RimWorld cover
RimWorld screenshot
Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Simulator, Strategy, Indie

RimWorld

RimWorld soundtrack available on Steam

The RimWorld soundtrack is up for sale on Steam! 31 tracks of space western tunes from Alistair Lindsay (Twitter).

Here's the Steam page.

If you like Al's music you can get more from him at his Bandcamp page.


1.0 technical update brings multi-version mod support


I’ve just released a technical update to version 1.0 of RimWorld. It should be 100% compatible with all existing savegames and mods. The new version is 1.0.2150.

Steam will auto-update. If you’re playing the DRM-free version of the game you can go download it now from your permanent personal download link which was emailed to you.

Aside from updating translations and player content, and fixing a handful critical bugs, the new version’s main purpose is to add support for multi-version mods. Previously one entry in Steam workshop could only work with one version of RimWorld. This causes problems when we release a new version: Players can’t continue on the old version since some mods are updated, but can’t continue on the new version since not all mods are updated.

Now, mods will be able to support multiple versions simply by putting version-specific files in directories named for the target game version. Other files from the mod’s base directory are used in all versions, as before.

For modders, here is how to set your mod up for multi-version support:

In the mod’s About.xml file, don’t use any more. Instead, write a list of supported versions like this:


  • 1.0

  • 1.1



  • When you upload to the Steam Workshop, your mod will be properly tagged with all supported versions.

    Version-specific content should go in a folder named after the version being targeted. For example, if you make a folder called “1.0/Defs”, version 1.0 of the game will load Defs only from that folder, while other versions of the game will load from “/Defs”. (Note that if you add a version-specific folder like “1.0/Defs”, the default “/Defs” folder will be ignored when playing on 1.0.)

    You can do this with the “Defs”, “Assemblies”, and “Patches” folders. Other data types, like textures, are always shared between versions (for now).

    If you do not need the multi-version content loading, you place the  “Defs”, “Assemblies” and “Patches” folders in the mod’s root folder, just like before.

    RimWorld 1.0 released

    It's finally here! I just hit the button to release RimWorld 1.0. Thank you to everyone! I have many people to be grateful to (many of whom I mentioned in the last update).

    There's a juicy new trailer you can watch here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tDrxOASUog
    Some logistical details (I also mentioned last time):

    If you're playing an unmodded game, just keep playing. Version 1.0 will be compatible with un-modded savegames from Beta 19 and Beta 18.

    If you're playing a modded game, you should follow these two steps now:

    1. In Steam Library, right-click on RimWorld, select Properties, go to the Betas tab and select the "beta19" beta.
    2. Back up your mod files.
    ----2a. Copy all the files in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\294100
    ----2b. Paste them all in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\RimWorld\Mods

    I'm recommending modders don't update in-place to prevent the above problem, but can't guarantee everyone will get the message.

    1.0 is mostly the same as Beta 19, with a lot of bugfixes. The only significant new feature is a new food restriction system that allows you to determine what your colonists and prisoners are allowed to eat.

    Time to celebrate over here! Thanks again everyone.

    RimWorld 1.0 will be released October 17

    RimWorld 1.0 will be released on Wednesday, October 17!

    After five and a half years of development we're coming to the close of this chapter of RimWorld. Thanks to everyone who got involved on the forums, posting bugs, chatted on Reddit, offered mods on Workshop and the forums, to those who are doing translations, to everyone who contributed to the RimWorld Wiki, and to Piotr Walczak, Ben Rog-Wilhelm, Alistair Lindsay, Rhopunzel, and others who collaborated with me on making the game. Thank you everyone.

    If you're playing an unmodded game, just keep playing. Version 1.0 will be compatible with un-modded savegames from Beta 19 and Beta 18.

    If you're playing a modded game, you should follow these two steps now:




    I'm recommending modders don't update in-place to prevent the above problem, but can't guarantee everyone will get the message.

    1.0 is mostly the same as Beta 19, with a lot of bugfixes. The only significant new feature is a new food restriction system that allows you to determine what your colonists and prisoners are allowed to eat.

    There will be a shiny new trailer on release day.

    As for the future, I plan to continue updating the fan-made translations and creative content. There will also likely be a bug-fixing patch. Beyond that, though I won't promise anything and nothing's decided, I can think of a variety of interesting directions to go with the game. For today, though, I'm just celebrating.

    Thanks again everyone.

    Unstable version testing and a call for translators

    A new build is up on the unstable branch.

    If you are playing with mods but were on the unstable branch from an earlier testing phase, change back to default branch now. The code for this update should be 99% mod-compatible, but the mods won't work until they're recompiled because the binary API for the translation system changed.

    The game content is exactly the same as Beta 19. There are some bugfixes, but the most important thing is the new localization system. It'll help translators more accurately translate the game into non-English languages, with issues like grammatical gender (e.g. le/la in French) respected and better automatic handling of grammar for a variety of languages.

