There Will Be Ink News

Ahoy there, Catptains!

There is a good bit going on in this update. I’ll get into the details of the bigger parts of the update before getting to the change log down below. Here we go!


The Zaponeer is a new combat unit with some pretty state-of-the-stick-art gear. First off, the Zaponeer sports a nifty new laser rifle, which is a pretty steady weapon (low movement & recoil penalty, not affected by wind) with slightly shorter range than the standard rifle but with more ammo capacity and dealing more damage. The Zaponeer starts with armour (30% damage reduction) as a ground soldier and can be equipped with a jetpack using training points on the Barracks page. I’ve updated unit AI so that non-player troops, including the Zaponeer and T-Rex, will now use jetpacks. Watch out for that dino smash! Right now the jetpack is the only unlock for the Zaponeer, but more abilities are on their way.




Campaigns now track stats separately, so units and abilities unlocked in one campaign won’t necessarily be available in another. For the existing Beta & Alpha campaigns, if they are already in progress, data is duplicated where it’s currently at and branched from there. This separation will make it easier to balance progression within a campaign and also works better with other campaign customization. For instance, Campaigns now have a unique set of units that show up on the Barracks page. In the upcoming Campaign Editor, there will be something along the lines of a list of units with checkboxes to enable them in the campaign. There is also a little info sheet on the main menu that gives a quick description and difficulty level of the current campaign.




It’s been a long time coming, but there are now the beginnings of a tutorial campaign in the game to help ease in new players. At present the campaign consists of just one mission (covering movement, rolling, running, stamina, exhaustion), but more are on their way. The tutorial mission makes use of a new map customization code system that will also be used to create more variability in other missions.


Have you ever had a superstar unit ranked up to the max but badly wounded and no medics nearby? Well now you can call for a medic (‘M’ on keyboard, d-pad down on gamepad) and the nearest medic will come to your aid. Similarly, you can call for backup (‘B’ on keyboard, d-pad up on gamepad) and the nearest combat unit will come to your aid (unless they have the “hold position” behaviour). Calling for backup can be done repeatedly and each time the next nearest comrade will come to your aid.


This process was started previously with updating weapon sprites, but I’ve carried on to update all unit sprites and trees. It is a subtle effect, but it gives the units a less pixelated look, especially when zoomed in. Here is the old vs. the new:

vs.

Shocking! Right?


There are three new beta campaign missions featuring the new Zaponeer unit: “Zaponeer!”, “Blast ’em”, and “Rugged Country”. Check ’em out!


Well, there is a lot in the works, but, most immediately, something jolly this way cometh…




New Features & Content

• New Unit: Zaponeer! Laser rifle infantry with armour and a(n unlockable) jetpack
  
• Created new Tutorial campaign, so far consisting of one mission on walking, running, rolling, stamina, etc
  
• Added “Campaign Details” note to main menu page, listing active campaign name, difficulty, description, and units
  
• Added new player ability: Call medic
  
• Added new player ability: Call backup
  
• Added three new missions to Beta campaign: “Zaponeers!”, “Blast ’em”, & “Rugged Country”
  
• Added new ‘MCODES’ to map files: allows for greater customization to maps down the road
  
• Added stats for Zaponeer
  
• Added Zaponeer to Quick Battle page
  
• Added seasonal content to unlock soon…
  

Changes & Enhancements

• Unit progress and campaign stats are now tracked separately for each campaign
  
• Doubled resolution and fidelity of all unit art & animations, including T-Rex
  
• Doubled resolution of trees
  
• Shifted positioning and eliminated gaps between unit spawn icons over barracks (in battle)
  
• Added a “max height” value to jetpack units; climb speed now slows when approaching this height
  
• AI: Flying (ie jetpack) units now fly when approaching target or attacking
  
• AI: Flying units no longer try to seek cover
  
• Increased speed boost of jetpack
  
• Changed order and spacing of main menu items
  
• Stamina bar is now drawn for non-player units
  
• Changed the default campaign for new games to “Tutorial”
  
• Optimized code around how wind affects projectiles
  
• Legs can now have an armour rating (as with Zaponeer)
  
• Customized text that shows up on Missions page is based on the active campaign
  
• Units available in a campaign are now customizable and dynamically loaded (hard-coded for built-in campaigns)
  
• Modified engineer helmet sprite
  

Bug Fixes

• Fixed bug where Assault & RPG units were using ancient alternate torso sprites
  
• Shells now fall from the proper height for jetpacking units
  
• Legs & head of flying units no longer separate when rising or falling
  
• Units exploding in the air no longer leave a crater
  
• Flying units will no longer collide with ground units
  
• Fixed bug where ‘dust’ left by bullets was sometimes the incorrect colour
  

Hey hey ho ho!

Spooky season is over. On to new things!


