Update Notes July 15th
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- Fix that Metissa unlock condition was only tracked on the match host
- Improve reconnect behaviour
- Various UI optimisations
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Hey everyone! We have quite a lot of content to share with you today, so BUCKLE IN as we dive into all of the new features we just dropped.
Following a public vote from the community, 79% of you told us you don’t want cosmetic microtransactions in Draw & Guess. As of this update, they are GONE FOREVER. We decided not to have an “earnable AND buyable” model, as we want characters/skins to represent the time you put into earning them. If we’re going to do this, we want to do it right, i.e. remove cosmetic microtransactions completely, and not overcomplicate things by also retaining the in-game shop.
Note: The shop will be temporarily accessible to players with over 350 Ink for the next 3 months via a dialogue on the main menu. Ink can no longer be purchased; it can only be spent.
Characters are now unlocked by completing in-game challenges. Some of these are trickier than others, some of which you won’t even know the challenge requirements for... good luck hunting!
As you may have noticed… each character now has their own unique epic splash art! Our development queue has been quite heavy as part of this update, so we wanted to take some of the time on the art side of things to help polish up the vibe of this new feature, and explore a bit more of each character’s identity.
You can check a character's unlock condition in their close-up view, which also shows their unlock track!
This update doesn’t stop at just unlocking characters through challenges! We wanted to find more ways to reward players for the time they’ve put into Draw & Guess. Each character can be levelled up to unlock unique rewards, including an Artbook (see below), additional artbook pages, a character skin, and, for those truly dedicated to their favourite character, a brand new character-themed badge to show off.
This update focuses a lot on community, and we want to build a strong foundation for the game to keep growing that sense of community. A big part of this feeling comes from being able to see and interact with players even if you’re not directly in a game together.
Introducing… player profiles! A space you can call your own, share your favourite piece of artwork, and even show off those badges you’ve been collecting.
Profiles are great, but they need something a little… extra, so we’re adding a whole new feature to do just that: Artbooks!
You can think of Artbooks as your own mini portfolios, where you can add up to 9 images per page and then publish them publicly for other players to see both on your profile, as well as in the public gallery.
This new area will let you browse around various Artbooks published by community members. The ability to filter these artbooks by name also opens up the opportunity for running in-game art competitions, both in the form of official and player-run events!
To make communicating with your friends easier while you’re in-game, we’re adding a friends system with direct messaging, custom statuses, a recent player list, and a block list.
Draw & Guess has evolved a lot over the past few years, and we are now at a point where we feel the game's base is in a great place. It was important to us that we focus on creating a solid foundation that feels rewarding, and respectful of players’ time.
Our plan from here is focused on expanding our game modes. In fact, we are already getting started on a brand-new game mode coming later this year.
Last month, we asked you all a simple, but important question: “Should we remove Ink from Draw & Guess?”
Ink is a premium currency we introduced during the revamp of Draw & Guess in 2024 for cosmetic-only characters/skins. We did this in an effort to support the long-term health of the game so that we can continue to support new features and game modes.
This came at a cost; Draw & Guess was no longer a “buy once” game if you truly wanted to access “everything”, even if it was only cosmetics.
To be clear - this poll is not about scaling back development. In fact, the update coming in the next few weeks will be one of our largest feature updates yet (check this post if you haven’t seen the news!
https://drawandguess.com/2026-roadmap/ This release marks the start of a new content-focused set of updates for Draw & Guess, where we will shift our attention to the creation of brand new game modes, further improvements to existing systems, and continued investment into our networking stack, particularly for players in Asia.
Now for the results… 79% of players have voted to remove Ink! So what does that mean now?
For those who have previously acquired Ink, we will be giving away an exclusive skin that will never be obtainable again. Ink Master Wanderer will be released with this update, with three different colour variations based on the amount of Ink acquired. This includes Ink granted during the 2024 update, Steam/Mobile purchases, and competition prizes.
Tier 1: 350-850 Ink
Ink Master Wanderer (Bronze)
Tier 2: 851-1500 Ink
Ink Master Wanderer (Bronze)
Ink Master Wanderer (Silver)
Legacy Ink Badge
Tier 3: 1500+ Ink
Ink Master Wanderer (Bronze)
Ink Master Wanderer (Silver)
Ink Master Wanderer (Blue)
Legacy Ink Badge
Additionally, the in-game shop will be visible for three months for any players with at least 350 Ink, giving a final chance to spend any remaining currency.
The Ink Reward tiers are based on the amount purchased, not the amount held, so if you’ve been holding on to some ink, now is your chance to use it!
The Collection binder will completely replace our in-game character/skin Shop, where you will be able to fill up your binder with characters unlocked from various in-game challenges.
