Hello, my name's Grapes and I'm a FairGame player of over 2 years, current run.
It's an unusual multiplayer incremental in that it doesn't have a market, which is generally the multiplayer feature in incremental games, and we've had a lot of markets. FairGame can be described as a race, or series of races in a round, which itself is part of a season; players climb ladders to reach the top and promote on to the next ladder until we reach the final ladder of the round, and promote off it to win. (Players receive points for how "well" they've done in each round; these points accrue over the course of a season but have no effect on gameplay across rounds aside from increasing the number of ladders in rounds.) Part of gameplay is the ability to "shoot" a player from the top of a ladder before they've promoted onto the next, requiring them to start that ladder over again. Shooting is done by gathering grapes from the base of each ladder, grapes produce vinegar which is both defensive and offensive. The game has a number of superficially simple mechanics that, together, ensure that each ladder is unique, and each round is different. Other players' actions can, and will, affect how you must tailor your own strategies for optimal, or sometimes merely adequate, play.
This isn't an advertisement, despite the link. If you've managed not to hear about the game, the link allows you to look at the game and see the mechanics I'm talking about.
Other multiplayer incrementals I've played have been resource gathering with crafting, and selling of either raw resource or crafted products, with the "NPC market" and a further, lesser-used, player market. I've played one game only, one about the tulip mania a few years back, that was an entirely player-generated market working with scarce resources, which was an unusual take on the market concept which is frequently overflowing with resources and highly unbalanced.
My thoughts from playing games of this nature is that building a community is key, it establishes a core of players that waxes and wanes but means that when new players enter the game there's somebody around to walk them through the early game, explain features and strategies, and communities will be the reason players return to your game when the initial wonder at your worldbuilding has worn off. A moderation team is fundamental part of your community; if you don't have them it'll turn into dross in no time so choose carefully (I say as a moderator of communities for decades).
Other thought on multiplayer incrementals is: please, no more markets. Think creatively about how your players can interact - conflict, support, shared goals. And get feedback from your playerbase, they'll let you know what isn't working.
Looking at galaxy.click's user playtime page(topright menu> myplaytime> lastplayed) I was able to remember playing Cat clicker which is small and well done and nostalgic for the incrementals that exist on minecraft hypixel housing.. similar to roblox but not sure to recommend there though as they are a preservation nightmare, could probably reconjure a few. also liked the layout
Also remembered to mention the short game https://klianc.itch.io/clickr-100 , which full disclosure seems to be kindof a rage game but a pathetic and distracted one to where its also normal fun.
Ive been playing cat incremental as well. It requires a LOT of clicking at the start, but I enjoyed it enough to reach end of content. Although I think the last several prestige bonuses are pretty pointless - once you can quickly max out all the cats within each prestige, the remaining prestiges aren't very interesting. Since it's still under active development, that'll hopefully change though
I've been playing NGU Idle ever since I found out I was able to access Kongregate again (I don't have a Steam account). Other than that, I haven't been playing anything that I didn't mention last week.
There's a lot of games on that site, many of which I skimmed over. One of the games which caught my eye (non-incremental) was a game called "HP Atk Def", since the mechanics seemed similar to Tower of the Sorcerer and I had been searching for games like it ever since the discord server for Cavernous introduced me to it and the sub-genre it spawned. I'd say it was easy since stats were not retained between levels and thus you didn't have to think too far. But I liked it, and considered it a nice warm-up since I haven't actually played any other game in the subgenre. Oh, by the way, if you have any other recommendations for games like this let me know (although keep in mind I don't have money or a Steam account, and I can only read English).
I spent more time talking about a non-incremental game than I did about incremental games. I hope that's okay.
NGU is really fun, at least I like what I remember of it yet not sure what to do with that atm.
someone who's a big fan of Tower of the sorcerer is LAWatson who made I wanna Lockpick, and indeed that is the popular iteration of it in puzzle games atm.. yea not even remotely casual though apart from via love of pure math, lots of paradigm shifts at least.. really I am just in kindof a creative rut, it is actually a great game, begging the question of such greatness as predicated on creativeinspiration, notwithstanding..
I've discussed this topic and levied criticisms at common issues I see in this genre in an article called What is Content?. Essentially, I think it's better to have planned out the scope of the game in advance (as I've done for gamedev tree, advent incremental, and Kronos), so that the game feels like it has a proper end. It also sidesteps the issue of having new layers outright replace the earlier gameplay rather than extend it, as is common in games that keep asking themselves what to add next. Basically, planning makes better games.
I haven't made an incremental game and I haven't quite played out a single one for longer than a month, I could make things up and yet I'll just share a perspective I already have on hand:
I have seen people enjoy even scratchy action games, who play a lot of action games because they like the language and find actions they can bring over in pretend from other action games. I have found incremental games the same with the exception that 'time' is in someway more nebulous than moving a character around, though the amount of times I actually feel like I am exercising skill in a incremental game honestly is far from 0 and probably pretty similar.
