Meet your inkmate critter: a sidekick that does tricks

If you have spent a minute on the inkmate home page you have probably met your critter: the little doodle in the corner that blinks, bounces and sometimes marches across the screen to tell you something. It started as a mascot and has grown into a sidekick with opinions. This post explains everything it does, so nothing surprises you.

Pick your sidekick

There are six critters to choose from: Fox, Frog, Hedgehog, Ladybug, Otter and Moth. Open "pick your critter" on the inkmate home page, tap the one you like, and it becomes your sidekick everywhere on the site. Your choice is remembered on that device, and each critter speaks in its own ink colour.

It walks over to show you things

Every so often your critter leaves its corner, walks across the page to something worth a look, does a little trick, says its piece in a speech bubble, and walks home. A trick is a hop, a spin, a backflip or a wiggle. If the thing it wants to show you is not on screen, it simply says its line where it stands.

The first trip comes about ten to twenty seconds after the page loads, and later ones follow every half minute or so. It stops after a handful per visit, so it never turns into nagging. Tap the speech bubble and you go straight to what it mentioned.

What it recommends

• A game you have not tried: it stands on that game's tile and asks whether you have played it yet.
• The game you played last, to pick up where you left off.
• A room, when you want to play with someone far away.
• On the room home, a nudge to send your room code to a friend while the room is still empty.
• The game request page, so you can say which game you want drawn next.

You can read more about requests, and about the optional subscription, in our post on inkmate Plus and game requests.

It reacts when you play

On game screens the critter does not wander. It pops up in the bottom corner for a few seconds when something happens, then leaves. It cannot be tapped, so it never gets in the way of a dice roll or a move.

• Always: a win, a loss, a draw, and a cleared Toot Boat level.
• Now and then, never more than once every seven seconds: a six in Ludo, a token sent home or reaching home, a snake or a ladder, a check or a capture in chess, a coin pocketed in carrom, and the clock running out.

It is happy for you when you win and mildly dramatic when you lose. We keep the lines short and the reactions occasional on purpose, so the game stays the star.

Poke it

On the home page the critter is also a toy. Tap it and it squeaks, says something silly and does a trick, and each tap picks the next trick in turn. Hover over a game tile and it comments on that game too. Between trips it fidgets with a small hop or wiggle every few seconds, just to look alive.

Turning the motion down

Not everyone wants things moving around. The "motion" button in the page header switches movement off, and inkmate also follows your device's "reduce motion" setting. With motion off the critter stays put and only speaks, with no walking, tricks or fidgets. The small graphics at the top of our blog posts stop moving too.

tip: Short on patience? Tap the critter a few times to see all four tricks in a row, then pick another sidekick and compare.

Want to see it in action? Head to the inkmate home page, choose your critter, and play a quick game with a friend from a private room.