Rain World console editions a possibility, dev discusses Slugcat character

Rain World creators Joar Jakobsson and James Primate have confirmed to VG247 that a console edition could be on the cards if the Kickstarter campaign overshoots its goal by some way, as well as discussing the game's Slugcat creature.

We reported on the Rain World Kickstarter and Steam Greenlight campaign last week. I shot the guys an email Q&A after the story and we'll be publishing the full interview soon.

It's a platformer set in a world where humans have long-disappeared, leaving only shells of buildings and pollution behind. It stars creature known as 'Slugcat' who must hunt for food during the dangerous rainy season, while avoiding predators and other hazards. The game has been funded on Kickstarter and the team is now looking to longer-term goals.

"We would love to support more platforms," Jakobsson said when I asked if PS4 or Xbox One editions were on the table, "but we think we might need to migrate the game to another development environment to do that. If the Kickstarter overshoots a lot, we could do that right away, otherwise we'd have to wait."

Primate added, "We are working on figuring out some of that right now, so we may have some answers up about that soon."

On the origins of Rain World's 'Slugcat' creature, which can use projectiles to fend off and kill predators, shimmy along hand-holds and more, Jakobsson explained, "The protagonist creature was the very first thing that was created, before environment, enemies, or anything else. The name 'Slugcat' actually comes from a YouTube comment. We liked it, so it stuck. It shouldn't strictly be considered canon though, as none of the creatures in the game world speak they also don't have names for each other.

"In the game there is a mini food chain of three creatures, with the Slugcat in the middle. This means you will be both hunting and hunted. As all other creatures in the world it's unable to survive outside while it's raining. It still has to eat though, which is also the agenda of the other creatures. Because of the very limited time these creatures have to hunt, eat, swarm, mate, move. They are all forced to appear on the same stage so to speak. Meaning that if you want to eat, you also have to risk being eaten."

Stay tuned for our full Rain World interview soon, and check out the official music sampler in the meantime. Fans of Fez will dig the retro beats.