#Anyone around who has released a "
charred sparrow
If you have any videos or designs or screenshots - I'd be happy to guide as much as I can. The main thing is really defining your game loops, rewards, and getting early concept tests out so you can make some incremental changes based on user feedback before getting too far in
sly hearth
Steam store, public playtest is available, just click request access and it will automatically grant it:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2695110/Infinite_Forest_Idle/
This is an older video, but it shows the concept pretty well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR8IihgwQZk&t=6s
The basic game loop is:
- Click Adventure
- Game automatically starts killing monsters, every 5 monsters you go up 1 zone, every 5 zones there's a mini-boss, every 25 zones there's a big boss
Monsters drop gear, gear gets better as you get to higher zones. There is 0 interaction required with the game during this time. - When you're done adventuring, you return to town and equip new items and upgrade stats
Then back to adventure
And then people can just let the game run in the background or minimized while doing something else
I've had quite a bit of positive feedback from people who actually tried the game
But I feel like I'm lacking something, maybe just direction, to make my game really successful
charred sparrow
It's cute - I'm on my phone so I can't really play it at the moment. My initial thoughts:
- it has a good clear main loop
- the battles are a little plain with characters fairly stationary, it would be good to spice them up (I.e. sceenshakes, vfx, sfx, more clear rewards)
- a good video on the subject:
https://youtu.be/AJdEqssNZ-U?si=1BBH-cDs7d5q5cWq
The main thing is to make the base game 'pop' and push harder. There is a lot of loud active games now, and cutting through those is a challenge for sure.
Rewards & dialogs
- some people like stories, I'd keep em short and brief. But could be cute
Ui/Ux
- the font is thin and hard to read. I'd make it bold throughout or use a thicker style font
- ui is good, but textured wood can be hard to read on
- animate the UIs a but more, some sfx, make them pop
Monetization:
- it's good to really give them a wow factor for getting into the sales side. Let them unlock some items for free, or something therein
The last thing that comes to mind - is the inner loop. A good example is this game:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/266390/Farm_for_your_Life/
It has several very clear interlocking loops. Right now you have what I'm thinking is crafting. Battling. What other loops can be added? A map that you unlock and breakdown. Or buildings you can build up. Giving people a few micro game types can be good.
One thing lacking in most idle games is the microgame. If they are going to sit and stare - give them a mini game in the center they can play, or ways to influence the game a little bit. It will let you target active and inactive gamers and double the audience.
The biggest thing us to break down the user's into categories.
Hoarders - they like collecting and making things.
Ego minded (streamers, etc). They want cosmetics, and unique designs on their characters.
Strategy people- they want control over abilities and growth.
Passive players - most successful idle games aren't actually simple and idle. They usually have eye candy or visual rewards. Many passive players grew up watching their big brother play, etc. So give them something to reward them watching.
And I'm sure other game player types could fit in here. I'd also really look at letting them customize their character and picking weapons or items
I like to give players 3 choices whenever I can. It let's them make micro strategies. Including 3 different paths or 3 different levels to pick out of. Slay the spire does this well. An active example is gears or war, it usually has at least 2 or 3 active paths you can play. That's quite different from say Halo OG which usually is more of a linear path with obstacles.
sly hearth
thanks 🙂
yeah the visuals are far from done, especially the UI
I was also thinking that just making the idle combat "pop" would be a huge part of making the game a success, haven't really done much with that
and then I can definitely look for some secondary loops to add more gameplay
I'm not very interested in adding active options to the gameplay, since I am specifically making it for people already doing something else
That's also one of my marketing angles, having (big) streamers play my game while in queue, and then just letting it run while they pay their main game
charred sparrow
That's good, it's important to have your plan laid out. Growth is usually just about getting more gamer types interested, and making it fun, and then figuring out how to make it memorable
That said I've only made a few idle games and it's not my main area of expertise, so someone else may also have some good insights for you
sly hearth
yeah I'm not looking for too much detail anyway, just trying to figure out what the main things or features are that I will need to do/add/make really good to make this type of game succeed
charred sparrow
But yeah my main idle game goes against all of what I just shared (its a text only self playing RPG). I made it because I like it that way, so sometimes 'because you want it that way' is all that matters. I had another idle game that did really well and is much more graphical, but I lost interest and I made it back in the blackberry days and didn't want to port it to android and ios. Probably should have though 😄
sly hearth
it's not a real idle game either, maybe even more of an auto battler
one of the main features will be trading between players, currently planning to have the trading happen on Discord and then just send a trade request in-game to each other
that also opens up paid Discord roles for monetization
charred sparrow
Trading is a good idea. If it's a game for passion sake, sometimes it's better to just add a donate link and skip all the monetization work.
I get an unusual number of donations for a doom for VR port I did, I dunno why they donate, but it's appreciated. So donation links can work sometimes too - at least enough to get some coffee monies
sly hearth
nah I'm hoping to turn this into a full-time thing
I'm planning to release the game in a finished but basic state in September this year
But then I want to continue working on it, adding content and features for the coming 5 years or so
languid sable
Im pretty certain there was a cookie clicker variant / clone with a similar premise like 7 years ago
Layout was similar to from what i remember, i dont think they did stats just dps (or clicks per second)
I think people get attached to idle games when theres new characters to unlock, equipment harder to get attached to.
Anyway. I think since a similar game was quite successful in the past i dont see why this couldnt be, as long as theres variations for different monsters in the area and more unlocks besides gear i think it can work
sly hearth
I think people get attached to idle games when theres new characters to unlock, ...
so one of the main thins I should focus on is discovering new things in the game? like new items, skills, monsters, ...
languid sable
I think the 2 biggest priorities should be unlockable and upgradable characters, and second make the enemies interesting.
You could do something like have the player select what area / level they want to enter and have a list of mobs that could appear (chance based) during that
No one will play it for long if ur fighting the same 5 enemies all day with increasig hp bars
sly hearth
yeah I have 40 different monsters atm
planning to add a skill tree to the character
but the main concept is that you play 1 character that you make stronger