    Below is a forum post from Piotr Walczak, who implemented the latest improvements, explaining what translators can do to take advantage of the new functionality.

    Forum post: New keyed translations format

    For anyone interested in helping translate, now would be a great time! The game content is stable, the grammar code is in, and we're on the final push to get things set for the 1.0 release. Potential translators should please take a look the forum post below to learn how to contribute. Thanks in advance.

    Forum post: How to contribute to translations

    Forum post: Help check the language workers

    Early access price and final price

    So, RimWorld's early access price has been $30 USD since we first started selling the game in 2013.

    Buying an early access game is risky compared to buying a finished game. Also, RimWorld's value in content (and the time players tend to play it) have gone up a lot since those early days. There's also the matter of simple financial inflation. Because of these factors, the final price will be higher than the early access price.

    The early access price will remain the same for the rest of the early access period - this change will only occur when 1.0 is released. And of course, anyone who bought during Early Access will get the final version for no additional cost.

    I wanted to let everyone know about this ahead of time so people have time to make an informed purchasing decision without surprises.

    As of now there's no announced release date for 1.0 yet - still working on filling in all those final details!

    Discussion on the Ludeon forums.

    RimWorld Beta 19 – Polish the Cannons released!

    RimWorld Beta 19 - Polish the Cannons is released!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH5tLLJXbg8
    If you want to keep playing Beta 18 on Steam: Right click RimWorld in the Library list -> Properties -> Betas -> Choose beta18 from the drop-down menu.

    You can play savegames from Beta 18 (and probably before), though some details will change upon loading.

    I did want this build to be 1.0 for a while, but it became apparent the game would benefit from one more refinement round, so we're doing Beta 19 first. I very much want the 1.0 version to be worthy of its version number, which means not rushing it.

    You can discuss this post in this forum thread on the Ludeon forums or in comments below.

    Below is a list of notable changes. If anything below seems to change game balance, you can bet that related variables were adjusted to maintain roughly the same challenge as before - I just don't write down every single change because otherwise this list would be way too long. This list also does not including a ton of more behind-the-scenes optimization, refactoring, fixing, and adjustments we did.








































































































    RimWorld Beta 18 – A World of Story is released!

    RimWorld Beta 18 - A World of Story is released! Here's the video (where I accidentally call it Alpha 18 - old habits die hard).

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPI2vUqdZFY

    To get the update: If you're on Steam, the game will update automatically. If you're DRM-free, you can re-download from the same link you got the game from originally. It always has the latest version.

    It's finally in Beta! This is build 0.18.1722 of RimWorld. That last number is the number of days since I first started working on RimWorld in February 2012. 1722 days - almost five years. It's come a very long way since the first public look in September 2013. It's time to start bringing it to a close, which is why version 0.18 is Beta 18 instead of Alpha 18.

    The "Beta" designation means that we're on the final stretch before the 1.0 release, and that there won't be major content additions like whole new game systems. Of course we will almost certainly add more content, before the 1.0 release or after. We will also continue seeking feedback so we can fix those little bugs and design problems that only become apparent after tens or hundreds of hours of play. RimWorld has become an exceptionally complex game, and it takes a long time and a huge amount of play to understand how to improve it. So it'll keep evolving for a while.

    In any case, enjoy Beta 18. There is a lot of new stuff. See the features list below for details, and watch the video.

    Compatibility: Saved games from non-modded Alpha 17 should still be loadable, though some things may change upon loading (e.g. characters may forget their orders; buildings that have changed size might be instantly deconstructed if there's nowhere to fit them, and so on). Complex mods made for A17 won't be usable and will need to be updated. Very simple mods may still load.

    Rough features list:



























    Backstory in game sales will close

    We'll be closing sales for to the Backstory-in-Game package and Pirate King packages on November 7, 2017. The Name-in-game package will remain on sale. Anyone who already purchased any of these packages won't be affected, only new sales will be closed.

    I'm closing these sales because the game is maturing and it's coming to the right time to make the content final. In addition, closing these will free up more time for us to work on the game itself.

    Thanks everyone for all the great content submitted over the last few years! As any player can tell you, it's really enriched the game.

    Alpha17b performance hotfix released.

    I’ve just released Alpha17b, a performance hotfix for Alpha17. Steam users will get it automatically. This is build 0.17.1557.

    When we made the targeting AI smarter in Alpha 17, we also made it harder on the CPU. Players in late game were seeing drastically reduced performance. Alpha17b optimizes this and several other things. There are no changes to gameplay - just optimization of what's there already.

    This update will work with your existing saved games, XML-only mods and (hopefully) most or all code mods.

    If for any reason you want to continue on the older version, you can set your Steam beta branch to 'alpha17a'.

    Sorry for any disruption! We’re also hard at work on Alpha 18.