVegetabIe]

Rain World is truly a special game. It's one of the few games that brought me back to that childhood sense of wonder that games would bring. I really felt like anything could happen and I was consistantly surprised.

I really disliked it when I first played. I returned a few years later and it blew me away. If you have any interest in playing, I advise stopping the video to avoid spoiling yourself.

[ihateevilbill]

Oh my god this game is insanely beautiful.
I have to buy this.
As a programmer... the amount of imagination thats gone into everything in this game is jaw dropping.
The people who built this should be lauded. 💯

[thelastmethbender]

Easily one of the most unique games made to date, it amazes me how around 3 devs fleshed out such a novel concept so well. Five pebbles' unfortunate development is both some of the most frustrating and thrilling gaming sections Ive played. This game nails so many things that have hardly been done before. Im just in awe with all of it, what can I say. I hope game devs take games like this and outer wilds as examples to make more interesting games in the future

[MiruninOath]

im honestly kinda sad you didnt mention the yellow lizards having a pack leader that, when taken out, causes them to become disorganized, or that the rain deer have a hierarchy and will bow to other rain deer with bigger antlers

[dellenmuriithi]

Curious Archives and rainworld is a combo made in heaven

[honeybeeami]

I got this game and its so worth it. It’s very frustrating to get a hang of but when you’re running from section to section with no stops because you learned the layout you really feel like a prey animal at its most agile.

[aliteralcrow]

Im honestly astonished on how the developers made an actual ecosystem, it looks amazing. Good vid btw.