Incremental game

An incremental game (not to be confused with an Idle Game) is a video game, usually a browser game, that focuses on players performing a simple and repeated action to gain a form of currency. Accrued value is then spent on items to gain an even larger amount of currency. The method to gain more currency may be an increase to the player's income (usually income per second) from each time they perform the action, or a constant income received over time.[1] A common game theme is to have sources of time-based income displayed as "buildings", such as factories or farms. Some incremental games require players to collect multiple currencies to progress through the game.

Incremental games gained popularity in 2013 after the success of the game Cookie Clicker,[1] but Cow Clicker and Candy Box introduced the common aspects of the genre earlier.

Mechanism

Incremental games make use of an operant conditioning chamber, or "Skinner Box," to keep the player entertained by supplying constant and vivid feedback in the form of a reward which usually appears as a number getting larger.

Most incremental games use three basic methods to gain or increase income. The first method, which is also the most common, is for a player to click a button to increase their currency by a set amount. Secondly, the player can purchase units or buildings for the currency they have acquired (ex: Rebuild The Universe). The units or buildings will then automate the process of getting more currency, adding a set amount every second. This is also found in many incremental games. Depending on the game, some buildings may cost upwards of billions, or as low as 1 for the cheapest. In most cases the price of these units will go up as you buy it, usually by an applying constant percent increase to it. Such an increase would follow a linear curve on a logarithmic scale, although the price will quickly increase to the absurd. Thirdly, the player may purchase upgrades for either buildings, manual clicks, or both. These upgrades usually involve increasing how much income a unit will give or lowering the price of the unit. The latter is often done by percent. Clicking upgrades usually give some percent of how much income per second a player has to the player's clicks or by adding a flat increase to it.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sankin, Aaron. "The most addictive new game on the Internet is actually a joke". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 17 June 2014.

External links