I’m a year late but apparently there is a genre of game called idle games
I had heard of Cookie Clicker when it got popular last year but baking cookies and buying grandmas didn’t sound like something I’d care too much about. Fast forward a year, a game named Clicker Heroes was released. This was my first idle game and I’m a little ashamed of how much time I put into it. The thing about idle games though is that the time put in doesn’t require you to be physically there. I would leave the game running over night, check on my progress in the morning and spend my virtual currency on upgrades. Doing this for days in an endless cycle.
The only thing I can think to compare it to is Fable 2, when you purchased real estate and then could come back to the game whenever to collect money from rental properties. I found that just as addictive. The quick reward psychology must do a number on people.
Clicker Heroes was an obsession for four days. After four days I had essentially finished the game three times (these games have no ends, so its hard to quantify what I mean). At this time I decided it was in my best interest to stop playing.
So far I’ve played three of these games (images below). Commonalities include:
- Using the mouse is the primary way to progress at the start.
- Once you have clicked enough you can purchase units that add DPS.
- At one point you will find the the DPS will outweigh your clicking, affectively making clicking pointless.
- This continues until you have had enough or you start over with (usually with some minor benefits)
Now some might call this cheating but to play I use JitBit Macro Recorder. All the power to people who can click non-stop, but my wrists can’t handle the repetitive task.
I think it would be interesting to make one of these as a project one day. No fancy animations, no scrolling, no tile engine, just menu buttons and static art.
