GRITS Racing

Devlog

• Game Dev and Tool Making
  September 02, 2022 by mj.Jernigan

  Game development seems to be as much about tool making as it is about game design. Well, that is, perhaps especially true if you're trying to break new ground. I must admit, I'm nearly as proud of the... Continue reading

  
• Version 0.4.2 Released
  July 30, 2022 by mj.Jernigan

  Turns out I didn't get the leaderboards right on the first try. Dang. The champ boards were storing the points, cars, and wheels from the last track instead of the sum of those from the championship... Continue reading
• Version 0.4.1 Released - A.I.-based Wodifiers
  July 22, 2022 by mj.Jernigan

  Because some weren't "getting" the perhaps-too-humanlike oddball A.I.s built into the game, and/or just thinking the A.I. was not well done because some of them crash around a lot (due to their intent... Continue reading

  
• Version 0.4.0 Released - Leaderboards!
  July 19, 2022 by mj.Jernigan

  One of the few remaining major basic features has finally been added to the game. Leaderboards! (Yeah.. only local leaderboards... sorry if you were hoping for online global as well. Those will arrive... Continue reading

  
• Version 0.3.11 Released - Steam Remote Play
  April 24, 2021 by mj.Jernigan

  These last two releases focus on Steam's feature: Remote Play Together. At first, a long long time ago, that feature seamed to work with GRITS Racing. Then, it didn't work so well. Then, it didn't wor... Continue reading
• Development Status Update
  October 10, 2020 by mj.Jernigan

  It's been quiet here for a few months so I wanted to update everyone on the status of development on GRITS Racing. First, the project is not dead even though I can't say there has been a lot of inter... Continue reading

  
• Prison Dodgecar is Back!
  July 06, 2020 by mj.Jernigan

  Prison Dodgecar minigame is back! The best 6-8 player couch minigame on the planet! Was it gone? Well, sort of. While working on adding the team-selection feature, I noticed I had broken the primar... Continue reading

  
• Version 0.3.8 Released
  June 16, 2020 by mj.Jernigan

  Features or content? That is a tough question at times when choosing what to work on next. This time, I chose features since many features that should make this game more attractive are still missin... Continue reading

  
• The Pancake Batter Story
  June 02, 2020 by Muddy Desert ⛈️🏜️

  Many years ago a racer was having trouble with the wheel lug nuts staying tight. So, in desperation, he was looking about his pit area for a new idea to fix it when he spied his leftover pancake batt... Continue reading
• GRITS Racing Features
  June 02, 2020 by Muddy Desert ⛈️🏜️

  Realistic 2D car physics: Proprietary physics code 2D cars that actually steer via the wheels! Nearly all other games in this category just pivot their cars on center. We don't. You may not see a diff... Continue reading
• Endurance Racing Pre-alpha Release
  January 30, 2020 by mj.Jernigan

  With 6 of the planned 24 tracks now built (well, prototyped) it seemed time to start fiddling with Endurance Racing mode so players can select their favorite track and hit it harder. This is not real... Continue reading

  
• Version 0.3.6 Released
  January 22, 2020 by mj.Jernigan

  This update doesn't bring much many will care about but it brings something important for us: It allows us to the check the "full controller support" box in Steam for better exposure. Previously, Uni... Continue reading

  
• Version 0.3.5 Released
  January 19, 2020 by mj.Jernigan

  On the heals of the last release which brought a small but fundamental change, here comes another small but fundamental change. I have kicked the AI NPC cars out of the race when you are playing with... Continue reading

  
• The Italian Mini Prix has Arrived!
  January 16, 2020 by mj.Jernigan

  The Rosa Camuna mini GP track is finally ready for testing (loosely based on a minified Monza). It was a long haul in part due to some awesome tool writing to make this and future tracks easier to bu... Continue reading

