Free Will News

Our game Free Will will be showcased at IndieCade Night Games in Los Angeles, California! Come join us for a night of games, creativity, and fun. Meet the creators in person, and grab an exclusive Free Will sticker as a little memento from us!

📅 Date: November 15 and 16th 2024 6PM PST - 10PM PST
📍 Location: Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles, CA

More details can be found in the Indiecade website!

We are very excited to announce that localization for the Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese are now officially available!

Starting today, you can choose a language via the TITLE SCREEN and experience the unique charm this game offers.


Thank you to all players for your patience and support. We hope this update will allow more Chinese-speaking players to enjoy the fun and depth of Free Will. We have put in our utmost effort into the localization, but if there are any mistakes, please let us know in the forums.

Our next goal is a full Japanese localization, so stay tuned!

Once again, on behalf of our team, thank you all for your support!



[h2] Version 1.2.0[/h2]

Bug fixes and polish:

• Sketchbook no longer crashes when loading a save while the sketchbook is open and empty
• If door.png is missing from the root folder and WillsRoom folder, a new one is now generated
  
• If door.png is edited, the file now resets back to its original state
  
• Selecting yes during the second visit to the basement now correctly takes you to the Free Wendy ending instead of the game repair screen

Other:

• Added Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese language options and support
  
• Changed “Glitch SFX” credits to “Glitch VFX”
  
• Fixed credits spacing
  
• Players no longer have to press the Interact button to enter Dad’s study
  

Known bugs:

Version 1.1.0 primarily brings Streamer Mode, along with a number of bug fixes. To those who have been excited to stream the game but wanted to wait for this update, thank you for your patience!


In addition to Streamer Mode, this update will also hide save file information from players. Early on in development, we thought we'd be doing more with the player-editable save files, but this never ended up being the case. Currently, it seems it only causes confusion and has caused some to softlock or screw up the game's sequencing by tampering with it excessively.
We apologize for the confusing playthroughs some may have experienced as a result of the old system, and hopefully for those that did experience these sequencing bugs, playing through version 1.1.0 will result in the game's narrative making more sense.

[hr][/hr]
Edit: For those who have old save data from Version 1.0.0: here is how to reimport your save data into Version 1.1.0:

• Close the game, if it is open, then navigate to the game's file directory (same place where you solve most puzzles, accessible by right-clicking the game in your Steam Library and selecting "Manage > Browse local files")
  
• Copy the old save file, which should still be in the game's local files as save.txt
  
• Navigate to C:\Users\(Your PC's username)\AppData\LocalLow\Kipps in a Box\Free Will (this is a hidden directory: you can find it by pasting %appdata% into your Windows search bar)
  
• Paste save.txt into the Free Will folder
  
• Launch the game, and your old save data should be read.
  

Thank you Fury72888hshu for the comment--we'd forgotten to include this in the announcement prior.
[hr][/hr]

• Fixed a major bug for European and Canadian players related to the date and time puzzle's backend formatting. It should now work for players in these regions.
• Replaying the maze with a completed map from a previous playthrough now respawns the player to the correct position
  
• Fixed issues related to Will's player character getting stuck on certain objects and walls
  
• Door.png is no longer recreated upon reentering Will's room after completing the door puzzle
  
• Added a backup for the second Free Will window executable in Dad's Study
• Corrected an animation error in Wendy's fight
  
• Fixed dialogue advancing if the inventory was open
  
• Fixed a visual bug that could occur by spamming the Interact button on the first-floor closet door
  
• Fixed an issue where the inventory would not open in Wendy's room
• Fixed inventory not opening in the Free Wendy ending
  
• Fixed colliders for the mountains of bodies in the basement
  
• Fixed various minor typos and formatting issues in dialogue
  
• Fixed dialogue that displayed when interacting with the kitchen fridge
  
• Corrected the font and font color of some menus
  

More bug fixes will be pushed in future updates--our team is small, so we ask for your understanding as these things take time.
With that said, thank you for reporting bugs through the bug form and in the discussion forum! And additional thanks for those who joined the Discord server to talk through the bugs they were having--we apologize for the inconvenience, especially for our EU/CAN players…!



Streamer Mode can be enabled to ensure potentially sensitive player information, namely the player's PC name or Steam username, are not shown on screen while playing the game.
An unskippable window will appear at the start of a new game asking if you would like to enable the mode or not. You can also toggle the setting on and off in the settings, though it largely does nothing once you've completed the first fight of the game.




Let us know if you stream the game! You can send us an email or @ us on Twitter/X. We've been checking out various streams ourselves, but as our team is small, we generally only get around to seeing your VODs… :)

• Updated the controls guide
  
• Removed full-screen mode
  
• Save files are now hidden to ensure players do not softlock themselves or trigger events out of order
• Added a game factory reset button to the options menu
  
• Added a button to the title screen that allows players to return to the basement, before the point where the game branches after completing an ending
  
• Special Thanks are now listed properly
  
• NPC names are now disallowed from being the player name
  
• Added a message to confirm your game has been saved
  
• Corrected the Game System’s dialogue boxes during Wendy's fight to show “SYSTEM MESSAGE” headers
  
• Clickable UI buttons now respond to mouse hover
  

More bug fixes will be pushed in smaller updates (1.1.1, 1.1.2, etc.), and we'll update you on when those drop.
Our next big goal is Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese and Japanese language support, with Traditional Chinese coming first (as the game director is fluent in it). These updates are targeting a summer release: as the release date becomes more certain, we will let you all know.


On behalf of the Kipps in a Box Team, thank you all for supporting Free Will! Our team is grateful for your support.

Hello players, this is the Director of Free Will. Thank you for your interest in our game. We are a group of student developers from the University of Southern California, and this game is my thesis project! I hope you like it, and have a lot of fun (or sufferings).

Read on for more information regarding the release and upcoming plans:



Free Will is being released on May 7th, 2024 at midnight! You can currently obtain two endings, and one of two achievements.



[h2]Spoiler ahead! [/h2]
While we welcome content creation in regards to sharing your playthroughs of Free Will, please be aware that livestreaming certain moments of the game may put your personal information at risk. After the first battle is resolved, personal information will not be shown in game. We plan on adding a streamer mode in a future update to make the game more friendly to stream.

• Certain in-game puzzles can only be solved by tweaking system files via your computer’s file explorer.
  
• Your local file path and Steam name will be displayed at three points early on. Specifically:
  1. Your steam name will be shown when first starting the game from the title screen.
     
  2. Your computer’s name and a file path to the game executable will be shown when trying to exit the first room at the start of the game and during the first battle.
     

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve started working on updates to address polish and quality of life. These include:

• Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Japanese localization.
  
• Implementation of a streamer mode to address privacy concerns.
  
• Paid DLC that expands on the game through additional endings and content.
  

We welcome you to try the game and share your thoughts. To report any bugs, please use our report form .