Inkbound
Lore Secrets, Part 3: Introducing Yore!
For this new update, we are introducing 2 new Aspects both from the same world. These Aspects—the Chainbreaker and the Godkeeper—are Aspects from the world of Yore, a forgotten prison deep below the surface of the Sea of Ink where creations that were deemed too powerful by the Atheneum were sent to keep the rest of written creation safe. And while there are many things dangerous in the world of Inkbound, there is nothing more so than the written Gods of Mythology.
There are already traces of these Gods of mythology in Inkbound—vestiges like the “Forged Lightning Bolts,” for example, hint at a certain well-known Greek god with an electric personality— but, these Gods are nowhere to be found when you enter the Atheneum. As it turns out, they’ve been exiled from the Atheneum for some time, imprisoned in the forgotten land of Yore where their untameable power is unable to affect the other books of the Atheneum.
The Gods, naturally, weren’t too happy with being locked away. But, being Gods, they’ve been busy in their little, forgotten world, making a paradise out of a prison. For themselves, at least. For any other prisoner in Yore, creation or Binder, the Gods’ rule has made it a fate worse than mere imprisonment as any sentence in Yore means forced participation in the Godscourt.
The Godscourt! A never-ending gladiatorial battle hosted by the Gods where each God chooses a champion to fight in their stead. The Gods must be entertained, after all, and what better way to entertain than through endless violence, gambling, and competition! Should a champion win the Godscourt, they are given a slim chance to appeal to the Atheneum for their freedom or ensured glory in Yore. So, some prisoners have thrived in Yore! Champions who have won the favor of their patron God and won enough Godscourts to make them nearly gods themselves.
The Godkeeper is just one of these champions. The Aspect of a Binder named Matthew (maybe you’ve met him?), this champion was the victor of many Godscourts, most under the patronage of the written god, Zeus. Little is known of his exile to Yore, aside from it being a voluntary journey, but his exile wasn’t carried out alone, he was joined by another Binder with an Aspect called…
The Chainbreaker, the Aspect of a Binder named Samuel who chose to fight in the Godscourt without a godly patron. Instead, Samuel chose to fight for the creations trapped there, dedicating any victory he achieved to one of the imprisoned creations, as long as that creation chose to bargain for freedom instead of remaining in Yore.
The many Godscourts that Matthew and Samuel fought against each other in Yore was the beginning of the end of their relationship (a relationship you will be able to learn much more about soon when it’s detailed in a later update’s Vestige Lore!), but the Aspects that they forged in the crucible of those Godscourts are some of the strongest fighters throughout all of written creation.
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I know that’s just the smallest sliver of a peek into the world of Yore (a world that might be explored even more later on??), but I hope it gives you a better idea (if slightly) of where these new Aspects come from!
Thank you all for your support for our team and of Inkbound. We couldn’t do any of what we do without you. And, we hope you’re just as excited as we are to jump into the shoes of the Aspects of the Champions of Yore! See you in the Atheneum!
Gods & Relics Hotfix #1
Letter from the Team
This hotfix addresses a couple of major issues we wanted to push live as quickly as possible. We hope you are enjoying the update!
Next week we will fix as many other bugs as we can and get it into your hands.
Fixes
- Fixed issue where some players using operating systems that were not using the English language would have in-game text display problems. This is also related to some languages showing translated text - we are working on localization but it's not ready to launch yet.
- Fixed issue where some players could not unlock cosmetics on the new free unlock track.
- Fixed bug where Trinket achievement wouldn't unlock for players who had unlocked all Trinkets already.
- Fixed a bug where Can't Touch This achievement was failing to complete if you took damage only to shields.
- Fixed Surivor Bonsai stacks not removing, causing massive physical power stacks.
Gods and Relics - Patch Notes
Release Timing
This patch will be released at approximately 10 am PT (GMT-7) on October 27th, 2023.
The game will have 2-3 hours of downtime starting at approximately 7 am PT on October 27th for the team to prepare the update.
New Features
New Aspect: Chainbreaker
The Chainbreaker smashes their way to victory with nothing but their fists and pure tenacity.
