Inkshade News

[p]Hi All!
[/p][p]I have a brief but big announcement today: Inkshade officially has a release date![/p][p][/p][p]The game is coming out next month, and I put together a new trailer to hype up the moment. You can find the exact release date at the end of the video :)[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]More things to come soon on YouTube and the other socials.[/p][p][/p][p]Be seeing you,[/p][p]–Vezelle[/p][p]
[/p]

Hi Everyone,

Today is a very exciting day with a whole bunch of news!

[h3]🕹️ NEXT FEST DEMO[/h3]
First of all, Steam Next Fest has started, and Inkshade is taking part!

If you haven’t tried the demo yet, now is the time to give it a go. If you’ve already played the demo, there's plenty of reason to return: there are New Challenge Modes in the demo right now. Five total, in fact!

• Double Pain Mode: enemies deal double damage to player pieces!
  
• Unleashed Mode: more enemies and elite enemies will spawn!
  
• Berserk Mode: all enemies are permanently aggroed! (This one really amps up the required tactics)
  
• Copycat Mode: your upgrades also apply to enemies!
  
• One Run to Rule Them All: entirely different run rules. You start with no upgrades and a small amount of scrip, and you have to carefully upgrade as you go. Grinding can’t save you here, Captain.
  

You can activate the challenge modes from the right-most tab in the options menu. They also stack if you really want to make the game impossible.


[h3]🍿 NEW TRAILER[/h3]
I made a special trailer just for Next Fest!
https://youtu.be/1YyPF9R27j8
It highlights all the aforementioned challenge modes :)


[h3]🏅 KEY GIVEAWAY CONTEST[/h3]
Last time I mentioned a special contest to win a free game key. Well for the next week, I’m conducting a Look & Find challenge! There are 3 Easter eggs hidden in the demo that nobody has found yet. Roll on over to the big-announcements channel in the official Discord to get at the contest form. This form will show you screenshot hints for these Easter eggs. If you can locate them, fill out the form with details of where exactly they appear in the demo. After Next Fest concludes, I will randomly select a person from those who found all the Easter eggs, and that person will receive a free game key when Inkshade is fully released!

Happy hunting!
(And yes, all these Easter eggs are based on shenanigans from our Discord.)


[h3]🪔 LASTLY…[/h3]
I should also mention that the Inkshade demo won’t be up forever. So now really is the time to give it a whirl, or let your friends know about the demo if you think they might like the game.

Anyway, thanks for tuning in and checking out my game. As always, I will do my best to create something that delights you the same way that games are constantly delighting me.

Until next time, Captain.
–Vezelle

[h3]It’s Festival Season[/h3]
I'm happy to announce that Inkshade has been selected to be part of TurnBasedThursdayFest next month on June 2nd, and will also be featured in the Six One Indie Showcase on May 22nd! Like with past events, the demo will update with another new challenge mode for the duration of these festivals. Which challenge modes exactly are still a secret!

As a personal aside: I can't quite state how cool it is that this thing I'm making is getting into all sorts of events, but I am extremely humbled that people are interested. So big thanks to everyone who has checked out the game so far, and be sure to check out these festivals to see some other cool indie titles!

[h3]Steam Next Fest![/h3]
On top of that, Inkshade will be in the upcoming Steam Next Fest, which takes place June 9th to 16th! Steam Next Fest is a really, really big deal for indie games. And so to give everyone a reason to come back to the demo during Next Fest, I will be updating it to unlock all five challenge modes all at once for the duration of the festival. This includes two that will be brand new, and one of them will change how you approach runs quite a bit.

I will also be holding a special contest during Next Fest, the prize for which will be a key for the full game. Tune into the official Discord to catch the details when the festival starts on June 9th.

[h3]Game Progress[/h3]
As for game updates, I’ve made quite a lot of progress on all sorts of small quality of life features. This ranges from tweaking hitboxes to make things feel more clickable, to allowing players to see their active crew when selecting new pieces. As well as a pile of optimizations, some bug fixing, and a few more accessibility options in the game settings.

I’ve also added a new encounter type—the hex site. This is a special node where you can pay a mysterious stranger to grant boons to your pieces, curses to the enemy pieces, or buy special mutations that cause more drastic changes to all pieces, friend and foe alike. This should add some extra spice to each run, while also offering more opportunities for long-term strategy within a run.

Anyway, that’s all for today!

See you on the flip side, Captain.
–Vezelle

Hi Everyone!

Short but sweet update this time:
the Inkshade demo is live! You can download it right from the Store Page.

I hope you have fun! And if you aren't a member of the Official Discord yet, that's the best place to give feedback and report bugs. It's pretty chill over there, so come say hi if that's your thing.

Also tune into the SUGOI Showcase today to see Inkshade’s very first festival appearance :)

See you on the other side, Captain.
–Vezelle

Hi Everyone,

I’m very excited to say that Inkshade has been officially announced!

This comes with a whole bunch of fun news:

• First is that the Steam page has graduated to “Coming Soon”. The exact release date is still TBD, but I have a target in my sights.
  
• The key art has been completely redone! The main piece is in the Steam capsule art, and I feel like the end result is beyond awesome :)
  
• The TRAILER has been updated and uploaded to YouTube—go give it a watch and all that good stuff and maybe we can convince the YouTube algorithm to help get the word out! I will also be dropping other trailers and fun things on the Studio Vezelle YouTube channel in the future if you aren’t subscribed but want to stay in the loop.
  
• There’s a sign-up form for closed demo testing over on the Discord server. If you’re interested in early playtesting, that’s where you’ll find out more.
  
• Inkshade has been selected to be in the SUGOI Showcase 2025! (This is the same group that did The Game Awards for Games Who Can't Afford the Game Awards). The event is digital, and it’s happening on March 27th. Tune in on the SUGOI Showcase 2025 Youtube channel and give Inkshade some love if you can.
  
• Guess what else is happening on the 27th? The Inkshade Demo is going PUBLIC. I hope you’re ready for a blanket of vibes. If you know anyone who might be interested in checking out the demo, shoot the Steam page their way. Anyone who has wishlisted should automatically get an email from Steam when the demo goes live.
  

Anyway, thanks for checking things out! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go make Inkshade’s shroud of atmosphere even weightier.

See you on the other side, Captain.
–Vezelle