  
• Linux Build Released
  November 17, 2019 by mj.Jernigan

  Admittedly, GRITS Racing is a small fish in a big pond... so... time to find out what it is like to be a small fish in a much smaller pond. Thus, I took the plunge to run and release a build for Linu... Continue reading

  
• Version 0.3.0 Released
  September 25, 2019 by mj.Jernigan

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  Version 0.3.0 doesn't add much that will be noticeable over the last 0.2.x version -- it is more of a wrap to all the 0.2.x edits. That said, there was still a ton of hard work behind this update. M... Continue reading

  
• Version 0.2.13 Released
  September 17, 2019 by mj.Jernigan

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  Updates: The drag chute has finally received the attention to detail that pretty much everything else has. This isn't final polish yet, but at least it is more than the quick test feature that it use... Continue reading

  
• Version 0.2.12 Released
  September 13, 2019 by mj.Jernigan

  New features: New Wacky Wodifier: Greased car seats . This is my new favorite wod. It's for those who think the drivers are a little too glued to their seats considering these jalopies have no seat... Continue reading

  
• Version 0.2.11 Released
  September 10, 2019 by Muddy Desert ⛈️🏜️

  Some cleanup of things missed in all the work of the last release. Fixes: Pedestrian cursor was being drawn on the wrong layer. Other minor sprite tweaks... Continue reading
• Version 0.2.10 Released
  September 08, 2019 by mj.Jernigan

  This update brings some significant features and updates and -- if you haven't tried GRITS Racing in a while -- now would be a good time to try it again. Update summary: 0.2.9 new features: Drivers ca... Continue reading

  
• Version 0.2.8 Released... With a New Track!
  August 21, 2019 by mj.Jernigan

  Say hello to the new Wandle figure-8 track! (Based on the recently-demolished Wimbledon Stadium track in England -- and the same size as near as I could measure from satellite photos.) I placed it a... Continue reading

  
• Version 0.2.6 Released
  July 17, 2019 by mj.Jernigan

  This is more of a hotfix than an upgrade. This implements a small visual change in the menus. The rest of what follows in this post is just a tl;dr peek behind the scenes. I had made a previous clai... Continue reading

  
• July 2019 News Post
  July 07, 2019 by mj.Jernigan

  There are no major developments to report this month. I spent most of June looking for a publisher for GRITS Racing to help push development along faster. Most indie publishers don't bother respondi... Continue reading

  
• June 2019 News Post
  June 01, 2019 by mj.Jernigan

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  I wish to be as transparent as possible and to update the fans of GRITS Racing on the status of the game at least once a month during slow development periods. The good news is that discounted early-a... Continue reading

  
• Version 0.2.5 Released
  May 16, 2019 by Muddy Desert ⛈️🏜️

  New features: 10 laps added as an option (retail version) Tabletop Mode now rotates the Wacky Wodifiers menu 4 ways instead of just the 2 long edges In other news, expect updates to come slower becaus... Continue reading
• Version 0.2.4 Released
  May 03, 2019 by Muddy Desert ⛈️🏜️

  New features: Tabletop Mode! Added by request. Find it under Game Options. This doesn't change any gameplay or mechanics (currently) but allows players during punch-in to set what side of the table... Continue reading
• Version 0.2.3 Released
  May 01, 2019 by Muddy Desert ⛈️🏜️

  New features: Smoke and dust emitters added to the wheels. Increased the spark emitters for 60% more sparks. Yesterday I decided that I could probably finish up the smoke and dust effects by the end o... Continue reading

  
• Version 0.2.2 Released
  April 28, 2019 by Muddy Desert ⛈️🏜️

  New features: AI cars can now pitstop when needing repairs. Not all AI personalities will choose to do so, however. I can't say they're terribly smart about it yet... and it can be a bit humorous to... Continue reading
• Version 0.2.1 Released
  April 25, 2019 by Muddy Desert ⛈️🏜️

