Guts and Glory News

Join me for the final Community Vote!



At first I didn’t think I could fit this into the game, but now I think I’ve found a way that makes sense. Here's a brief outline:

- Use on any track: In Class F (flying) tracks, it would have vertical lift at the press of a button, allowing it to “fly.”

- Simple Controls: Drive and steer similar to a bicycle; no funky controls like Larry

- Unlock this vehicle by completing any 2-4 Track Groups?? Or just put it in right away like the rest?

Think of this as a “first gen” hover board. It won’t be perfect, but it will be funny! The character will have floppy ragdoll physics, flailing his/her arms around, trying to maintain balance while you cruise through the course. It should bring a fun new dynamic to the game, and offers one more vehicle option for all tracks.

But the big question is…

WHO WILL RIDE THE HOVERBOARD?

This is where you come in.

• Should I scan my face and put myself in the game?
  
• Should I add a big YouTuber personality, like JackSepticEye?
  
• Should I make this a hipster?
  
• Or how about a Japanese business man?
  
• Or an old woman?
  
• Or………..????
  
• Aaaaaaah! Help me decide!
  

Vote in the comments below!

New Character: Pedro HUGE Optimization Overhaul! 100+ New Level Editor Items
Halloween & Christmas Props
New AI Vehicles
Orbit Cam, Pause Cam, and In-Game Screenshots
Shift-Click: Multi-Object Editing
Lighting/Time of Day System
New Materials + Physics, including Mud, Snow, and Ice!
25 New Music Tracks
And yes, even more!

https://youtu.be/dmGXsNlanl4
ಠ‿ಠ Do it for the glory!

This update brings Guts and Glory a big step closer to being finished. Major performance improvements, a new character, and tons of new level creation content—just in time for making holiday levels too!





Last month, you guys voted on your favorite version of Pedro and here he is! Pedro Sanchez is one of the finest getaway drivers for the Mexican Cartel. His reckless attitude and manly mustache makes him the envy of men and the desire of women.

Pedro’s truck “El Toro” has a faster acceleration and higher suspension than the Yang’s car. It can also sustain more damage. However, it has a lower top speed and is much harder to drift (use the emergency brake at high speed).

The Voice of Pedro

In a future update, Pedro will be voiced by the legendary UberHaxorNova!
Coincidentally, he also did the voice for “Pogo Stick Guy” in Happy Wheels.
Wuuuuuuut?!

For now, however, Pedro is mute.





I was finally able to add this long-requested feature and make it work with the “smart cam.” It may need a little more polish, so as usual your feedback is welcome.

DEFAULT CONTROLS:

Controller: Use right stick. Hold between 0-50% to maintain view angle.

Mouse: click-and-drag any button

Keyboard: uses legacy controls

This finally allows for more vertical level designs to work, and makes it easier to see where those poor passengers end up.





Now you can pause the game and view the destruction from any angle! Easily rotate around objects in a Matrix-like fashion, or fly around the scene and view anything you wish.

DEFAULT CONTROLS:

Keyboard & Mouse:
Click-and-Drag Mouse to rotate/steer
W, A, S, D, Q, E keys to move camera

Controller:
Right-Stick: rotate/steer
D-Pad: pan camera
Triggers: move in/out
(Left-Stick is still used to navigate menus)

When you’re near objects, the camera will rotate around them. When you move the camera away, it can be steered as if you’re flying the camera around the scene.





Want to share a glorious moment or capture a great video thumbnail? Now it’s easier than ever!

Just click the Camera Icon on the pause screen and it will save a screenshot to your documents folder with all UI removed.





Tons of new stuff for all you Level Creators out there!

Max Complexity Limit increased by 25%!

Camera movement speed increased too.





Now you can edit lots of objects at the same time!

Shift-Click to select multiple items

Supports: select, move, rotate, delete, cloning, color, material, and option changes.

(Scaling not supported.)

This feature was tricky to implement, but totally worth it. It makes level building so much faster and enjoyable.





Special Items-->LightBox

Just drag-and-drop this item anywhere in your scene and select a preset to adjust the overall lighting and atmosphere.

25 different presets!

If you make any dark levels, it’s highly recommended that you add some lights too.





