Introduction

Rainthm(Rain + Rhythm) is a platformer + rhythm game set in a futuristic pixel world. Players can control Ash, the cyber witch, to move around the map and slash falling notes(Rains) on time.

More infos:

• Link to itch.io: https://kiriloler.itch.io/rainthm
• Trailer: https://youtu.be/7wGTYPIoTkg
• Full Playthrough: https://youtu.be/oCYSl_lJfpQ

Personal Thoughts

Narrating

If you have tried out the game, you probably can tell that the narrative style is inspired from Katana Zero (If u haven’t played it I strongly recommend) One of my favorite aspect of Katana Zero is its intriguing story:

Spoiler Alert: Will reveal plots of both Katana Zero and Rainthm

When the protagonist, code name Dragon, falls asleep at night, the narrative often flashes back to a distant past where, a little boy and girl were haunted by a mysterious figure. The scene will end abruptly, then repeats again and again when Dragon goes to bed, each time with some slight changes or progressions. On the first thought, I simply assumes that the little boy must be Dragon, but in the last repetition of the scene it was revealed that the mysterious figure is the Dragon instead. Such twist of the plot had a stunning effect in which I can never forget. So, in Rainthm, I used similar techniques to trike the players into thinking the flashbacks are relating to the protagonist’s past, but actually something else.

Ash

Ash is the protagonist, the cool cyber witch. Her name is transformed from the Overwatch character Ashe. They also share likewise appearances: both got white hairs and a hat. Ash is a cold warrior with heart. She don’t speak much, but she do cares about the corruptions in the society and is willing to fight for it. If I have to use some words to describe her, I would say: A lonely rebel.

Animation

It is my first time to use pixel art in my game. As it turns out, pixel art is much harder than I thought. With a few pixels, a fabulous pixel artist can form a decent structure of an item, which takes a lot of practice. For me, I almost gone mad trying to capture the flow of hairs and movement of feet. Thanks to Aseprite, a software specialized for pixel arts, I can do my job much easier and quicker. Even so, it still takes me almost a half day to finish the running animation of Ash(which is only 9 images lol) Anyways, this is definitely a sweet experience that improves my art skills, and I’m really proud of myself making those animations.