Happy Mecha Monday! Today’s update adds two big features: random plots and the beginnings of internationalization support. You can get it from all the usual places- Steam, itch.io, Patreon, and GitHub.

Random plots are events which are not directly connected to the core story of an adventure. They may be missions, odd jobs, or just actions taken by the people in town. I have even added the classic Cookies plot, with updated advice for GearHead Caramel.

The game can now use Japanese, Korean, and Chinese text. Nothing has been translated yet but the fact this works at all is a big thing. Probably some other languages that use non-Roman glyphs work as well. Currently the only use for this is in naming your character. The planned internationalization system will use csv databases to store text and will require a grammar and a language processor for each language to be added. I’ve been developing a random Korean name generator but the results so far have been mixed.

In case you can’t read Korean, that first name is “Whiskey”.

As usual, try it out and let me know what you think.

It’s two releases for the price of one! I was just preparing to release v0.923 when two fairly serious but easy to fix bug reports came in. So, we skip straight past v0.923 on to v0.924. You can get it from all the usual places- Steam, itch.io, Patreon, and GitHub.

The big change this time around is the addition of pets. Characters who know Wildcraft at rank 5 or more can now call an animal companion. You can only have one active animal companion per character at a time. I have not yet put a limit on how many animals you can have in your FieldHQ… but if you have too many, 1) you have only yourself to blame, and 2) you can dismiss the companions back to the wild.

I have also overhauled the map navigation. WASD now works to scroll the map display, and you can turn off mouse scrolling if you want to. While I was at it I moved all (hopefully) the key definitions to the config file so you can remap anything. In a future release I will add in-game key remapping but now is not that day.

Two new mecha have been added: the Luna II and the Puma. Tons of bugs have been fixed. As usual, try it out and let me know what you think.

Version 0.920 of GearHead Caramel has just been released. You can get it from all the usual places- Steam, itch.io, Patreon, and GitHub.

The big addition this time around is a new tutorial- Bear Bastard’s Mecha Camp. Learn everything you need to know about the game (mostly) from one of Earth’s most notorious bandits (reformed, mostly). It’s a short, fun adventure that walks you through all of the controls for exploration and combat. Plus, you get to spend the night in a wooden cabin on the edge of the dead zone. A cabin that may be infested with rats. Or worse. A good time will be had by all.

This release also adds jumping- mecha with jump jets can now use them to instantly leap over terrain. In addition, mecha designs that were jump-capable in previous GearHead games have been updated so they are jump-capable now (the Haiho, Phoenix, Trailblazer, and Zerosaiko). Note that this change is not retroactively applied to mecha you already own; you might want to hold onto those old versions, in case they become collector’s items.