Uppercut enemies right in the face with new powerful Combo mechanics in this new Aspect that is all about in-your-face fisticuffs. You can read more details about the Aspect in a deep dive available here.
To gain access to the Chainbreaker you’ll need to complete the short unlock quest. Talk to Sundance in the Atheneum to get started.
New Aspect: Godkeeper
The Godkeeper fights to defend the written Gods of Yore using their divine Purespear to keep their opponents at bay.
This spear-based fighter can attack enemies near and far with a combination of spear thrusts and throws. To maximize their potential you’ll have to position yourself carefully to ensure optimal damage output. You can read more about the Aspect in a deep dive available here.
To gain access to the Godkeeper you’ll need to complete the short unlock quest. Inspect the Impaled Spear in the entrance to the Proving Grounds to get started.
Vestige Sets
Vestige Sets are a major rework of how players increase in power during a run. Each Vestige has one or more Sets that it belongs to. Upon collecting a certain number of Vestiges with matching Sets, the Set will confer a bonus. The more you invest into a specific Set, the bigger the bonuses grow. Here’s a simple example.
The Vestige Mossed Spyglass is now part of the “Precision” Set. You can see the Set icons in the Vestige description.
If you draft Mossed Spyglass, you’ll get a point into the Precision Set. Hovering the icon will give you the full details.
Upon getting two points in Precision, you’ll gain +10 Crit Chance. Upon three points, you’ll get an additional +15 Crit Chance. And so on.
As a part of this, the design of many Vestiges have been reworked.
There are many new sets with many new types of functionality. We hope you’ll have fun exploring all the new build options!
Steam Achievements
We’ve added 28 Steam Achievements in this update with a mix of progression and challenge Achievements.
Want to give this one a try?
Reworked Systems and Quality of Life
Sea Breaches Improved
We’ve heard from players that Sea Breaches were not offering interesting enough choices and rewards. We agree. In this update, all Sea Breaches have been redesigned with stronger rewards and more interesting choices.
Refreshed Victory Board
We’ve fully refreshed the Victory Board with 108 new objectives and new cosmetics to unlock by completing them.
(The cosmetic rewards from the prior Victory Board have been moved into the Cosmetic Vault.)
Updated Ranks
We’ve redesigned Ranks 11 through 20 with new challenges. If you were at Rank 11 or higher on either the Solo or Group track before this update your Rank will be reset to 10 so you can climb the refreshed Rank ladder. Completing Rank 20 in each track will earn you a special Nameplate.
Some of the earlier Ranks were also redesigned to smooth out the increase in challenge rank-by-rank.
Run Reward Structure Updated
Binding drafts now show up after battles instead of on their own reward islands. The goal with that change is to improve game flow.
Binding Augment drafts no longer show up as guaranteed rewards, you’ll have to choose battles with those rewards to earn them. The goal with this change is to increase the impact of upgrade choices. In concert with this, common Augments have been removed from the game, and thus Augment power is higher in general.
Run Quests Removed
We decided to replace the concept of Run Quests with the goals in the Vestige Set system. Run Quests have been removed from the game.
Font of Wisdom Removed
Like Run Quests, we aimed to simplify the way players earn stats by putting them primarily into Vestiges and Vestige Sets. Independently drafting stat upgrades via Fonts of Wisdom has been removed from the game.
Trinket Design Revisited
Due to various design changes described above we needed to revisit the design of our existing Trinkets. A variety of the current Trinkets have been refreshed with new functionality to accommodate the addition of Vestige Sets and the removal of other systems.
Change Your Aspect & Trinkets in the Sea of Ink
Ever enter a run and wish you could change your Aspect or equipped Trinket? Well, now you can. We’ve added the ability to change these before entering the first Book of the run.
This can be especially useful if you use Matchmaking to enter a run and want to coordinate with a co-op partner before entering the first Book.
Removal of Monetization
As outlined in detail in an earlier post, we have fully removed in-game monetization in this update. Leveling Passes have been removed and have been converted into optional cosmetic-only “supporter pack” DLC sold via Steam. The in-game store has been renamed to the Cosmetic Vault. You can earn Vault Dust (formerly Shinies) to unlock cosmetics and there is also a chance that a cosmetic chest will drop after defeating a Guardian.