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Repeating a simpler stage with a later one in mind, being attuned to ups and downs of E notation, reflexively tabbing out and back in, feeling shocked after you closed a game but still try to tab back, projecting to complete a set, deciding to just pile up a resource, deciding at what frequency to prestige, running around and keeping things in mind..
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Went through various thoughts about progress, - feeling like its the spatial component of a game that keeps you from fully leaving an earlier area, even if it may be a arbitrary way of recalling the memory. not sure many games deliberately try to reconjure a prior point in 'the' experience, can imagine devs may well think to do that but yea not sure how often it lands..
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Probably a real answer would be you just have to feel it out, giving an answer here would effect your feelings though, and yet oh well. am not sure what creates a particularly memorable moment and certainly wouldn't say the conclusion.. seem to have really strayed from that perspective, like, sure 'whats behind that ??' but 'whats at the end?' I don't feel like many games actually ask that themself but am kindof blind, so anyway, hope this helps for now! my beautiful content..
Incremental games are kinda nihilistic to me. I find a neat new one and get the rush of making progress, then a few days later the emptiness of it and existence in general hits me and I stop.
I don't think it's a genre you can make meaningful through mechanics. The only way to make it meaningful is through the context/story of it, ie, paperclips, sand castle builder, peter talisman, the mars potato one. And games with a message or story kind of inherently are incompatible with the giant games with months of content and dozens of interconnected systems.
What are your thoughts on the antimatter dimensions reality update? It's a game with months of content, but also added a bit of a narrative as you go through the celestials
This week I have several games previously mentioned in prestige zone limbo, roblox Generator incremental, Calculator evolution, and idle Elemental. I went back to some of them after retrying https://sciencecrafter.github.io/one-potato-incremental/ (infinite prestige esque game) which I had the mood for after deferring to replay the first region of Pokeclicker which is fun.
Also have been playing https://galaxy.click/play/4 after seeing it in the first few numbers of galaxy's links.. 'tree of nerfs' I don't usually find prestige trees colourful enough in some way, still this one is somehow so silly. Its hard to even notice the effect of the nerf upgrades sometimes and I like it feels like the 3d pipe screensaver just verymuch the complicated spaceyness you imagine in a unfolding game. seems it was made very casually but in an act of special genius no doubt.
Also tried Unnamed space idle, got a couple prestiges in yet haven't pulled together a sense of the loops yet and despite wanting a idley game I may just not be relaxed enough for it atm.
Did feel confident to try and revisit the few games I skipped over, https://nagshell.github.io/elemental-inception-incremental/ Alkahistorian #3, the menus I suspect are a unique challenge and yet that is less incrementalish, + because did not internalize the upgrades I would be going for, will take a harder look at it now I think.
Huh, I found OnePotato always crashed on me at some point relatively early in the game (potato 5 or 6?), and the dev has completely abandoned the project. (Source: The dev said it in the game's Discord I was part of)
Huh yes just by luck seeing their release posts on the reddit at one point so not much to offer there.. also yes I painted a bit that one potato does abruptly end having upgrades, never fully crashed for me though that's why I said it can be like Infinite prestige and or like just the first region of Pokeclicker, somewhat arbitrary points to make but I like it
Today I'm too lazy to include links. The games should be one search query away anyway.
I've mainly been playing Idle Elemental this past week. This game is grindy in a fun way. There's always this feeling of having something new to unlocked, and each new unlocked thing introduces new aspects to the previously unlocked things. There's a certain beauty to how these elements interact with each other. The one major thing I don't like about the game is that sometimes it feels like it's forcing me into situations that'll make me desire new elements instead of having said situations naturally arise out of the scaling. The biggest example of this is when new elements are suddenly introduced into the costs for upgrades. It's just a pet peeve of mine. By the way, the game is available on the web and Android. I recommend playing it on Android as the web version can lag considerably.
There's a new round in FairGame, and I'm participating in it. It's a very relaxed round. On web.
I've been checking in more on Gooboo. It has nice ideas though the pacing is a bit too idle for my taste. Web.
I'm also playing Unnamed Space Idle. Web + all major desktop platforms.
I really am feeling lazy today. I only wrote a long description for the first game. Anyways, it's kinda quiet here considering the amount of people who have joined. I see a lot of people here now.
Thanks for sharing idle elemental. I enjoy it so far. Do you know, how fire prestige is supposed to work? I only see the 2 min timer, but there is no way to activate it. Am I missing something?
For that, you first have to unlock metal (get 12 earth) and then spend the metal on activating temporary automation (bottom right corner of each action). Each second of temporary automation contributes to ticking down that timer. If you have multiple active the timer ticks down accordingly faster, so don't be afraid of activating as much temporary automation as you can afford.