As you can see, some of these characters aren’t fully visible… While most characters will have their criteria visible on their card page, others are top secret, meaning you will have to work together as a community to figure out their unlock conditions!
We wanted to make sure these challenges would give players a reason to explore everything we have to offer in-game, but… as you can see from the “lv 1” text, we also wanted to provide meaningful progression after unlocking their favourite characters by creating a level system.
To make progression feel even juicier, we wanted to find ways to reward you and make the journey feel really good. So, as part of the Ink removal, both Artbooks and additional pages are now completely free to obtain. Better yet, each character has their own unique reward tracks, meaning you can earn up to 16 artbooks + additional pages.
We also wanted to tie in non-event skins as a reward for each character to show off their dedication. Scarlet, AL4N, and Zoe were actually missing non-event skins, so we’re adding three new skins to the game to make sure everyone has something fun to work towards from Day 1 of release.
With that said, we know there are some seriously dedicated Draw & Guess players out there, and we wanted to find a way to reward their effort without any FOMO.
For the most dedicated among you, we are introducing 16 all-new badges, each belonging to a specific character. We think this will be an epic way to show off your in-game dedication to your favourite character!
This update is centred around filling gaps - we want Draw & Guess to be a game that rewards and respects the time of players. By rewarding progression, enriching the community with profiles/social features, and giving more freedom of expression through artbooks/the public gallery, we think this puts us in a much more “complete” state than where we started all those years ago.
Our focus now is on expanding the game itself by introducing more game modes - we’ve heard tons of suggestions for the games you’d like to see, and have some great feedback on the poll we ran last year.
Draw & Guess has come a long way since its initial release in 2021 (does anyone remember our old lobby screen?!), and in that time, we have grown our team to help bring players the best possible experience.
With the next update, we will change the price of Draw & Guess to 4.99 USD/4.99 GBP/25 RMB.
We wanted to avoid a large price change to keep the game cheap/accessible to all players, especially since it’s best enjoyed when you can convince your friends to pick it up too!
This new price will allow us to continue creating new content for Draw & Guess for a long time to come, helping us invest in improved server architecture, create new game modes, and ensure we remain a “Buy once, get everything” game.
With this release, we will also be introducing player profiles, an in-game friend system, direct messaging, and a whole new way to create and share your art with other players through the new Artbook system!
To read more about these new features, check out our 2026 Roadmap blog post over here: https://drawandguess.com/2026-roadmap/
We are excited to enter this next era of Draw & Guess with all of you, and can’t wait to show off all of the things we have cooking in the background.
Draw & Guess has come a long way since its initial release just 5 years ago, with new game modes, a complete visual overhaul, a built-in wordlist browser, match history to review previous games, and the introduction of many beloved characters.
2026 is set to be our most exciting year yet, and to celebrate the start of the Spring Festival, we want to share some of the plans we have for the first half of the year ahead.
Since the release of the visual update, we’ve seen a huge amount of love and support for the characters we’ve introduced to Draw & Guess (we see you Night Lynx Theo fans), though this does come with a caveat: while characters/skins are occasionally earnable from in-game quests during holiday events, they otherwise require in-game purchases of Ink to obtain.
Our plan with this system was to provide long-term sustainability for Draw & Guess so we can continue to deliver new content without the risk of downsizing our team.
This brings us to 2026 - as gamers ourselves, we love games that respect players’ time. The feeling of progression within games just feels good, but the idea of us adding a secondary currency to Draw & Guess feels bad.
So, we want to give you the players the decision on whether you would like to see ALL microtransactions removed from Draw & Guess forever.
If approved, all paid characters would instead be unlocked via visible and hidden achievements. Some characters will be unlocked by reaching certain in-game milestones, while others will be top secret, creating treasure hunts within the community to discover how to complete their character roster.
As you play games as your favourite character, you would be able to earn in-game goodies, including a unique skin and badge for that character. Additionally, seasonal skins (e.g Halloween, Christmas, Spring Festival etc) will be earnable for free during those periods.
This option would also have us completely remove the Shop from Draw & Guess and replace it with a whole new “Collection” page. We’d also remove the ability to gift skins to other players.
Players who have already purchased Ink will keep any characters/skins they have earned, as well as receive an exclusive skin that will not be obtainable in the future, with additional colour variants based on the amount of Ink they have previously purchased as a thank you for their support.
Our priority is to make the best game possible, not the most profitable game possible. In 1line with our values, both as gamers ourselves, and as developers, we want to give you the choice in how we build on Draw & Guess going forward.