Various cosmetics and Vault Dust can be earned via normal gameplay by leveling up. These unlocks are collected via the Logbook’s Season tab.
See the linked post above for full details on the migration.
Other Changes
Want to see all the little details? We'll have a full list coming soon and will update this post when it's ready.
Second New Aspect Revealed! Meet The Godkeeper!
On October 27, you’ll get to explore TWO new player classes. Last week, I showed off The Chainbreaker, which you can read all about here.
This week, I have another surprise for you. I introduce to you the SECOND of the TWO NEW ASPECTS coming to Inkbound on October 27:
THE GODKEEPER
A Binder once chosen by the Gods of Yore as their champion in the Godscourt Games, the Godkeeper fights to defend these written deities using a divine spear to keep their opponents at bay.
The Godkeeper is one of TWO new aspects coming to Inkbound in this Next Major Update. Like the other aspects, it has three new core Bindings. The first, Impale, is a two part Binding, dealing damage to one enemy before dealing half damage to the one behind it. This Binding will require maneuvering to get right!
The next Binding, Celestial Spear, is one I myself am really excited for! Here is the description of it:
Throw your spear, dealing 40 damage and creating a Celestial copy where it lands. Allies can select the spear, teleport to it and inflicting Smite on the closest Enemy.
Doesn’t that sound awesome?! You not only attack but place a spear on the ground that Allies can pick up and use!
Finally, the third core Binding is Whirlwind. An swinging attack that deals a strong first round of damage before dealing half damage to secondary enemies.
Both THE GODKEEPER and THE CHAINBREAKER will be available for you to explore on October 27th, 2023 when the Next Major Update goes live at 10:00 AM PT. As a reminder, both leveling passes will only be available as cosmetics only DLCs starting on October 27th. If you have the leveling passes before then, you will already have all the content.
Excited for The Godkeeper? Come share your thoughts either on Steam or Discord. Finally, want to see exclusive concept art of the newest player aspect? Sign-up for our newsletter for more!
As always, thank you so much for supporting Inkbound and the Shiny Shoe team. I hope you’re as excited as I am for this next update!
See you in the Atheneum!
~Cami
Community Manager at Shiny Shoe
NEW ASPECT REVEAL! Meet The Chainbreaker!
WEEKLY SNEAK PEEK
For the first time ever. Introducing, for the first time ever, THE CHAINBREAKER!
A Binder once trapped within the depths of Yore to fight at the pleasure of the written Gods reigning there, the Chainbreaker smashes their way to victory with nothing but their fists.
Like the other aspects, it comes with three core bindings. The first is the RUNIC STRIKE. Much like Mission Leader for the Star Captain, the Runic Strike has two phases. The first deals Physical damage, while the second deals Magic.
Next comes INFUSED FIST. With this binding, you punch and do magic and then physical damage. What is exciting about this one is that it pushes back the enemy.
And third, you got GLYPH ERUPTION. Like ‘Infused First,’ you do both magic and physical damage but this time in an arc.
Want to see the CHAINBREAKER in action? Join us for the next Inkbound stream. Excited to play the newest aspect yourself? Leave a comment here or join us on Discord! Finally, want to see exclusive concept art of the newest player aspect? Sign-up for our newsletter for more!
Thank you so much for all your support and enthusiasm for this next major update! I can’t wait to dive into a run and play the latest aspects with you all!
See you in the Atheneum!
~Cami
Community Manager at Shiny Shoe
Double XP Boost
Starting now until October 27 at 9:00 AM PT, you can double your XP in Inkbound! This is a fantastic opportunity to reach Tier 20 or earn that coveted Victory Board crown!
The Art of the Gardener
The story of Inkbound involves different worlds and how details can bleed from one book to another affecting the status quo. Unsuspecting residuals that have the potential to change the course of the story. One of my favorite parts of concepting visual assets for design is connecting pieces of lore subtly through symbols and elements. I find that having these subtle connections can make a world feel more real since it is not often when something exists purely separate from everything else. Who knows what decipherable details you can find among all those vestiges.
