A guide to the current development version. Mechanics and balancing may change as the game grows.
The idea
What if the thing you needed was only a sketch away? Project Pencil is a first-person drawing adventure where recognizable shapes become real objects in the world. Discover blueprints, bring your drawings to life, and use them to explore and survive.
Start with Learn to Draw: select a map, then choose Guided lesson for the five-step tutorial or Start practice for free drawing with standard recipes unlocked. Then enter The Missing Author or try multiplayer.
From a sketch to a solution
01 / Discover
Find blueprints to learn new drawings. Story introduces tools as you progress; other modes have their own unlock rules.
02 / Draw
Select your pencil with F. Hold left click and trace a recipe shape. Release and pause for half a second to finish. Close-together strokes combine into one drawing.
03 / Bring it to life
A recognized recipe creates an object. Each successful creation uses 25 drawing energy, which recovers over time.
04 / Make it count
Collect the object with E, then use it in the world. Draw weapons, protection, ammunition, and ways through the environment.
Drawing tips
Recognition uses predefined recipes, rather than turning any image into an object. Moderate tilt and size variation are accepted. Open the guide with B and use V for the tracing outline. Z and X change the selected drawing. R cancels a sketch.
Tools & inventory
Weapons & ammunition
Swords, hammers, bows, and slingshots turn sketches into combat tools. Draw and collect ammunition separately; hold and release to fire a slingshot.
Wearable equipment
Hold an armor item and use it to equip it. Discover equipment such as helmets, armor plates, quivers, and pouches.
Doors & holes
Draw a Door to progress through cleared Story dungeons. World doors and holes are temporary; their placement determines where they open.
Your backpack
Use the four-slot hotbar and eight-slot Backpack. The pencil stays in slot 1. Click two Backpack slots to swap their contents.
Story: The Missing Author
Follow a five-map chapter through The Workshop → The Stacks → The Foundry → The Glasshouse → The Observatory. Collect the first Sword and Door blueprints in the Workshop, then draw your way into the dungeons.
Clear enemies, defeat each guardian, and complete the tool trial before drawing the exit Door. Named maps act as checkpoints. Later areas introduce more tools, leading to the rooftop final encounter at the Observatory.
Reveal the guardians and final encounter
The four dungeon guardians are the Crypt Ogre, Archive Widow, Foundry Toad King, and Glasshouse Reaper. The final rooftop enemy is the Last Eraser, an airborne moth that attacks with volleys and calls guards below half health.
Ways to play
Learn to Draw & Story
Choose a map for a Guided lesson or Start practice. Free practice restores 10 drawing energy per second. Then follow The Missing Author through its connected maps and dungeons.
Defense / 1–5 players
Team up to defend the Spark in cooperative combat. Drawing and preparation help your group survive.
Clash / 2–5 per team
Fight in teams with starting floors assigned between the ground level and rooftop.
Purge / 4–10 players
Be the last survivor in five connected map sections. The safe zone contracts, with no respawns. Eliminated players spectate.
Multiplayer offers local-network and online rooms in configured builds. Everyone needs a matching game version, and the host must stay connected.
Items & drawing recipes
All 30 drawable recipes, plus your permanent Pencil. The names and descriptions below follow the in-game recipe guide. Blueprint availability depends on the mode and your progress.
Permanent
Pencil
Your one permanent tool. Draw an idea into existence.
Weapons
Knife
Quick, close-range strikes.
Karambit
A hooked blade for quick slashes.
Dagger
Draw a triangle on top and one straight line below for the handle. A quick primary slash.
Sword
A balanced blade. Left: slash. Right: smash.
Axe
Heavy blows with a slower recovery.
Sickle
A curved harvesting blade.
Nunchaku
Two colored handles connected by a chain.
Hammer
A heavy overhead smash.
Club
A simple blunt weapon.
Thorn Club
A wooden club with short thorns around its rounded head.
Bat
A round wooden bat with a narrow grip. Long reach and a broad swing.
Slingshot
Consumes marbles from your backpack.
Bow
Draw a D in one stroke. Uses arrows drawn separately.
Bomb
Throw to light a three-second fuse.
Bowling Ball
Falling speed increases impact damage.
Ammunition
Shuriken
Draw a four-point star or a simple cross. Spins and sticks to solid surfaces.
Marble
Adds one marble to your backpack.
Arrows
Draw a straight shaft and both sides of an open arrowhead. No tail feathers needed. Adds one arrow.
Armor
Helm
Equip for 15 armor points.
Armor Plate
Equip for 35 armor points.
Boots
Equip for 15 armor points.
Spring Boots
Five high jumps with no fall damage, then becomes normal boots.
Utilities
Shield
Push enemies back without damage. Stow on your back to use other items.
Pouch
Draw a vase outline with a narrow neck and wide, rounded body. Equip to carry up to 20 marbles.
Quiver
Equip to increase arrow storage from 1 to 20.
Box
Draw a square. A solid step or barricade lasting two minutes.
Door
Draw a rectangle with a small circle inside for the doorknob. Draw near the wall bottom; both doors snap to the floor.
Hole
Draw a circle with an X on a floor or wall within 12 feet. Wall holes pass thrown items but block players. Size follows your drawing; ground floors become pits.
Optional secret recipes
Enable Secret recipes in Settings to reveal their drawing guides.
Secret Bomb
An optional sticky explosive. It sticks on impact; drawing size controls the blast radius.
Clawed Trap
An optional drawn trap, available through the Secret recipes setting.
Mobs & bosses
Meet the seven base enemy types. Health and damage can vary by encounter, so this field guide focuses on attack patterns.
MELEE PURSUER
Ink Wraith
Closes the distance and attacks at close range. Keep moving and watch its windup.
FAST LUNGE
Ink Spider
A faster, smaller enemy that lunges during its attack. Make room before it commits.
RANGED SPITTER
Spitter Toad
A slower creature that fires a ranged shot. Break its line of sight or move out of the projectile’s path.
HEAVY AREA SLAM
Ink Ogre
A tougher melee creature with a ground slam. Get clear of the impact area during the warning.
AREA SLAM
Paper Sentinel
A sentinel that uses the heavy slam attack. Its reach makes standing beside it risky.
THREE-SHOT VOLLEY
Thorn Bloom
Fires three spread projectiles. Use cover and avoid the fan of shots.
FLYING FINAL BOSS
The Last Eraser
An airborne moth that attacks with volleys and calls guards below half health in Story. The rooftop repeaters offer another way to fight back.
Reveal the named campaign guardians
- Crypt Ogre — Heavy slam guardian.
- Archive Widow — Lunging spider guardian.
- Foundry Toad King — Ranged toad guardian.
- Glasshouse Reaper — Melee wraith guardian.
These four dungeon guardians lead to the Last Eraser rooftop encounter.
Quick answers
Can I draw absolutely anything?
The game recognizes a catalog of 30 predefined recipes. Your sketch must match a known shape; it is not an unrestricted image-to-object system.
Why didn’t my drawing appear?
Check that you know the blueprint, have enough drawing energy, and followed its shape. Release the mouse and give the game half a second to recognize it.
Where can I follow development?
Visit Just Poly Games on itch.io for the studio’s updates and available projects.
