There Will Be Ink is now officially out of Early Access! It feels long-overdue and at the same time a bit surreal for me. My goal setting out with TWBI was to make a simple game from start to finish over a few months (hah!) in order to get a better understanding of all sides of the game development process. Months turned into years, as sometimes happens, and in the meantime I transitioned into a full-time game dev for my day job, too (working on Old World, if anyone is curious). Although I stubbornly did all of the design, programming, "art", music, social posts, etc. for TWBI on my own, I got a lot of very valuable feedback from players and friends along the way. I hope to build a bigger audience with my next game, as I know some great connections are there to be made. That's not to say that There Will Be Ink is finished finished. I still have plenty of ideas to work through, the rate at which may depend on player interest post-release, but I have a hard time imagining myself ever being fully finished with this silly game, which has proved to be my ten-year-old-self's dream game and something I quite enjoy in modern times as well.
Thank you to anyone who has followed along and had a chance to check out TWBI in its various stages. I've added a full set of achievements to the Steam version of the game, with in-game versions to come (they are being locally tracked for all platforms so will be retroactively made active). Check out the change list below for other changes, and thanks again, everyone!
Cheers,
Brodie
Changelog
New Features & Content
Steam Achievements: Added 54 Achievements to the game. I even tested most of them, too!
Changes & Enhancements
Added “Windy Trees” display option, to disable trees blowing in the wind
Optimized general tree behaviour
Reduced time needed to survive “Hold the Line” mission
Grouped pre-battle/victory/defeat jingles with sound volume instead of music
Bug Fixes
Fixed “Blood” setting not working
Fixed player names not properly saving
Fixed Victory page sometimes being hidden after switching profiles
Fixed campaign stats not updating when switching campaigns
Fixed fallen trees not going bold (to indicate cover bonus) when player is near them
Fixed global/universal kill/streak stats not recording correctly
Release Date, New Trailer, Demo
Hello there, Billy! There Will Be Ink is coming out of Early Access on Friday, March 10th (2023, in case that needs specifying)! Here is a new release trailer for the game:
There is also now a demo version of the game, allowing you to play the first 8 mission of the main campaign, which can be found over at indiedb, here.
It's been a long time getting here, but these are exciting times in TWBI land!
Along with the new trailer is a new game update. I've added support for a "Borderless Window" display mode, which may help some who have experienced audio or graphical issues playing with multiple displays. I've added a requested option to show unit class names on the battlefield, to make it easier to find what you're after. Engineers can now chop trees with the new "Lumberjackery" skill, and there have been several fixes as well. Full change log below!
Game option: "Unit Names on Battlefield" - shows unit class name, disabled by default
Engineer Ability: Lumberjackery - allows the Engineer to fall trees with wrench
Added stat for trees chopped, counts towards Engineer progress
Fixes
Fixed crash relating to mines and pathfinding
Fixed crashes relating to T-Rex
Fixed crash on "Lake Frendz" level when hovering over unit in Tactical Mode
Fixed mine laying not working
Fixed slight hitching when units are approaching target
Fixed Jetpack not drawing correctly when unit crouches
Fixed Stick Man boss bullets being too big
Fixed arrows sometimes displaying at weird angles
Fixed notepad holes punching through hero tags on Missions page
Fixed timer advancing on "Lake Frendz" when game is paused
Fixed progression from one-time intro page going to campaign page instead of main menu
Beta 9.3 - Complete-ish Edition!
Yoohoo! I’m happy to announce that There Will Be Ink is complete. ish! All of the game’s features are in place, the campaign finished, and it feels more or less, I think, like a complete game. There is still some polishing and tuning I’d like to do, but version 1.0 will pro-0-o-o-bably arrive in March. Having worked on this game solo for quite a long while now, this is exciting to me! Anyhow, let’s get on with what’s new in this update.