Thus, the decision to remove Ink/MTX is entirely yours. With the release of the Spring Festival event, we will also be launching an in-game poll for you to cast your vote on the future of Draw & Guess, with the poll closing at the end of the event.
While we are running this poll, we wanted to avoid offering another Spring Festival Bundle; however, we still want to keep up with our trend of offering an exclusive skin specific to the zodiac year.
In light of this, we will be making all 2026 spring festival skins completely free and earnable during the event.
In either case of the poll result, Snake Spirit Tomoko will remain unobtainable indefinitely, as promised last year.
You’ve been asking us for more ways to express yourself in-game, as well as a way to keep track of the friends you’ve met throughout your time playing.
We’ve listened, and have been cooking up something that takes all of this to the next level, and we’ll be rolling it out shortly after the end of the Spring Festival.
Player expression, especially in a game about… drawing, is an area we want to double down on, by giving more meaningful tools to players to truly customise the way they appear to the rest of the community.
Profiles will feature a short bio area, a choice of any image from your sketchbook, and a badge display for all of the epic achievements you’ve earned throughout your journey.
As part of Profiles, we will also be introducing Artbooks. These are special additions to your Profile that you can acquire either from Ink, or, if the vote for Ink removal passes, will be earned in-game.
Your work will be displayed under the “Artbook” tab on your Profile, with each Artbook having its own unique name, custom cover image, and even a like counter for any visitors.
Each artbook will come with a set number of pages, with you being able to earn additional pages either with Ink, or again, if the Ink removal poll passes, earned as you progress in-game.
But we’re not stopping there! We’re also creating a new public browser for Artbooks called Gallery, where you can browse new and popular Artbooks created by the community, and maybe even dish out some unique rewards.
A full friends system has been something we’ve wanted to adopt in Draw & Guess for some time now, but we didn’t want to rush out a feature that doesn’t give you everything you’ve been asking for.
Alongside Player Profiles and Artbooks, we will also be releasing our fully fledged friends feature as part of the post-Spring Festival update.
You will soon be able to add the friends you already know, and maybe make a few new ones along the way!
The Friends feature will also be released with direct messaging on launch, so you can coordinate your next game without wondering whether your friends are in-game for the next 3 minutes or the next 30.
Our social features will also include a set of safety and moderation tools, allowing you to report and block other players.
Later this year, we will also be introducing a brand new game mode available for free for all players. We’re not ready to go into the full details on this post, but expect more information in the coming months!
Since its initial release in 2021, Draw & Guess has been available for just a couple of dollars in most regions. After 4 years of constant updates and late nights behind the scenes, we feel it’s finally time for a small price bump so we can keep building the game with the care it deserves. We still want Draw & Guess to be easy to pick up for you and your friends, so we’re keeping the increase modest and fair across regions. If you already own Draw & Guess, nothing changes for you, and we’ll give a clear heads-up before the price change goes live.
Our goal for 2026 is to make Draw & Guess feel more personal, more social, and more rewarding than ever, and we can’t wait to show you what else is in store!
Happy Lunar New Year!
We wish you all prosperity, health and good fortune for the entire year of the Horse!
To kick off the new year, we’ve dressed the game for the occasion and invited Lunar Princes Gus, Hachi and AL4N over for a visit! Check out the quest list to see how you can add them to your crew for free!
We’re once again looking at some exciting new changes coming this year of the Horse, and have created a little roadmap for you. On Desktop, find it in the bottom right of Main Menu. On Mobile find it in the top right corner, where the report button used to be. Don’t worry, we still want to hear from you, so you can still report issues or make suggestions via the game settings!
With the beginning of the year of the Horse ends our Launch Party art competition. Thank you everyone for your amazing submissions showing our characters featuring Draw & Guess Mobile in creative ways! It wasn’t easy to pick the top ten from all submissions, but here they are…. -drumroll-
(We will reach out to you to organise shipment of your very own Theo plushie)
俊江
性感36Z少御
Your ink prizes and the badge will be transferred to your accounts in the next few days.
The following players will also receive the exclusive Art Competition Badge for making it into the top 10! Congratulations!
kuoyi // 尿 尿 真 爽 // 火龙果派 // 画画糕手蔡徐坤 // 豪情 // 死人微活 // Bobby
Once again: Congratulations to all winners and a huge thank you to everyone who participated!
May you all fully enjoy the new year celebrations!
