RimWorld
Heads up!
This is the script of a podcast episode I recorded for the “Fun” & Games Podcast! It’s episode 356!
Intro
Hi, my name is Daniel, online I tend to go by Caaz, and professionally a web developer. But I’m also a hobbyist game developer, and part of my research while learning game development has been playing games, getting a good understanding of the design choices the developer’s made to make their game fun. I figured coming onto this podcast would be a good chance to do that with a game I’ve grown to love, RimWorld
If you don’t know, RimWorld is a game where you guide a group of survivors who’ve crash landed onto a hostile planet. You have to build homes, and rooms for various tasks, farm the native vegetation, and hunt the local wildlife. Over time you research new technology, and eventually, you can build a space ship and leave.
RimWorld really doesn’t feel like just a colony sim though, your colonists aren’t just “units” or a tool for you to beat the game. They all have names, backstories, families, personalities, and passions. You find that the most difficult thing to manage about your colony isn’t even the chaotic world they’ve landed on, but unique relations, and opinions of your colonists.
People that know me well know I’ve complained about this game more than praised it, part of that is because it’s got so many things it can throw at you so you really don’t know what you’re going to be up against, and that can be really frustrating, but I think that’s why I keep on coming back to it. I want to master it and keep a colony going forever.
RimWorld doesn’t even consider itself a game, actually. It’s labeled as a “Story Generator”, and I think I can get behind that. Every run can start similar, but over time the trickle of random events truly leads to some interesting stories.
To prove RimWorld’s claim as a story generator, I thought I’d tell you a story about my colony, the Hados Nation. Everything that I explain here happened in game, and I hope it gives you an idea of what it’s like to play it.
The Hados Nation
Three escape pods crash landed into the planet, and out came three disoriented survivors, along with a dog. Greg was the first to get to work chopping down trees, he was a bruting man, a doctor, but good with a gun. Ry was laying the foundation for a small room, he’s an artist by trade, but he grew up with animals and had a knack for training them. Alia was a chef and farmer, like the others, she stumbled out of the escape pod nauseous, but along of cryosleep sickness, she was also pregnant.
Finally, there was Laila, a golden Labrador, she followed Greg along as he worked. It boosted everyone’s mood to see a friend in high spirits despite everything. Before the day had ended, they finished work, gathered their supplies, and rested in their small hut.
The first challenge to the colony arrived in the form of a mad raccoon, mad with power I assume, it was making a beeline for Alia who had started building a kitchen and dining area. Greg stopped what he was doing and rushed out with Laila at his heel, and his rifle at the ready. He missed quite a few shots, but eventually felled the beast before it could do any damage.
Knowing Alia’s pregnancy had only a few days left, the group got to work building a single hospital room, and making sure the house was clean, laying down wooden floors, and building a small crib next to Alia’s bed. It was just as they finished that the Tox Gang decided to raid.
The Tox Gang were a neighboring colony who relied on looting the weak and unprepared for their survival. Thankfully, they only sent one raider, but it was enough to reach the door where Greg was standing guard. The raider managed to stab him in the stomach before Laila stepped in and put an end to their struggle. Greg was rapidly bleeding out on the porch, if it weren’t for Laila, he likely wouldn’t’ve survived. He crawled back inside, grabbed a medical kit and tend to himself.
The next morning Alia cleaned up the mess of that event and Greg rested in the hospital room. She fed Greg what was left their dwindling rations, and over time the two became close, a relationship was forming. Even in these uncertain times they still found a way to make it work.
Greg eventually recovered over the next few days and as their rations ran out, he and Ry hunted deer in the surrounding area. Suddenly though, they heard the distant growls of a Warg. This large wolflike creature was hunting Laila who was patroling the home area, keeping Alia safe at home.
Greg ran back towards the house where Laila was, but it was too late. Laila stood no chance against the razor sharp claws and brutal bite strength of the Warg. By the time Greg got in range to shoot, she was already gone.
Everyone in the colony felt the of Laila loss immediately, Greg most of all. Alia in the home suddenly went into labor, rushing to the single hospital room alone. Ry raced as fast as he could from the far side of the mountain to their aid.
Greg started pulling trigger of his rifle frantically and managed to land four shots, before the Warg closed in on him, tearing into his chest with its massive claws. He finally knocked it out with the barrel of his bolt action rifle. As the Warg lay dazed on the ground, he ran back inside and tended to his wounds. Ry finished off the Warg, and began tending to Alia as best he could. She gave birth do a baby boy, Ivo. Ivo “Lai” Kobayashi.
Ry walked outside caried the Warg’s body to the freezer to be butchered for food the next day. Laila was brought inside as well, not for food, but for preservation. As night fell and all were resting, blueprints were drawn up for when they awoke: a steel sarcophagus, for the honored dead.
Outro
I feel I should call it there. All of that occurred within about a day of gameplay, it’s only scratching the surface of everything that can happen in a game. I had to leave some events out, like a guinea pig invasion and a few small quests where nothing really happened.
I definitely yapped a lot around this point and none of that was on-script and I’m not about to go re-listen to this again to go figure out what I said
Hopefully though, that convinced you to maybe give RimWorld a try. But whatever your story might be, happy gaming.