At last, the campaign is complete! The end boss and accompanying battle will hopefully be a challenge for anyone who’s reached the end. There is a little surprise afterwards as well. I’ve also added, for all campaigns, a screenshot from the moment of the end of the final battle to the Victory Page (accessed from the HQ page, once a campaign is complete). The new “Walking Talkie” ability, once activated, allows you tell units where to go in Tactical Mode. Commanding a squad leader will result in all units from that squad moving. I’ve always resisted making TWBI an RTS, but this seemed like a fitting way to open up unit command for those who really want to do that. Also it gives squads a little more meaning, which I think is needed. This update also includes several QoL updates based on my tester feedback (thanks, R!). For instance, players are assigned first to Heroes when joining; there is a “show controls” option from the pause menu; I added a sound effect that climbs in scale as your kill streak goes up; water/unit/bullet interaction is a little better; knockback has a little more impact, and so on. There is a full list below. And as usual there is a list of bug fixes as well.
Next I’m working on a release trailer, as the current trailer (and Steam page for that matter) is extremely outdated. Otherwise just more polish and tuning. I’ve also been working on a faction that includes melee units, but I first need to make melee combat fun before that will see the light of day. All right, cheerio!
Changelog
New Features & Content
Final mission and end boss for TWBI campaign, plus some other surprises!
General Unit Ability/Unlock: Walkie Talkies – allows for the commanding of units during Tactical Mode
Moving a squad leader (with the circle icon) moves all squad members
Changes & Enhancements
Added end-of-battle screenshot from last campaign mission (if victorious) to Victory Screen background
Players are deployed first to Heroes when joining
Added “Show Controls” option to pause menu
Significantly improved pathfinding performance
Added sound for kill streak > 10 (pitch increases with each kill)
Colour of text now changes with kill streak > 10
Animation speed now varies with movement speed (eg slower in water, snow, etc)
Units moving in water now leave wakes
Added water ripple effect for bullets hitting water
Reduced kills needed for 3- and 4-star generals
Reworked knockback mechanic and increased knockback amount
Tactical Mode: tooltips no longer appear when hovering over pause menu items
Tactical Mode: Full UI is now hidden with tab/x toggle
Tactical Mode: units on the move (approaching target or deploying) now show line indicating path
Tactical Mode: left gamepad stick now works to move cursor when UI hidden
Adjustments to unit tooltip in Tactical Mode
Adjustments to scale and positioning during pause/Tactical Mode
Updates to Tutorial text
Revised some TWBI campaign text
Added several tips to the randomized main page tips
Reformatted tips and added count and ability to cycle through them
Main menu now requires confirmation to exit game
Changed “Barracks” page name to “HQ”
Added shortcut to go to Victory screen once campaign is complete
Changed hide button on Victory stats to TAB (from ‘v’)
Smoothed out edges of the notepad/battlefield
Added gradient to Victory text to make it so very flashy
Added warning text for when I accidentally leave autoplay on
Bug Fixes
Fixed crash when cycling unit left and right at the exact same time (kbm only)
Fixed crash with 4-star generals/heroes
Fixed mission text being skipped after “lake frendz” mission
Fixed custom campaign victory text not displaying on Victory page
Fixed weapon error when moving/prone being reversed (Tactical mode)
Fixed bullets hitting water often making dust instead of splashes
Fixed bug that allowed Heroes to emerge during Tutorial missions
Fixed mouse sometimes interfering with pause menu items when playing with gamepad
Fixed bug where maps would not load in Map Editor if they contained units normally hidden from map editor
Fixed units meant to be hidden from Map Editor being available to deploy
Beta 9.2.1 – Jolly Edition 2022!
Happy holidays and what have you, everyone! Jolly Edition is live now until the end of the month/year. There are a few smaller changes and fixes for this update, and you can expect bigger news in the new year. And who knows, by the time you’re reading this the game might even be on sale!
