Rain World: Emotions in level design

[@alexpinegamedesign]

rain world more like pAIN WORLD twinter: twitter.com/Alex_Pinetree

[@ka-boom2083]

What are the musics you used in this video?

[@alexpinegamedesign]

@@ka-boom2083 There's a full list of the track titles and a link to the album in the description :)

[@Foxett25]

For a moment tought the tw1tter link was to the Pain world post

[@unparalleledinnocence]

so true

[@mythical_coffee]

twinter?

[@bro748]

All the rooms (aside from a few in Outskirts) were made by James Primate, who had no prior experience with game design and was originally just making the audio for the game, but took on level creation when Joar got too wrapped up in creating the AI to have time to make the world. I originally didn't realize how significant it was that the rooms were made by a musician, but after analyzing how some areas are designed, I've noticed a lot of them follow the same structural design principals that musicians use. With themes, motifs, and variations; counterpoint, diverging lines, and juxtaposition; dynamism, phrases, repetition and contrast. Many of these elements can be analyzed out of plenty of games other than Rain World, but they're often nowhere near as prevalent, nor are they used in quite the way a musician does.

[@twenty_twenty_four]

good comment

[@B.L.U.S]

So you are telling me that the game world was made like music?

[@TehDJGoofy]

Soul 2: electric boogaloo In all seriousness though that’s pretty cool to know!

[@thumbsup8985]

This explains so much

[@daniel5730]

I always thought the outskirts we have and that were shown in the first trailers were from the earlier stages of development due to how "simpler" they feel in terms of pixel art and colorwork compared to the rest of the game/

[@omnibot5848]

On my first playthrough I climbed the wall and entered the general systems bus via five pebbles' chamber, despite them trying to send me back the way I came. After clawing my way to the other exit I was blindsided by the contrast, an intruder whose curiosity had led them somewhere forbidden and paralyzingly alien. The fact that you can experience the entire mid-game climax and all the tension building/release around it backwards for an entirely different but no less powerful emotional arc is a testament to how good this game is.

[@Burning_Marshmallow]

You get to expirience 2 diffrenet moments in the same place, it's just changes by the actions you took to get there. This is why rainworld is one of my favorite games ever.

[@GUMMY_MKII]

Same! The shelter was unforgivingly far away, (after 5P insta-killed me) but man was I submerged by emotions once I got in!

[@nikosorf4250]

Yo me too, rain world really let's the player have an organic experience, everyone has a different emotional connection and conclusion with how they perceive the world of rain world

[@elaisthicc]

I can't really agree with that. Underhang to 5p route is wayyy better (in terms of emotions) for the first walkthrough. Backwards route just didn't connect any dots in my head. It may be astonishing to someone who tries the campaign for the very first time, but the fact that backwards path is considered as a non-sense (even by 5 pebbles, who almost forces you to go through the shaft pipe from his chamber) makes the appearance of General Systems Bus to be less important and makes it feel like a sidekick to "main" route, which looks cool, but has no meaning behind it.

[@Romanticoutlaw]

not gonna lie, unfortunate development makes me wish I'd gone with a wall-first approach. Though I didn't understand vertical spear throws yet so I probably would have gotten frustrated and gone the proper way

[@fist_lorderino]

Rain World is great at making the player feels insignificant and powerless. And this room 12:30 will make sure you understand that it's not only a feeling.

[@aarepelaa1142]

Unless you are good at murdering lizards, or maybe that just brings the lizards down to be nothing?

[@BargB]

On my first playthrough I took the direct route to the shaded citadel. I didnt know what I was doing, was completely lost on the game and was just moving on, learning how to slugcat trought the world, and wasnt very good at it. The shaded citadel made me feel like I was really really lost, and definitely wasnt supposed to be there. I felt desolate, lost on a pitch black labitynth that I couldn't escape, completely insignificant and powerless sad slugcat on the darkest corner. Love the game

[@s.c.product]

this is the reason i like survivor so much out of all the playable characters in rain world. survivor literally doesnt contribute to the story at all, it just exists and playing as it rally makes you feel insignificant and the game and its events are there for you it just happends and you are just a silent observer

[@katie-ampersand]

A thing that's worth mentioning is how the design of this area tries and succeeds to feel fundamentally different from the rest of the game. The rest of the game has no set goal, it gives you no purpose, it just throws you into a world that is incredibly harsh to you and, well, _you_ deal with that existential can of worms. The music is always either related to a threat, or it follows you around, it's never specifically the background music of some area. Sure, music plays when you _enter_ new areas, but it stops playing and you don't hear it again. And the spaces are always closed, always cramped, always so limiting and full of leaps that are really hard to make And this area throws it all away, to the point of discarding the entire force of gravity. This area is fundamentally unlike anything in the game, you're _kinda_ in the same situation you were in when you began this mess, all the way back in outskirts. Sure, you now know how to move around in the world, but _this?_ This isn't your world. This is alien. You are an alien in an alien world. And still, you figure out how to thrive in it. And then the music. It doesn't follow you around, it isn't related to events that affect you, this room's music just _is._ If you listen to Random Gods, you'll notice it doesn't have a fade in or out, it's just going. It was there when you couldn't hear it, and it'll still be there when you can't again. And that's where you meet him. He _says things_ to you, he gives the game a _goal._ When you come out of pebbles, the world you're returning to is not the one you left. This one has a goal now. In this one, all the suffering you endure _does_ lead up to something.

