Write Warz News

Hi Everyone!

We’re excited to share yet another major update to the demo, this time bringing a load of new fixes and improvements across the board 🙂

Check out the changes below!

Overhauled AI Bots

• When playing with bots they will now respond all with completely different personalities making a more complete solo player experience.
  
• Bots now vote much more accurately and better identify the "Best" sentence possible.
  
• Bots will now attempt to use word bonuses and player words in their sentences making each experience more dynamic and unique.
  

Gameplay

• Removed Round Breakdown phase at the end of each round in favor of a small winner announcement to speed up the game.
  
• At the halfway point of each game, there will be an intermission to give players a breakdown of total points so far as well as some fun game facts.
  
• Removed points for writing and voting.
  
• Top Rondel UI has been adjusted to be more compact.
  
• Made a multitude of other tweaks to the general UI of the writing panel to have less clutter.
  
• Tweaked the sequencing of all plot point intros to avoid random pauses within the game.
  
• Reworked the sentence suggestion prompts to look nicer and more intuitive, which will now show up in the story rather than in the top panel.
  
• Added hotkeys for voting 1-6 so that you don't have to click on them anymore if you don't want to.
  
• Rescored the audio for the plot point intros of Moonlit Inspiration and Cursed Manuscript.
  
• Removed Kira and Javier from the game. They will return in a later season with some upgrades.
  

Menu UI

• Overhauled the Menu UI throughout the game: Lobby menu, Escape menu, Save the Story menu, and more.
  
• Characters now have unique name titles.
  

Fixes & Tweaks

• Fixed Copy to Clipboard not working occasionally when saving the story.
  
• Fixed Ctrl+Backspace not working occasionally.
  
• Adjusted the spacing in the credits.
  
• Everyone will now see the same credit titles in story readout
  
• Updated the story readout music to sound better.
  
• Effects were optimized across the board.
  

Thank you for your continued support and feedback! Make sure to share any feedback in the Steam Community Hub or the Discord server.

– Boltz Entertainment

Ahoy, mateys!

Have you signed up for the High Seas Adventure closed beta for this Saturday (December 14) yet? Now’s your chance to try the pirate-themed story mode and let us know how to make Write Warz even better. Join us on our Discord server on December 14 at 12pm PT | 2pm CT | 3pm ET 🏴‍☠️

Is the life of a pirate for you? Time to find out!

To learn more, check out our previous announcement here.

And we have a little more to share of what to expect in the High Seas Adventure theme:

Yo-ho-ho and a Bottle of Rum

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Pirates sure love their rum – and how could you write a pirate-themed adventure without it? In the High Seas Adventure theme, you can use rum to change your bonus words and double their value, but at a cost! Drink responsibly: Too much rum will make your screen a bit blurry.

Walk the Plank


Think you can Walk the Plank in our new Plot Point mini game? Balance as long as you can while we switch keys and play tricks. The longest balancer gets game perks, but fall and you're shark bait 🦈

Scurvy


Be prepared! You'll definitely want to keep a good amount of planks handy for those scurvy dogs that might attack you during the game – or your screen might end up looking like this!

Thanks for checking out Write Warz! We hope to see you on Saturday.

Join our Discord community and sign up for the Closed Beta now! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to let us know here on Steam, Discord, Reddit, or social media.

– Boltz Entertainment

Hi Everyone!

Eager to check out the next theme coming to Write Warz? Make sure to sign up now to be the first to experience High Seas Adventure 🏴‍☠️

Set sail with Write Warz: High Seas Adventure on December 14th at 12pm PT | 2pm CT | 3pm ET!

You can sign up on our Discord server:
https://discord.com/events/1092866675809996861/1309544654202732686



Also, if you haven’t already – don’t forget to wishlist Write Warz here on Steam! Our current Early Access window is Q1 of 2025.

Embark on a Swashbuckling Writing Journey
Ahoy, storytellers and adventurers! The horizon beckons with tales untold and treasures undiscovered. Write Warz: High Seas Adventure invites you to dive into an immersive pirate-themed experience where your words chart the course of epic voyages filled with treasure hunts, ship battles, and mysterious islands.

