Inkbound is a turn-based tactical roguelike where you can play solo or with friends to save the fading stories of the Atheneum. After Monster Train, we took on the challenges of both creating a new combat genre and crafting a new world. Along with online multiplayer and an Early Access launch, Inkbound was an ambitious project that solidified Shiny Shoe’s player-first mentality and its focus on deep strategy games. 

To create this new world, I focused on the infinite storytelling opportunity of libraries. In the Atheneum, Inkbound’s library, each book is a portal to the world written within it. This gave a strong foundation to tell the most traditional story we’d ever told, introducing players to multiple characters to talk with and books to dive into. 

With over 70,000 words of prose and dialogue written, most of it voiced by our cast of 12, Inkbound allowed me to build my most ambitious world to date and direct a talented cast of actors to bring it to life. I spent time ensuring each aspect of the game’s design had a reason to exist within the world, this time also owning the creation of the quest system and its related content to deliver the story we’d crafted.

You can download Inkbound on Steam.