[@katie-ampersand]

do _underscores_ just not work for italics or

[@katie-ampersand]

oh great they work now thanks youtube, very cool

[@Youmu_Konpaku_]

Pebbles: eyo you slugcats wanna die? You want to right??

[@Mecceldorf]

It really does connect to the player in a way only video games can, tethering you to this mutant groundhog. Outside of Five Pebbles you aren't playing the game blind anymore. Sure, you still have places to be and more than enough new things to discover, but like the slugcat you aren't ignorant anymore, you're cursed with knowledge. You rapidly become aware of your world, you have thoughts to describe it, a language to decode it, before it was just a wide expanse of nature you had to overcome and survive in. Survival is no longer the point.

[@hollowknightenjoyer]

Dude it's just a silly cat game

[@AmazingMezmer]

I think the contrast of Random Gods and Moondown is even more emphasized with the Downpour DLC and Random Fate. Random Gods is an angry, loud, chaotic track, which is perfect for Pebbles, who's very frustrated and angry. So angry he distorts the theme to be almost unrecognizable Random Fate plays in Looks to the Moon's general systems bus as she's dying due to Pebbles. It still has that grandness and chaos of the original track but is much more calm. The Moondown motif is much slower, but still recognizable. Random Fate contains no anger like Random Gods, just sadness and pain to distort it. Moondown is the purest form of this theme, only distorted by loneliness, Moon by the time we hear this is too broken to be angry or sad anymore.

[@CutMeSomeSlackTheVII]

It also has a rhythmic ticking, putting the little amount of time before Moons imminent demise on display

[@wasperfly]

The experience in general systems bus is why I encourage new players to take the intended route. The way the music get louder and louder and *louder* as you approach fps chambers... The peaceful ascent compared to the perilous journey it took to get there... It's just too amazing to let someone miss it.

[@TrixterTheFemboy]

And it's even better if you go through UD, the utter hell of it makes it even more rewarding when you see the beautiful final area of GSB

[@justinhunt1714]

One of the best gaming memories. ❤ I hate this game, and wish it wasn't to hard and punishing so I could spend more time enjoying it. Which says a lot, because Im still playing despite being tortured 90% of the time. Playing hunter now. Basically playing survivor backwards, and it was very cool going up the wall into 5p and down. Also the 19cycles thing with Hunter is absurd. I'm using the Remix option for 100cycles because Im not up for the ultimate punishment of dumping hours upon hours just for me to only get 1/4 the way and start over.

[@wasperfly]

@@justinhunt1714 Hunter is super hard at first! The difficulty spike and completely different game style is bound to mess you up at first. Just keep doing what's best for you, I hope you're able to love this game one day haha.

[@justinhunt1714]

@@wasperfly I got Hunter all the way to the void soup. Took like 75 cycles or something. Everything was much easier after getting through the underhang. I was expecting more story or something different when meeting Moon and getting to the void and felt really disappointed . But overall was an incredible experience.

[@5P_OFFICIAL]

To be honest wall also gives cool emotions when climbing it, so intended route isn't necessary

[@Big-Chungus21]

I also like how if you take the route from the bottom upwards through Five Pebbles, this moment is imediately contrasted against silence with nothing but the ‘puppet’ five pebbles uses. This moment also finally adds meaning to the games main character and puts an end in sight, while also explaining some of what the world you have been exploring is. Before this, you walk through a wasteland of machines and concrete, with no obvious reason for any of it being built, and no understanding of what it was built by, the meeting with five pebbles completely changes this. This is immediately followed by the Slugcat leaving through the top of Five Pebbles, reaching the highest point in the game. Here the character can finally see things at a larger scale, as in the distance is a massive derelict city with no inhabitants and a sprawling wasteland, all on top of a giant computer.

[@incendiarycrocs7449]

genuinely with no spoilers, when i saw that core of five pebbles i audibly gasped - it is genuinely one of the most powerful moments in gaming

[@NorrisTheSpider]

I wonder if the Rain World Devs are aware that they created the best videogame of the 2010s.

[@WorlWyrm]

Oh they definitely know.

[@nwchef]

i wish i could call rain world the best game ever but the fact that it's just so hard to get into for 90% of people hurts it

[@nwchef]

i forgot about monk. rain world is the best game ever

[@aquapotato..]

@@nwchef rain world is the best game ever, its just that some people aren't good enough for rain world kina a shame tbh

[@KaiTheMemeKing]

It's true that the game is super brutal for new players, even once they kind of know their way around. That, and the gameplay loop of dying over and over and karma farming and not being able to save until you can reach that next shelter... it's super rough, and that style of gaming is not for everyone. I just wish it didn't keep so many people from experiencing the game's beautiful lore and environmental storytelling

[@Drone_21]

One thing I love about memory conflux is that, as someone who first found pebbles by climbing The Wall, it also works the other way around. The clinical white spaces with the rearanging red patterns on the middle all give the impresion of this perfect supercomputer that is working in perfect condition... Until you reach unfortunate development, the artificial anti-grav starts failing and the previously pristine white spaces are now dark and covered with sickening blue growths. It's amazing how a game can allow you to go through a very important area by literally opposite directions and still deliver an unforgatable experience for both.