Exciting New Features

Dynamic Trading at Ports
Become a savvy merchant of the seas as you visit diverse ports randomly selected at the start of each round. Buy low and sell high while trading goods like rum, citrus, and cannonballs. Each port boasts its own unique economy:

⦁ Unique Markets: Some ports offer rare items or better prices. Keep an eye out for lucrative opportunities!

⦁ Strategic Decisions: Will you stock up on essential supplies or invest in valuable commodities? The choice is yours.



Epic Plot Points

Unlock Mini-Games & Challenges
Embark on thrilling adventures with six new plot points that introduce interactive mini-games and challenges inspired by legendary pirate tales:

⦁ Davy Jones’ Assault: Team up with your friends to fend off Davy Jones' cursed ship in a fast-paced group typing challenge.

⦁ Treasure Hunt: Test your memory in a grid-based game to uncover hidden treasures and possibly the elusive Black Pearl.

⦁ Walk The Plank: Balance your way to victory in a reflex-testing mini-game that could cost you your life! (Or just some resources.)

⦁ Fountain of Youth: Engage in high-stakes bidding wars against your fellow pirates to turn back the clock for an exclusive buff that can turn the tide of the game.

⦁ Treasure Map: Decode clues to find the correct location and earn massive rewards, but beware of the journey's costs.

⦁ Lost in the Fog: Navigate through dense fog that obscures your writing area, challenging your typing skills under pressure.

Resource Management and Items

Gear Up for Adventure
Manage your resources to survive and thrive on the high seas:

Gold Doubloons:
⦁ Earn gold through victories, trading, and plot points.
⦁ Spend wisely: Use gold to purchase items and convert it into points at the game's end.

Items and Supplies:
⦁ Word Bounties: Buy extra bonus words to use in your sentence.
⦁ Good Judgment Bounties: Gain extra points for accurate voting.
⦁ Winning Bounty: A high-risk, high-reward item for confident players.
⦁ Attack Orders: Use cannonballs to damage other players ships.
⦁ Planks, Rum, Citrus: Essential supplies for repairs and missions.
⦁ Unique Items
⦁ Spyglass Increase your chance of avoiding random hazards.
⦁ Fishing Nets Collect fish to sell at ports, with a chance to find the valuable Black Pearl.

Crew Missions

Rise Through the Ranks
Complete escalating in-game missions to earn rewards and advantages: Gain extra votes, bonus gold, and resources, Random Events, Sea Shanties and more!

You don't want to miss out! Join our Discord community and sign up for the Closed Beta now! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to let us know here on Steam, Discord, Reddit, or social media.

– Boltz Entertainment

Hi Everyone!

We just wanted to share the newest characters we’ve been working on: Faye and Brighthorn!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vy-2eyguuM

New Character: Faye
Ability: Pixie’s Prank

When Faye wins a round, one of her playful fairy friends will sweep across the screen, scattering magical fairy dust on all players. This dust causes chaotic, trippy visuals – distorting colors and scrambling non-protected bonus or player-specific words.

Players must decode and use these distorted words in their next writing round, or Faye gains +5 points for each word left unused (which is capped at 2 points per player). Meanwhile, other players who successfully unscramble and use their words will earn +5 bonus points per word.

This effect kicks in right after the score summary ends to keep the game flowing smoothly!

Gameplay Improvements and Fixes:

• Word Bonuses UI: Boxes are now wider, and words appear larger for better readability.
  
  
• Plot Point Selection Overhaul: Now, each player is assigned a unique plot point in the prequel round with a specific prequel word. Winning the round triggers your assigned plot point!
  
  
• Voting Bats Reduced: Lowered to improve performance and reduce lag.
  
  
• Round Timing Adjustments: Added +5 seconds to the first few rounds to improve pacing.
  
  
• 10-round Games: Rounds 1-4 now have 50 seconds, with time incrementing by 5 seconds each round after.
  
  
• 6-round Games: Rounds 1-3 have 50 seconds, with time incrementing by 5 seconds in later rounds.
  
  
• Better Story Visibility: The story text will never be blocked by sentence suggestions.
  
  
• Keyboard Voting: You can now vote by pressing keys 1-6 instead of clicking.
  
