garden puzzle battle · free · art by twikoi

Ink Tactics

Every bug shows you its whole plan. Change it: push one into another, tip one into the pond, grow a bush in the way.

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Ink Tactics: a small garden board with flower beds, a pond and rocks, twikoi's creatures on teal rings, her bugs on red diamonds with numbered badges, dotted arrows showing where each bug will walk and red marks where it will hit

Screenshots

Ink Tactics: a battle in the garden, her bugs with dotted arrows and red marks showing their plans, three of her creatures on teal rings and the flower beds near the bottom — Every bug shows its plan: the dotted arrow is its walk, the red marks are what it will hit, the number is who goes first.

Ink Tactics: a friend aiming its move, with a preview of the result: the bug pushed into another bug, both hurt, and the bugs' new plans — Aim a move and see exactly what happens before you say yes, and what the bugs will do after.

Ink Tactics: the islands list with five islands, their levels and stars, and the big guest of each island — Five islands of battles with three stars each. Win an island's last battle and its big guest joins you.

Ink Tactics: the end of a battle with three stars, a new friend joining the squad and a picture by twikoi — Stars bring new friends, ink drops to make them stronger, and her pictures.

What is Ink Tactics?

Ink Tactics is a free turn-based puzzle battle made with twikoi's art. Three of her creatures guard a little garden while her bugs come over the hedge to trample the flower beds.

The twist: every bug shows its whole plan before your turn, where it will walk and what it will hit, and then does exactly that. So each turn is a small puzzle: push a bug so it bites another bug, tip it into the pond, grow a bush in its way, or stand where a new bug wants to come in.

How to play

Read. Each bug has a dotted arrow (its walk), red marks (what it hits) and a number (who goes first). Tap a bug to read its plan in words.
Move. Tap one of your friends, then a white dot to walk there. Each friend walks once and uses its move once a turn.
Aim. Tap an orange ring to aim your friend's move. The board shows exactly what happens, and what the bugs will do after, before you tap ✓ Do it.
Change the plans. Push a bug so its bite lands on another bug or on nothing, bump it into a rock, tip it into the pond, grow a bush in its way, or turn it round.
Hold on. Survive the turns shown. Undo a step or put the whole turn back any time before you end it.

Features

Eight moves worked out from her drawings: Shove, Spit, Charge, Stomp, Tongue, Swoop, Grow and Stare.
Six kinds of bugs with their own plans: beetles that bite, horned beetles that ram, worms that sweep three tiles, swimmers that squirt from afar, quick ants and fliers that skip the pond.
25 battles on five islands with three stars each (every bed safe, nobody fainted, a bonus goal), new friends after every first win and a big guest for each island.
Ink drops to make friends stronger, her pictures as rewards, 12 one-turn puzzles and a daily battle that is the same for everyone, with a share line.
A lesson you play, How to play any time, and a battle that saves after every step.

Modes, levels and unlocks

Islands: Five islands, five battles each, from a sunny patch with ants and beetles to a moon garden with everything at once.
Daily battle: One garden a day, the same bugs and friends for everyone. Share your beds, stars and score.
Puzzles: Twelve one-turn puzzles: get rid of every bug in one turn with nothing of yours hurt.

Tips

Look at the numbers: a bug that goes first can be hit by one that goes later. Push the first one into the second one's bite.
A bug pushed into the pond sinks at once. Swoop and Tongue are great for that.
A bush in a bug's path stops its walk, and it bites the bush instead.
Bumps hurt both sides: a rock is a free hit. Careful not to push a bug into your own bed!
Stand on a dashed circle at the edge to keep a new bug out for a turn (it bumps you for 1).

Who will like Ink Tactics?

Ink Tactics is for anyone who likes small puzzles with a story, from first-time players following the lesson to players chasing every star and every puzzle.

It is also for fans of twikoi's art: every friend, bug, flower and picture in the garden is one of her drawings.

Questions

Is Ink Tactics free?

Yes. Ink Tactics is free to play in your web browser. No sign-up and no ads. Ink drops are play money.

Does it work on phones?

Yes. It is made for phones first: tap a friend, tap a glowing tile, tap a ring to aim and see the result. It works with a mouse and keyboard too.

Does it save my progress?

Yes. Your battle saves in this browser after every step, and the title screen's Continue brings it back exactly as you left it.

▶ Play Ink Tactics

Her art in this game

Every friend, bug, guest, flower and picture is one of her drawings, shown just as she drew it: only moved, scaled, flipped, faded or squashed as it hops, pushes and bites. The grass, pond, rocks, mud, soil beds, bushes and the hedge are plain shapes and colours. Your friends and the bugs are told apart by plain shapes next to her art (a round teal ring and round health dots for friends, a dashed red diamond, diamond dots and a numbered square for bugs), never by changing it. What each friend can do comes from what she drew (legs shove, open mouths spit, horns charge, round ones stomp, long ones and swimmers use a tongue, winged ones swoop, plants grow bushes, eyes stare), and the game asks for kinds of drawings, so new drawings join the garden without changing the game.

Left bulky creaturea friend with legs, so its move is Shove: a hit and a push
Meet it →See it as a sticker →
Small upper right heada friend with an open mouth, so it Spits along a line
Meet it →See it as a sticker →
Leaf crowned eye carrota plant friend: it Grows bushes that block a bug's walk and take its bite
Meet it →See it as a sticker →
Middle center one eyed profilea round friend: it Stomps, pushing everything next to it one tile away
Meet it →See it as a sticker →
Lower right twisting heada long friend whose Tongue pulls a bug one tile closer
Meet it →See it as a sticker →
Upper right small floating heada floating friend that Swoops: it swaps places with anything in a straight line
Meet it →See it as a sticker →
Long leg horned skeletal creaturea horned friend that Charges in a straight line
Meet it →See it as a sticker →
Upper right flattened facea staring friend: one look turns a bug round, so it bites the other way
Meet it →See it as a sticker →
Round-headed spotted beetlea beetle that walks up and bites
Meet it →See it as a sticker →
Antlered beetlea horned beetle that rams: a hit and a push
Meet it →See it as a sticker →
Large patterned worma worm that sweeps the three tiles in front of it
Meet it →See it as a sticker →
Segmented curled gruba swimming bug that crosses the pond and squirts from afar
Meet it →See it as a sticker →
Small ink ant 01the quick little ants coming over the hedge
Meet it →See it as a sticker →
Striped winged beea flier that skips the pond
Meet it →See it as a sticker →
Three-flower striped potgrowing in one of the flower beds you protect
Meet it →See it as a sticker →
Strawclopsthe first island's big guest: win its last battle and it joins your squad (one of her tee designs)
Meet it →See it as a tee →