[@SubIndy]

Is rain world getting more popular, or is youtube recommending me more rain world videos? Ether way I’m happy.

[@ascended313]

It definitely got a bit more popular, probably due to the dlc.

[@aquapotato..]

the dlc made rain world blow up

[@aquapotato..]

on the topic of emotions in level design some other big ones are when it playes "Stargazer" when ur on top of the structure looking at the abandoned city, when it playes "emotional thread" on ur last deer ride before descending to the depths, when it playes "Big Open" while ur in the void see before getting pulled down, when it playes "the ride" AS u are getting pulled further down and when it playes deep light and deep ghosts when ur going to the light. also i "think" the ride, big open, and the outro themes are all motifs as well as a few others if im not mistaken

[@Jamesthe1]

So many songs have the motif, in fact almost all do. Random Gods, Moondown, and Deep Light are obvious. Unseen Lands is the melody sped up. Urban Jungle has this melody being followed in different ways. The synth that keeps up a rising pattern calls back to Pictures of the Past's, and the one that shows up later follows the main theme with variation to notes. All threat tracks loosely follow the simple tune.

[@aquapotato..]

@@Jamesthe1 wait wtf? i though that set of motifs only included, sundown moondown random gods and pictures of the past (aka slugcat theme, moon's theme, pebbles' theme, and rain world theme) i did not know unseen lands, urban jungle, and deep light are also in there, interesting. also i forgot unseen lands lol i would of included that

[@aquapotato..]

@@Jamesthe1 also apparently emotion thread also has the sundown motif... lol i didn't know so many songs share that

[@TrixterTheFemboy]

And more contrast you didn't touch on: The dead silence when you enter the puppet chamber. Five Pebbles himself seems almost natural, like you, in sharp contrast to the pure majesty of the systems bus. And then he starts projecting holograms, speaking in an unintelligible yet disdainful language and tone, and eventually giving you power you didn't even know existed with barely a thought, really cementing the feeling of powerlessness that's constant throughout almost the whole world(with the potential exception of when you meet Moon or pull off an awesome move lol).

[@moonlit_ruffles]

To me, this really is the best moment i have ever experienced while playing a video game. It really hit me like a truck, because i had already been playing for 3 hours straight, trying really hard to pass the daddy long legs area, whatever it is called, so when i got out of pebbles's room and finally felt a sense of acomplishment, i heard the part of the music that's like the main theme, it made me feel an emotion that i had never felt before, like an emotion the doesn't exist.

[@moonlit_ruffles]

I also wanted to add that the underhang is the worst part of the game, it isn't even a competition

[@znoopsy]

the dll area is called Unfortunate Development also, underhang's pretty fun once you're adept at traversing it, but yeah i spent 2 hours dying over and over there aswell..

[@WorlWyrm]

@@moonlit_ruffles Lol, barely, you should see farm arrays

[@snakerat4161]

@@znoopsy underhang went from the worst area to my favorite area after I suddenly pulled a john wick on the lizards, killing 3 and making 1 run away in fear using only one pebble and 2 spears XD after than i always looked forward to the lizards in the entrance feeling invincible

[@karibrimacombe8710]

​@Martim Amaral underhang isn't even close to being the worst part of the game, farm arrays and sky islands are so much worse. Underhang is one of the easier parts of the game in my opinion.

[@windowpanememberrrr]

On my first playthrough I found moon first and ate all of her neurons. After entering five pebbles and being swarmed by the mere numbers of them, I was so, so sorry. I have never done that again

[@satoruriolu6132]

In contrast, when I first played and finished the game, I never even got inside of Five Pebbles, saving for his chamber. He told me to not bother him anymore, and I didn't. It was only on my second playthrough that I started learning about the pearls, trying to understand what has happening in between the two characters, why they were upset, to then me entering the general system bus from five pebbles' chamber. I knew they were powerful, I finished the game and have seen what the world could offer, and even then,.the robots being, that alien thing inside was still shocking.

[@Justyouraveragechaosenjoyer]

Gosh I could absolutely drown in the "Random Gods" soundtrack. Entering that room and having it on full blast for the first time- there will never be another moment like it. I'd give anything to relive that feeling again man, it was perfect.

[@GGrimmmm]

I feel like trying to explain this moment without first having died dozens of times struggling to get through unfortunate development is only half the experience. The moment when you finally make it through, but question of you really made it or maybe another Daddy Long Leg is going to grab you out of the air and make you do it all over again, so when it shows the general systems bus and you know you’ve made it through, that moment is special

[@monosodium-glutamate]

You managed to put the feeling I can only describe 'Rain World' into words. It's an underappreciated gem and I feel like what's been said here rings true for several areas of the in their own regard.

[@ThatGuy-zw4le]

nice seeing people make videos about rain world

[@VallyPally]

Visiting five pebbles for the first time sure is an experience i wish i could do it again Amazing vid man

[@somgbird4493]

With the release of downpour dlc, there is another even more special moment. You can visit fully functioning Moon and she has her own mesmerizing banger track -- reflection of the moon. In all that context, visiting her after survivor campaign is truly special.

