Rain World Iterator - Blog Posts

returning old drawing from 2023, since Rain World gathered more crowd

Art Fight 2024 Week 2

Meowrlly’s Spider-Alien

@moon-meryl’s Malie

Vaultedseer’s Lemm

@misssunnylemon’s Clarabelle

Frostsha’s iterator, First Glimpse

@anonymouscampfire’s dragonborn, Kai

Kerolyne’s Froggy Bits

and lastly, SillyZipper’s Sc1-F1 B1ngo (which is such a good name)

I fumken love blue car

After learning a bit about the lore of this game (thanks to some amazing people) I loved the sibling rivalry of moon and pebbels and there was absolutely no death or anything in that regard in any way, no sir. I've been trying to figure out their designs and here are some doodles of that :D (I saw that five pebbels has longer cords so I braided them :3 and yes pebbels is much shorter)

I never played rain world but this silly goober caught my attention. I didn't really check the lore in depth but as far as I understand iterators are trying to die? I thought it would be cool to give them digital wings with that context in mind.

Rain world creatures meow

I haven't done a strictly rain world post in a bit, so lets fix that! I decided to 3D model an iterator OC of mine, as I recently updated her design! meet Burning Stars! [again.] [I didn't know how I'd model her poncho, so I apologize for you seeing a shirtless lesbian of an iterator, you might've also seen this in the rain world discord server, if so, hello!] Bonus images underneath.

Information on the slugcats seen here: Sunseeker is Burning Stars' messenger, small, weak and frail, similar to Saint, but with the ability to blind others with those crystals on their back if in direct sunlight. [or impale creatures on them if they accidentally land on them from a long fall.] Meanwhile the unnamed one is a common visitor to Burning Stars' can, a powerhouse of a slugcat, often seen around coalescipedes due to the fact that they can join in the formation, and even control them.

Oh my! something iterator related that isn't related to any OCs of mine?? how queer.

Here's the drawing I mentioned earlier, with three out of the four in my OCs local group! [we don't ask about the fourth member.] For things to be easier to understand. Roaring Flames, Flowing Lava is the red iterator with orange and yellow accents, wearing mainly black. Chaotic Invertebrate is the white iterator with yellow and blue accents, wearing mainly green. One Lemon, No Ice is the yellow iterator with white[?] and orange accents, they wear mainly blue.

Ah yes, another iterator oc for my collection

[He didn't ask to look like a spruce tree, he also lacks a name as I am writing this.]

Hey fellas, have a few random iterator images, some have names, some don't. [sorry for leaving the symmetry cursor visible on the first image, the only one without a name in this compilation of images is the one in the little tikes electric chair] The named ones are: Burning Stars [black iterator with warm color patterns] Clouded Skies [Transgender colored mf] Roaring Flames Flowing Lava [red iterator with a similar palette to Burning Stars, RFFL was made first] Serene Fields [Brown iterator with green]

Sketched my little iterator fella CIE [Chaotic Insect Enjoyer] they're a little goober.

I plan on posting my local iterator group

It's only 4 so you might be disappointed but I'm gonna try my best with their reference drawings.

peble

[ Chess Tournament ]

Here we go I actually read the comments this time!

@hourglass-meadow thank you for the comment!

Also honorable mention to @littlemelonfrog

(ik it's not iterators playing it there but I'm sure Pebbles do play Connect Four with Arti occasionally ✨)

Clay Suns I spent way too much time on

Next to R2D2 for scale, suns tiny

How Big are Iterators?

One thing Rain World does very well is portraying a sense of scale when it comes to iterators. They're massive superstructures large enough to have entire cities built on their roofs, and their processes are literally so powerful that they alter the natural environment around them.

I think in-game they're kind of meant to be unknowably huge, especially since the player character is literally a small animal who can't possibly fathom an iterator's entire extent. Despite this, I decided to try and figure out exactly how big they are.

Just a warning, this post is a bit long. I really fell down a rabbit hole here.

In-Game Clues

Five Pebbles and Looks to the Moon are the only iterators that the player can explore, but they're so huge that it's impossible to see exactly how big they are from so close. The only glimpse we get is from atop the big tree in Outer Expanse, where Five Pebbles' superstructure can be seen in the distance.

He's so big that his entire can doesn't even fit on the screen.

(Ditto, minus the clouds)

With nothing else close by to compare him to, it's almost impossible to tell exactly how big he is from this image.

However, we can see the entirety of other iterator cans in the distance from atop The Wall.

Here's what they look like not obscured by clouds:

The Speculation Zone

I made some assumptions about iterators to make my calculations easier.

An iterator's can (the large rectangular section) is 2 times as wide as it is tall.

Their legs are 1/2 the height of their can.

Their can is half obscured by a relatively uniform cloud layer.

These assumptions might not be entirely accurate, but they make the math easier.

