First of all, we're happy to say that we could finally bring <Inked: A Tale of Love> to you today!

When I first played Inked, I felt the same as most previous players, the artwork is just beautiful (and Nameless Hero is just so cute), the game control was somewhat awkward, but I was soon engulfed by the story. I surprisingly discovered that the game had only sold around 2,000 copies...hmmm, perhaps they have set the price too high.

For the developers Somnium Games, Inked is their first game. This is an incredibly valuable experience for them, and it deserves to be enjoyed by more players. Together we have spent over a year to polish and optimize the game to do it justice. Since then, the gameplay has improved for the better and the story is more engrossing. Through Inked: A Tale of Love, we hope take you on an immersive & beautiful adventure in the world of ink and paper, which you will also find some fun throughout the journey.

Without further ado, we have adjusted the price to $9.99, a fair price for the game. If you prefer the older version of the game, you can still find it in the open beta track. That being said, you can now get both versions of the game for $9.99!

We hope you enjoy the game, feel free to either join our Discord https://discord.gg/75Huzqnnto chat with us, or email to inked@pixmain.com to share your feedback.

By Game Publishing Producer of Inked: A Tale of Love

In the last dev story, we covered the initial development and release of Inked. Today we will take a look at how the feedback and reviews after the game’s release prompted the team to deeply analyze the game, and come up with ways to improve it. This postmortem of the game was supposed to be a guideline on how to do better at any future projects, but eventually became the foundation for the new and improved Inked which you are patiently waiting for today.

Edi, Creative Director @ Somnium Games


After the release of the game, some reviews were pretty negative and it was pretty hard to face them. While a lot of feedback made perfect sense, there was still an amount of disbelief at the general critical reception because we couldn’t believe that after listening to player feedback the game still fell through in some aspects.

We analyzed the feedback in more detail and realized that the game could have been better if we didn’t listen and tried to make everyone happy. And for any designers reading this, the following would be the first takeaway: While game designing player feedback is always important, following that feedback blindly can lead to problems. Extrapolating additional features from player feedback is also problematic.

Not all player feedback is the same, and filtering out what is truly important is difficult. If you give your game to someone who likes that type of game, they will most certainly disregard certain shortcomings, even if they provide good general feedback.The goal is to figure out what prompted the feedback and try to fix that (while keeping the original vision and direction in mind), not to blindly listen to direct suggestions for changes.

Regardless, there were some ideas of immediately bringing Inked to mobile, but as soon as we started planning how to do that, the shortcomings of the PC version became even more apparent. Once all the plans eventually fell through, I decided to compile all the feedback and analysis and write an internal postmortem for Inked.

I always liked game postmortems. They explained why something succeeded or didn’t, or at the very least the reason why something was made a certain way, and what could have been in some other scenarios. Even though this series of dev stories is a distilled version of it, back then it wasn’t intended for the public. It was primarily a reminder of game design mistakes and notes which could help me design better in the future, as well as a set of guidelines for everyone in the team with the intention of helping us maintain the direction of the games better in the future.

The postmortem started from the controls, which were the most criticized part of the game. They made general movement tedious, platforming sections very difficult and some puzzles annoying, in ways they shouldn’t have been. The controls with some other details, made the whole game feel almost like a hardcore experience in some respects, which is not what we aimed at, and was not what the players were expecting - a casual puzzle adventure.

However, I didn’t get very far, since there were still issues with the game beyond the controls which I didn’t know how to fix. Over the next two years as I learned more about game design, designed more puzzle games, and a lot of hypercasual games (both of which gave me new knowledge and perspective), I periodically revisited the postmortem and expanded it. I really wanted to cover all grounds, at least as a design exercise.

As the document expanded, what were just notes and guidelines for the future, became concrete ideas on how to (hypothetically) improve the game. The goal was to try and keep everything that made Inked the game it was: the art, the story (more specifically themes), and the puzzle-oriented gameplay, but to try and list everything else that can be changed as much as possible without harming the core. I ended up with 4 elements: the controls, the primary gameplay mechanic, the (level) structure of the game, and the story.

If this seems like a lot, it is, the team thought so as well. Everyone agreed that certain things could definitely change, but seeing all these made everyone feel like it was a totally different game. But even after reassessing everything, I kept coming back to the same conclusions.