Changes & Enhancements
Added Evasion, Stealth, and Cover Penetration to unit tooltips in Tactical Mode
Jolly Edition: Added glitter to snowballs (for visibility)
Removed “Go to Barracks” shortcut at tutorial mission end
Tutorial 2: Moved ammo crate position (so that it doesn’t get blown behind notes)
Tutorial 3: Increased starting height of flagpole
Updated text on mission select for Beta campaign
Added title to “Select Campaign” page
Moved end-of-battle Victory/Defeat text to bottom right of screen
Bug Fixes
Fixed ‘Helmets’ upgrade not working
Fixed unit quick-select not working in non-camGen campaigns (TWBI, Tutorial, Beta, Alpha)
Fixed helmets being drawn behind heads
Jolly Edition: Fixed Yeti attacking while game is paused
Beta 9.2 – Tactical Mode, Victory Screen
Hey! This update introduces a new “Tactical Mode”, which makes available a series of tooltips when the game is paused that give you more information about units, buildings, and cover. This is part of an effort to make some of the game’s mechanics more transparent. There is also a new victory screen that shows up once you’ve completed a campaign, and I’ve added several smaller enhancements and fixes. Full details below!
Tactical Mode
If you’ve ever wondered just how much cover that tree stump is providing, or how likely that sniper is to shoot right through the aforementioned tree stump, now you can pause the game and hover the cursor (with mouse or gamepad) over objects to get a tooltip with some stats and other visuals. Right now this covers units, buildings, and cover objects. I plan to expand on this system, but hopefully this is a good start. Further additions to better indicate what the heck is going on include production times over unit icons above barracks as well as some floaty text when unit production time goes down (by getting kills as that specific unit type). Cover objects, like rocks, sandbags, and trees, are also bolded when a player-controlled unit is nearby to indicate that projectiles are less likely to pass over that cover when a unit is adjacent.
Victory Screen
Once the final mission of a campaign has been completed, the new campaign Victory Screen becomes available from the Campaign menu. On this menu can be seen some general campaign stats as well as player-specific stats for the campaign, including some new awards/badges for things like “Trigger Happiest”, “Best Supporting Actor”, and “Participatiest”, because every bit counts. Here is the changelog. Also TWBI is 20% off on Steam right now, cheerio!
New Features & Content
Tactical Mode – When the game is paused, hover the cursor over units, buildings, or cover objects to get various stats about that object
Campaign Victory Screen – Once a campaign has been completed, visit the new Victory Screen to see various stats and compare player performance across the campaign
Added several new player awards/badges to the Victory Screen, one is displayed for each player
Changes & Enhancements
AI/enemy unit promotions are now unlocked based on how far in a campaign the player is
Added display above unit spawn icons over barracks to show total spawn times (in seconds)
Added “powertext” over barracks when a unit type’s spawn time is reduced (achieved by getting kills while playing as that unit type)
Added a slight “bold” effect to cover that is being granted an adjacency bonus due to an adjacent player-controlled unit (cover behaves this way for all units, but bold is just for player)
Player-specific stats (kills, deaths, favoured unit, etc) are now tracked across a campaign, mostly for use on Victory Screen
Gravestones now display which player was controlling a hero when the hero died
Mission attempts and victories are now tracked (used on Victory screen)
Re-added unit quick-select (keyboard only) – press 1,2,3,…0 to quickly select a unit of a given type (eg. 1 – rifle, 2 – assault, 3 – sniper, etc)
Changed default player names to “KBM” and “Gamepad 1-8” (previously “Player 0-8”)
Bug Fixes
Fixed bug where “exposed” units behind cover were getting too much cover, and often vice versa due to a delay
Fixed wrench not working for vehicle repair when unlocked
Fixed bug loading some older maps that had a tank in the Map Editor
Disabled campaign cycling with left/right from main menu – very old option that shouldn’t have been there
Beta 9.1.4 - Fixes and such
A wee update with some fixes and minor changes:
Changes
Re-added Base unit promotions to Alt units
Team3 colour is now fuchsia
Hid new units/etc, until they're ready
Bug fixes
Fixed crash bug on "Laser Worm Dance Party" mission
Fixed crash bug on "Laek Frendz"
Fixed rare crash bug on squad formation
Fixed some missing end-of-battle killed/as stats
Fixed boss kill stats being counted twice
Beta 9.1.3 - Spooky Under The Hood!