[@perplexedon9834]

If you haven't finished Saint, it gets even better with Pebbles' general systems bus!

[@Charmlie.R]

These moments will never not make me tear up a bit Even just the moment you put on the title theme. When you are just loading things up its easy to not focus as much but listening to it as a piece of music, after everything, after moon and pebbles and everything that comes after, it hits different. The scene in pebbles is emotionally incredible, and the big scene that comes later even moreso. This game is unreal. Ive bought it for all my friends and watched all of them play through it, and once we hit the end we always sit in silence and i almost cry from the magic. Every time, its been like 8 or 9 or something crazy and every time it hits hard after you've gone through everything, fought and bled and cried and gotten angry because the world is unfair and you quit. But you always came back and pushed until you finally made it all the way there. This game either is, or is contender for, my favorite game and experience of all time. It tells you nothing, the world is not built for you. Many drop it because they expect a game, they expect the world to be easily explored by you as a player, and enemies will be throttled so you have an edge at a mechanical level. But that doesn't happen. You are an animal in a food chain. And you are pretty damn close to the bottom. There are things in the world you can do that other creatures cant, because of your skillset. But there are things they can do and places they can go, that you cant. Because the world is uncaring and indifferent, so the things you or other creatures can do are limited by your respective abilities, that of climbing or flying or moving through tunnels and pipes, some creatures having ones you cant use. You aren't an all powerful creature with a world begging you to succeed, and the incredible AI pushes this idea to its limits. Its easy to be immersed, and easy to let the silent story baked into every inch of the world melt into your heart. Rain world is a masterpiece that gets terrible reviews because people dont want to accept that exploring and learning the world the hard way is a worthwhile experience. They want a cutscene that gives them a dash power up that makes exploring easier and fighting trivial. In rain world, you don't get magic. You are incredibly athletic and can do backflips and slides and all sorts of things, but you will never be taught that. You don't find a shiny ball and get stronger, you experiment and learn. You do things by accident and practice to become stronger purely out of your own ability. And that is infinitely more fulfilling if you can let it be. I love rain world too much, i could talk about it for hours. Such a small game, but it holds such a massive place in my heart.

[@Youmu_Konpaku_]

Amazing essay about the game, and it was a pretty nice touch pointing out how Sundown, Moondown and the GSM track had the same leitmotif And I'm assuming pebbles wasn't shown for spoiler reasons, but i love how the whole mysterious track just suddenly stops the moment you enter his room. You're just in a state of confusion as he talks in random gibberish only to show weird symbols and a slugcat image before implanting a mark of comms on your head.

[@Midnightlunar10]

He speaks animal crossing, yet you still feel like you’re an absolute dumbass compared to him because of the simple fact that YOU ARE. It’s fantastic, although I have personal beef with the region outside of those particular moments.

[@roguekeychain1848]

That's it. The final push I needed to buy this game.

[@matthewanderson7824]

Yes definitely buy the game although I’m sad that the climax was spoiled for you by watching this

[@ViHtor]

Yes definitely buy the game although I’m sad that the climax was spoiled for you by watching this

[@moegasmic]

Yes definitely buy the game although I’m sad that the climax was spoiled for you by watching this

[@Detrax655]

Yes definetly buy the game although i'm sad that the climax was spoiled for you by watching this

[@Est.-.]

Yes definitely buy the game although I'm sad that the climax was spoiled for you by watching this

[@Th3G4m3F4n]

Upon further reflection, boh of my own experience of floating about inside the General System Bus and the game at large, I think I've found another layer on why this part feels so impactful. Random Gods doesn't even sound like music, not right away. It starts with electronic humming, this gargantuan machine simply making calculations and producing noise. Then you start noticing the melody emerge - whether or not it registers as Sundown right away is not necessarily important, just that the mind is finding the melodic qualities in the middle of this chaos. It feels like your mind is playing a trick on you, trying to find something greater in the surrounding area. It's the impersonal, sterile inhumanity of the machine performing its functions meeting the very human tendency of searching for, and finding, patterns in everything we experience. The frantic shifts of the sounds make it feel chaotic and confused, Sundown gives it a feeling of sadness and wistfulness, and deep electronic rumbling gives it an undercurrent of anger. Random Gods *is* Five Pebbles as a character, as much as the superstructure we traverse is Five Pebbles' body; it transmits the... Aura or feel of his character in the melody itself. Confused, sad, and angry. I was very impressed when I arrived at the Bus, as it helped communicate the sheer power of Five Pebbles as a computer, and in contrast made me feel so much more sad for Looks To The Moon, as we see her reduced to just her puppet and a handful of neuron flies. Then we see the scenery from atop The Wall and see that, not only is an iterator so immense they can have a city built on them, but there are so many other iterators away in the distance. Rain World is an amazing experience, and I am glad I decided to play it.

[@evanbailey4500]

I love rain world, consider myself to know everything lore- and mechanic- wise, but there’s never not a sense of magic in the general systems bus. I think that it not only serves to connect the musical motif to moon as a hint for very wary players, but it also conveys the feeling of being faced with something truly above literally anything else in the game. FP boasts about being, in comparison to the slugcat, a god, and for maybe the first time in media, he isn’t wrong at all. The music also seems not to *care* that you’re there. In most games, including RW, the music is triggered by something - be it threat, area transition. Even moon’s theme only pops in when you’re around. But Random Gods has been there since before you were crawling aimlessly around inside, and it will be there long after you’re gone.