Coincidentally, around the time I finished the document with all these ideas on how to make a better Inked, we got a chance to work with a new publisher Pixmain and port the game to mobile. However, the list haunted me, and after convincing the team we suggested all the changes to the publisher. The idea behind the port wasn’t just to make the game run on mobile, but to use the postmortem to remake Inked and make the best game possible. Pixmain agreed and gave us a chance to do everything we wanted, and everyone was excited about the prospect so much, we decided to do it on all platforms. All of this meant that we got our second chance at a first game, we just had to stick the landing.

The second takeaway from this story for any game designer is - write the postmortem. Whether you find your game to be a success or a failure, analyze it on your own after some time passes from the release. Face the feedback from the media and the players, and filter out the important things.Postmortems will help you realize what worked and what didn’t - use this to establish notes and guidelines for any future designing, they can do wonders for your craft.

Hi Everyone,

With Inked's mobile version launched in February, receiving many great reviews, we can finally feel comfortable enough to start working full-time on the PC version of the game. To celebrate this, we made a little renovation of our page. I hope you'll enjoy our new house on Steam!

Besides development, we are also deciding on the name of our newly upgraded game. The team wants a name change, and the reason for that is because that the updated version will be very different from the original Inked. The new Inked will feature an upgraded storyline, better controls, and more immersive graphics. If you have any name suggestions, please drop them in the comment section and let us know! :)

In the meantime, we are hoping that we can decide on a (re)launch date soon. We will for sure keep everyone updated on that!

Just like how Aiko is always close to the heart of the Nameless Hero, we also always keep an eye on the players. We have read and revised your previous messages and feedback one by one. We have devoted all our enthusiasm and energy to this game, so your support is our greatest motivation!

If you are interested in more information about Inked, be sure to join our Discord community, https://discord.gg/AKr5cDJeyR where you can talk about Inked and share your own pen & paper experience!

Talk soon!

Somnium Games

As you all patiently wait for the relaunch of Inked, I want to start sharing a few dev stories (or just late dev logs) on my thoughts behind creating Inked - why and how we created this game and why it matters to us. Hopefully, it will allow you to understand why we wanted to take the time to re-work this game, and it might also be interesting to those who are interested in game design.

Initial development and release

We first got a chance to make the game in 2017, even though the game started development almost a year before that.

Back in 2016, during Casual Connect Europe, we presented an arcade game which was a small side project, and another main project - a psychological horror game. Witnessing several other games that had similar scope, but bigger teams and better funding, we ended up thinking about whether the project was even doable. We realized that we need something that is simpler to make, but something that can catch the eye of the players. I pitched a few months old idea about a hand-drawn samurai fighting against the artist who drew him, with the goal of getting his love back from the said artist. The rest of the team jumped at this idea, and a decision was made there and then to scrap the horror game and make Inked.

About a month later we started working on the game, and after only two weeks we had a very simple “proof of concept” prototype, just in time for the Reboot Develop conference.

Screenshots from the first prototype of Inked in 2016

We expected only some raw feedback, but in turn actually got more than a few very positive comments and even a nomination at the conference competition, which completely cemented our resolve to make this game.

Later that year at the Reboot Infogamer fair, we pitched the game, and after a few months, we signed a publishing deal for Inked with Starbreeze. This allowed us to open a company, and expand the team with actual artists, which opened up huge new visual possibilities for the game. It gave us time to really think about what we want with the game, and since it was our first big project, we understandably got excited, if not even carried away in certain aspects.

Screenshot from the late 2016 build of Inked

While we never felt that we were doing anything wrong, in retrospect we scoped out a bit. We had an initial vision of the game, but putting more and new cool stuff in the game was so much fun, and felt so right. After 9 months of development, Inked was ready for release, and it released to mostly positive reviews holding 80% on Steam, and 67% on Metacritic (at the time of writing).

Screenshot from the 2018 release version of Inked

The reviewers and players praised the visuals, the music and many liked the concept and how it all fits together, but there were negatives. People primarily had problems with controls and punishing platforming/timed sections, which were so big for some it took away from any positives the game had - even if they found them really good. Some also found the story too confusing, the pacing too slow, and some puzzles too repetitive.

And in typical game designer fashion, everything suddenly became so clear, the blinkers were off and I knew everything that went wrong with the design. The only problem was - the game was already out.

Game designers and whole teams get tunnel vision while working on a game, it’s just the way of the world. But constantly broadening your view and reassessing the game is a skil l that you simply get with experience. When we shipped the game, we were aware of some shortcomings, but we were genuinely proud of what we made, and we did our best.