Hey there! Spooky season is upon us, so, naturally, for all of October (and the first several hours of November, if we want to be accurate) There Will Be Ink "Spooky Edition" is back! See all your favourite stickfolk spurting pumpkin juice from their pumpkin heads before leaving this cruel, pumpkin spiced world as tiny ghosts. Also, look how spooky those trees are?
There is also a new game update! Though I've been working on a bunch of new content, most of it is not yet ready, so this update focuses mostly on some smaller changes and extra modding support. Although, it turns out the mod support is mostly for my own use, as it makes managing units, weapons, promotions, etc. much more easy. It's just a bunch of numbers in a text file, as much as it can be. I fully reworked the unit promotions system to work that way. A side effect of that is that unit upgrades will need to be re-chosen from the Barracks page. My hope is that this new, modular system will allow for the randomization of unit upgrades from the Campaign Generator, which should help with replayability and make for some interesting loadouts. That's not yet in place but is coming soon! There's still one big update I'd like to finish and then it is just more polishing prior to release. After that, who's to say!
Changes & Enhancements
AI: Units will now capture enemy buildings if no other valid targets are available
Weapons no longer blend to unit colour by default; reworked existing weapons to use custom colours
Weapons are now drawn overtop of Units
Fully refactored unit upgrades/promotions
Now fully modular and moddable
Reworked some promotions to be more general as well as some additional balancing
Creatures (eg works/etc) will no longer bunch together
Added knockback effect to most weapons
Projectiles no longer hit targets at a lower height (eg. bullet firing down from jetpack, and other future weapons)
Consolidated how damage is dealt to units (and blood spatter, too)
Lots of additional modding options for units (canRun, canRoll, canWound, etc) and weapons ()
Added new melee weapon system (WIP)
Re-added Tank as a unit type in factions
Bug Fixes
Fixed Campaign Gen crash when faction has no buildings
Fixed Ski mission (Double Daffy) not saving victory upon completion
Fixed crash relating to custom units in factions
Fixed bodyArmour mod setting not working
Beta 9.1.2 - AI Improvements, Fixes
Hey there! I've got a smaller update today with some AI improvements and important fixes. Check out the full list below. Cheerio!
Changes
AI: Units will now try to avoid marked (visible + enemy) landmines (and potentially other future dangers)
AI: Units are better at getting to water when on fire
AI: Snipers will no longer move to avoid friendly fire (since they cannot friendly fire)
AI: Engineers should properly put out building fires before trying to repair them
AI: Improved squad flanking
Adjusted way campaign progress is saved - should copy over for existing files (may need to exit/restart game)
Weapon target cursor/sights now drawn while reloading
Added "Exit" key to end-of-battle buttons
Added "Hold" underlay for end-of-battle buttons (retry, barracks, etc)
Made end-of-battle buttons less transparent
T-Rex can no longer become a hero, at least not in the game
Disabled heroes on "Min(e)d the River"
Minor performance enhancements
Fixes
Fixed bug where mission progress is sometimes not saved
Fixed hero-death screenshot position when zoomed in
Fixed bug where battle wouldn't end if only AI and neutral buildings remain
Fixed bug where missions with same name count as being completed
Fixed end-of-battle stats being semi-transparent and controls unresponsive after retreating when zoomed in
Fixed three-player missions not ending when player team is defeated (campaign only)
Fixed mission completion progress getting overwritten when changing game modes and replaying mission
Minor pathfinding fixes
Fixed some memory leaks
Beta 9.1.1 - Hotfix
Bug fixes:
Fixed occasional crash bug when sandworms die
Fixed sandworm bites not working
Fixed sandworm chomper positioning
Removed debug lines from tank pathfinding (oops!)
