GearHead Caramel
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
It's been a year since the Typhon Incident, when a biomonster from the Age of Superpowers awoke and rampaged across the Earth. Aegis Overlord, having consolidated power on Luna, begins preparation to extend their domination across the solar system. The L5 Alliance attempts to maintain a fragile peace while their member-states bicker and war among themselves. To make matters worse, the cyberpop band Love Magnet just announced that they're splitting up. I trust that all of you know what this means.
It's time to fire up your giant robot and go do some stomping.
GearHead Caramel is a turn based tactics style scifi mecha Roguelike RPG. It's the third game in the GearHead series, though you don't need to have played the previous two to jump right in. Your character can play through a series of adventures set in various times and places in the GearHead universe. Currently there are three adventure modules, with more to follow.
Features include:
- Procedural Narrative: The game is different every time you play it. In addition, the game world will react to your decisions. NPCs remember their past interactions with you and will treat you accordingly.
- Both Mecha and Personal Scale Combat: GearHead may be a mecha game, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to do on foot. You can explore dungeons, negotiate peace treaties, replace body parts with cybernetics, and even get swallowed whole by gigantic biomonsters.
- Detailed Mecha Build System: Upgrade your mecha with parts from the customization shop or taken as salvage from missions. There are dozens of standard mecha to choose from, ranging from giant sword-wielding robots to city-levelling tanks. You can even design new mecha from scratch, but be warned- you might end up facing your own designs in combat!
- Lifepath Based Character Generation: A GearHead character is more than just a collection of stats. You can allow the game to give you a random life story, or make every decision along the way by yourself. Using the portrait builder you can customize the appearance of your character.
- Import Characters from GearHead Arena: Characters from the first GearHead game can be imported into Caramel, along with their lancemates and life history. The ability to import characters from GearHead2 is on the to-do list.
- PDF Game Manual with Artwork and a History of the GearHead Universe: Remember when every game used to come with a manual? That was awesome. I miss those days. And not just because my foot didn't hurt back then.
Each purchase also includes a Steam key. Yay!
GearHead Caramel is open source; the Python source code for the game may be downloaded for free from GitHub.
Updated | 12 days ago |
Status | In development |
Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux |
Rating | Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars (7 total ratings) |
Author | GearHead |
Genre | Role Playing |
Made with | Blender, pygame, GIMP |
Tags | Episodic, Isometric, Mechs, Open Source, Post-apocalyptic, Procedural Generation, Roguelike, Sci-fi, Tactical RPG, Turn-based |
Code license | Apache License 2.0 |
Asset license | Creative Commons Attribution v4.0 International |
Links | Blog, Source code |
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $10 USD. Your purchase comes with a Steam key. You will get access to the following files:
Development log
- v0.975: The Action Master Release12 days ago
- GearHead Caramel v0.974: The Road of No Return28 days ago
- v0.973: A Whole Lotta Fixes35 days ago
- v0.973: Shopper's Paradise... and Halloween Sale39 days ago
- v0.970: Balance, Bugfixes, and FurnitureSep 03, 2024
- v0.961: Closer Every DayMar 25, 2024
- v0.960: You Would Not Believe The WorkFeb 11, 2024
- Lore Based Quest System: Adventures in Procedural NarrationJan 13, 2024
Comments
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Any chance for an Android port?
Maybe. I have to check out python-for-android and see.
You have a backer here dev... And there is constantly a hole in android ecosystem for paid mecha games. I feel yours would be a welcome addition.
Is it worth playing the other two GearHead games?
It depends on your tastes. The other two are very much old-school Roguelikes: lots of keyboard commands, kind of opaque, and filled with horribly unfair situations. They are also open world style games. They use a clock-based activation system which is often misunderstood by new players, but according to at least one person on the GearHead Discord it captures the "woosh"-y feeling of mecha anime. GH1 and GH2 are free downloads so if any of this sounds appealing I say try them.
Gearhead Caramel isn't open world?
I don't know what phrase to use to describe it. There are short to medium sized adventures; the PC has freedom to explore and interact with these adventures as they see fit. But "Open World" usually describes a single large world. So it isn't that, but it's something related to that, if that makes sense.
This looks great. I'm on Mac, so v1?
Yes. The only change in the Windows v2 is to fix a problem that only affected Windows.
This look amazing, do you happen to have any demo version ?
You can download the current full version from the GitHub page: https://github.com/jwvhewitt/gearhead-caramel/releases/tag/v0.611
I hope you enjoy it.