[@TheOddHawk]

I cannot stress enough the important of CONTRAST in art. Contrast provides the ability to set your intended perspective in relation to another with ease, it draws the attention of the viewer effectively. Contrast can be used in many different things, like music, visuals, colors, gameplay.... like when you are suddenly tossed into the anti gravity environment in contrast to the natural environments you're used to. Learning how to traverse it is like playing a whole different game.

[@catpoke9557]

I love how the music in this room seems to be the ambience of the room itself. It gets louder as you get closer, it doesn't stop playing until you leave, and it SOUNDS like the wheels in a machine's mind (metaphorically) turning

[@crunchycroutons1987]

this affected me emotionally. something about this video...makes me want to cry....i don't know why....

[@alpal4245]

I think another interesting part of this moment (and the one at the end of the game) is that the difficult section you just completed is adjacent to the chill room where nothing can kill you. Really let's you relax and just take in the scene

[@The-EJ-Factor]

I climbed the wall the first time I played, but I went through the pipe into five pebbles insides, despite pebbles trying to not let me explore there, only for me to be brought back to the exterior after going through it, I then proceeded to passage to outskirts, from there farm arrays to the rest of the game, I missed so many regions, but when I first entered five pebbles, it was such a different feeling, if you explore five pebbles the first time backwards it gives such a different experience. Also some of his dialogue didn’t make much sense because I didn’t know that you could go the other way. I also never went to chimney canopy during that run. Probably took the hardest longest ways I could’ve gone.

[@ghoma8336]

I feel an aspect of that room transition that's not mentionned is the 'gods' part of 'random gods' when you enter this room you're met with no walls and the only noticeable elements on screen are those tentacles reaching from above the screen, reminds me of ideas of heaven or like eldritch gods it's very minor but I feel it evoques that imagery

[@gavmcdangle1893]

Absolutely amazing video. Ever since I played Rain World I've always sighted this exact moment to be the greatest video game moment of all time. Its also worth to mention how powerful the moment just after this room is, the raw confusion is just amazing.

[@KriticSoul]

Not only five pebbles, when i remember every room in rain world, the most powerful feelings i have always is nostalgia, and something like desolation, lost, and in reality, a bunch of lots of feelings i can't describe, i was just sitting in front of a monitor playing a pixel game, but idk why, i remember the playthrougs that i made in the game as if i was feeling stupidly happy, and i were, but i wasn't noticing it, this game transmits emotions in every area, in every room, the music, the colors, the enviroment, the desolation, the feelings it gives are not so easy to describe, i remember when i finally ended the game, i did literally stayed with my mouth opened all the time no having idea about what the hell was happening, it was magic, the music, the effects, the background, i was astonished, Rain World is the unique game that make me feel so like that, sincerely, i only have good memories of this game, everything is so memorable, so well made, levels, music, fauna, colors, history, everything, RW? Yeh, a masterpiece imo (Edit: and how sad it is that not much people can experience it because the game needs to be as it is and not everyone is made for it)

[@frogmouth2]

They put this right after the toughest area in the game.

[@JohnDoe-pk8lc]

i hope we meet more itarators in the upcoming DLC, like the hunter's pal, No Significant Harassment

[@lucasm2344]

They really did outdo themselves on the sound and visual design in this game. Everything connects so perfectly. It makes you feel what's going on, rather than just observing it.

[@adamkloc9518]

Five pebbles amazed me, such a beautiful machine. It inspires such curiosity, the entire game. So much wonder. It is a masterpiece.

[@pezvonpez]

WeII put. That's what captivates me, how truIy wondrous the worId is. So aIien and bizarre! Most sci-fi worIds don't feeI that different from our own, they're more Iike a sIightIy aItered version of reaI Iife rather than 𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. The Iack of creativity is even more evident when it comes to aIiens - they often act and think Iike some kind of fictionaI human cuIture, rather than something different from us. Rain WorId breaks pretty much every Sci-fi trope or expectation if you Iook deep enough. Five PebbIes isn't an AI or supercomputer, he's something eIse entireIy. The machinery isn't aII metaI and siIIicon, but sometimes organic too. The ancients are simuItaneousIy tribaI/primitive _and_ futuristic - everything about them from their cIothes, to architecture, and even ideoIogy. And the Iterators, as big and scary as they may be, can bareIy interact with the worId and environment around them. They are extremeIy Iimited in what they can do, unIike say, GIadOS from PortaI. Though, environmentaI storyteIIing shows that they _can_ shuffIe rooms inside them around and even throw them out. So maybe not _that_ far off from GIadOS, but it's Iike if the entire PortaI faciIity was actuaIIy GIadOS's body/brain. Anyway... iterators were Iike artificiaI Gods, but aIso sIaves to the ancients. So far above their creators, yet they couId do nothing but submit to their whims. UsuaIIy the creators are the ones ensIaved by the AI, right!? And finaIIy, the worId isn't even post-apocaIyptic. It's more Iike... post-utopian! TI;dr: Rain worId is nothing Iike a typicaI sci-fi universe, and _nothing_ Iike our worId. Sorry if I sound a IittIe pretentious. Not every piece of media needs super weird aIiens, obviousIy. I'm just gIad that's how Rain WorId is. I couId write an entire book about this topic, I'm bareIy even getting started... but this comment has gotten Iong enough aIready.