Beta 9.1 – Fallen Comrades, New Missions, Skiing, QoL
Hey there! Beta 9.1 is now live. This update focuses on several quality-of-life adjustments, new missions, and the new "Fallen Comrades" page, to honor heroes killed in battle.
TWBI is also 20% off on Steam during the Summer Sale!
Fallen Comrades
The Fallen Comrades page can be accessed from the "Campaign" menu. It displays a field of flowers (one for each player death) as well as headstones for any heroes killed in battle. The fanciness of the headstone is determined by the rank at which the hero was killed in battle. Headstones also list during which battles the hero respectively emerged and was killed, number of kills, battles, and victories, and even a small screenshot from the time of the hero's death.
New Missions
There are 4 new missions this time around, each offering something new. One is a skiing level, while another involves neutral buildings that can be captured and offer a new unit type. Yet another is kind of strange and I won't say much about, while the last one is just a big ol' battle, which I guess isn't anything that new. Sorry, I also wish I wasn't such a liar.
Up Next
I've begun work on the last mission of the main campaign. The other feature I'd like to get in place is the end-screen for when a campaign is finished. That will be used for procedural campaigns as well, as right now things are a little anticlimactic when victory is achieved at the end of a campaign. I hope you enjoy the new content, and please feel free to send any questions or feedback my way. Cheerio!
New Features & Content
Fallen Comrades - A new Campaign page showing a cemetery with heroes killed in battle. Includes some stats and even a screenshot of the hero's last moment
New Campaign Missions: Double Daffy (ski level), Lake Frends (it's a surprise!), High Mountain (new unit type), and The Calm (big ol' battle)
Added Neutral Buildings - won't spawn units/abilities until taken over. AI will attempt to capture as well
Added game option (off by default) to save end-of-battle screenshot, either at display resolution or capped to 1080p (Saved to %localappdata%/Users/ThereWillBeInk//Campaigns//Screens)
Changes & Enhancements
Added Hero stats for number of battles (includes retreats) and victories
Tanks now use same pathfinding as other units (much better, but still room for improvement)
Added one second pause when loading mission description between missions, to avoid accidental skip
Advancing to the next level/barracks/restart now requires holding on button for a half second, to avoid accidental skip
Next battle/retry/barracks buttons are once again active when zoomed in at end-of-battle
All buildings are now visible on night missions
Adjusted end-of-battle message backing and placement (less transparent, no overlap)
Adjusted checkmarks (skill progress, etc) to be more visible (black instead of green)
Added sound when selecting Hero for deployment with gamepad on Barracks page
Made target crosshair location sprite less transparent
When highlighting a unit note on Barracks page with gamepad, other notes will fade
Changed "Campaign Stats" notes on Barracks page to blue
Units no longer get suppressed by flames
Mods: Added autoHealWound unit attribute - allows wounds to automatically heal over time
Bug Fixes
Fixed bug where heroes would disappear after playing a mission where heroes are disabled
Fixed issue where Jetpack units could rarely go prone unless exhausted
Fixed gamepad not working to adjust music/effects volume on Game Options page
Units who can't go prone will no longer become suppressed
Fixed issue where Heroes could still be killed by lightning (reduces to 10% of current health instead)
Fixed possible crash when hero gets kill after battle is over
Fixed crash for units with no weapon
Fixed bug where victories/battles stat wasn't counted on Hero's emerging battle
Fixed rank not being up to date at time of Hero's death
Fixed double shadow issue for paratroopers
Fixed some placement issues with modded units
Fixed issue where tank sprite/facing would flicker at certain angles
Fixed display issue with "Hit %" stat on Campaign page for new campaigns
