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I've got like at least three different video game related (but unrelated to each other) posts that I've been half-assedly meaning to write for the past few days or so, but haven't gotten around to it, until now, so I'll start with this shit, I guess. Consider this to be the first of three or however many it ends up being.
So. Idler/Clicker games. They're basically two different terms (notice how both of those redirect to the same page) for the same thing.
Let me just get it out of the way: none of them are actually games. Not really. They're not something you "play," at least not in the traditional sense of "playing" a "video game." The basest essence of them is that you click your mouse to make things happen. Some only register the left mouse button as a click. Some let you click LMB and RMB (and maybe even middle) as separate clicks. Doesn't usually matter where you click, just so you click. Typically, the "thing" that "happens" when you click enough times is that you unlock something or multiple somethings that either make it so that when you click, each click "counts" more, or so that you don't have to click as much or at all anymore, and that's where the idle part comes in. That's the point at which it tends to become simply "stare at the screen watching numbers go up," for the most part. Depending on the "game," it might (or might not) have additional graphics and effects to make the "stare at the screen" stuff a bit more interesting. Or, in many cases, it becomes "minimize/close the 'game' for a while then briefly restore/open it later to check to see how far the numbers have gone up before minimizing/closing it again." Because (some of) these "games" allow you to "progress" even when the "game" isn't in focus or, indeed, even running at all. In the latter case, it just does a calculation based on the time between when you closed the "game" and opened it again to determine how much stuff you "would have" earned had you been "playing" it (sometimes with lessened effect or penalties) and then just gives it to you at that point.
And, yes, with all of that said, I'm putting every instance and variation of "game" and "play" in "quotes," at least in reference to these clickers/idlers, and any instance where they're not is merely an oversight on my part. ¬_¬
So, yeah, anyway... I've kind of gotten into them.
Or rather, I've gotten into them again, I should probably say.
If Linear RPG counts, then that's probably the earliest example and probably the first one I ever "played," over a decade or two ago, however long. More recently, I "played" Cookie Clicker for a while, a few years ago (long enough to get to at least the start of the Grandmapocalyse). And for a brief time when I first got a smartphone, I downloaded a couple of them, though I quickly grew bored with them.
But now, they've drawn me back in. Not those ones in particular, but different ones.
This current phase started with Universal Paperclips, which I saw mentioned in some pages on TVTropes the other day. This one you can actually "finish" in a few hours or so, which is extremely rare for a clicker/idler "game." I think my total "playtime" before I eventually consumed the entire universe with paperclips was something like four and a half hours or so. (I could have started a "new game plus" type of thing by moving on to a new universe, leaving the old one to the "drifters," but I just said nah and consumed everything, ending the "game," since I didn't foresee "playing" it again.)
Since then, I have moved on to some others, on Steam.
At first, I tried AdVenture Capitalist for a bit, since people were saying good things about it, but it didn't really grab me, so I gave up on that one pretty quickly.
The two that I'm currently "playing," so to speak, are Cell to Singularity - Evolution Never Ends and Realm Grinder. Of the two, Cell to Singularity is probably the more interesting, from a conceptual standpoint, but Realm Grinder is the one I've actually spent more time with.
With all of that introduction out of the way, I'll do a couple of brief(-ish) reviews of those two, based on what I've "played" of them so far.
Cell to Singularity. The conceit of this "game" is that it is a "simulation" of the universe, starting with prehistoric Earth, amino acids and DNA, progressing up through flatworms and fish then mammals and eventually mankind, after which comes technology and, finally(?) the "Singularity." When you reach the Singularity the first time (which I've only done once, so far), it basically "crashes" the "simulation" (or, at least, it did the first time, but the "AI" in "control" of the "simulation" claims it should be able to handle future Singularities better). I.e. it resets the "game," but with some new shit unlocked. In addition to this "Primary Simulation," I've also unlocked two others at this point. The first is the "Mesozoic Valley," which involves dinosaurs. I've reset that one several times now via asteroid impact, which levels it up, and leveling it up apparently unlocks additional stuff in the "primary sim." The second is "Beyond," which involves the solar system (and, I assume, eventually, beyond that, though I've only gotten as far as the asteroid belt, so far). If there are other such secondary simulations besides those, I haven't unlocked them yet. At this point, I'm basically only loading that one up for a few minutes at a time, just to spend whatever currency/resources that have accrued in each simulation since the last time I did so, then closing it again.
