Hi ! I hope you are all doing well ! New map is here !

Based on my photogrammetry assets taken in Death Valley, I created a new map, called Ghost Mine. Inspired by remains of mining operations that took place in the area. Besides working on the new map I managed to fix/add a few things - mainly fixing the bug that prevented you from getting 100% on one of the trails on the Red Rock Valley map.



I hope you will like this new environment, I had a good bit of fun making and testing it. The addition of the interactive rocks with physics from the previous update fits very well with the smaller rocks of Ghost Mine.



Miscellaneous:

• fixed bug causing one gate on "Up & Down" trail not registering, preventing players from getting 100% on flawless run.
  
• minor cone placement fixes
  
• garage got updated with minor visuals

Cheers and take care !

Hi ! Small patch regarding Dead Tree Desert map.

• Fixed unintentional rocks being placed on the start of Warm Up trail.

Take care.

Hi ! I hope you are all doing well ! Smaller update with quality of life fixes.



Most important fix, you can now remove axis and button mapping. Previously you could only change binding to another input, which could lead to bigger problems if either you didn't use wheel or custom controller or the used controller didn't have enough free bindings to replace the old ones.

Remember, this menu is only for binding wheel, or other custom controller. Don't bind your gamepad there, it won't work.



Other fix is that in both options menu and garage menu, you can now switch between categories with gamepad shoulder buttons (LB, RB). Hope this will make navigation easier. Also B button not working on map/trail selection menu is now fixed.

Enjoy the more festive garage :) Cheers and have fun !

Hi ! I hope you are doing great ! Time has come, Pure Rock Crawling is transitioning from Early Access to a full release today !

But before getting more into this, here is what's new in this update:

The Winter Map was revamped with new challenges. I redid most of the rock placement, which was necessary because of the new map-making standard. This allowed for the introduction of rocks with physics. This makes for more fluid gameplay, not getting stuck on small rocks which was a big issue with the Winter map. Few graphical changes were made, mainly in materials and rock blending to match the aesthetics of the rest of the maps.



I redesigned the map selection menu to improve clarity and implement the new scoring system. The revamped menu now shows map progress which is a part of the new scoring system and provides additional information. I have also improved the UI movement and gamepad focus for smoother navigation.



Now you can track your progress on every map. This new UI is accessible from challenge boards and replaces the old system. Every challenge has its details listed, from type of cone to terrain elevation. Alongside these changes, I added several new challenges across all of the maps.



To further balance the gameplay, pricing of items has been adjusted. Pure Rock Crawling prioritizes a relaxed, simulation-focused gameplay and is more focused on realistic physics simulation and deformable tires. Yet, a little challenge won't spoil the fun. By carefully balancing these elements, the game creates a truly enjoyable and immersive rock crawling experience.

I redesigned existing achievements icons and added completely new achievements as well. Now, besides the number of passed gates and tripped cones, you can unlock additional achievements for using the trailer, earning credits and others. Have fun completing them all !

There were a few minor bugs, primarily in the customization UI. That's taken care of now. The mini map is now more readable and has the same, consistent style across all maps. I have also made a few subtle tweaks to the simulation here and there.




Pure Rock Crawling is more than a game for me. For more than 6 years it has been my whole life. Back in 2018, with no prior game development experience, I embarked on what I thought would be a year-long journey at best. As I mentioned in the early access release form: “Pure Rock Crawling should come out of Early Access in roughly 6-10 months.” Well, here we are, 78 months later. But every moment has been worthwhile and no time was wasted. During early access, I made 67 updates to the game, and together with all your support, it allowed Pure Rock Crawling to evolve far beyond my imagination, my initial vision and finally beyond what I’d thought I could make.

For instance, the first version of Pure Rock Crawling didn't even have customization. Not because it wasn’t ready but because I simply didn't know how to make such a system and implement it. Though I didn’t plan it in the first version. Not to mention features like difflock 4WD engagement/disengagement which were also absent.

Now that Pure Rock Crawling is officially out of Early Access, I would like to say:

Thanks to all of you, the whole community, for supporting me and Pure Rock Crawling. Thanks for seeing the potential in this game and more than there was at a time. From finding simple bugs to suggesting core mechanics that were implemented in the final game, your input shared on the forums was an invaluable asset during the game’s development.

Thanks to my family and friends, for being there for me, for listening about game development, and showing your interest and support.

Biggest thank you to my wife. You believed in me from the day I said “How about I make a video game”. Thank you for every time we discussed math problems and what a vector dot product is.

Q&A
• Why no heads up ?
  