Good lighting can make a mediocre scene look great! Just drag-and-drop them into your scene and select a color option. They’ll activate automatically if the level is dark enough.

Point Lights cast light in a radius around them. They’re perfect for general lighting needs.

Spot Lights project a circle of light in one direction. Rotate them to get the effect you need.

Also, the Level Editor cameras now render all lighting effects as well, so you can preview the final look in realtime (light glow, “god rays”, fog, etc.)

Tip: avoid lighting overlaps for best performance



I added a visible trigger radius to the MusicBox when in the Level Editor. Add MusicBoxes along the track to change the music/mood during a track.

Auto-Play: If only 1 MusicBox is in the level, it will now auto-play no matter where it’s placed (no triggering needed).

Added 20 new Music Tracks, including holiday themed songs.

Added 5 new Ambience Sound Tracks, like city sounds and desert winds.





Added 44 new Terrain Textures, including Snow, Ice, and desert Sand sets. These affect wheel friction physics too.

Added 6 new Material options for Blocks, each with their own physics and wheel FX:
- Earth
- Mud
- Sandstone
- Snow
- Ice
- Neon Glow (shows during play mode)





These are just some of the new items you can find in the Level Editor.

Death Fog

Causes instant death if any part of the driver touches it.
Scales to easily cover large areas. For example, “Don’t touch the lava” type levels.

Acid Fog

Instantly eats away any portion of any character that touches it.
Useful when you want to create smaller, custom hazards.

Funny Fog

AKA “Bobble Head Maker”
Each time a character passes through this volume it makes their head grow larger. xD

You can see short previews on my Twitter.



A big assortment of new props under several sub-categories. Includes rubber tires, bowling pins, boxes, garbage, new fence types, wind turbines, new buildings, and more.





Holiday Props

A bunch of holiday-themed props, including Halloween and Christmas stuff.



Electronic Road Sign
An electronic road sign with a ton of different message options. (Thanks everyone who tweeted me ideas for this!)

Prop Vehicles

Several new prop vehicles to decorate the track / use for obstacles. Ranging from small to large.

Nature

New Material options for Rocks (desert, snow, etc.), assorted Grasses, and even Cactuses. (Yes, the cactus spikes can hurt you!)

Prop Characters

Cardboard cut-out type characters that you can use to quickly make background audiences and on-lookers… or whatever you want.

Audiences

Buildings-->Special-->Grandstand

Easily add a cheering crowd to your levels for extra glory.





The standard AI Cars have been upgraded! They now have an interior, transparent windows, lights, and even a driver!

I also added 2 new options: Police Cars and Border Patrol Cars (complete with sirens!)



School Bus
Cuz why not?

Monster Trucks
Can also be equipped with Hazards, such as Lasers, Cannons, or Mad Max style spikes and saws!

Big Rig
Create your own “Clustertruck” inspired levels or just add some very dangerous traffic. Careful waypoint placement and speed settings are key for getting smooth driving out of these due to their large size and towed trailers.

Santa Claus
The version that’s been drinking too much egg nog….



Upgraded entire project to Unity Engine 5.6.3

MAJOR optimization overhaul!
- More content but smaller application size
- Faster load times and higher FPS
- Updated shaders and driver plug-ins
- Heavily optimized all texture files: smaller build, faster performance, and more compatible with older setups

• FPS Counter now shows Memory stats too
  
• New Outline shader in Level Editor
  
• Engine audio no longer cuts out after driver dismount/death
  
• HUD hidden and Menu minimized when game is paused
  
• Fixed red handle of Level Editor Gizmo not rendering above some selections
  
• Optimized all Destructible items even further
  
• General audio performance optimizations
  
• Optimized lighting in several Official Tracks
  
• Increased Yang’s car top speed by 10%
  
• Increased Landmine and FlipPad trigger heights to be compatible with Pedro’s truck
  
• Added normal maps to primary characters
  
• Optimized collision meshes for several buildings and other props.
  
• AI Car complexity cost increased by 12% to account for interior, driver, lights and new options.
  
• Improved level load times. (However, Level Editor initial load may take longer due to added content.)
  