  New features: AI drivers added to the Bubba Prizes and Championship Rankings when playing with less than 3 players. AI drivers can now brake for hairpin turns (can't say they're good at hairpins yet... Continue reading
• A.I. Cars Unleashed!
  April 23, 2019 by mj.Jernigan

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  Welcome to GRITS Racing version 0.2.0! The long-awaited AI has finally been added to our early-access game. This is just the first round of the AI and, thus, it is not complete yet. The 5 personali... Continue reading

  
• First Championship Versus the A.I.
  April 20, 2019 by mj.Jernigan

  Proof of AI life. Here's the championship photo (reduced size to upload here) of my first full championship against the new AI. I expect to upload this update later today or Monday. The AI isn't co... Continue reading

  
• v0.1.7 released
  March 10, 2019 by Muddy Desert ⛈️🏜️

  Very minor update with no functional changes. Added some text to one of the menus to help keyboard users find their keys. Also added a note for Steam users to see the readme if having gamepad troubl... Continue reading
• So, where is the A.I.?
  March 09, 2019 by mj.Jernigan

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  Anyone who has read the how-to-play notes, and played GRITS Racing for more than a few minutes, hopefully understands that this game is not just another top-down, shared-screen racing game with canned... Continue reading

  
• Early Access Premiere Release!
  March 02, 2019 by Muddy Desert ⛈️🏜️

  After much ado — that is, after weeks of battling off the crazed, fried-grits-eating hordes trying to climb over the barbed wire around our highly-secure #gamedev complex, trying to get their hands... Continue reading

  
• Demo v0.1.6 released
  March 01, 2019 by Muddy Desert ⛈️🏜️

  The new version of the demo doesn't bring any new features, just some fixes. Fixes: Updated Rewired package from 1.1.22.2 to 1.1.24.0 to fix the gamepad hotplugging issues. Minor tweaks to the gamepad... Continue reading
• To Drift or Not To Drift?
  February 23, 2019 by mj.Jernigan

  Drifting. It's a word that sells. In other words, if I changed the physics of GRITS Racing to easily drift the cars continuously and changed the name to GRITS Drift, we could perhaps expect to sell... Continue reading

  
• Demo v0.1.5 released
  February 21, 2019 by Muddy Desert ⛈️🏜️

  A new demo version is out now for Windows. Mac should hopefully follow soon. New demo for Mac now available too. New features: Championship Standings screen added between races New Leader Lamifier:... Continue reading
• New Trailer Released
  February 11, 2019 by mj.Jernigan

  Have you seen our latest trailer yet? It's a big improvement over our first trailer... Continue reading

  
• Postmortem: The Push to the Demo Release
  February 06, 2019 by mj.Jernigan

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  Our demo release came out 5 months later than hoped. So, what happened? What went wrong? Did anything go right? In a nutshell, I grossly underestimated how long it would take to move from a mostly-... Continue reading

  
• First demo for GRITS Racing now available!
  January 27, 2019 by Muddy Desert ⛈️🏜️

  5 months overdue -- due to adding minigames and wrapping a decent menu experience around everything -- the GRITS Racing demo of the current alpha of the game is finally available for download! [Imagi... Continue reading

  
• New Mayhem Option: Dragster Chutes
  January 17, 2019 by mj.Jernigan

  The final mayhem option that will be included in the first demo release is now done (more or less, for now): dragster chutes! When a "lucky loser" player adds this option to the game, your Billy Bub... Continue reading

  
• Prison Dodgecar Minigame is Finally Here
  December 22, 2018 by mj.Jernigan

  The debut of Prison Dodgecar signals the last major addition to the game before the first demo release. "Yay!" There are still a few things to add and wrap up before the demo can come out... but at... Continue reading

  
• Announcing the Beginnings of Mayhem Model 2!
  October 23, 2018 by mj.Jernigan

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  Technically, this announcement is 3 weeks late. Mayhem Model 2 (MM2) first appeared with no fanfare in public on October 2nd at an Albuquerque Game Developers Guild meetup. Then, the New Mexico Game... Continue reading

