Rain of letters for Atari 8-bit with Rainer
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After the usual long wait, we can finally enjoy "Rainer", the English version of the unique Polish game "Deszczownik" for Atari 8-bit computers.
The action is led by the "cat-mouse", a strange creature who loves to read books and usually prevents the rain from ruining those texts discarded by humans. On this occasion, he will have to save his books from the bonfire.
You must choose a fragment from one of the five available books and reproduce the text at the bottom of the screen with the letters falling from above. You can move the "cat-mouse" horizontally, in order to use its pink umbrella to put them in order. Similarly, try to move the raindrops to put out the fire and prevent the flames from consuming the letters.
Krzysztof "KAZ" Ziembik, Krzysztof "Kris3D" Kuc, Tomaszem "Tbxx" BoksÄ… and Maro are involved in this project, which dates back to Grawitacja 2018 - a game jam held in Krakow (Poland) in mid-April of that year - where they were given the words "water" and "animal", on the basis of which the game would be created in 36 hours.
According to"Kaz" recounts on AtariOnline, the following year the authors changed the original gameplay and increased the size of the protagonist - who could easily be the largest character in all Atari 8-bit games, occupying 1/4 of the screen width and 2/3 of the height.
In July 2019, the game was presented at Krakow's Cricoteca gallery - as part of the Language of Machines exhibition - together with a sculpture made with the help of Anna Sadziak. They also collected feedback from gamers when they installed an Atari station in the Restart pub as part of the Ha! Wangarda festival.
From the original "Deszczownik" -translated as "Downpour"- only the title screen and the music composed by "Pinocchio" remained. Ziembik specifies that the Gameplay is inspired by "Text Rain", a playful interactive installation by Camille Utterback and Romy Achituv (1999).
The authors were inspired to create an English version of the game last year when they applied for the international electronic literature conference ELO 2020 in Orlando, Florida, USA. They were assisted by literature translator Aleksandra Małecka.
Finally, Jakub "Kuba" Husak produced a limited round of 25 rounds of the game. Also, "Deszczownik" is available as a free file along with the15th edition of the German magazine PRO (C) Atari
Rainer/Deszczownik for Atari 8-bit
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