Team acureus
Full Update trace:
Preparations for new Event: Lunar New Year 2026
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Make the player count requirements more explicit in game
Switch from a fixed timer for lobby starts to starting a shorter timer whenever enough people have joined a match
\ Immediately display supported player number on each game mode
UI Optimisations
\ Improve reliability of claiming rewards
\ Increase time to come up with a guess when using “custom words” from 15 to 45 seconds
\ Tweaked what color is stored when using the paint-over-eraser
\ Fixed that the multi-line-eraser checked overlap with the draw-position, not the end-position
UI Optimisations
Removed keyboard shortcuts for unavailable tools when using Invisibility modifier
Various Bugfixes
\ Fixed a possible stuck issue in the guess phase
Fixed some button states in main menu
Fixed some animation issues on Lyndel
UI Optimisations
Hey everyone! We’re excited to share with you all that Draw & Guess has officially launched on Android and iOS! https://drawandguess.com/mobile/
We’ve heard many requests over the years that you want to be able to play anytime, anywhere, whether at home, on the train, or with friends.
This mobile version brings the full Draw & Guess experience to your fingertips, complete with access to all our current game modes, Whisper, Stage, Robot, and Battle Royale, together with brand-new quality-of-life improvements tailored for mobile play.
We’ve also brought a few extra updates along with mobile, including a new referral system that rewards you for getting friends involved.
Join our in-game Launch Party event where you can earn some exclusive prizes just for playing!
Gem Gala Mei Skin - Complete 10 rounds of Whisper Launch Party Badge - Play 1 round of Battle Royale Unlock Scarlet - Complete 10 rounds of Stage
We will also be hosting an Art Competition! For full details, please see the following page: https://drawandguess.com/launch-party-art-contest/
This competition will feature the launch of a brand-new badge, which will be awarded exclusively to the top 10 entries during art competitions.
Alongside this update, we are really happy to launch an official Draw & Guess Creator Program - we recognise the creativity and hard work put in by the many content creators that take the time to share their funny moments in Draw & Guess, and we’d like to give back by allowing them to earn a 10% share of any in-game sales made by their viewers! You can find more information here: https://www.nexus.gg/draw-and-guess
Mobile is just the start; we have a ton of huge new features coming early next year, including full player profiles, friends lists, direct messaging, and a huge new feature to share your art with others.
You can also expect brand new game modes throughout 2026, all of which will be delivered in free updates.
We can’t wait to see what you create in Draw & Guess Mobile - download it now on the App Store and Google Play, and start drawing (and guessing)!
Players can now enable the classic background music in the game settings
improve feedback when trying to join a full lobby
players can now re-trigger the AI compatibility check in the game settings
some synchronized changes and preparations along with mobile version
improve RAM usage for the game
Bugfixes
UI Optimisations
Preparation for Halloween: Spooky Skins will return from 17th Oct to 2nd Nov. Remember to check out the shop!
Added a sound for voting result in Whisper game mode
Updating a word list now also updates the author’s name if it was changed
Bugfixes
UI Optimisations
Hey everyone! Shortly after our initial release back in 2021, launching on mobile felt like the next natural step for Draw & Guess. As the game continued to grow, we wanted to take some time to rebuild it from the ground up to ensure DG would be here for the next 10 years, rather than the next 10 months, which led us to our revamp project.
Since the launch of revamp, we’ve added a trust score system to improve the quality of your matches, a dedicated set of tools for content creators with both integrated Twitch support and content moderation, GIF exports for your games, a battle royale robot game mode, and a ton of improvements to the game itself.
After a ton of time cooking in the oven, we’re sooo stoked to finally share that Draw & Guess will finally be coming to mobile this year!
You can pre-register for Draw & Guess: Mobile NOW on iOS and Google Play, with Huawei being available shortly after. For Android users, you can also sign up to be sent a copy of the APK directly if you prefer not to use major stores.
Pre-register here: https://drawandguess.com/mobile/
We will be entering closed beta this MONTH! In the coming month, we will be allowing selected testers to generate their own invites, and we’ll also be sharing some in our Discord and QQ groups. This will help us gradually introduce more testers as we approach our full launch later this year.
Main menu freshened up
New Gu-355 patch with 863 words for Robot and Battle Royal mode
Improved Japanese Kana font
The in-game chat history will now remain in Ending ceremony and lobby
Fix an issue where lobby drawing lines could get lost if host is still in ending ceremony before returning from match to lobby
Fixed a permission bug regarding deletion of lines in lobby drawing
Bugfixes
UI/UX Optimizations
About
This page aggregates Steam news feeds, patch notes, and developer announcements for Draw & Guess, sourced from official Steam community posts.
Major updates, balance changes, and seasonal events often correlate with player-count spikes — cross-reference announcements here with the live charts on the main Draw & Guess statistics page.
Articles link back to Steam for full changelogs. SteamScope refreshes news entries as new posts are published to the game's Steam hub.
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