Besides the vestiges, NPCs are a little world of their own and I’d like to share with you all my creation process for one of the NPCs in the game, the Gardener. One of the earlier designed NPCs who has a deep connection to the lore of Inkbound’s world due to her mysterious past, which can be traced by fragments scattered throughout time.
Character Lore and Inspiration
When starting concept on an NPC, I am given a document from our loremaster Brendan that explains the overall look and feel that the NPC should have and how they fit into the world of Inkbound. For the Gardener, she is described as a free spirit who isn’t bound by rules and is very nurturing towards change and growth. The Gatekeeper, another mysterious being, is her counterpart. Where the Gatekeeper’s design is that of a tall, imposing, ridged man; the Gardener should be someone who is welcoming, a bit chaotic, and loves the ‘happy little accidents’ that boundless freedom can bring. Brendon also provides some specifics for the design, like how the Gardener’s body seems to be blending with the chaos she nurtures. Parts of her are either overgrown with plant matter or replaced by them entirely.
Concepting Process
With these details in mind, I usually start off messing around with silhouettes to get the overall proportions locked in as well as the correct feeling the visual impact of the NPC should have. Her silhouettes are all on the short side since that is how she is described in the design document. I mainly played around with where the bulk of her stature should be and the large shape types in her design; going for more round shapes because of her welcoming disposition but adding some sharp edges here and there due to her free, volatile nature.
After this first stage, I get feedback on what elements of the silhouettes are to be kept as well as any additions I created when playing around with different ideas that are liked by the team. One of these added elements was the smoke pipe. With these notes, I go straight into designing the details for the outfit. In the design document it is specified that she is supposed to be dressed in attire based from ancient civilizations which tend to rely on the overall shape of fabric pieces and how they are pinned in place versus tight-fit, complicated sewing patterns. When coming up with each potential design, I had different ideas of what a sweet grandmother / crazy aunt would wear. Aprons, shawls, heavy jewelry, and beads. Also adding that she is a gardener of sorts, pouches of seeds, gloves, and gardening tool belts. And lastly, she is a powerful binder that loves to create, so there should be thread, ink, and quills.
I mix and mash these different ideas that can spark inspiration for smaller details that serve a function, like an arm wrapping that doubles as a makeshift painting palette or bottles that also work as writing tools. After coming up with several designs, I send them over for feedback and with the ‘go ahead’ I finalize the outfit’s details.
A part of the Gardener’s design is a backpack she carries that contains all manner of tools she uses to create. The pack is meant to have a handmade look that I explored below; mostly messing with different constructions and shapes and then filling the pack with the cluttered chaos of unorganized tools. At this point in process, a noticeable design element on her outfit is quill shapes arranged to look like petals in a flower. I took this design and used it to inform the designs on her pack to keep a unity between it and her outfit’s design. After completing all the elements of her design, and receiving feedback, I moved on to color.
Color & Finish
With color, I have the character’s personality inform some of the main choices. The Gardener is bright and lively but is also mysterious and chaotic. I first explored having warm colors to match her welcoming personality and then added cooler colors to contrast that warmth and hint at a darker side. Red is the main identifying color in the Gardener’s design to contrast with the blue of the Gatekeeper’s attire.
After color is approved, I then render the portrait and it is then added in game for you all to see!
Yay! Hope you all enjoyed learning about my process for the character design of the Gardener.
See you around!
Removing In-game Monetization
Rationale
It’s our goal to create games we can invest into and update beyond release. As developers we enjoy expanding our games over time, combining our creativity with community feedback to add new content and fun.
For that reason, we launched Inkbound with two in-game monetization features to support the ongoing development of the game - the Leveling Pass and the Cosmetic Shop. We tried to make these as generous and straightforward as possible while simultaneously being 100% optional, cosmetic-only, with no impact on gameplay, and with no FOMO.
However, it’s clear that industry and player sentiment is trending against the presence of these features. For that reason we are removing in-game monetization completely. Content from the existing Leveling Passes will be turned into cosmetic-only optional “supporter pack” DLCs sold on Steam. The rest of the cosmetic content will continue to be available in-game and earned via playing.