  
• Transition Improvements: Fixed bug where letters could be typed during transition away from the writing panel.
  
  
• Cursor Lock: Cursor will only lock when in exclusive fullscreen mode.
  
  
• Bot Voting Timing: Bots no longer go over time during voting.
  
  
• Start Sentence Fix: You can now enter a start sentence after lobby creation.
  
  
• Plot Point Adjustments: Improved processing of plot point sentences to avoid accidental retries on failed attempts.
  
  
• AI and Lobby Stability: Resolved issues with AI sentence processing and lobby player visibility when someone leaves.

Miscellaneous Updates:

• Ignus Character Update: Changed Ignus’s burn letters to less common ones, making it easier for players to switch their words.
  
  
• Kira Autocorrect Symbol Resized: Rescaled to match the new UI; more Kira updates are coming soon!
  
  
• Ability Information Streamlined: Now only one ability text explanation will appear per round to reduce screen clutter.

But that’s not all! We also have another character in the works: Brighthorn! Learn more about him here:

https://youtu.be/63bNj4obv5Q
New Changes

Here are the new changes in the latest update!

• Voting Bats are now less laggy.
  
• Sentence suggestions will now never cover the story.
  
• Cursor is now only locked to the game when on Exclusive Fullscreen.
  
• Tweaked AI Voting Prompt.
  
• Added more words/phrases to the bot retry list.
  
• Game UI should look much better on non-16:9 or 16:10 screens.
  
• Now only one ability text per round.
  
• Replaced Brighthorn's Base Portrait with the final version.
  
• Replaced Keystroke's icon sprite.
  
• Profanity filter used to check usernames is much smaller with more intense words.
  
• Names from Steam are no longer cut off, but now just shrink instead.
  
• Tweaked the scary background.
  
• Window resizing no longer available in windowed mode.
  
• Fixed – AI bots going over voting time.
  
• Fixed – Not being able to type the starting sentence after the lobby is created.
  
• Fixed – Lobby settings not being copied correctly when switching between 6 and 10 rounds.
  
• Fixed – Plot point sentences continuing to generate after the sentence gets put into the story.
  
• Fixed – AI sentence processing bug.
  
• Fixed – Players box in lobby being cleared out when someone leaves the lobby.
  
• Fixed – Keystroke bug where points would sometimes be double counted.
  
• Fixed – Voting portal sound being desynced from the animation.
  
• Fixed – Kira's autocorrect disable symbol being off scale with the regular one.
  
• Fixed – Curse of the Mummy's ankh laser firing at the wrong spot.
  
• Fixed – Selecting the lowest resolution when selecting highest resolution.
  
• Fixed – Name clipping in bar breakdown.

Character Art Timelapse

We also recently shared a timelapse of character art for an upcoming character, Dr. Alistair "Chronos" Caldwell – planned to join the game during the Noir story theme season. Did you know that all art included in Write Warz is hand-drawn? Our art team works hard to create striking and unique art for each character, so we wanted to share a look at their process:

https://youtu.be/OJ26b7vm29I
Background: A brilliant physicist and inventor, Dr. Alistair Caldwell dedicated his life to unlocking the secrets of time travel. After years of tireless research, he finally achieved his goal, creating a device capable of traversing the timestream. Now known as "Chronos," Alistair has embarked on a series of temporal adventures, witnessing firsthand the great events of history and exploring the unknown reaches of the future.

Personality: Alistair is a curious and inquisitive soul, driven by a thirst for knowledge and a desire to unravel the mysteries of time itself. He possesses a keen intellect and a knack for thinking outside the box, allowing him to approach problems from unexpected angles. Despite his brilliance, Alistair is also a deeply private individual, often keeping his true motivations and goals hidden from even his closest friends.

Skills: As a time traveler, Alistair possesses an unrivaled understanding of the intricacies of temporal mechanics and the flow of history. His knowledge of future events and advanced technology make him a valuable asset in any situation, while his ability to move through time allows him to gather crucial information, prevent disasters, and even manipulate events to suit his own ends.

We hope you enjoy the new character and update! Let us know if you have any ideas for other characters you would like to see in upcoming seasons :)

– Boltz Entertainment

Hi Everyone!

