Offline Mode Beta Announcement
We are pleased to announce today that Offline Mode is coming earlier than expected! A beta of Offline Mode will be included in the Starship of Terrors season update on August 23rd, 2023. It has always been our goal to support playing Inkbound in a variety of contexts, including when fully disconnected from the Internet. Here’s how Offline Mode works:
By default, Inkbound will continue to play online. However, if you don’t have an internet connection or intentionally enter Steam’s Offline Mode before starting the game then Inkbound will automatically enter Offline Mode. When offline, most features are available, though some features that naturally require being online will be hidden.
Some things you can do in Offline Mode:
… and more.
Some features, the ones designed with multiplayer or social gameplay in mind, obviously won't work offline, though they will be there for you when you next have a connection. These features are not available in Offline Mode:
Furthermore, there are a few other caveats:
If you have spotty internet connectivity and would prefer to play offline or want to play while traveling (airplane? Grandma’s house?) then it will be possible with the Offline Mode Beta.
Why are we calling it a “beta”? Primarily because we think it might have some bugs we haven’t been able to find yet and because we want to get additional player feedback regarding how we can improve it.
We’re looking forward to getting this feature into your hands and hearing your feedback.
Mark Cooke
Shiny Shoe CEO
By default, Inkbound will continue to play online. However, if you don’t have an internet connection or intentionally enter Steam’s Offline Mode before starting the game then Inkbound will automatically enter Offline Mode. When offline, most features are available, though some features that naturally require being online will be hidden.
Some things you can do in Offline Mode:
- Continue to progress your existing character, then later bring that progress with you back online.
- Start and complete new runs.
- Continue and complete runs that were previously started while online.
- Start a run offline, quit the game to come back later, and then resume that run when offline.
- Complete quests.
- Unlock Trinkets (new feature in Starship of Terrors).
- Complete Victory Board objectives (new feature in Starship of Terrors).
… and more.
Some features, the ones designed with multiplayer or social gameplay in mind, obviously won't work offline, though they will be there for you when you next have a connection. These features are not available in Offline Mode:
- Forming a party, the party finder, and playing runs in multiplayer.
- Chatting with other players.
- Daily Challenge runs and viewing Daily Challenge leaderboards (new feature in Starship of Terrors).
- Daily Quests.
- Claiming cosmetic rewards.
- The Cosmetic Shop.
- The ability to submit feedback to the development team.
Furthermore, there are a few other caveats:
- You have to go online at least once before playing offline.
- Runs started or played offline cannot be resumed online. You either have to finish the run while offline or can choose to abandon the run if you come online with an incomplete offline run.
- You must fully restart the game to toggle between online and offline modes. We don't currently support dynamically switching between modes based on internet connectivity status.
If you have spotty internet connectivity and would prefer to play offline or want to play while traveling (airplane? Grandma’s house?) then it will be possible with the Offline Mode Beta.
Why are we calling it a “beta”? Primarily because we think it might have some bugs we haven’t been able to find yet and because we want to get additional player feedback regarding how we can improve it.
We’re looking forward to getting this feature into your hands and hearing your feedback.
Mark Cooke
Shiny Shoe CEO