To anyone reading this who purchased anything in-game - thank you, truly. We hope you’ve enjoyed your time with Inkbound so far and we’ll do our best to release a strong 1.0 sometime next year. Anyone who has made any purchases will receive additional bonus rewards as a part of this transition as a thank you for your support.
The full details for how we will make this transition are described below. If you have any questions or feedback feel free to post them in the comments. We will be reading.
Summary of Changes
Cosmetic Shop
- This feature will continue to exist but the currency will only be earnable via gameplay. The “Buy Shinies” button will be removed.
- The “Cosmetic Shop” will be renamed to “Cosmetic Vault”.
- The in-game currency will be renamed from “Shinies” to “Vault Dust”. Your existing Shinies will be converted into Vault Dust.
- If you ever bought any packs of Shinies with real money we will give you an additional 2x amount of Vault Dust. For example, if you purchased 1,000 Shinies in the past, regardless if you spent it or not, we will grant you an additional 2,000 Vault Dust.
- After defeating a Guardian there will be a chance a chest will appear with a random cosmetic reward from the Cosmetic Vault that you don't already have.
Leveling Pass
- The Leveling Pass feature will be fully removed.
- Anyone who owned either The Story Begins premium pass or The Starship of Terrors premium pass will immediately be granted all unclaimed rewards out of the premium track.
- Additionally, anyone who owned either The Story Begins premium pass or The Starship of Terrors premium pass will be granted 1,000 Vault Dust for each pass they owned.
- We are moving the cosmetics contained in the premium tracks into cosmetic-only optional “supporter” Steam DLCs. If you bought either of the premium Leveling Passes in the past you already own all the content in the associated DLC.
- The premium outfits from The Starship of Terrors that are currently in the in-game Cosmetic Shop are going to move into the new DLC. Anyone who previously purchased one of these outfits will be fully refunded for each outfit - 1,250 Vault Dust each. (Of course you will also keep the outfit.)
- If you own The Starship of Terrors premium Leveling Pass you will also be granted all of The Starship of Terrors premium outfits that are currently in the Cosmetic Shop. That way there is no need to purchase the associated DLC because you will have all the content contained within the new Starship of Terrors supporter pack DLC.
- The free tracks in the existing Leveling Passes will be moved into the Cosmetic Vault and will thus still be earnable via gameplay.
- Upon the release of the update there will be a new free track of rewards available to all players that are earned by leveling up. The unlocks will include various cosmetic items and Vault Dust. The UI for this has been simplified and moved into the Logbook.
- At the end of each Season all seasonal free rewards will move into the Cosmetic Vault and can be earned from there. There is no FOMO. If you miss the rewards during the Season you can unlock them via Cosmetic Dust (earned by leveling up) or in the random drops after defeating a Guardian as described above.
We understand that this is a major change to Inkbound and that there might be some confusion around this transition. If you have any questions or feedback feel free to post them in the comments, we will be reading and responding.
All About Vestiges
The simplest way to describe vestiges are equipment that grant you passive effects. Most games have this in some form, usually they grant stat bonuses to your character, or if they have a unique effect, it’s usually because they’re a rare item.
In Inkbound, we want vestiges to give you power, but our primary goal is to have different combinations of vestiges that feel and play a lot different from each other. We also want vestiges to alter how you interact with certain mechanics during combat, not just because it’s interesting, but having more mechanical interactions means more opportunities for potential synergies.That’s why for the most part, we don’t just plop a stat on a vestige and call it a day (although there are a few vestiges that only grant stats).
Internally we call the idea of distinct playstyles ‘narrowness’, where the more ‘narrow’ a vestige is, the more specific the build or playstyle that vestige can be good for. You don’t want a vestige to be too narrow, even if it’s strong, because if it’s something you rarely pick that requires very specific circumstances to be good, then it’s generally not interesting. You also don’t want a vestige to not be narrow enough, if a vestige is just too universally good, then it trivializes any other choices you have against it, which is also not interesting.
Generally, the more narrow a vestige is, the more powerful it can be, and vice versa. So the higher the rarity, the more niche vestiges can be, while giving a lot of power. ‘Epic’ is the tier with the most ‘narrow’ but strong vestiges. ‘Legendary’ vestiges also tend to be strong with a particular build, but we want to make sure that when you’re always excited to see a ‘Legendary’, which can be hard if legendaries are too narrow.
