How RimWorld Was Made and Why it’s Not a Video Game

Channel:
Subscribers:
239,000
Published on ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGtUjTM6hd0



RimWorld
Game:
RimWorld (2018)
Duration: 0:00
102,512 views
6,022


Get 90% off your own .fun domain for your first year by using my code: TheGuyGlen at https://get.fun/

Support me on Patreon ► https://www.patreon.com/thatguyglen
Become a YouTube member ►

This RimWorld documentary details the development of indie space colony management game RimWorld and goes behind the scenes of its creation. Discover how solo developer Tynan Sylvester created prototype after prototype before he landed on the idea for RimWorld. Starship Architect was the name of the prototype that evolved into RimWorld. The original idea was to let players design a spaceship, travel across the galaxy, and engage in real-time battles. It had potential, but something felt off. Instead of scrapping the whole thing, he stripped away the starship and moved the characters to the surface of a planet. And just like that, RimWorld was born. The documentary also explores all the design decisions that Tynan Sylvester made and shows why RimWorld is not a video game.

It also takes a close look at all the hurdles Tynan Sylvester had to go through. Tynan didn’t want players to win or lose in the traditional sense. He wanted them to experience something—something emotional, unpredictable, and personal. And to build a system that could do that, he would have to break a lot of the assumptions baked into traditional game design. Tynan experimented with several art styles, but the more detail he added, the less the player was able to connect to their colony. He needed to find a sweet spot where things didn’t look too ugly, but also left room for interpretation. To keep development on track, Tynan developed a system for deciding what to work on next. It involves comparing hundreds of ideas and selecting the ones that add the most value per cost. Lastly, the documentary looks at how RimWorld was received at release and what Tynan decided to do afterwards.

References:
https://www.thatguyglen.com/article/xGtUjTM6hd0

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thatguyglen
Website: https://www.thatguyglen.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GlenCallaert
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thatguyglen.bsky.social

Outro song: Thank You R.G.E. - Joe Bagale

#RimWorld #TynanSylvester #GameDevelopment




Other Videos By ThatGuyGlen


2025-09-05How RimWorld Was Made and Why it’s Not a Video Game
2025-07-31The Ruthless Genius Behind Nintendo
2025-05-12The 6 Years of Engineering Behind The Nintendo Switch 2
2025-04-04How Darkwood Was Made and Why The Devs Quit After Their Biggest Success
2025-03-04How Slay The Spire's Developers Fixed The Game's Broken UI
2025-02-18Why Slay The Spire’s Old UI Broke The Game and How a Server Fixed it
2025-01-17The Future of This Channel is Uncertain
2024-12-13How Balatro Was Made and Why The Creator Expected to Sell Only 6 Copies
2024-11-26How Inscryption’s Prototype Was Made in 48 Hours
2024-11-21How Inscryption Was Made by Sacrificing a Video Game Trilogy
2024-09-26How One Person’s Passion Project Became an Award-Winning Game
2024-07-28How Death Stranding Was Made and Why The Team Disliked Hideo Kojima’s Vision
2024-04-22How Doki Doki Literature Club! Was Made and Why it Will Never be Adapted
2024-02-11How a Deadly Disease led to the Most Inspiring Indie Game Story
2023-11-27How LIMBO Was Made and Why it's a Big Wound for The Creator
2023-09-16From Flash Games to Facing Bankruptcy: How Cult of The Lamb Was Made
2023-07-13How Two Students Created Risk of Rain and Why They Sold the IP Rights
2023-05-17How The First Zelda Was Made and Considered a First-Person View
2023-04-04How One Programmer Created Gaming's Most Complex Ecosystem
2023-02-20How Two People Created Gaming’s Most Complex Simulation System
2022-12-26How The Forest Was Made and Why The Indie Game Looks AAA