Furthermore, the effects of fire prestige only take effect after purchasing the second transcend upgrade in the air tab.
I'll admit it's tough to understand what to do. It wasn't intuitive to me either.
Yay that makes sense. I got my first two "on accident" and wondered, how it works. So "Auto 2m" means "Auto(mate anything for) 2 minutes. Thanks for explaining
All games browser playable unless stated otherwise.
FairGame - a multiplayer incremental. Looks simple but isn't (unless you start late). New rounds start every few days, if you miss the beginning just hang about for a bit, or ask in chat for tactics/strategies.
PedroPascalsTrianglesofPrestige - a game written for the April Fool's game jam last year. Don't let the timer trick you, this game should be completable within 5-6 years.
Louigi Verona's Bliss - I quite like his games and his website has more listed.
Emoji Recycling Centre - also made for this year's April Fool's game jam. It's slow, meditative, thoughtful and one of the best games I've played in a very long time.
Fundamental - I spent ages on the first world trying to do everything in one go. Madness. Someone took me by the hand and gently slapped me around the head and now I'm cranking through it.
Anti-Idle:The Game - Flash standalone, downloadable from the dev's Google drive. This game is the reason I created a Kongregate account back in ... 2011, it appears! 14 years of playing it and still not bored (although I have specific things I do now, such as defeating the Legendary monster in FCG because I do l like a CCG)
Cividlization 3 is out as early access/testing. Get in early!
I am a big fan of Spotky yet only now got far in Calculator Evolution, which has a way wider 'prestige to paradigm shift ratio' than similar games, after interpreting that as relaxing can say it as a nice place. currently on the 11th/79 quantum reset
Also played the new Idle Elemental up to the first prestige, it is well done but it feels kind of hollow, seems like the guiding principle is always having something new. Can talk about I did get the appeal of Super turtle idle in the quests being very influential to the sequencing, this game is similar and got me continuing around pushing the prestige bonus a lot similarly to the end content zone of super turtle but there is a difference between newness and memorability and to replace other games in the latter I want a certain substance thats all. that being said a it is good new creator's game and good newness leveraging reflection
okay, won't overly mention any games I am only planning to play, so there we go
This week, I decided to revisit some games I've played in the past but put on hold. There seems to be a drought of new quality incrementals at the moment.
I loaded up my Trimps save after half a year. There seems to be a lot to explore in this game, but damn does it feel tedious. I quickly remembered why I left it for so long. Web, Steam
Unnamed Space Idle is another game I'm playing. I play this one more frequently than Trimps. I don't have much else to say to say about it other than I like it. Itch.io, Steam
Cardboard convinced me to play FairGame again, this time with more interaction with the community. I definitely feel better about this game now than last time. Please don't reduce me, I'm not the dev I swear. Web
Everyone seems to like Super Turtle Idle, so I'm playing it. I don't get the appeal, and I'm playing it in the hopes that it'll click eventually. Web
I've been playing PPToP2.. and really enjoying it like contender for top one if you passed by it think again https://asteriskman7.github.io/PPToP2/# , right now I am in absolute shambles over it but yes
Have also been playing Generator Incremental which is the roblox game made by someone in the community, it got described as fat free Grass cutting incremental which is accurate because it is just non stop mechanics and even has various types of borderline punishing decision making, https://www.roblox.com/games/16111537752/Generator-Incremental , right now I am getting through about one real prestige layer per session and that seems to be my limit in some way.
PPToP2 is a cracker, isn't it? I'm currently doing the final square (not sure if I have to clear the final block after it). I love asterisk_man's games, they're always an adventure in thinking outside the box.
Proper multi-player support. Where MP is a core part of the game and it's very difficult to play without - I'm not talking a market where players sell resources/goods. This can mean that it's possible that large groups come together to close other players out of the game, but developers have to design around that, and quite possibly design the game to ensure it can't happen.
Game design needs more creativity and exploration, I feel like there's been very little progress at all in the last 25 years. Graphics and music are better, but the core game loop? Same, same, same.
I think the reason why we don't see much multiplayer in incremental games is because incremental games are very much indie projects, and implementing multiplayer is way harder than implementing most incremental mechanics, in both technical and balancing terms.
Not just paying for the server, but even having the technical know-how to integrate the server seamlessly is very difficult and different from most indie incremental game development, which is mostly just JavaScript number crunching and some basic UI stuff.
The loosely interconnected systems part makes me think of kittens game which has the whole religion system that feels like it's own little progression system, as well as gooboo which is funny since you mention it later on. It also makes me think of my own game, Kronos, which is part way through a rewrite but you can check out the TMT version here.
For the resource caps, you might be interested in orb of creation which has a similar system.
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