[@writer5790]

Keep on going man, you look like you have a shot at this.

[@emmadraws14953]

I'd seen trailers for it before, but now I'm gonna go play the game. You absolutely convinced me, stellar video essay

[@perplexedon9834]

Oh boy, this video, this moment and this room hits so much harder after playing Saint in the DLC. I won't spoil, but you get to see the state of this specific room three more times in the DLC, and each is completely different but always hauntingly beautiful.

[@lofwyr5063]

I came to the chamber on my first (still ongoing) playthrough after going through unfortunate development, after many, MANY tries...and I could not find another savepoint, so the frantic synth and the like, while I was already worn out emotionally by the grueling deaths...well. It sure was something. And funny enough because I didn't trust the exit pipe 5P sent me through, I actually went the other way out and looked for a savespot after meeting him. I ended up going through the blue electricity area...all the way down until I saved. Only later I found out that the exit pipe had a savespot right after. I think I got a mild form of trauma and elation from it all.

[@syserq]

I was too busy being relieved to make it past unfortunate development to notice that it was the same as moon's area

[@zephyreon4]

An entire video on why general systems bus- and by extension rain world- is amazing? And it's an extremely well made video? Sign me up!!!

[@meeko429]

on my first playthrough i "walked" into the general system bus, and I had my music volume all the way up for the game. the sheer scale, and contrast, along with the motif, and powerful music genuinely brought me to tears how beautiful the game is, and this was even before i learned about the story of the game. everytime i visit pebbles, I always feel emotional because of this room

[@SlippyLegJones]

I can say some reasons why it felt so powerful to me in steps: -The game is lonely. You are alone, everything familiar is dead or lost, and mechanisms seem to have mostly ceased. -You spend hours, dozens of hours traversing a harsh landscape with animals actively hunting you. -You come across, most likely, Moon, to show you that there is something bigger in this world you don't understand. -Lastly, before coming into the area, you likely encounter memory crypts, the leg, the underhang, etc... which are some of the most difficult parts of the entire game. Then when you enter this area it's dead silent, you know you're at the peak of the journey, you can feel you're approaching something big. It confuses you with all this anti-grav, power cells, neurons, weird little machines, etc...to double down on the "approaching something big" feeling. Of course, there's still a couple ways to die in here, but for the most part, it's empty. It immediately releases all the tension and allows the player to start to think about the game. So what happens when you enter that room with Five pebbles? You realize you've found what you're looking for. You have a goal, the world is not dead yet, you finally have the biggest piece of the puzzle that you've been missing. And the game sends you out of his chamber to ponder on it, with Random Gods playing to give that existential melancholy feeling. It's a good moment and it forces the player to THINK about what just happened.

[@ManuelJRG_]

Your study on the emotional connections with the places of rain world are fantastic, and the more I watch these deep analyses, the more the weight of how much of an underappreciated gem rain world truly hits. Ah, secrets, the root of all good.

[@randidmmm]

This sole moment might be why rain world has remained my favorite game for over four years, despite playing countless other titles inbetween. The power in the level design/music combo is just that effective.

[@TheMantisLord50]

Good video The best part is that this isn’t the only scene like this in the game. While moon and 5 pebbles have this kind of feel in the game, there are tons of other rooms with such an interesting feel to them, like on top of 5 pebbles next to the city, or diving to the bottom of the void sea.

[@matthewanderson7824]

Although rain world isn’t my favorite game this may be my favorite scene in all my years of gaming and I’m happy to finally find a video of it. Also the mentions of leitmotifs which I noticed in all three songs but I couldn’t find any video that talked about it. Great video but you should have included the climax of it by going through the pipe and watching five pebbles idly work with the music swelling and the pearls circling him.

[@Water-rg7gp]

i like that even with all these emotional scenery and stuff my brain is still in slugcat mode and i never appreciate it

[@the_arson_bean]

For me the audio visual aspect of games has always played a central role to defining my enjoyment of the game.

[@casualbird7671]

This video is just.. perfect. General Systems Bus is my favorite area in the game due to how perfectly it is built up while you crawl through this gigantic alien machine, to find it's a supercomputer of incredible design. And the music along with the intense visuals, it's wonderful. I am so glad to see you perfectly explain the feelings the game personally gave me

[@gabrielnobrev]

I died countless times in Unfortunate Development trying to pass through, but this room was worth all the frustration

[@nwchef]

i think that the best way to describe five pebbles is it's a region that feels the exact same way to experience compared to other regions as rain world feels to experience compared to other game. rain world is an extremely different experience because it flips so many small things you've gotten used to in games on their head, which is exactly what five pebbles does. there is no more rain, no more combat, no more of the movement you're used to. the otherwise gritty, muddy, almost organic environments you've seen are replaced with clean, mechanical rooms that almost feel like going through a giant alien spaceship

[@pezvonpez]

Yes, isn't that so cool? The best parts about rain world's narrative peaks is that they're so unexpected and different from the rest of the game. You go from industrial, to Sci fi, and then you'd NEVER expect to see lovecraftian monsters.

