This week I gave the blood system a complete, epic overhaul, added broken bone stumps, improved the ATV physics, added very helpful new Level Editor tools and more LE content.

Paint the Town Red

Gone are the blood effects that looks like they were from an GTA Vice City; the entire blood system has been completely replaced! I’m very excited to present to you the brand new blood effects for Guts and Glory!

Blood can now cover just about anything, annnd it can stay on-screen longer! The goal here was to create an effect similar to Nintendo’s Splatoon game, where the spatter covers anything, no matter how complex the geometry beneath. The splatters are also animated to actually look like they splatter outward, instead of just instantly appearing.

The blood particles have also been replaced. They are now animated, more 3-dimensional-looking, and randomized. They also spurt out periodically, like a burst artery, and eventually drizzle down to nothing.

The blood is stylized, rather than trying to make it look dark and too realistic, but I’ll add settings for those who wish to change things like that.

Bones and Settings

I’ve also added some experimental broken bones that appear where limbs are torn/broken off.

Gibs and guts will be added later, with options to turn them on/off.

Later I will also add an option to the Settings menu, so you can you can tweak these settings to your liking, such as: changing blood size, amount and color, how long it stays on-screen, bones on/off, gore on/off, etc.

ATV Physics Overhaul

I reset all of the ATV physics settings and built it back up again from scratch, with lots of testing along the way. It was time-consuming, but worth it. The ATV now controls better and handling is easier. Oh, and Earl can finally do the loops!

Let me know what you think of the new ATV physics and if further tweaks should be made.

Move objects around super easy with the new Smart Move tool!

New Level Editor Tools

New Tools, Modes and improvements have been made to the Level Editor to make building levels even easier and more fun. My favorite is the new Smart Move tool.

Smart Move Tool

I’m really happy with this one! The Select Tool is now a “Smart Move Tool.” Using this will move objects around the scene intuitively. It automagically rotates items to match the surfaces of other objects you drag it across, making it a lot faster and easier to build complex stuff.

The Move Tool is now finished with planar and absolute movement settings

Planar Movement

The Move Tool now has planar movement. This just means you can click and drag objects on multiple axis at the same time. To move an object on a plan, just click and drag the small squares near the middle of the movement arrows.

Just another improvement to make building levels easier!

Global/Local Mode

There is now a Global/Local Mode switch. This allows objects to be moved in universal up/down, left/right, and forward/backward directions, rather than just according to the object’s rotation. Very handy when building levels!

Snap-to-Grid

Grid snapping now works for rotations too. All rotations snap to 22.5 degree rotations, allowing for both quick alignment and fine control.

New Level Editor Content

Trees and buildings are now 25-45% cheaper to place (ie- they don’t fill the Complexity Meter as much).

As usual, new content has been added to the Editor. This week I focused on adding more to the Nature and Building categories. I added the following:

· Nature: Trees: 4 new trees, including large broadleaf types.

· NEW Category: Nature: Rocks: 25 types, including large cliffsides and small detail rocks.

· NEW Category: Buildings: Industrial. Includes a huge warehouse with variations. Useful for creating small, enclosed tracks or quickly separating an area of your course off from the rest.

· 3 new Terrain Textures that blend well with the new Nature content

Bug Fixes

As usual, I stomped out several bugs along the way. You can view them all here.

There are two issues not fixed in this update. The Level Description field does not work well for long text, small windows, or aspect ratios narrower than 16:9, and the Workshop URL link sometimes points to the incorrect page. These issues will be resolved by next update.

Early Access Release Date

Steam Early Access for Guts and Glory begins February 16th!

Help me to keep working on this game full-time by telling your friends about the release date and adding it to your Wishlist. Thank you all for your support!

-----VERSION 0.3.10-----
Blood and bones update, new Level Editor Tools and content, and ATV physics overhaul.

v0.3.10.2
LE: Buildings: Industrial: added huge warehouse with multiple variation settings
LE: Buildings: Industrial: added opened and closed generic warehouses
Added new Level Editor Object Category: Buildings: Industrial
Added 3 new Terrain Textures that blend well with new most of the new Rock objects: Stone 6, Gravel 1, and Sand 1
LE: Nature: Rocks: added 25 new rock models ranging from cliffs to detail rocks.
Added new Level Editor Object Category: Nature: Rocks
LE: Buildings: Garages: reduced base complexity cost from 15 to 10; total cost reduced by 25%.
LE: Buildings: Houses: reduced base complexity cost from 30 to 10; total cost reduced by 30-40%.
LE: Nature: Trees: added 4 new trees (more complex than the older trees though).
LE: Nature: Trees: reduced base complexity cost from 30 to 10; total cost reduced by 25-45% each.
Updated blood particles for hanging hooks to new blood system.
Added object pooling to blood splatter for better optimization. Set to 300 splatter limit for now. (User settings will be added later to adjust this limit so blood stays longer.)
Replaced old, flat blood splatter decal system with new, dynamic decals system; allows blood to splatter on any surface and stay longer.
Updated in-game Bug Reporter.
Fixed GUI layout that caused level name input field to not be visible if screen size too small.
Fixed bug that caused all Vehicle Classes to be shown if certain GUI menu combinations were done.

v0.3.10.1*
Added visual bones system. Severed limbs and stumps can now show bones and can be broken/twisted out of place.
Blood spray now spurts in intervals, like an artery burst.
Replaced blood particle system with better looking, highly optimized version.
Updated dismounts for each character based on limbs needed to actually control the vehicle. (Only Larry had this feature before.)
Added a new music track to Redneck Robin Hood level, by Frank Liu. (More tracks from Frank will be in the Yang track group update)
Increased grip strength for all Characters by 1. (So they don't die as easily from impacts or high falls.)
Improved ATV physics, suspension, tire frictions, steering and handling in general. Earl can finally handle loops, and steeper hills.
Increased Track Descriptions on buttons from 128 to 222 characters.
Improved camera handling and consistency on loops.

v0.3.10.0
Added "Smart Move" Tool. Move objects around the scene intuitively; auto-orients object rotations to surface normals.
Added planar movement to Move Tool; user can move objects on 2 axis simultaneously.
Added Global/Local Mode switch button; allows objects to be moved and rotated in absolute space.
Snap-to-Grid mode now works for rotation of objects.
Fixed bug causing local save/load menu to sometimes not appear after returning from QuickPlay mode.

v0.3.10: Bloody Good Times