Incremental game

Incremental games, also called idle games, clicker games or clicking games, are video games whose gameplay consists of the player performing simple actions (such as clicking on the screen) repeatedly to gain currency.^[1] This can be used to obtain items or abilities that increase the rate at which currency accrues.^[2][3]

A common theme is to give the player sources of time-based income displayed as "buildings", such as factories or farms. In some games, even the clicking becomes unnecessary after a time, as the game plays itself, including in the player's absence,^[4] hence the moniker "idle game". Most games feature a reset-based system where the player resets the progress of their game and gain another form of currency. This new currency is normally used to gain global bonuses which does not disappear after a reset, allowing the player to go further than the previous reset.

Incremental games gained popularity in 2013 after the success of Cookie Clicker,^[2] although earlier games such as Cow Clicker and Candy Box were based on the same principles. In 2015, the gaming press observed such games proliferating on the Steam game distribution platform with titles such as Clicker Heroes.^[4]

Nathan Grayson of Kotaku attributed the popularity of idle games to their ability to provide unchallenging distractions that fit easily into a person's daily routine, while using themes and aesthetics of more sophisticated games so as to be appealing to a "core gamer" audience. Grayson also noted that the genre allowed for a wide variety of game mechanics and themes, such as fantasy, sci-fi and erotica, to provide sufficient perceived depth to avoid boring players.^[5]

An article in IGN describes the genre as follows:

Idle Games seem perfectly tuned to provide a never-ending sense of escalation. They're intoxicating because upgrades or items that used to seem impossibly expensive or out of reach rapidly become achievable, and then trivial. It’s all in your rearview mirror before you know it, with a new set of crazy-expensive upgrades ahead. The games are tuned to make you feel both powerful and weak, all at once. They thrive on an addictive feeling of exponential progress.

— Justin Davis, IGN.^[6]

Julien "Orteil" Thiennot (creator of games such as Cookie Clicker) described his own works as "non-games".^[7] In early 2014, Orteil released an early version of Idle Game Maker, a tool allowing customized idle games to be made without coding knowledge.^[8]

References

Incremental games
Games	Adventure Capitalist A Dark Room Bit City Candy Box! Clicker Heroes Cookie Clicker Cow Clicker Egg, Inc.
Category