Pure Rock Crawling News

Hi ! I hope you are all doing great ! Pure Rock Crawling is celebrating its 6th birthday !

First things first, a few improvements to the gameplay. Thanks to everybody who caught a few things that were not right with the tutorial. Several things piled up and caused problems in completing the tutorial and proceeding to the game:

• When resetting location to the trailer a reference to the vehicle was being lost, that caused inability to complete other tasks. That is now fixed.
  
• You couldn't access the garage if the previous notification window was not closed/confirmed. It is fixed now.
  
• Also discovering the trailer required engaging with it to proceed - that seemed unnecessary so it now only requires discovering it.
  

To avoid these situations in the future, you can now skip the tutorial completely while starting a new game.


If you happen to find any other issues please let me know in the forums.

There are several known issues that I am currently working on, like (but not limited to) vehicles losing power when turning left, weak brakes and other gamepad/wheel related bugs. This should be temporarily fixed but I am in the middle of reworking the whole system for binding steering wheel inputs as it has a conflict with the gamepad inputs causing bugs like these. So the fix should be here soon. As of right now, you might need to rebind your wheel inputs for: steering, throttle, brake and clutch. Apologies for the inconvenience.



Alongside the above mentioned fixes I am working on a new map. It's coming along nicely, but still needs some work.

To sum up, this was quite a year. From drivetrain and physics updates that improved the simulation side of gameplay, through new challenges, missions, garage for modifying your trucks, to a new map. Everything topped with the complete redesign of the UI. I am very happy with every improvement and will work hard to add more. I know that not every aspect of the game works for everyone but I am reading all of your reports, issues and suggestions. Thanks to you Pure Rock Crawling is constantly evolving into a better game, big thanks ! I am going straight back to work on the next update, stay tuned !

Cheers and take care !

Hi ! I hope you are all doing well ! Although, this update took more time to develop than expected, it brings many improvements and new elements to Pure Rock Crawling.

Let's run through these changes :)

• Graphical improvements
  Earlier, the game used a very unoptimized sharpening material in the post-process. This resulted in not as sharp textures and blurring behind the moving vehicle. The new method, which is more engine based, improved greatly looks of the game and gave it much more refined look
  
• New UI
  Whole game UI was redone. The purpose was mainly to fix the issues that you might have encountered while switching between the input devices. The other benefit of this change is the new, refreshed look of all the menus in the game.
  
  
  After the implemented changes, the buttons stay in focus for the device. This fixes the lost input problem where you weren't able to select any button. Moreover, the whole loop of menus and interact widgets was reorganized and therefore leads to much more fluid gameplay. Now you don't have to back out to the main menu whenever you want to go back to options menu.
  
• Garage
  Implementing this feature took a while, but I am so happy how it turned out. You now have access to the garage, which is placed on the main maps and marked on mini map, too.
  
  
  The garage is your hub and access point to the customization and vehicle selection menu. It also gives you the option to fast travel between the maps. Again, the garage greatly improves the gameplay by not having to quit the game to main menu to change your vehicle or select a map. Hope you will like it :)
  
  
• Travel points
  Switching between the maps is now integrated into the level design. Inspired by US National Parks' entrances, now you can simply drive to the end of the map and will be presented with the map selection.
  
  
• Physics
  As always there is something to improve with the physics system. The newest changes eliminate shaky wheels when not driving. Also, the whole physics simulation now runs smoother and faster. This also eliminated bugs with tires glitching into the terrain when they were changed in the customization menu.
  
• Options
  Alongside UI update, the options menu got solid rework. The wheel configuration was separated for more clarity and easier setup. Again, all of the UI elements now keep track of your input and result in smooth navigation.
  
  
• Other
  • fixed lag spike on startup
    
  • fixed collisions having wrong properties on the Winter map, resulting in lag spikes on smaller rocks
    
  • fixed unnecessary assets being packaged with shipping build of the game, resulting in 50% game file reduction
    
  • fixed loosing input from steering wheel and other devices
    
  • tutorial is now updated with the new systems and features (if you want to rerun tutorial you have to delete tutorial save file from the game save directory)
    
  • multiplayer is now moved to separate build (available in beta tab in steam game properties). I hope to get back to it in the future and make it more playable. Sadly, as of right now it blocks further development of the game as it interferes too much with current changes (especially wheel support) causing a whole bunch of bugs. For now, it is too hard to keep it updated and work on these things simultaneously.
    
  • desert map is currently not playable, I was trying to save it but for now it does not work with recent changes, newly implemented features and graphical improvements. It will see a rework in the foreseeable future.
    

Hope you like the changes. There is still a lot to come :) As always, if you have any issues or suggestions, please write it down in the forums ! See you in the next update !

Hi ! I hope you are all doing great ! Updated challenge system is here !

But first, HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!! I wish you all the best and at the same time I would like to thank you for all the support you give me ! Pure Rock Crawling has just passed 1000 reviews :O This is a huge news for me, as a solo developer, and it is quite overwhelming !

As for the update, for the long time there was no clarity in what player should do in free roam. There were challenge boards which activated selected trails but that required a lot of travel with no purpose. This update changes that into much more player friendly system.

Now, heading to the challenge board will gain you access to actual challenges, composed of selected trails, with different obstacles to tackle. This will be the core of progressing in Pure Rock Crawling. In the future there will be more challenges added that will enhance the gameplay experience with more activities.



As for free roam gameplay, there is a massive change in selecting desired trails. You can now simply drive to the trail head and select type of challenge as you please. This way you don't have to drive to challenge board every time you want to activate a trail challenge.



Every available trail head is now marked on the minimap with a cross.

This new system utilizes new UI method of detecting player input, this fixes the problems with lost gamepad focus and overlaying input from mouse and gamepad. This is a work in progress and it will see another updates that add to the gameplay experience.

Thanks again for the support, and as always, if you have any issues with the update, please write in the forums. Even if something is not changed right away i want to assure you that I keep track of everything posted there. It is just not possible for me to work on everything at once ;) Hope you understand.

Have fun with new challenges and take care !

Hi ! I hope you are all doing well ! Finally time has come to reveal the new map !

This took a good bit of time but at last, after months of work the new map is here ! It is called 'Dead Tree Desert'. Working on it while delivering regular updates was quite challenging. I am very happy that despite huge amount of work that I put into it I could provide you with bug fixes and new content :)

This is the second map that I made with my photogrammetry assets taken from various trails in the USA. This time it is based on the scans taken in and around Joshua Tree National Park. Thanks to many systems developed in the previous map, it was more streamlined process for me and it made things easier from a creative perspective. Hope you will enjoy this new environment !



As of now there are 10 challenges to complete, all crawling style. But that will change in future update, as I will be redoing challenge system and things around it to make it more engaging and refined.



Not stopping here, I am working on bringing the other maps to a more polished state in which I will be able to implement the new challenge system and gameplay features.



So, stay tuned and expect new updates soon :)

Update list:

• new map
  
• removed driver hands from first person view
  
• fixed bug causing vehicles to loose power after gear change
  
• camera sensitivity bug fix
  
• physics response tweaks
  

Cheers ! Have Fun !

Hi ! I hope you are all doing great !

Big thanks to everyone who has played Pure Rock Crawling ! Your support over the years has helped to improve the game beyond my imagination. After over 50 updates in the last 5 years the game is becoming more and more complete. Nevertheless there is still much work to be done and many updates to come !

If you are having fun with Pure Rock Crawling, enjoying all the work that I already put into its development and look forward for more, please consider nominating my game for the Labor Of Love at the Steam Awards 2023.

Meanwhile, enjoy the Steam Autumn Sale !

Cheers !