[@koiboi7049]

the song random gods has always been really impactful just in the depth and discordance of it, but it wasnt until now that i realized it has the same motif as sundown and moondown. deeply emotional about it now. again.

[@1freak1015]

great thoughts, great editing

[@shame2189]

I think for me the second time entering Pebbles's interior was extra powerful. Realizing that all those little light flashes are some guy's thoughts is something else, it makes you feel small and insignificant in the best way possible. Paired with the music, it paints a beautifully melancholic picture.

[@cattyfacepunny6239]

One of my favroute moments in rainworld downpour is when you are playing as rivulett and you go into memory crypts, the first screen looking normal but then you see a rot cyst. It realy shocked me and it was super well done

[@candycoatedroxx]

*downpour spoilers* When I first played through the Spearmaster and got to explore Looks to the Moon before her collapse, it was truly breathtaking. I’d recently finished Rivulet, so I recognized many of the rooms from their ruins in the future, Submerged Superstructure. The rest had this odd familiarity because they were similar to Five Pebbles, and some were nearly identical to Looks to the Moon in the present. There was something so vivid about having that feeling of first exploring Five Pebbles all over again, since I’d done that 3 times now. It felt familiar, yet brand new. Rain World is such an amazing game.

[@Prootgen]

The remnants of a broken and torn world. Filled with the sorrows and griefs of what was and the impossibility of what has to come

[@Korii_01]

I can't remember how it was when I first came across that room, but I think it was from the wall, so I came from outside. It was mind blowing, that's whar I can remember. I never noticed these 3 songs' connections in my hundreds of hours in the game. This is so mind blowing to me.

[@WhippieKippy]

I never realized that the title theme was in Five Pebbles main room but I always found the rooms leading to him to be breathbreaking and it really makes you feel small in comparison to Pebbles because you are inside of him and it feels like an entirely different world.

[@pillowmoment]

I’ve listened to all the tracks with the opening melody and it’s very powerful, yet soothing. It perfectly captures the bittersweet and breathtaking feel Rain World has. It’s relaxing, but holds some amount of tension. It’s sad, but carries hope. It opens and it concludes. It does everything the game needs it to. It contrasts itself in its usage. It’s used for moon and pebbles, two characters who are so similar, and yet could not be more different. The opening of the game and the goals it presents are the polar opposite of those presented in the ending. Its used so well in every instance. When used in moon’s chamber, it makes you feel sad for her. You look at this creature and hear that melody and it just makes you sad. But compared to Pebbles, it brings out fear in a player, even if they can’t help but admire him. But it brings out the same sympathy for him especially if you really get into the lore. Pebbles and moon make me unreasonably sad if you can’t tell

[@spacewitch3707]

watching this, thinking you must be some big video essayist sees you only have 204 subs here's one more to get you closer to a million

[@alexpinegamedesign]

idk what u mean 204 is almost a million

[@spacewitch3707]

@@alexpinegamedesign it's closer to a million than zero, rounded up.

[@gideoncheung8731]

Dang, what a video! Brilliant stuff!

[@emilijasilabriede9701]

cool beans

[@alexpinegamedesign]

sounds like an iterator name

[@davrielcane4374]

This is a great video keep up the amazing work Mr. Pine

[@grungegirl18]

When you come back to this area in Rivulet's campaign Pebbles is in much worse shape and you can just barely hear an alternate version of Random Gods playing in the General Systems Bus. It's staticky with reeling fits of distortion, like gritting teeth and white knuckles trying not to cry out in pain. Listening to it after experiencing this scene is genuinely heartbreaking.

[@mtcrush2663]

I've been with this game ever since its initial release in 2017 and I still remember my first time emerging into GSB with surprising clarity. It was a "Oh my word, what have I just walked in on???" sort of moment, and I loved every second of it. It's probably the best and most memorable experience I've ever had in a video game.

[@Demoknightf2]

Honestly, despite it being considerably more difficult, I always go the intended path to get to pebbles because this scene never fails to instill a sense of pure awe and it never gets old. Also for neuron flies

[@Mizenga]

it really is a touching piece of art isn't it?

[@borb5353]

got damn the five pebbles theme still makes me goose bump all over

[@soulsand4287]

I had to watch this twice, and on the 2nd time, I noticed the menu theme at the beginning of the video. Nice detail.

[@very-mean-spirited-lizard]

The more I learn about this game even after completing it the more respect I feel for it

[@torgo_]

great video best game ever made.. i can't even imagine my life without rain world

[@НазарВіхренко]

With downpour update all of this expand even further, as we see in rivulet and Saint campaigns, rip FP

[@lipucka]

best rain world video

[@snowyborne]

Amazing video!!! Seriously, great work!

[@matthewanderson7824]

I feel like this room also contrast the entrance to the void where they’re both 0G environments but you are swimming in opposite directions. In five pebbles there are black and red synapses which are replaced with the white and gold void worms. It also symbolizes the different ideologies were as the ancients where sinful and did not want to return to traditional roots in order to ascend instead relying on supercomputers that couldn’t even find a solution, the void is the original solution and you descend into the void showing the ancients ideas about ascension were wrong and misplaced

[@aarepelaa1142]

Tbh for me five pebbles is like the most infuriating place because the movement is just all over the place and you can't do anything special with it. But the entrance to the big dood is pretty damn epic.