The first takeaway for any game designer reading this is a simple reminder that you should often try to imagine that whatever you are working on is getting shipped tomorrow. Now obviously, disregarding any features that aren’t in, take a good hard look at the stuff that is in and ask yourself some objective design questions.

For Inked these should have been: Is the game pace tight enough? Did we make some basic/core mechanic just good enough so that we could get to the good stuff (and then neglect that basic mechanic)? Even if something was there “from the start” is it still important?

Bottom line is, don’t just question the new things that you introduce to the game - either standalone or how they relate to the old things. Reassess everything.

Of course, even if you do realize you could have done something different/better sometimes the problems simply can’t be helped, and you have to stop sometime, because game development (more so than any other art form) is afflicted with fixed timelines and budgets - but that doesn’t mean you should disregard those realizations.

They can eat away at you, sure, but they can also train your mind to think better for the next project - or in our case - these realizations can be used on the same game just a few years later.

Hey everyone,

We have an important announcement.

Recently we have signed a deal with a new publisher, which means a lot of exciting things for Inked.

For the PC version, this essentially means we will rerelease the game, but as a hugely improved version of the Inked you now know.

Based on all the community feedback, reviews, and our own greater experience, we will strive to give you a better game in every possible way, from vastly improved gameplay to the visuals.

However our cooperation with a new publisher doesn't stop there, and it will allow us to bring Inked to more platforms as well, bringing it to a wider audience and allowing everyone new and exciting ways to experience the game.

Because of all these changes and new things coming, to ensure everyone the best possible experience, we will temporarily make the purchase of Inked on Steam unavailable until the time of rerelease comes.

Keep an eye out here and on our social media for future updates.

Lastly, we thank you for your support and your patience, and we believe you will enjoy Inked when it returns.

Sincerely yours,
Somnium Games

Hey everyone 👋,

Temperatures are falling, snow is falling, prices are falling! You can now get Inked at 45% off, starting from Dec 20, 2018, to Jan 3, 2019! 🎮

A gorgeous hand-drawn world awaits you. Explore vast lands filled with geometry, murky swamps and hot deserts. Climb the highest peaks and experience an emotional story about loss and forgiveness.

You are the Nameless Hero.

Sincerely yours,
Somnium Games

Hey everyone 👋,

Leaves are not the only thing that is falling this season!

You can now get Inked at 35% off, starting from Nov 21, 2018, to Nov 27, 2018! 🎮

Travel through hand-drawn forests, swamps, deserts and mountains to uncover secrets which tell an emotional story about loss and forgiveness.

Solve puzzles and solve other challenges to save your loved one from your own Creator!

Become the Nameless Hero.

Sincerely yours,
Somnium Games

Hey everyone 👋,

You can now get Inked at 35% off this whole week starting from Sep 10, 2018 to Sep 17, 2018! 🎮

Save your loved one from your own Creator, and uncover his true motives!

Don’t miss a chance to experience an emotional story about loss and forgiveness through a journey on paper full of puzzles and mysteries.


Sincerely yours,

Somnium Games

Hey everyone 👋,

For this update, we concentrated on balancing certain aspects of the game based on the feedback we got from you. 📢

We have changed the level architecture in several places in the game to balance out new puzzles of those areas with the repetitive ones (e.g. using ramps for traversing). Coupled with improved controls from the older patch this should lead to a less frustrating experience when playing the game, as there will be a bit less tricky platforming and less repeated actions.

An example of the architecture changes in the desert.

We are also adding three new achievements called Inking Veteran, Astronaut and Samurai tactics. We will let you guys figure out how to get them 😉

For the next update, we have plans for an improved saving system and other balancing changes, but we would like to hear you. What would you like to see improved in Inked in the following weeks? 🔧🔨📐


Here is the full list of changes 📝:

• Fixed an issue where water from the fountain was going through objects. (Water towers)
  
• Fixed an issue where the ferry platform did not get reset to a start position after NH dies. (Swamp)
  
• Fixed an issue with the graphics of the plug hole. (Swamp)
  
• Fixed an issue where the puzzle could be skipped by blocking the fire with 3 cubes. (Frostland)
  
• Fixed an issue where the black fire is drawn in the center of the screen, causing multiple issues and bugs. (Final fight)

• Various architecture improvements in Sea of Simple Geometry, Forest, Desert, and Frostland.
  
• Improved the detection system of the security cameras.
  
• Various other small improvements and bug fixes.

Sincerely yours,
Somnium Games