Realm Grinder. (I'd actually "played" this one before, a year or two ago, but very quickly gave up on it, though I've now "played" it for far longer than I did back then.) In this one, you're a king, running a kingdom. And... that's pretty much it. You click on buildings in a menu to build them. You click on upgrades in a menu to upgrade shit. Eventually, once you've earned some gems, you Abdicate, which resets the "game," but gives you bonuses based on how many gems you've gained and makes it easier to earn more gems. Then, when you have enough gems, you can Reincarnate, which resets the "game" in a different way, and also returns your gems back to zero, but gives you additional bonuses based on how many times you reincarnate. I've only reincarnated once, so far. I hear that an additional thing called Ascension happens later on, though I'm nowhere remotely near that yet. During each kingdom, you can ally with a faction, which gives you spells and bonuses. There are three good factions (fairies, elves, and angels) and three evil factions (goblins, undead, and demons) and, eventually, three neutral factions (titans, druids, and faceless [basically Cthulhu like beings]), and even later, three "prestige" factions (dwarves, drow, and dragons [I'm nowhere remotely close to unlocking dragons yet, though I've already unlocked the other two]) which only interface with the previous factions (dwarves with good, drow with evil, and dragons with neutral) rather than being their own thing, and also, apparently an additional mercenary faction that I haven't unlocked yet. I've unlocked the ability to do Excavations, which is basically just clicking a button to use up a shit-ton of money for the chance to get Faction Coins (used in conjunction with the above factions), Rubies (the otherwise "for real money" currency), or Artifacts (individual things that may or may not provide in-"game" bonuses). There is also, apparently, the ability to research stuff, which unlocks at some point I haven't reached yet. Probably the weirdest/funniest/most interesting thing about this "game" is all the secret "trophies" you unlock, most of which have some sort of in-"game" bonus, for doing weird shit like, e.g., for having exactly 1337 gold, or for spending five minutes doing absolutely nothing after an abdication, or for looking at the changelog screen for three minutes, or for leaving the game closed for 36 consecutive realtime hours (all of which I've unlocked at this point). Or, you know, for more normal stuff like building a certain number of buildings, or for unlocking all of a faction's upgrades, or for clicking a certain number of times, stuff that you'd typically do in the course of "playing" it.
(EDIT)
And... yeah... already uninstalled Realm Grinder at least. I made it to the second Reincarnation, but those continue into the hundreds, and I wasn't looking forward to spending literal realtime days on research or whatever, which I hadn't even unlocked yet but had read about on the wiki and such, so I just gave up on it. Only thing I'll really miss is the Evil theme (especially when the organs kick in). Though the Neutral theme is pretty good, too (not to be confused with the initial "neutral" theme you get when you first start, before picking a side). The Good theme is a bit bland, though.
I still have Cell to Singularity installed and may pop into that still, occasionally. It doesn't seem to require as much babysitting as Realm Grinder did, at least.
I also briefly tried NGU IDLE after writing this post, but it's kind of lame, honestly. Too "meme"-y for my tastes. I made it as far as the inspired by/ripped off from EarthBound "I am the third strongest" mole boss and just rolled my eyes and exited out. One of the earlier bosses was a Terminator T-800. Prior to that, you were fighting stupid shit like sofas and refrigerators and cheese and literal piles of shit.
(/EDIT)
So... yeah... I have no idea how much longer these things will hold my interest at all. Probably not for much longer, outside of the occasional pop in to see how much shit has built up over time. If even that much. And I will say this, too: the grand total amount of real world money that I have spent on any of these is a resounding $0, and will never go higher than that. This includes any initial purchase price, because if they'd had one, I wouldn't be writing about them here and now. Most of these "games" certainly want you to spend real world money on them, of course, and some are more obnoxious about it than others, but that's a big "Nah, I'm good" from me, overall.
And that's the first of (at least) three video game related posts I've been meaning to make. Dunno when I'll get around to the others. Might be today or might not be for another week or three or might be never. *shrug*
So. Idler/Clicker games. They're basically two different terms (notice how both of those redirect to the same page) for the same thing.