Replaced old AA system with a fast FXAA system.
- old system caused rendering issues on older computers and many Macs
- new system more performant and compatible

Experimented with Community Track “level streaming” but it is far too buggy at this time. Will try again before final build, probably in the Beta branch.



NOTE: This is a major change to the build that affects nearly every part of the application. If you have any troubles with the upgrade, simply do a full un-install and re-install of the game on Steam. (All 3 of my test machines upgraded smoothly, but YMMV.)

Most “Bad Access / Null Reference” bugs should be fixed now (error 0x0000005).

Fixed Terrain Edit menus/tools not always showing immediately after creating new terrain in a new level.

Fixed AI Vehicle options sometimes not loading correctly in QuickPlay Mode.

Fixed bugs in Block material physics; changing Block materials now affects wheel friction and FX correctly. Scaling Blocks affects physics correctly as well.

Fixed shader errors that caused poor performance on tracks that contained custom road meshes (example: the first Yang track).

The “rainbow screen” / “texture glitch” rendering errors on Macs should be fixed, unless your computer is below minimum required specs.

Fixed Anti-Aliasing post-process compatibility issues; replaced with simple, fast FXAA system. (Mostly affected Macs, Linux, and older Windows machines.)



As I worked on this update, I noticed that the work needed to be divided between Level Editor content and everything else. Since Level Editor stuff takes longer to debug and get feedback on, I decided to focus primarily on that aspect for this update.

I also wanted to make sure content was out ASAP for Holiday levels.

Next update will feature Guts, Blood Settings, Pedestrian AI, and other top-voted features from last Community Vote.



As Guts and Glory gets closer to completion, optimization and polish is becoming a higher priority. This update should give the game a massive performance overhaul and make level creation faster and more fun than ever.

I’d love to hear what you think about the game after this update

We’re doing things a little differently this time around, see below….

“Vote” now by commenting on this Steam Announcement page.
1.) Select your favorite Character option.
2.) Select the top several Content options you would like to see in the game; help me prioritize feature development!

Only 2 Community Vote events remain!

For these updates, I will re-prioritize the to-do list based on your feedback. Then I’ll work through these items starting at the top, adding as many new features as I can before it’s time to release a new update. When the next update releases, I’ll update the list and repeat!





The Life of Pedro

Class C Vehicle: a small pick-up truck

The next contestant for the Guts and Glory games will be the legendary Pedro!

Pedro has lead quite an interesting life, and spent many miles behind the wheel of his favorite pick-up truck. For this week’s event, you get to decide which version of Pedro will be featured in the game. Should it be Pedro Past, Present, or Future? Let me know in the comments below!





In his past life, Pedro was a driver for the Mexican cartel. He enjoyed fine cigars, fine woman, and an exciting life.

As you can see in the super technical drawing below, this version of Pedro looks confident and he’s smoking a cigar. There are 2-3 cartel thugs in the back, bags of blow, and suitcases full of money. Dollar bills trail behind the vehicle, blowing in the wind. A crash could result in money and snow flying everywhere.

Mustache Level: pequeña





After a recent job went sideways, Pedro finds himself on the run! He gathers up his famila, a few belongings, and makes a run for the border… with the cartel hot on his heels.

This version of Pedro is wild-eyed! His caliente wife sits in the passenger seat. His mother and daughter sit in the bed of the truck, along with several belongings, such as suitcases, boxes, and a chicken in a cage.

Mustache Level: medio





Pedro is a made man. He’s established himself in a new country, and now runs an incredibly successful “lawn management company” with some very loyal and well-paid employees.

It’s totally legit. Seriously.

No, those aren’t guns in the back… those are just weed-eaters. That green stuff in the bags is just lawn clippings, not cash. It’s not what you think it is....

Okay, if you keep asking so many questions we might have to show you the wood-chipper….

Mustache Level: grande

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Below is a list of feature options in no particular order.

Please list the top features you would like to see added to the game, in order of priority.

THE LIST:

• Guts
  
• Blood/Gore Settings: increase, decrease, or turn off
  
• Desert Theme: textures and props
  
• Snow and Ice: textures and props
  
• Time of Day + Lights with color options
  
• Special FX: fog, dust, smoke, embers, etc.
  
