Development Info Gearhead Caramel jumps to v0.0620

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Gearhead Caramel; Joseph Hewitt

I'm a few days late on this, but Gearhead Caramel has been updated to version v0.620. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's essentially a CRPG where you can get and pilot Mechs. The combat was pretty great, but the game itself was pretty damned good for a game made by one dude. It can be picked up on Itch.io via this page for $10US. lHere's a video of what the game was eight months ago and what's new:

GearHead Caramel v0.620 has just been released. There are a lot of changes this time around- as you’d expect from the length of time it took me to release this version. Every town in DeadZone Drifter now has a special feature. The opening scenario for DeadZone Drifter may be different depending on your character’s life history. There’s a new pilot suit for all body types by LordErin. You can now set combat hotkeys for any weapon or action. Finally, some bugs were fixed and some improvements were made. Try it out and let me know what you think.​

I loved the first version of this thing. It's one of the best examples of how to make a game as procedural as possible. In fact, I didn't even notice the storyline was procedural until I started a second game to try other things out.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

I loved the first version of this thing. It's one of the best examples of how to make a game as procedural as possible. In fact, I didn't even notice the storyline was procedural until I started a second game to try other things out.

Yeah, I loved this back in the day too. I think you may have been the one who recommended it when I lurked here back then.

 

[thesheeep]

I do remember playing some very old version of this years ago.

Nice to see it's still alive and kicking.

 

[covr]

I remember some Codex frontpage updates for Gearhead 2 in 2004/2005.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

2004/2005.

Seems like just yesterday...

 

[ERYFKRAD]

What happened to gearhead 1 and 2 though? Are they completed or what?

 

[covr]

Saint_Proverbius - spamming Gearhead news since 2002!

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/gearhead-0-600-released.278/

 

[Galdred]

What happened to gearhead 1 and 2 though? Are they completed or what?

I think so. They are available for free on the developer itch.io page I think.
I played the previous version of GH:Caramel. The mech design was quite good. The game still lacked variety, as it is quite early, but the combat feel was good (maybe a tad slow). Infantry combat was really barebones, with much less loadout and tactical options.
I like the mech art, but the character portraits leave much to be desired...

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Goes back a bit..


vs..

 

[Galdred]

Tags: Gearhead Caramel; Joseph Hewitt

I loved the first version of this thing. It's one of the best examples of how to make a game as procedural as possible. In fact, I didn't even notice the storyline was procedural until I started a second game to try other things out.

Note that it isn't as procedurally generated as the first one. The emphasis here is more on the campaign editor, which is quite flexible, but there are not that many campaigns yet.
It also has full control of companions in combat, on mech or on foot, which is a huge improvement IMO.
The other cool improvement was to be able to add any mech sprite you wanted in the game (or did the 1st already had this?).

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

The other cool improvement was to be able to add any mech sprite you wanted in the game (or did the 1st already had this?).

I actually made my own sprites for the original that were less anime and more Battletech-ish. It was a simple drag and drop in the artwork folder.