  I opted to leave myself room for delays rather than disappointing anybody with a delayed launch. Think of it as a nice surprise.
  
  
• Why full release ? Why now ?
  
  With this update Pure Rock Crawling became core feature complete. There is no need to be in Early Access anymore. However, this doesn't mean it won’t receive future content updates and general bug fixes.
  
  
• What changes for current players
  
  Nothing, it just means that Pure Rock Crawling is out of Early Access. Old saved games should work. If you are having any problems or just want to start from scratch you can delete save files in this directory: %LOCALAPPDATA% \PureRockCrawling\Saved\SaveGames
  
  
• Are you really just one developer ?
  
  Yes

Cheers and take care !

Hi ! I hope you are all doing well ! New vehicle is now available !

Classic Rock is joining the vehicle selection of Pure Rock Crawling. Accompanied by new bumpers, doors and other customization elements. Conquer the trails with this classic, whether you want to build it up, or go for a classic look with old wheels and chrome bumpers.

Either way you will get true rock crawling experience with soft body, deformable tires and physically simulated suspension.



Alongside adding a new vehicle I addressed few of the requests:

• Fixed bug causing dragging brakes. Now the vehicle behaves more naturally. Fix for engine drag when the manual gearbox is equipped will come soon.
  
• Customization items are now previewed before buying. Simply hover over the item name.
  
• Fixed bug causing textures to be applied incorrectly when changing items in the garage
  
• Achievements should now track properly
  
• *potential memory leak fix (if you experienced it in the past, let me know if it still happens, its hard to replicate)

Have fun and stay tuned for future updates ! Cheers !

Hi ! I hope you are all doing great ! Wheel support received a massive overhaul.

As you may remember, there is an ongoing effort to make working wheel support, and this update is the next step towards this goal. There were multiple bugs and issues recently. Pure Rock Crawling is still under development, and on some occasions things like updating the engine version or core mechanics can cause other things to have problems. This one was severe, which I was aware of. I put much effort and many development hours to fix most of the issues. I tested it thoroughly on my end and the changes made work fine with my setup. I hope that they will work for you as well.



But first, if you are using a wheel with Pure Rock Crawling, you will have to map axes and buttons from scratch. There is a new save system for that and it requires new bindings to be made. Second, a heads up that the update size is big, which is due to updating the engine version.

Additionally, if you happen to use deadzone options or invert axis in the advanced menu, these may or may not be wrong too. You may want to delete the following save file:

%LOCALAPPDATA% \PureRockCrawling\Saved\SaveGames\controller.sav

Remember, you need to bind every input in the Options menu. No wheel will be recognized and work right out of the box with Pure Rock Crawling.



Checklist to help me help you if you are still having issues with the steering wheel:

• Did you rebind your steering wheel ?
  
• Update drivers for your steering wheel, software and firmware
  
• Make sure that your wheel software is running
  
• Has your setup changed recently ? try rebinding axes and buttons
  
• Does any wheel input work ?
  
• Does your keyboard and/or mouse work ?
  
• Do input indicators in the advanced menu move at all ?
  
• Does your setup work with other games ?

I created a new topic in the forum to track down current issues, please if you are experiencing any, describe it in this topic:

WHEEL SUPPORT DISCUSSION THREAD

Thanks !

Hi ! I hope you are all doing well ! New map is here !

Fitting with the rest of the most recent maps, this new environment is made with my own photogrammetry assets. They were all taken in Grand Canyon area. The new map features more vertical trails and narrow paths to explore. On top of that, smaller rocks have physics enabled and your vehicle will interact with them, giving even more realistic rock crawling scenarios.



Alongside finishing this new map, I worked on couple more fixes. The bug which was occurring for some of you, where you couldn't click the UI buttons, even though the buttons were registering the mouse is now fixed. It turned out that this issue was resolution/scaling related. There were instances where the game was running at different resolution than the one registered by mouse. I didn't find the exact reason for this behavior, but the new implemented solution fixes it. The game will double check for your native display resolution and match both game and input resolution. This also fixes instances when the game was starting in 1080p on 4k monitors. It should eliminate the need for manual entering the resolution in the .ini files.

Additionally, the vehicle physics received some polish as always. I have adjusted the curves for gear outputs which were reported wrong. From now on the vehicles feel more responsive and agile.



I am aware of problems with wheel support and other issues that are being reported and flagged. I am working on making additional changes, especially in terms of wheel support, so it would be problem free in the future. However, this is the upgrade that needs a lot of testing and is not a straightforward, easy fix and it will be a separate update in the future.

Hope you like the current update :) Have fun with the new map and see you in the next one ! Happy exploring !

Cheers !

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 !