  
• The Challenge of Details Among the Meh Crowd
  September 25, 2018 by mj.Jernigan

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  Do I believe in attention to detail? Yes, I certainly do. Sometimes, annoyingly so. More correctly, however, I believe in craftsmanship. So, what's the difference? Now, there's a hard question to... Continue reading

  
• GRITS Racing Gets a Multilogo
  September 18, 2018 by mj.Jernigan

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  SOG: What's a multilogo??? MJJ: How should I know -- I just now made up the term -- and I don't understand half the stuff I make up. SOG: Is it maybe a logo that changes to something slightly differen... Continue reading

  
• Wombat Combat and Wanton Destruction
  September 04, 2018 by mj.Jernigan

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  My desire has been to start the championship mode of play -- the primary mode -- off with four or so easy tracks to draw the novice and non-racing-fan players in more gently while the ulterior motive... Continue reading

  
• Flamingos and Tri-ovals!
  September 03, 2018 by mj.Jernigan

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  Our third track finally appears after a long hiatus in new track building. The "Flamingo Tri-oval" (as it is called for now) is based on a mini version of perhaps the most popular track in the US. T... Continue reading

  
• The Chihuahua Oval Trailer
  August 24, 2018 by mj.Jernigan

  At long last comes the appearance of our first trailer. 7 weeks in the making! I wish it showed 7 weeks worth of making. It was more of a grinding process than actually 7 weeks of work. Also, it's... Continue reading
• A Track outta Upstate New York
  July 27, 2018 by mj.Jernigan

  A track based on Watkins Glen International has finally been rigged up and is in testing. Because we can't produce long raceways at actual length, we have to shorten them... a lot. Thus, this feels... Continue reading

  
• Balancing Dark-Side Players
  July 08, 2018 by mj.Jernigan

  The other day we did a test with 8 players. Most of them new to the game. It didn't take long for it to devolve into a dark-side game with drivers abandoning their cars to gang up on other cars to b... Continue reading

  
• GRITS Hockey makes an appearance
  July 06, 2018 by mj.Jernigan

  GRITS Hockey is starting to take shape but still has a long ways to go before it's fun for most players. Seen here is a test with 5 players from last Tuesday. The biggest missing feature right now i... Continue reading

  
• The Caveats of a Broken GPU
  June 28, 2018 by mj.Jernigan

  Anyone looking at this project will surely notice a lack of video previews. Well, the primary reason is that the GeForce in my Asus Strix ROG laptop burnt out last winter -- and I didn't even use the... Continue reading
• The Kapow Layer
  June 08, 2018 by mj.Jernigan

  I realized a few days ago that it had been a long time since I thought about one of the more important features of this game: the attitude. I've been so focused on the core mechanics of the engine an... Continue reading

  
• Track Design has Begun!!!!!!!
  June 06, 2018 by Muddy Desert ⛈️🏜️

  Previously, in the era when my typing callouses were just a little bit smaller, we had only a test track: a plain piece of evolving art that I kept moving walls around on to test various widths and ra... Continue reading

  
• Collision debris
  May 12, 2018 by Muddy Desert ⛈️🏜️

  Yet another way to dirty up the track has been added: miscellaneous bits of colored debris on each car collision (the lighter-colored cars will leave more visible paint debris -- unfortunate but the w... Continue reading

  
• Le Mans starts!
  May 11, 2018 by Muddy Desert ⛈️🏜️#dev update

  The Le Mans start feature has now been added to the game. This was planned for two reasons: (1) it's cool, and (2) it introduces new players to the controls and appearance of the driver up front inst... Continue reading

  
• State of things thus far
  May 08, 2018 by mj.Jernigan#Dev Status, #To-do list

  First, a brief introduction. My name is Matt and I am the game designer and programmer for GRITS Racing. My partner in this venture is Brooks and he is doing all the art but, more importantly, it is... Continue reading