RimWorld

RimWorld
Developer(s)	Ludeon Studios
Publisher(s)	Ludeon Studios
Composer(s)	Alistair Lindsay[1]
Engine	Unity
Platform(s)	Linux, Mac OS X, Windows
Release	WW: November 04, 2013 (Alpha) WW: July 15, 2016 (Early Access)
Genre(s)	Construction and management simulation
Mode(s)	Single-Player

RimWorld is a construction and management simulation video game currently being developed by Ludeon Studios. It was initially released as alpha software for Linux, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows on November 4, 2013. On July 15, 2016, the game was released on Steam early access.^[2]

Plot

The futuristic plot originally revolved around several in-game characters being stranded on a planet located at the frontier of known space (a "rim world"), where their space liner crashed.^[3]

However, on July 15, 2016, Alpha version 14 was released. While this version kept the in-game plot location the same (characters are on a "rim world"), it added, along with other additions to the game, a scenario system, allowing users to choose and modify different starting plots, with different numbers of characters, starting items and map effects available.^[4]

Combat and psychology of the characters is very detailed; similar to Dwarf Fortress,^[5] every colonist has a different personality. Initially, the player starts with three in-game characters.If the player does not like one of their character's attributes, they can keep generating new characters until they find a character they like. The initial starting characters can be renamed if the player wishes.

As time goes on, more colonists will join the colony. They can either join of their own free will, or they can be taken prisoner and talked into joining the colony.

While the game is playing, the storyteller will occasionally throw a random event at the player, which is announced by a message icon on the right-hand side of the screen. These random events can be good (for example, a new colonist joins the colony), neutral (travelers passing through the area) or bad (pirate raid, solar flare, etc.). Each of these random events affects gameplay; for example, during a pirate attack, the player will have to defend the colony either by drafting the colonists or by building defense mechanisms around the colony.

Electricity is central to the game; almost all devices, from gun turrets to cooking stoves to heaters require electricity to function. It can be generated by various means, for example a wind turbine, a solar panel, or a geothermal power station. Electricity is distributed using conduits. If more electricity is produced than is currently required, the player can build a battery to store the excess energy. In addition, new features have been implemented which include less effective alternatives to electricity. For example, there is a wood fueled stove, which is however less effective than the electric stove.

The game ends when all the colonists have escaped the planet on a spaceship or when they are all dead. However, players are given the choice to continue to play, as it's possible to wait for a wanderer to take residence on the ruins of the colony and continue the game.

Gameplay

The main objective of the game is to expand a colony made by the survivors of a spaceship crash. When enough resources are procured, the player can escape the planet. The game has a top-down, two-dimensional view. The story of the game is generated randomly by an AI storyteller.

Storytellers

The game mechanic that generates events and that varies the difficulty of the game over time is called "Storytelling". The different variations of this mechanic come under the form of AI storytellers.The game ships with three preconfigured AI storytellers, all of which have changeable difficulty settings:

• Cassandra Classic steadily increases the difficulty of the game by increasing the difficulty of events as the time passes.
• Phoebe Chillax gives large periods of peace between disasters, but the disasters are still challenging if she is set on a high difficulty.
• Randy Random provides unpredictable events for the player. The disasters are randomly generated and can occur at any time.^[6]

Characters

The characters have different backgrounds depending on random professions divided into two stages- childhood and adulthood. These have a very strong influence on the character and abilities of the character. The characters also have needs that will keep a person stable, these needs go from the basic to the more complex. The basic ones include food, shelter, and having well built and undamaged clothes on; while the more complex include having a place to sit to eat, or have enough time to increase their joy through various activities like stargazing or playing chess. There are two different points which will mentally break a character, they include a hard and a soft breaking point. A hard breaking point is more dangerous because it can cause a character to go berserk and attack other colonists, while a soft break can just make them go into a broken daze and be unable to do anything for a period of time. In the Alpha 13 build, there is a new social aspect to the game. Characters can have prior social relationships to each other, including ex-lover, father, mother, sister, brother, etc. These relationships can benefit or detract from the needs and joys of a character.

Animals

On August 21, 2015 Alpha version 12 was released which introduced animal taming, trading, training and reproduction. Animals can be lured and tamed with food, but will attack the tamer in the small amount of cases where the taming fails. Pets will "nuzzle" their master, giving them a mood boost. Intelligence was added as a factor and determines which skills the animal is able to learn. These skills vary from carrying and storing items to rescuing and defending its master. Eleven animals have been added including elephants, two breeds of dog, cows, chickens, boomrats (which are small animals that "explode and sets fires on death"), and others. Reproduction, a feature that was highly requested by players, was also added, allowing the player much more freedom in managing their animal populations.^[7]

Map change

On December 20, 2016, Alpha version 16 was released. It introduced a wide variety of features to accompany a map change from a 2D world made of hex tiles to 3D spherical one. Added with this update was also the ability to make caravans that travel from one location to another, the ability to have multiple colonies and a new victory condition, the Travel Victory, where an event offers a ship, but it is far away from the colony on the map. Travelling there completes the game by allowing the colonists to escape the planet.^[8][9]

On May 24, 2017, Alpha version 17 was released. It introduced rivers and roads. Both come in different types, and are seen both on the world map as well as on the player-map. Roads have a significantly faster traveling speed for caravans, rivers have a delay when crossing.^[10]

Another large aspect of game-play is electricity, which is central to the colony; almost all devices, from gun turrets to cooking stoves to heaters require electricity to function. It can be generated by various means, for example a wind turbine, a solar panel, or a geothermal power station. Electricity is distributed using conduits. If more electricity is produced than is currently required, the player can build a battery to store the excess energy. In addition, new features have been implemented which include less effective alternatives to electricity. For example, there is a wood fueled stove, which is however less effective than the electric stove.

See also

• Towns

References

External links

• Official website

• Example play