First off, you may notice in this update that buildings now have a happy little flagpole next to them, like such:

By simply running up to a flagpole, any player-controlled, ranked unit (rank 1 and up) will automatically lower or raise a flag. If the building is the same team as the unit, the flag will be raised. If it is an enemy flag, it will be lowered. Rank increases the range and speed of raising and lowering a flag. Once an enemy flag is fully lowered, it and the building next to it will be converted to the active player’s team, and the flag can then be raised back up. This new mechanic adds an extra level of strategy to the game, and there is a new campaign mission, “Outnumbered”, that relies on this new tactic. In addition to affecting who owns a building, the flag height determines how quickly units will spawn (Barracks) or abilities will become ready (HQ). Building health now affects spawn rates as well, and spawn rate is weighted 50/50 for flag height and building health.


There Will Be Ink is a one person project and my first (soonish-to-be) completed game. I started work on it in September of 2018, and the original plan was to keep it to a six month development period and release it for a low price, as a test run of sorts. As is usually the case, things took longer than expected (work on the game has been part time, as I need to keep my day jobs to pay the bills) and the scope went well beyond the initial simple concept. I’ve grown to love the game and there is still a lot more planned for it (more on that coming soon). The main feature I plan to add for the version 1 release is the in-game Campaign Editor, which will enable the stringing together of missions into campaigns and for greater customization of missions. It will also serve as a foundation for some of the other new features planned. The game currently sells for $4.99 USD. I will likely slowly ramp up the price as we near version 1.0, with the price finally settling around $9.99 USD. I think this is a reasonable price for what the game offers. It’s certainly not enough to make the game a financially sustainable project (I calculated my earnings so far to be about a nickel per hour, yikes), but I work on this game only because I love it (the game and the work) and want it to be the best it can be.

Anyhoozle, back to fun things! Aside from the new flagpole/conversion mechanic and new mission, the latest update also includes a new ability, a river variation, Quick Battle improvements, and several bug fixes. Check out the full list below:

New Features

• Flagpoles – Buildings now have a flagpole next to them, which can be lowered and raised by player-controlled, ranked units
  
• Once the flag of an enemy building has been fully lowered, the player takes control of that building
  
• Hi-Tech Ability, “Ammo Regeneration” – Ammo slowly regenerates for player-controlled units
  
• Added HQ to Quick Battle options
  
• New campaign mission, “Outnumbered” – It’s a tricky one
  
• Added river variation, “River 2b” – Horizontal mirror of “River 2”
  

Changes & Enhancements

• Barracks & HQ unit/ability spawn rates are now affected by building health and flag height
  
• Quick battles/random maps now include a single Rifle unit for each side by default
  
• Destroyed buildings are now in the proper team colour
  
• When determining where to lay mines, Engineers will no longer consider medics performing healing to find out where battle fronts are located
  
• Seasonal Content in Options menu is now listed as “Auto” when enabled instead of “On”
  

Bug Fixes

• Fixed bug where game crashed when resuming from pause after game paused due to controller unplug
  
• Fixed bug where not all objects were properly paused when controller unplugged or Steam overlay brought up
  
• Fixed bug where battle progress state was not properly saved/loaded when restarting a mission after winning
  
• Fixed bug where mission progress was not properly saved when achieving victory in Sim mode after winning in Arcade mode
  
• Fixed bug where player could no longer join as B-team after achieving victory on a level
  
• Fixed bug where player could join as B-team when having achieved victory on a level in a different game mode
  
• Fixed bug where Engineers would sometimes face the wrong direction when moving or performing actions
  

There Will Be Ink is now 20% off as part of the Steam Halloween sale! In addition to that, there is a new update for the game, featuring quick battles & random maps, overheating, and more! Be sure to check out the game before the end of the month if you'd like to see some of the spooky edition content.


The main new addition to this version of the game is the new "Quick Battle" option from the main menu. On the Quick Battle page, players can move sliders for the amount of trees and rocks and toggle barracks count and unit spawns. From there the game uses the provided parameters to generate a random map and then launches into battle. Upon exiting the battle, the player is taken to the map editor, where they can edit and save the map if they like. The customization options are somewhat limited in this early version of the randomizer (rivers also appear randomly, but a slider will likely be added for those too), but it's off to a good start for players wanting to jump into a unique battle without taking the time to manually lay out a map. As with the map editor, the Quick Battle page only works with mouse & keyboard controls at present (though you can back out of it with gamepad using the 'select' key)


A new mechanic has been added to the game in the form of overheating. Right now this affects only the heavy machine gun (HMG), which is still a little (intentionally) overpowered, but a little less so than before. Once a player starts firing the HMG, a little thermometer will pop up showing the current temperature of the weapon. If the HMG overheats, the player will have to wait a cooldown period until the weapon is usable again. There are of course little heat lines that come off the HMG when it has overheated. Fret not though, the performance of the HMG can be improved with three new heat-related unlockable abilities on the Barracks page:

• Low Friction Rounds - Reduces the amount of heat generated per shot by 30%
  
• Water Cooling - Reduces the overheat recovery time by 40%
  
• Heat Dissipation - General cooldown speed of the HMG is increased by 30%
  

So far AI is responsible enough not to overheat the HMG, but maybe it shouldn't be. Maybe it shouldn't be. Also I may experiment with adding overheating to other weapons in hardcore mode, just to be cruel.

