Kritzel Krieg

About the Game

You draw your army. Ink is power.

Forget pre-made units – in Kritzelkrieg you scribble every warrior by hand onto squared notebook paper. Here's the twist: your ink is your stats. Every painted pixel counts. Draw big and bold, and your stick figure marches out with a fat health bar and a real punch. Draw small and sparing, and it's cheap but fragile. More ink = more power, but also more gold. You decide with every stroke.

You know the loop. Not the look.

Gold trickles in, you send out troops, level up your base and unlock new classes – step by step, just like a classic lane battler. The single-lane tug-of-war, the upgrading, the countering of your opponent's comp: all familiar. Only nothing here looks like polished pixel art. The Age of War rhythm plays out on squared notebook paper, with wobbly ink lines quietly "boiling" away. A genre home game, freshly drawn by hand.

Every drawing is one of a kind

Two players, the same class – and still never the same army. Because YOU are the artist, every unit looks (and fights) exactly the way you scribble it. Your archer, your base, your turrets, even your profile avatar: all your doodles. Save your best designs and send them into battle again and again.

Upgrading your base means drawing another floor on top

Here, "leveling up" is literal. You upgrade your base by drawing a new floor on top of it – that means more base HP (more ink = more HP), more income and a bigger canvas for stronger troops. Each tier adds new classes: Brawler, Archer and Dasher from the start, later Chunk, Healer and Bomber, then Banner and Catapult – eight classes in all. On top, you draw turrets directly onto your base.

Special abilities from the pencil case

Level up, unlock special abilities and bring your favourite into the match: the Eraser (wipes out enemy troops in an area), the Ink Splat Rain, the Sharpener to buff your units, and Slow-Mo to glue your opponent in place. Little schoolyard tricks with a big impact.

And if it drags on: the teacher's coming!

If a match runs long, things escalate: "The teacher's coming! Both bases take damage now!" No grindy stalemate – a guaranteed, nail-biting finish. Nobody wants detention.

Versus a bot, online 1v1, or learn at your own pace first

Play against the bot on three difficulties – Easy, Medium or Hard. The fair part: the bot plays by the exact same rules as you, draws its own troops and counts its own ink, no shortcuts. Learn the basics in the tutorial, then go online for 1v1: invite friends through Steam, find an opponent instantly with Quick Match – with ready-check, rematch and clean disconnect handling. The main menu features a leaderboard ranked by Quick Match wins.

Hand-drawn down to the last stroke

The wide battlefield scrolls with you, the camera pans, and fixed notebook margins wait at both ends. Everything wobbles in a true doodle look ("boiling lines"), with procedural sound, mellow lo-fi music and plenty of juice: screen shake, effects, ink everywhere. Fully in German and English (switchable), with fullscreen/resolution options and separate sliders for sound and music.

Features

• Ink = stats: how much and how big you draw sets HP, damage and cost

• Draw everything yourself – units, base, turrets and your profile avatar

• Every drawing is unique – your army looks like no other

• Base upgrades: draw a new floor on top = more base HP, more income, new classes

• Eight unit classes across tiers: Brawler, Dasher, Archer, Chunk, Healer, Bomber, Banner, Catapult

• Draw turrets directly onto your base

• Four special abilities via profile level: Eraser, Ink Splat Rain, Sharpener, Slow-Mo

• Profile with a level/XP system and a self-drawn avatar

• "The teacher's coming!" – sudden death ends every match

• Modes: vs bot (Easy/Medium/Hard), online 1v1 and tutorial

• Online 1v1 via Steam: Quick Match, invite friends, ready-check, rematch

• Leaderboard in the main menu, ranked by Quick Match wins

• Wide, scrolling battlefield with a panning camera and fixed notebook margins

• Hand-drawn doodle look with "boiling" wobble lines

• Procedural sound & lo-fi music, lots of juice (screen shake, effects)

• Fully in German and English (switchable)

• Options: fullscreen/resolution, separate sliders for sound and music

One notebook. Two bases. One winner.