GearBlocks News

Hey everyone, it's time for another game update!

But first I just wanted to say a big thanks to all of you for playing the game and sharing your creations. It's great to see so many new players joining the community, it really helps motivate me to keep trying to make the game better!

OK, on to the update.

[h2]Soap Box Challenge[/h2]

See how fast you can get down the hill under gravity alone, no motors allowed. This new scenario gives you an idea of the kind of "mini games" possible with Lua scripting, but it still barely scratches the surface really, hopefully we can push the boundaries of this more in the future. Anyway, check it out and let me know what you think.

[h2]New Parts[/h2]

Continuous servo motors, more crown, rack, & worm gear sizes, more "hole & plate" connectors, and round ended beams.

[h2]Part Behaviours[/h2]

Separate servo forward & reverse angles, flip pulley belts, link displays to multiple parts, etc.

Here's a quick look at some of these changes:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Release notes:-

• New Soap Box Challenge scenario.
  
• New parts:-
  
  • Small and medium continuous servo motors.
    
  • 24T and 40T Hi & Lo crown gears.
    
  • x3 rack gear.
    
  • x1 worm gear.
    
  • More "1-Hole Plate" and "2-Hole Plate" resizable connectors.
    
  • Rounded and half rounded resizable beams.
    
• Part behaviour improvements:-
  
  • Servo motor part behaviour now has separately tweakable forward and reverse angles.
    
  • Servo and stepper motor part behaviours now have an "angular speed" data channel.
    
  • Pulley part behaviour now has an option to flip belt routing.
    
  • Displays can now be linked to multiple other parts.
    
• Motor, battery, and rotor parts can now attach to each other, and to other parts in a more consistent way.
  
• Changed plate on "plate axle" connector part to be circular.
  
• Tweaked material strength of all wheels.
  
• Added buttons to UI screens to open containing folder in Windows Explorer.
  
• Added player "free flight movement mode" setting to allow for moving horizontally rather than along the view direction.
  
• Added settings to the controls options screen for disabling each of the manipulators.
  
• Improved crosshair.
  
• Added Hungarian translations to currently localised strings, thanks to BlueGoldFlag.
  
• Bug fixes.
  
• Upgraded to Unity 2021.3.33.
  

Hey everyone, I've just released an update.

New in the game - "attachment bridging", a slightly easier way to do "node skipping", with the added benefit that the attachment indicator now shows where the bridged attachments are:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Release notes:-

• Implemented "attachment bridging" feature and added option to BuilderToolExt script mod to enable it.
  
• Added option to the selection GUI to disable selection of locked neighbouring parts.
  
• Enabled rotary, linear, and linear rotary attachment types for pulleys.
  
• Enabled rotary bearing attachments for angled connector parts.
  
• Enabled rotary bearing attachment on steering arm part.
  
• Added resizable "scaffold" axle part.
  
• Removed TweakEnergyStore variable, tweaking of battery charge remaining now automatically prevented when energy consumption is enabled.
  
• Added LimitedPartBehaviourTweaking variable, enabling it limits part behaviour tweaking to player input (e.g. key binds) only.
  
• Added setting to video options that allows for the selection of exclusive or borderless full-screen, or windowed screen mode.
  
• Added setting to game options to turn off "Start Here!" help message.
  
• Added error message popup shown when attempting to unfreeze an intersecting construction.
  
• Updating localised strings with Russian translations thanks to Ludanton!
  
• Bug fixes.
  

Hey everyone, GearBlocks has now launched into Early Access!

There will be a 10% launch discount until November 15th, so be sure to take advantage of that. Also, you can help out a lot by leaving a review on Steam.

Here's a quick preview of what to expect if you buy the game:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Thanks for your patience and support over the years, I hope you enjoy the game. I have plans for some exciting post launch updates, but as always let me know what you'd like to see!

The new tutorial demo is now live for the Steam Next Fest!

It will be available from now until the 16th, so be sure to check it out. As I mentioned in the previous update, you'll be able to learn more about building in the game, and also try out some new parts.

The old demo is still available in the 0.7.8657 build branch.

GearBlocks will be participating in the Steam Next Fest from October 9th to 16th!

An all new demo will be available during this week, with the tutorial scenario. You'll be able to learn more about building in the game, and also try out some new parts.