We’re thrilled to share that we’ve just pushed through another update to the demo! Check out the changes:

Voting

Bug Fixes:
• Resolved issues with voting logic where votes were not being counted correctly in certain edge cases.

Improvements:
• In games with 5 - 6 players, any extra time remaining at the end of the first voting round will now carry over to the second voting round.
• Transitions between voting rounds have been sped up for a smoother experience.
____________________________

Score Screen Breakdown

Overall Enhancements:
• Significantly sped up the score breakdown process to improve game flow while maintaining transparency on point sources and player abilities.
• Reduced or eliminated small delays and wait times to accelerate the breakdown.

Specific Changes:
• Character Abilities: Retimed and accelerated character abilities (see Characters section for details).
• Pillar Animation: Drastically increased the speed of pillar animations.
• Reshuffle Animation: Replaced the horizontal movement with a new animation where player portraits pop out from the bottom of the frame during position shifts after the score screen.
• Point Pop-ups: Adjusted point pop-ups to be slightly smaller for a cleaner look.

____________________________

Menus

Scriptorium Updates:
• Introduced a new, streamlined design for character descriptions, enhancing readability in both the main area and character selection screens.
• Added new randomization options for characters, fonts, and font colors.
• The game now remembers your selections for the character skin, font, and font color between play sessions.

Layout Adjustments:
• Made minor spacing adjustments for improved menu aesthetics and navigation.

____________________________

Characters

General Updates:
• Informational pop-ups now appear in the center of the screen when a character ability is activated.
• Character abilities no longer interrupt gameplay.
• Simplified and clarified character ability descriptions for better readability and understanding.
• Accelerated all ability animations where possible to enhance game pacing.

New Characters:

Elara:
• Based on the character word system.
• Gains extra character word bonuses each round.
• Grants all players an additional word when she wins.

Brighthorn:
• When he wins a round, he burns a letter.
• Players who type the burned letter grant him extra points.
• Note: Brighthorn's main portrait is currently a placeholder.

Character Ability Adjustments:

Eli:
• Soul-stealing now occurs during the voting round.
• The action is only visible to Eli and the affected player.

Giselle:
• Point-stealing animations now occur during the voting round.
• Only visible to Giselle and the affected player.

Javier:
• Now requires only a single win to obtain his Magnum Opus.
• The Magnum Opus no longer grants additional points on subsequent wins.

Evelyn:
• Now haunts all players only when she wins.
• Added a new animation to support this change.

Kira:
• Now hacks all players only when she wins.
• Adjusted hack animations for consistency across the writing area and player portraits.

____________________________

Plot Points

Witching Hour:
• Implemented a ramping point system:
• Players lose more points for multiple failures.
• Players gain more points for multiple successes.
• Improved tutorial clarity.
• Players can now type during the tutorial.
• Added new ingredient words.
• Reworked visual elements for better user experience.
• Receiving the Arcane Anecdote now grants a flat 50 points.
• Word bonuses are no longer awarded during this event.

Cursed Manuscript/Mysterious Stranger:
• Sped up the intro animation to reduce downtime.

____________________________

AI Improvements
• Introduced a new system to prevent AI from generating inappropriate content or breaking immersion by becoming too meta.
• Enhanced AI voting logic to more accurately select the best sentences.
• Testing a new AI model: Your feedback on sentence quality is appreciated!
• AI names are now pre-generated to eliminate extra wait time when entering a lobby.
• If AI is enabled, the AI will now generate plot point sentences.

____________________________

Miscellaneous

Profanity Filter:
• Adjusted to run only at the end of words or upon submission, reducing false positives.
• Autocorrect will no longer change words into profanity.

Gameplay:
• Players can no longer be kicked from custom games for being AFK.
• Applied a validator to the starting sentence to prevent exploits.
• Increased the time allocated for the story readout to enhance readability.

User Interface:
• Removed the top-left UI element for a cleaner screen layout.

Thank you for your continued support and feedback. We hope these updates enhance your gaming experience!

Make sure to share any feedback in the Steam Community Hub or the Discord server.

– Boltz Entertainment