- GearHead Caramel v1.007 Beta: Season Two Begins Today - 1 April 2026
Welcome to the new v1.0 branch of GearHead Caramel! Or, at least, welcome if you want to try it out. I've been working on this branch since last summer and it is finally ready for wide release. But, since there are probably still some bugs still lurking, the first couple of releases will be as an optional beta version.To activate the beta, right click on GearHead Caramel in your game library and go to the Properties page. From there you can select "advanced_beta" as the branch you want to use. Please note: you can probably load games started in the default public version, but after playing in the advanced_beta you won't be able to return them to the default public version. What has changed? The biggest change is under the hood. GHC used to run using dozens of separate blocking game loops. Now, all game IO is handled from a central unblocking game loop. You don't need to understand what…
- Progress Report on GearHead Caramel Refactoring - 7 October 2025
At the beginning of June I had a tragic yet Clouseauesque walking accident which led to a double compound fracture of the right arm. Thanks to this, I got to spend summer in an air conditioned hospital room and everybody brought me snacks. I watched a lot of cartoons. I got some cool new scars. Technically I’m now a cyborg; next year I’ll have surgery again to remove the metal plates holding my forearm together.Anyhow, I’ve also been refactoring GearHead Caramel to replace all the blocking loops in various parts of the program to a single unblocking loop plus a stack-based widgets UI. As you might expect ripping every loop out of the game and replacing it with a subtly different loop is a time consuming endeavor. However, I think it will be worth it. The new system is simpler, runs smoother, and opens up new possibilities. The next couple of releases are probably going to be marked as d…
- v0.977: Terrain Destruction and Random Artifacts - 4 May 2025
It's time for another release. Terrain destruction has been added- when the fighting gets too intense, the scenery might start getting wrecked. The resulting fires will burn any mecha passing through that area, and smoke limits line of sight. In addition, there are now unique random artifacts... or at the very least, unique random melee weapons. More types of random items will be included in future releases. Here's the complete list of changes: Added random artifact generator Added mystery missions Fire and smoke may result when terrain is damaged Attacks may cause damage to terrain Added AreaEnchantments Fixed bug with random MissionText Scenario builder automatically adds QOL reporter to cities Added message log
- GearHead Caramel v0.976: Pirate's Point Perfected - 10 April 2025
It's been a while but the next release is here! Thank you for your patience. The biggest change this time around is the fact that the Raid on Pirate's Point scenario is finally complete. The districts of the city have been detailed and many now feature unique quests. There are five different endings, each of which can vary slightly depending on your actions during the campaign. The ending you get has consequences that will carry forward to future scenarios. Speaking of future scenarios, I'm calling Raid on Pirate's Point the last scenario of GHC Season One. What does that mean? When I start releasing the next bunch of scenarios- Plastic Island Panic, Shopper's Paradise, Summer Dolce- I will probably raise the price of the game from $10 to $15. It was either that or release them as DLC. If you have already bought the game, then great! You will get all the new adventures for free! If you…
- v0.975: The Action Master Release - 29 November 2024
It's new GHC release day! Probably the most exciting change this time around is the addition of bonus actions- I've had a lot of players ask when they'll be able to use more than two actions per turn. I guess giving the action clock four quarters was a bit of a giveaway? Anyhow, I have added the bonus action system: you can spend stamina to get extra actions. The more bonus actions you take in one turn, the higher the price gets. Stamina is also needed for defense; once you run out you are extremely vulnerable. I think this is an interesting trade-off and I hope you enjoy it. To go along with bonus actions, there are new mecha systems to make them easier to get. Dynamic Mecha Control and Reflex Control cockpits both reduce the cost of bonus actions. High output engines and high performance engines from GearHead 2 have been added. Finally, you can give your mecha an advanced gyroscope, w…
- Streaming Now? - 18 November 2024
Watch me play GearHead Caramel and probably die doing it.
- Trying To Stream - 18 November 2024
Hello fellow kids? I am going to stream GearHead Caramel for your amusement. Come see Gowan and his lance of ne'er do wells possibly die in an ancient biotechnological dungeon.
- GearHead Caramel v0.974: The Road of No Return - 14 November 2024
I have just released GearHead Caramel v0.974. There's a new quest in DeadZone Drifter- the Road of No Return. Whole convoys have been disappearing along the highway. There have been no distress calls, no wreckage found, and no survivors. It's up to you to search the area, find the cause of these disappearances, and put a stop to them once and for all. You'll need to start a new campaign of DZD for the quest to appear. There are also some bugfixes and the FieldHQ has been sorted. Try it out and let me know what you think. Added "Road of No Return" quest to DeadZone Drifter Fixed unloadable save file if PC killed during combat bug Incapacitated PCs may need lifesaving cybersurgery FieldHQ contents are sorted now Scenes without a defined parent scene should get added as root scenes Most missions names now include faction being fought
- v0.973: Fixed the Windows Crash - 6 November 2024
I have fixed the crash on Windows computers, and also fixed the problem with the cyberware interface. Thank you for your patience and bug reports.
