What are your thoughts on multiplayer incremental games?

cardboardempress Global Mod , 3 months ago

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.