Ink Clans devlog
What changed in Ink Clans and when, newest first. Dates are the days the work landed in the code. The game grew out of a single-file prototype that existed before this log starts; everything below happened between 25 September and 7 October 2026.
7 October 2026: guides
The site gains a page for every clan, a comparison of the five rule sets, a strategy guide that explains how each computer level plays, a glossary, a FAQ, a badminton guide and this devlog. The how-to text was corrected at the same time: crowning in the middle of a chain works differently in each rule set, and the old line said it always ended the turn. The badminton help now gives the score caps and says when rally heat starts.
2 October 2026: Moonlit Cut fix and the cookie choice
In badminton, the Samurai's Moonlit Cut ultimate darkened the screen of the player who called it as well as the opponent's. Now it only blinds the opponent and anyone watching. The same day, the cookie message became something you answer before using the page, and simple page-view counting that uses no cookies was added.
1 October 2026: online badminton
Badminton can now be played online against a friend from a link, through the game's own connection relay, in desktop browsers first. A fix the same day made the Capoeiristas' Roda Storm ultimate actually launch the shuttle and corrected the height at which a serve is struck.
30 September 2026: badminton on phones
Badminton got touch controls for phones and tablets in landscape, with a card that asks you to turn the phone when it is held upright. The cookie banner was reworked the same day.
29 September 2026: a second game
Badminton arrived: all eight clans on a paper court, each with two powers and an ultimate, a computer opponent on three levels, and the crowd view for watching from the stands. The title screen became an animated scene with a picker between checkers and badminton. Later the same day, badminton got the Run button.
27 and 28 September 2026: about, privacy and analytics
The about page, a full privacy policy with a legal notice and cookie settings, and the list of every clan attack on the home page went up on 27 September. On 28 September, analytics were added behind a consent choice, as the privacy page describes.
26 September 2026: voices, music and a name
A busy day. The default finisher choice became Surprise me, so fights flow without a chooser unless you ask for one, and leaving a live match now asks for confirmation. The voice pack arrived: an AI-generated callout for each of the 24 finishers and 8 ultimates, with ultimates played deeper and with an echo. Sound effects and a looping koto music track followed, each with its own volume slider, all levelled to a common loudness.
The game also got its name, Ink Clans, and its home at inkclans.com. Behind the scenes, the automated browser tests were split to run in parallel, with a nightly run at real game speed.
25 September 2026: the rebuild
The first day of this codebase. The single-file prototype was imported and rebuilt piece by piece as a modular web app. The rules engine and the computer opponent came first, with tests that play random games in both the new engine and the original and require identical moves in all five rule sets. Then came the renderer: the eight clans with their 24 finishers and 8 ultimates, ported from the prototype onto a current version of three.js.
By the evening it was a playable game with menus, settings and a how-to screen, with automated accessibility checks on every game screen. Online checkers by link followed the same day, with spectators, a QR code, rematches and reconnection, and so did the first crawlable pages of this site.