In addition to the new HMG abilities, there is also a new Rifle Infantry ability called "Hand-ye-down", which, when unlocked, allows a Rifle unit to (automatically) hand off their remaining magazines to a nearby friendly Rifle unit. Those are all the big changes. Check out the list below for the full change log. Going forward, I have more ideas than ever for the game. Who's to say what will come next! (Probably more missions)

• Quick Battles & Random Maps - Allows the player to select tree & rock quantity plus barracks count and unit spawns. Randomly generated map can then be edited in map editor
  
• HMG Overheating - The HMG will now overheat when fired in rapid succession for a period of time
  
• HMG Ability - Low Friction Rounds
  
• HMG Ability - Water Cooling
  
• HMG Ability - Heat Dissipation
  
• Rifle Ability - Hand-ye-down
  

• Option mini-menus for units/barracks/etc on Map Editor now slide to the left when at right edge of page to remain visible
  
• Added "Error loading map" message to Map Editor when there is an error loading a map (previously crashed game) - Note: This should only happen if a map file has been tampered with or sometimes when trying to load a map made with a newer version of the game than the version trying to load the map
  
• Balance: Increased point cost of "Grenade Satchel" rifle infantry ability from 2 to 4
  
• Created slightly louder, higher pitched sound for mine ticking
  

• Fixed bug where player could not advance missions when losing if battle was previously won
  
• Fixed bug where smoke was being drawn behind rocks
  

Another week, another update!

The focus this time is on general improvements along with a bit of new content, including a new campaign mission, a new river variation, and new animations and art. Cover now plays a little more differently, in that a bullet is less likely to hit a cover object (sandbag, rock, etc) when nobody is behind it. In a further attempt to set expectations for the game’s difficulty (and to notify players of Arcade mode and unlocking abilities on the Barracks page), I’ve also added an intro/disclaimer page that will show one time at game launch, including for existing saves. I’ve also made Arcade mode a little more arcade-y.

Check out the full list of changes below. Pew pew!

• New campaign mission, “Run Through The Jungle”. This is a full-on battle in a wooded area with a forking river running through
  
• New river variation added to map editor
  
• Added “Go To Barracks” option to end-of-battle screen and pause menu
  
• Added “Ctrl + R” to “Controls” page – can be used to quick-restart a battle
  
• Added new alternate sprites for applicable weapons for when they are out of ammo (eg rifle missing clip)
  
• Added a reload animation. Can be used to tell when an enemy unit is reloading
  
• Added intro/disclaimer page that is displayed once, advising the player that TWBI is a difficult game but that Arcade mode can be enabled from the Options page for a more casual experience
  

• In Arcade mode, all units start with a base evasion of -100%. This effectively makes it so that all bullets on a collision course with a unit will hit their target. No more narrow misses. Sim & Hardcore modes remain as before.
  
• Adjusted the base cover vs. bonus cover for sandbags, rocks, etc to be weighted more towards bonus cover. This means that a cover object provides less cover than before on its own and more when a unit is hiding behind it. This is meant to simulate units shooting over top of objects when their true target is farther away.
  
• Increased the collision-box size of crates, making them easier to activate (eg in the case of resupplying ammo)
  
• A sound now plays when selecting new abilities on the Barracks page
  
• Pressing ‘Esc’ from a battle launched from the map editor now surrenders by default instead of bringing up the pause menu
  

• Fixed crash bug that would sometimes occur when switching units (using number keys) after a battle was over
  
• Fixed bug where weapons were drawn behind player highlighter
  

There Will Be Ink, so spooky right now.





I've added some seasonal content, as it were, to the latest update. For the remainder of October, you may notice the following changes while playing TWBI:

• All units (except T-Rex) have pumpkins for heads
  
• All helmets are replaced with pumpkin stems
  
• All trees are burnt out
  
• All units emit a ghost when killed
  
• Red ink (ie blood) is replaced with orange ink (uh, pumpkin juice?)
  
• Some aesthetic changes to the main menu
  

If those things aren't to your liking, simply disable "Seasonal Content" from the options menu. But that's not all that's new!


I've also added a new pause menu. Whereas previously exiting a battle would destroy all friendly units, the player can now choose to surrender (saving results towards towards unit upgrades etc) or exit (without saving results).





All weapon and tool art has been given an upgrade to double the resolution, for a less pixelated look, which I think works better with the hand-drawn theme of the game. Here is a side-by-side look at the old (not spooky) and the new (spooky):



The plan is to upgrade player and terrain art as well.



The most common feedback that I get about TWBI is that it is very difficult and that some of the game mechanics aren't clear. To address this, I've added a new "Tips" page to the main menu that explains such things as Rank, Cover, Evasion, Weapon Accuracy, and Stamina. The game remains difficult, but hopefully the new "Tips" page helps get players on the right track, at least until I can get a proper tutorial in place.

In addition to the major items above, several smaller tweaks, enhancements, and changes were made, and many a bug were blasted into oblivion (aaand possibly some new ones have turned up, who's to say!). Cheerio!