Cloud Layer Height

At first I was tempted to try and estimate iterator height based on the cloud layer surrounding them, but I made the mistake of assuming the cloud layer is made up of rain-bearing nimbostratus clouds (which can reach up to 5km in height). This would make them literally taller than Mt. Everest. Iterators are big, but I don't think they're that big. I think it's safer to assume that the cloud layer is made up of low-lying stratus clouds that form a thick fog.

The way iterator rain functions could be an entirely different discussion, but I personally think it's caused by a sudden expulsion of large quantities of hot water vapor which very quickly condenses into rain clouds. A topic for another time, maybe. The takeaway is that I think the weather created by iterators doesn't have a clear analogue to real life weather, and it's misguided to assume that they function the same way.

Skyscraper Height

One thing that iterators have that can be compared to real life, however, is cities.

The largest buildings in these cities can be seen at a distance.

This in-game iterator sprite is 122 pixels tall, and the tallest building visible is 20 pixels tall. This means the top of this iterator's can is 5.6 times as tall as the tallest building on its roof.

We can compare these skyscrapers to the largest buildings on Earth. This requires some additional assumptions:

While the civilization that built the iterators is likely able to create skyscrapers much taller than the ones humans have created, I'm going to assume that the ones visible here are comparable in size.

I'm also going to assume that these skyscrapers are residential buildings, built to fit a high population density on top of an iterator. The tallest buildings on Earth tend to have very tall antenna spires which add to their overall height but are not inhabitable. Residential skyscrapers tend to be significantly shorter, so I'm going to use them as a comparison rather than the tallest skyscrapers on Earth in general.

According to Wikipedia, the current tallest residential skyscrapers range from about 300 meters to 475 meters tall. I'm going to assume the one in-game is 400 meters tall, as a nice even number.

5.6(400m) = 2240m

This would make an iterator's height, from ground level to the top of their can, about 2240 meters (2.24 kilometers, 1.4 miles).

Here's a diagram comparing that to the heights of some of the tallest free-standing manmade structures:

And here's a size comparison between a typical iterator can and Mount Everest:

Smaller than a mountain, but still huge.

Conclusions

Based on these estimates, I think typical iterator cans are about 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) in height.

This would make iterators significantly taller than anything created by humans, but I personally think an advanced society like the one that created the iterators would have no problem creating a structure this tall. (They canonically created thousands of iterators, after all.)

This estimate is also much shorter than my misguided original calculation, which made them taller than an entire mountain. While I do think iterators are meant to be unfathomably huge, I don't think there would be enough material on the planet to feasibly create thousands of identical mountain-sized superstructures. The player is also able to ascend from the ground to the top of Five Pebbles in just a few cycles (if they're quick), and I think it's much more feasible for an animal like a slugcat to be able to ascend a height of ~2km in a couple of days than to climb up an entire mountain. But again, this is pure speculation.

I made a ton of assumptions and rounded a bunch of numbers, so I could be completely wrong. There's probably other ways you could try to estimate an iterator's height that I haven't explored here. Let me know what you think; I love hearing about other people's ideas and theories.

Thank you for reading!

surely nothing bad will come of this

[id: a light green slugcat is chewing on one of the red wires coming from an iterator's puppet. the iterator is surprised and angry while the slugcat looks smug. end id]

i made speary dream too :D (featuring the correct aspect ratio this time)

I tried to keep it as canon compliant as possible, so the dreams mostly focus on the story rather than Spearmaster themself. Though I tried to make the last image give them a bit more character by showing how they miss Suns !

I want to draw Rivulet next, which will probably focus on just them being cute rather than the grander story of their campaign haha (if you have any ideas for things rivulet can dream about let me know i need ideas-)

Moon(s)

Not 1, not 2, but 6 OF EM!!

This is a combination of all my old and new Moon designs and the original Moon. I thought about doing this for quite a bit, and I have done it!! I love em all!!!❤︎︎❤︎︎❤︎︎

Canon Moon: middle bottom

My version of Canon Moon: bottom right

Chaos!Moon: bottom left

Rotting!Moon: middle

Lunar Moon: top left

Modern!Moon: top right

WOOO that’s a BUNCH

I might do the others if y’all are interested, but other then that Moon it is

Drew someone’s oc (i am so sorry for not posting in a while,, my requests r still open btw)

friend asked me to draw a rw oc again, this time with just a description

this took 2 long ermm sorry yall,,,

what have i created

ok guys i think im cooking. Hear me out, what if iterators were the same color as their overseers, inspectors, etc (i wish there was a name for that or something)

sorry for the artstyle experimenr again

also pls give me art requests

hear ne out,, what if srs was actually red

Im so exhsudtrd. Sorru for the qualty i msdd it ob flipacoip pn my phobe rn

Oh btw art requests still open

if you’re doing art requests…

rw trafficlights? 👉👈

i really like traffic lights but i suck at drawing ships so i had to draw them as that one meme 💔💔

no motivation lately so have something slightly old

D is for deez

Dees nu- *shot*

Anyways its my friends iterator Distorted Reflections but mer

@threefinefellows @duothings