• More Materials: lava, death fog, transparency, etc.
  
• AI Vehicle Updates: more types (Mad Max anyone?), updated models, ragdoll drivers
  
• Level Editor optimization: double level size limit
  
• Camera Switch: toggle between characters
  
• Orbit Camera: move mouse to look around; snaps back after you stop
  
• Community Track Leaderboards
  
• Pedestrian AI: simple wander and flee behaviors
  
• Driver Ragdoll Movement: apply forces to flop around in a given direction
  
• Steam Avatar Box: add your "signature" to levels by dropping in a resizable cube with your Steam Avatar icon on it.
  
• Tutorial Videos / Guide
  
• Zero Gravity Zones
  
• More Hazards: _________?
  
• More Special Items: _________?
  
• More Props: _________?
  
• Other...?
  

Trading Cards + More Achievements
I plan on adding these on Full Release launch :)

More Official Tracks
Many more Official Tracks will be added for Full Release!

Level Editor Logic / Triggers
This is more complicated than I anticipated, but I plan on giving it a try when the game is close to finished, so I don't slow everything else down in the meantime. I want there to be some sort of behavior options available.

Mutliplayer
I know this is a highly requested feature. However, I must wait until the game is nearly finished before I can give this a try. My first priority is to get the single player experience finished on time. Then I can take a swing at this.

Fire, Water, and Replays
These are very technical and time-consuming features to implement properly. Rather than make a half-ass implementation, I'm crossing them off the list... perhaps if I make an expansion or 2.0 some day. But right now it's simply too much work to do alone and will slow everything way down.

I'm ready to crank out some new content quickly!

• Fixed Leaderboard bug that allowed levels to be "finished" without hitting all checkpoints. (Cheat times cleared from Leaderboards.)
  
• Fixed Leaderboard switch buttons; Leaderboards now correctly filter between Top 10, Friends, and Personal.
  
• Fixed Zoe's front wheel not spinning.
  

Due to the first bug listed above, extreme outlier times have been deleted from the Leaderboards (this was mostly just one person). I have also removed my own times from several boards, that may have been the result of testing phases.

There's also a chance that this patch may reset your Settings on Windows.

Today marks the release of the second major update in a series of Community Vote events where you, the amazing Guts and Glory fans, get to vote on the content you want to see in the game!





Class B Vehicle

Nobody knows where she came from, but everybody loves her! Zoe Zoom has captured the attention of fans across America, and soon the world!

Already famous for her death-defying stunts like jumping a school bus full of children across the Grand Canyon, Zoe is ready to claim her presence on the global stage by entering the Guts and Glory games.

In last month's Community Vote #2 event, she won the vote by a huge margin.  You guys really love this one!

Her stunt bike is built for high speeds, maneuverability, and landing extreme jumps.  On flat ground she can reach speeds of over 100 mph with her rocket boost alone!  Similar to the bicycle, you can use the Roll buttons to lean extra hard into a turn, rounding corners very sharply at significant speeds, and her shock system can absorb some fairly rough falls.

Zoe is ready for any stunts you throw her way!





Leaderboards are here at last!  Compete with your friends for the best track times, or fight for a place in the glorious Global Top 10.  Times are tracks to the millisecond, so every move counts.

Leaderboards can be sorted by:

- Personal Best Time vs Global Rank
- Friends vs Friends
- Global Top 10

***** Log In Soon *****

The first time you log into Guts and Glory, your best times for each completed Official Track will be automatically uploaded to the Steam Leaderboards.

Leaderboards are currently just set for Official Tracks.  Later I might add more boards for Stats / Community Tracks.  (There's a limit on the number of leaderboards Steam allows, so this is a little trickier to execute.)

Can you beat everyone's best track times?





I did a huge optimization pass on all of the destructible items in the game, boosting their performance by as much as 50%!  This allowed me to finally add these objects to the Level Editor.



There are now 31 new Destructible Items in the Level Editor!

Navigate to Props-->Destructible Items to start using them now and add some more chaos to those Community Tracks.  There's a wide variety to choose from, including Glass, Chip Boards, Fences, Dishes, and the classic Wooden Barrel.