Yesterday I put out our first look video of RimWorld and put it up on a nice little landing page. So now all the stuff we’ve been talking about might start to make a little bit more sense.

This video highlights a few key features.

First, pirate raids. Pirates drop from the sky when the AI storyteller wants, hang around at a random area of the map, then come to get you. The staging delay provides time for the player to go out and pre-emptively attack the pirates, or prepare defenses. In the video, the first pirate is shot and then captured. He’s later recruited; you can see him working for the colony later in the video. Out in the RimWorlds, allegiances are pretty weak – people will tend to join with whatever group or community will offer them some safety and shelter.

The second group of pirates is much larger, but the player has time to buy some weapons from a passing trader before they attack.

Second, look for weather. You’ll see overcast days, thunderstorms with lightning, fog, and overcast days. The weather is, like most other things, controlled by the storyteller. If she wants to make a really dramatic fight, watch her kick up a thunderstorm while the pirates bear down on you. Then she’ll strike one of them with lightning just for fun.

Beyond those two, you can also see the day/night cycle and fires on display, as well as colonist work settings, prisoner treatment settings, and the core building/mining gameplay.

In other news, the video has attracted some attention. There’s a great thread going on the Dwarf Fortress forums where I’ve answered a number of questions about the game. Also, testers are  starting discussions in our forums, so there’s more info there if you’d like to look.

Now, a screenshot of a lightning bolt striking a raider. Thanks mother nature!