1
Your past is the level.
Every mechanic has to read, write or route around the ink line. If it doesn’t touch the line, it isn’t in the game.
About the game
A small blot on a vast, unfinished page.
DEADLINE is a puzzle-platformer about a drop of ink that can’t stop writing. Every step leaves a line, and every line stays. The whole game asks one question: how little ink does this page really need?
The story so far
Told in drawn boards, a line at a time.
Every chapter opens with a few hand-drawn boards. These are the first lines of each — no spoilers past the opening.
I
First Marks · Plain paper
“The pen pauses. A drop swells at the nib.”
“And high above — the Red Pen has noticed.”
II
The Diagram · Graph paper
“A blueprint, pinned and waiting.”
“MARKED. An error to be corrected.”
III
Margins · Lined paper
“The blot walks among the discarded.”
“Hundreds of drafts. Hundreds of tries.”
IV
The Correction · Aged paper
“The archive. Where old work sleeps.”
“The stacks go deep. The light is small.”
V
The Desk · The Desk
“An inkwell, a brush, a lamp. A landscape.”
“The clock says: almost midnight.”
VIII
The Harvest · recipe-card stock · New
“A recipe card. One line still blank.”
How it’s made
Three rules every idea has to pass.
2
One continuous stroke.
The fantasy is drawing a perfect line, not surviving a gauntlet. Pages are scored on ink, never on time.
3
Failure teaches routing, not reflexes.
A bad run should say “I should have gone under first,” never “my thumbs failed.” Restarts are instant.
For everyone
Built so anyone can hold the pen.
Assisted runs keep your records but stay off the leaderboards — the boards stay honest, and nobody has to struggle to see the next page.
- Three extra pen lifts and gentler hazards
- A bottomless-inkwell assist
- Hazard colours: red, orange, violet or blue
- Reduced flashing
- A letter-spacing assist
- Dark menus and a paper-brightness slider
- Captions at reading speed; every scene can be skipped
- Nine languages, every word
Who makes it
Geared Games
DEADLINE is developed by Orikazi and published by Geared Games Studios, an independent studio that also makes Bound By Blood and Did You Submit a Ticket? Simulator.
— The Editor