InkVerse

Draw to Survive. Imagine to Win.

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Ink Verse

Tagline: Draw to Survive. Imagine to Win.

Inspiration

As AI systems increasingly create, design, and solve problems for users, human creativity, focus, and deep thinking are slowly becoming passive. We wanted to flip that relationship and use AI not to replace imagination, but to activate it.

We asked a simple question:
What if imagination itself became the only tool for survival?

Inspired by sketching as a universal human language and the immersive potential of Mixed Reality, we built Ink Verse—a world where players don’t find tools, they invent them by drawing.

What It Does

Ink Verse is a Mixed Reality adventure game where anything you draw becomes real and functional.

Players explore an alien world filled with puzzles, hazards, and enemies:

  • In darkness, players draw a torch to emit light
  • When enemies attack, players draw a weapon to fight back
  • To cross fire barriers, players draw clouds to trigger rain
  • To navigate terrain, players draw ladders, bridges, shields, or gadgets

There are no predefined solutions. Every challenge can be solved in multiple creative ways, turning imagination, logic, and experimentation into core gameplay mechanics. Players can also play and compete with friends, comparing solutions instead of button skills.

How We Built It

We combined Mixed Reality interaction with ML-based sketch recognition to turn drawings into interactive reality.

Sketch Recognition Pipeline

  1. Players sketch freely in MR using a stylus
  2. The sketch is processed by a real-time ML classifier
  3. The recognized sketch is mapped to an object behavior
  4. A 3D object is spawned with physics and interaction logic

A hand-drawn torch, for example, casts dynamic shadows on real-world walls.

Challenges We Faced

  • Sketch ambiguity: Every player draws differently, making reliable recognition difficult
  • Latency vs immersion: Recognition and object spawning had to feel instantaneous
  • Open-ended puzzle design: Allowing freedom without breaking progression
  • Spatial consistency: Ensuring drawn objects behave correctly in real-world space

What We Learned

  • Creativity increases when players aren’t constrained by menus
  • Drawing is a more natural interaction than traditional controllers in MR
  • Players learn more through experimentation and failure than instruction
  • AI is most powerful when it augments human imagination rather than replacing it

Conclusion

Ink Verse turns imagination into interaction.
By making drawing the primary mechanic, the game transforms creativity and problem-solving into survival skills.

In a world increasingly driven by automation, Ink Verse encourages players to think, invent, and imagine again.

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