This mod is currently an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) to demonstrate 'real' (Not via Parsec/Steam Remote Play etc.) online multiplayer for Rain World.
As an MVP, the scope of the mod is currently limited exclusively to the Sandbox and Competitive arena modes.
Comparison with Rain Meadow
Rain Meadow is another online-multiplayer mod for Rain World. I believe that Coalescence and Rain Meadow have different enough architectures and design goals to be able to co-exist alongside eachother.
This mod's architecture is detailed in the ARCHITECTURE.md file in this repository. By comparison, Rain Meadow is written entirely in CSharp, and uses a peer-to-peer (i.e. mesh) network, which in turn means it does not have a dedicated server binary.
Rain Meadow is primarily focused on its namesake Meadow gamemode, which is inspired by the game of the same name. Coalescence, by comparison, is primarily focused on an as-of-yet-unnamed gamemode which intends to turn Rain World into what SovietWomble coins an 'Ecosystem Survival' game in his The Isle video essay.
Given that this is a mod for online multiplayer, it features both a client and a server that can be compiled and ran separately from eachother.
As a prerequisite to compiling the mod, you need to install a few things:
- The .NET SDK - for compiling the CSharp components
- ClangSharp - for generating bindings between the Rust and CSharp components
- The Rust language toolchain - for compiling the Rust components
- And if you're not on Windows, cross - for cross-compiling the Rust components
With those installed, you can compile the client by simply running dotnet build -c Release in the mod/CoalescenceClient folder. This will compile and build the mod, placing it inside the artifacts/bin/CoalescenceClient/release_win-x86/mod folder. You can use the compiled client by simply moving the built mod folder into your Rain World mods folder (Rain World/RainWorld_Data/StreamingAssets/mods) and enabling it from the in-game Remix menu.
The prerequisites for compiling the server are a subset of those for the client, so if you're already compiling the client, you don't need to install anything. Otherwise, you will need to install the following:
- The Rust language toolchain - the server is written in pure Rust
To compile the server, you just need to run cargo build --release --package coalescence_server in the root folder of the repository. The compiled server binary will be located somewhere in the target folder.