- v0.972: Quick Label Fix - 3 November 2024
Quick fix for a label widget bug
- GearHead Caramel v0.971: Shopper's Paradise - 3 November 2024
It's time for a new GearHead Caramel update! This time, the shopping interface has been completely overhauled. You can switch to different lancemates and access your inventory without leaving the shop. Also, there are a bunch of new personal scale items for sale and you can load up on spare ammo clips before heading to the dungeon. In addition several bugs have been fixed and the dialogue generator has been improved. As usual, try it out and let me know what you think. You can now access your inventory from the shop interface You can now switch characters in shop interface Added named boss monsters Room deploy method should not delete contents due to lack of space Can now reload guns and chemthrowers from the backpack interface Added SelectGearDataGatherer interface Guns and ChemThrowers have a reload option in combat if player has appropriate ammo in inventory Caption AnimObs may no…
- v0.970: Balance, Bugfixes, and Furniture - 3 September 2024
I have updated GearHead Caramel with some balance improvements, bug fixes, and scenery for many of the indoor locations that were previously just empty rooms. In combat, NPCs now weigh their options differently when selecting a target. The hit modifier for being overwhelmed has been changed from 3 to 4. The bug that happens when you press the alt key during combat has been fixed, the field HQ display updates after training, and the altitude property works as intended. Counters have been added to shops so that it should be easier to pick out the storekeeper when several NPCs are present. Also, many shops now have individual decorations. That's about all for now. Sorry for the long delay between updates, but such is the life of the solo gamedev. I'm hoping to get another release ready soon.
- v0.962: Quick Bugfix - 5 April 2024
Fixed a crash when fighting Kerberos in v0.961.
- v0.961: Closer Every Day - 25 March 2024
This release of GearHead Caramel fixes some bugs and adds two new mission types to Raid on Pirate's Point... I probably should have added cases where the new missions come up in DeadZone Drifter too, but didn't think about it. Oh well. I am now attempting to finish RoPP as quickly as possible while I have the time and my health is in fairly good shape. Yay for solo developer games! Anyhow, enjoy. I am going to try to keep the updates coming at least monthly from now on.
- v0.960: You Would Not Believe The Work - 11 February 2024
Finally, a new release of GearHead Caramel! You would not believe how much work went into this release. I mean literally, you won't believe it, because most of the changes should be mostly invisible. If you follow me on social media you'll have heard me talking about the brand new quest system. Well, there's a brand new quest system, and it seems to work well... but it's not being used by any of the adventure modules yet because I need to write more content for it. Also, some longstanding bugs have been fixed, including a rare crash upon starting a campaign. Hopefully you won't notice this change because hopefully you never had the game crash on you when starting a scenario, and now you never will. But it was a lot of work! And this bug goes all the way back to GearHead 1! The next step for GearHead Caramel will be finishing up Raid on Pirate's Point. I needed the new quest system for t…
- v0.956: A Minor but Important Update - 18 September 2023
Another minor release this week to correct some bugs that were discovered last week. Also: two new eyecatch cards by the amazing cartoonist Radou, and some sound + portrait improvements from Anton Risberg. Here's the complete list of changes: Added two new eyecatch cards by Radou Fixed AutoJoiner/AutoLeaver crash at world creation Plots may now modify cutscenes Added checkout sound fx to shop Some portrait bits tweaked by Anton Risberg Fixed crash if no boss monster generated for The Night Stalker plot Fixed numbers typo in DZD Wujung entry cutscene Fixed bug where campaign would remain in memory after quitting because of pbge.my_state.view
- v0.954: Dangerous Dungeons and Display - 12 September 2023
I've just uploaded GearHead Caramel v0.954. This version makes dungeons slightly more dangerous- personal scale damage has been increased, and certain monsters are more likely to hit your characters. Some new equipment has been added to shops to help you deal with these new threats. Another change is the addition of a config option to indicate your party members on the map. No more will you enter a building and wondering who's on your team and who isn't. If you don't like it, you can turn off the indicators from the config menu. Plus, there are a bunch of smaller changes. Multiple bugs have been fixed. Carrying capacity is now shown in the backpack display (for characters- you can load your mecha with gear until it can't even move). There are some new portrait bits. Here's the complete list of changes: Carrying capacity now shown for characters in backpack display Athletics skill now in…
- GearHead Caramel v0.952: Hackers Delight - 5 September 2023
I've just uploaded a new update for GearHead Caramel. The biggest change this time around is the help system- while using the combat/skills interface, pressing F1 will now bring up a helpful panel explaining what the invocation you're looking at actually does. The same text appears in the mouseover tooltip so whether you use keyboard or mouse you will get more information than before. The Wildcraft "Take Cover" ability has been changed to "Stalk Prey". While in effect, your character gets a bonus to their cover modifier and enemy units you target get a penalty to theirs. The Computers skill now has Hacking abilities. These abilities can be used whether or not the mecha you're in has an EW system. Your Computers skill must be at least rank 3 before these skills will appear. I've fixed a lot of bugs. Thank you to everyone who reported problems. Here's the complete list of changes: Added h…
- GearHead Caramel v0.951: The unexpected/inevitable bugfix release - 25 August 2023
It was more of less inevitable that the first release after eight months of brain fog would have some bugs in it. Oops. Anyhow, two of those bugs have been located and squashed. If you tried to load a save game and got an error about "call_win_loss_funs_after_card", that should now be fixed. Also, if the fog of war turned completely blue and opaque on your computer? Also fixed. Thank you for your patience. If you find any more bugs, be sure to let me know.
- Praise Atan! GearHead Caramel is Back! - 23 August 2023
I'm back! After many months of illness, I have returned with a new release of GearHead Caramel. Bear Bastard's Mecha Camp, Winter Mocha, and DeadZone Drifter have all been updated with new content and opportunities. Raid on Pirate's Point... is pretty much the same. But, I have added new systems that are going to be used in that scenario in the hopefully near future! Lots of bugs have been fixed. In fact, as far as I know, every bug that has been reported to me has been repaired. Game balance has been adjusted and certain abilities from previous GearHead games have been added. The Scylla mecha from GH1 has been added. Enemy models now get indicated by a different info box style and targeting cursor. The accursed combat clock troll bug has been fixed. Here's the complete list of changes: Added the Scylla mecha from GH1 TagBasedPartyReply will not display a major character's mnpcid Added…