Forged Lightning Bolts is really narrow, probably our most narrow vestige in the game. There are 11 other total vestiges that allow you to Smite enemies, making this vestige only good if you have one of those.
Cultivated Harmonies is the opposite, pretty much every build can get use out of a Will discount. But unlike something that gives you Smite, or allows you to inflict Burn, this vestige doesn’t have as much potential to be improved by another vestige/stat upgrade.
Right now, there’s 200+ vestiges in the game, which is a lot!
There’s a bunch of other considerations at play for what makes a ‘good’ vestige in terms of our design goals, so I’ll just list them out.
- Should try making it not be too strong on its own, but being able to imagine how strong it could be with other combinations of vestiges.
- Should try to work with a mechanic that is underutilized or we would like to see more of (I’m looking at you Bleed).
- Should try to tie in the mechanic with the vestige theme/lore, or vice-versa.
We’ve narrowed down the kinds of effects we want vestiges to do, now we need to narrow it down further based on what we can do.
For example, right now we don’t have the capability to add in a vestige effect like, “On turn start, charm a random Enemy for a turn. That Enemy will attack other enemies this turn.” Not only do we just not have the tools for Enemies to switch teams, we also wouldn’t want to open that can of worms, since it would have a drastic amount of design and technical repercussions:
- Enemies and players are designed to have different stat blocks. Enemies can deal single digit number attacks, but have multi-digit number HPs. Players are the opposite. We’d need to scale charmed enemy stats somehow.
- The AI system wasn’t built to work with the expectation that units could switch sides mid-combat. There can be several instances in code where the AI makes use of the guarantee that its targets are players, and this would break those.
- It should be clear in just a single glance which enemies are or are not on your team. A status effect icon over their head wouldn’t be enough, so we would need to figure out a way to communicate that UI-wise.
It’s not that charming enemies couldn’t be fun, I think it would be pretty neat. But there’s definitely some more mechanics we can think of that would probably be more interesting and involve a lot less investment.
So what tools do we have to make vestiges? Well vestiges are essentially status effects, which have 3 big components.
- Stats (Ability Power, Physical Power, etc)
- Procs (On turn start, On hitting, etc)
- Actions (Deal damage, restore health, etc).
Whenever making interesting effects, it’s usually with Procs and Actions. And when we’re talking about creating new mechanics, we’re usually talking about adding Procs or adding functionality to Actions. Procs are ‘when something happens’, and actions are ‘what happens’.
List of procs
Given these tools, and an outline of the design goals for vestiges, the process of actually making a new vestige usually falls in line to one of these processes
- You have a broad mechanical idea like “deal more damage when you’re low health”.
- You have a theme idea for an item, like a “magic pen” or a “possessed book”, and try to find a mechanical way to express that.
- You’re playing proc + action ‘mad-libs’ for any interesting combinations that haven’t been covered yet, or for any mechanics that are underutilized.
And then you put it in the game!
So, that’s all about vestiges. I hope y’all enjoyed this deep dive, see you in the Atheneum!
First Look: Vestige Sets
This is the first of the weekly sneak peeks leading up to Inkbound’s Next Major Update on October 27, 2023!
This week, the sneak peek is about the Vestige Sets!
Vestige Sets are an exciting new game feature that will allow you to unlock powerful themed bonuses. Replacing the Run Quests, a player’s goal shifts towards considering the pros and cons of unlocking higher vestige tiers by choosing from the same set or diversifying your vestige arsenal.
To see specific examples of Vestige Sets, you can do so in one (or both) of the following ways:
1. Join me for the Friday stream on October 6th, at 12:00 PM PT on Twitch!
2. Sign up for the Inkbound newsletter!
I hope you’re just as excited as I am for the Major Update! See the updated roadmap here to check out the full list of upcoming new content and changes.
Thank you so much for supporting the Shiny Shoe team and for playing Inkbound! If you have any questions, you can ask them here on Discord.
See you in the Atheneum!
~Cami
Community Manager at Shiny Shoe