[@FlaminFaux]

I didn’t go through the bus, I took the wall. It’s a heck of a trek, but I had my worm from underhang and that made it easier than I think it was supposed to be. For once, I felt like I was actually getting past that lowest rung on the food chain. Get to the top and marvel as the sight of other massive superstructures in the distance, no more rain timer, it was something else. And then I take the roof, desolate (except one dang white lizard. Jerk.) and make my way down a pipe. No gravity. No gravity?? And lasers and lights and other entirely new look for everything! I’ve gone from a decaying civilization, slowly but surely overtaken by flora and fauna, to this? Where am I, what is this?? I go right, the only path that isn’t back where I came from, and find a pipe after bumbling and bumping around in the new zero-g environment, feeling like I’m all at the beginning again with barely an idea of how to move. And then it’s so loud, and there’s lightning and lights and dozens of pearls floating around a small figure, floating or held by an arm or something, and I have no idea what’s going on. Then it all shuts off when I fall, he makes some noise before grabbing and making me understand what he says, and explains everything without really meaning to. I didn’t know what a cycle was, really. I barely knew anything aside from how to scrape by at this point and now he’s telling me where the “end” is. Then, unceremoniously, I’m tossed back out where I came from before I can even try and go through the other pipe. When folks talk about Cthulhu and such, this is what I imagine it has to be like. A simple creature suddenly given a huge burden of knowledge, far beyond what they were ever expected to achieve, then tossed right back into its day to day struggle, unable to share that burden, unable to forget.

[@pepperjacket]

great video

[@schoenperkins8210]

I really wish there was some sort of database i could read about all the “flora and fauna” in FivePebbles

[@ionelcapraru7322]

It's sad we never get a deeper look into all the things within Iterator complexes, as from the little we do get they seem like they'd be very intresting to learn more about! Did you know that in devtools a lot of the tendrils found in FP are referred to as "coral" or "mycelia"? Or the fact those more metallic looking tentacles are just red coral strands with plates/shells on them? The tiny white spiders that maintain Coral Circuits in Memory Conflux(wich I've dubbed Memory Weavers) don't even have any actual name to go by, yet their specific ocupation of repairing the circuits already makes me intrested in learning more! If I knew how to make a KZbin Video, I'd make one all about these little things found inside Iterators, analyzing the details of each and every one.

[@schoenperkins8210]

@@ionelcapraru7322 I had no idea that they where called “coral” but now that to say it i can definitely see the resemblance, the whole complex is like swimming through a reef

[@Rock6Sixes]

Nice analysis, it'd be interesting to see more videos like this about the ending and wall, presuming you have something to say about them. Were you avoiding the red blocks in 11:00 in order to keep a more ambient atmosphere and contrast the rooms even more?

[@alexpinegamedesign]

i showed mercy to your ears

[@Rock6Sixes]

@@alexpinegamedesign also understandable

[@dr.angerous]

Insane

[@rammus33]

Why do you sound like an android 💀 Also great video, this was definitely one of the most "wow" moments of my playthrough, so I'm glad that someone made an entire analysis video about it, thank you.

[@kevinfischer4869]

When I entered 5 pebbles, my expectation was that I’d somehow destroy the entire computer with 5 pebbles!

[@CamelliaFlingert]

wish i could be smart and creative to understand anything related to people's creativity and ideas and blah blah blah, but sadly i'm not.

[@FlareTTV]

I don't understand how I know SO many people that praise literally everything else about the game EXCEPT THIS MOMENT. This is IT. This is the ENTIRE BUILD UP of the game. The entire reason shit's happening in the game to begin with. Yet people shrug this off, and swipe it under the rug saying that the echo's are somehow more impactful than this is. HOW? Some undead space octopus that regrets his decisions that's now just stuck in place and talks crypticly to you, but otherwise does nothing? How is that more interesting than the literal LAST puzzle piece that you needed to put a picture of the entire world together? Makes no sense to me.

[@testplane]

I've always wondered what those little white "spiders" are that fix the red lattice

[@ionelcapraru7322]

I have no clue either but I always like to refer to them as "Memory Weavers"

[@rhexicon]

check out the downpour dlc, it has a lot more moments like this!

[@clifford1]

Nice video, keep up the good work

[@Username-jx2ij]

Mīlu lietus pasauli.

[@Gracosef]

Great video really like your voice too (tho I have to say the thumbnail is not very appealing)

[@alexpinegamedesign]

decided to make another one

[@Gracosef]

@@alexpinegamedesign much better thanks a lot

[@Xaxares]

You pointing out how the Sundown theme is repeated in other songs made me realize it is also in "Pictures of the past" during the aria midway through. Or at least something quite similar to this. Would that make it qualify as the leitmotif of the game?

[@aquapotato..]

u should make a new vid for downpour

[@satinizer8021]

there's no feeling quite like hearing "random gods" for the first time. also, a small trivia i really like. the downpour DLC adds another track tied to Moon called "random fate", which is a slower version of "sundown". it's grim, almost menacing, but very, very sad. and in the context of the game, the title of it just Hits. Pebbles, who randomly decided to play a god, being the reason of Moon's tragic fate.