Let me just get it out of the way: none of them are actually games. Not really. They're not something you "play," at least not in the traditional sense of "playing" a "video game." The basest essence of them is that you click your mouse to make things happen. Some only register the left mouse button as a click. Some let you click LMB and RMB (and maybe even middle) as separate clicks. Doesn't usually matter where you click, just so you click. Typically, the "thing" that "happens" when you click enough times is that you unlock something or multiple somethings that either make it so that when you click, each click "counts" more, or so that you don't have to click as much or at all anymore, and that's where the idle part comes in. That's the point at which it tends to become simply "stare at the screen watching numbers go up," for the most part. Depending on the "game," it might (or might not) have additional graphics and effects to make the "stare at the screen" stuff a bit more interesting. Or, in many cases, it becomes "minimize/close the 'game' for a while then briefly restore/open it later to check to see how far the numbers have gone up before minimizing/closing it again." Because (some of) these "games" allow you to "progress" even when the "game" isn't in focus or, indeed, even running at all. In the latter case, it just does a calculation based on the time between when you closed the "game" and opened it again to determine how much stuff you "would have" earned had you been "playing" it (sometimes with lessened effect or penalties) and then just gives it to you at that point.
And, yes, with all of that said, I'm putting every instance and variation of "game" and "play" in "quotes," at least in reference to these clickers/idlers, and any instance where they're not is merely an oversight on my part. ¬_¬
So, yeah, anyway... I've kind of gotten into them.
Or rather, I've gotten into them again, I should probably say.
If Linear RPG counts, then that's probably the earliest example and probably the first one I ever "played," over a decade or two ago, however long. More recently, I "played" Cookie Clicker for a while, a few years ago (long enough to get to at least the start of the Grandmapocalyse). And for a brief time when I first got a smartphone, I downloaded a couple of them, though I quickly grew bored with them.
But now, they've drawn me back in. Not those ones in particular, but different ones.
This current phase started with Universal Paperclips, which I saw mentioned in some pages on TVTropes the other day. This one you can actually "finish" in a few hours or so, which is extremely rare for a clicker/idler "game." I think my total "playtime" before I eventually consumed the entire universe with paperclips was something like four and a half hours or so. (I could have started a "new game plus" type of thing by moving on to a new universe, leaving the old one to the "drifters," but I just said nah and consumed everything, ending the "game," since I didn't foresee "playing" it again.)
Since then, I have moved on to some others, on Steam.
At first, I tried AdVenture Capitalist for a bit, since people were saying good things about it, but it didn't really grab me, so I gave up on that one pretty quickly.
The two that I'm currently "playing," so to speak, are Cell to Singularity - Evolution Never Ends and Realm Grinder. Of the two, Cell to Singularity is probably the more interesting, from a conceptual standpoint, but Realm Grinder is the one I've actually spent more time with.
With all of that introduction out of the way, I'll do a couple of brief(-ish) reviews of those two, based on what I've "played" of them so far.
Cell to Singularity. The conceit of this "game" is that it is a "simulation" of the universe, starting with prehistoric Earth, amino acids and DNA, progressing up through flatworms and fish then mammals and eventually mankind, after which comes technology and, finally(?) the "Singularity." When you reach the Singularity the first time (which I've only done once, so far), it basically "crashes" the "simulation" (or, at least, it did the first time, but the "AI" in "control" of the "simulation" claims it should be able to handle future Singularities better). I.e. it resets the "game," but with some new shit unlocked. In addition to this "Primary Simulation," I've also unlocked two others at this point. The first is the "Mesozoic Valley," which involves dinosaurs. I've reset that one several times now via asteroid impact, which levels it up, and leveling it up apparently unlocks additional stuff in the "primary sim." The second is "Beyond," which involves the solar system (and, I assume, eventually, beyond that, though I've only gotten as far as the asteroid belt, so far). If there are other such secondary simulations besides those, I haven't unlocked them yet. At this point, I'm basically only loading that one up for a few minutes at a time, just to spend whatever currency/resources that have accrued in each simulation since the last time I did so, then closing it again.
Realm Grinder. (I'd actually "played" this one before, a year or two ago, but very quickly gave up on it, though I've now "played" it for far longer than I did back then.) In this one, you're a king, running a kingdom. And... that's pretty much it. You click on buildings in a menu to build them. You click on upgrades in a menu to upgrade shit. Eventually, once you've earned some gems, you Abdicate, which resets the "game," but gives you bonuses based on how many gems you've gained and makes it easier to earn more gems. Then, when you have enough gems, you can Reincarnate, which resets the "game" in a different way, and also returns your gems back to zero, but gives you additional bonuses based on how many times you reincarnate. I've only reincarnated once, so far. I hear that an additional thing called Ascension happens later on, though I'm nowhere remotely near that yet. During each kingdom, you can ally with a faction, which gives you spells and bonuses. There are three good factions (fairies, elves, and angels) and three evil factions (goblins, undead, and demons) and, eventually, three neutral factions (titans, druids, and faceless [basically Cthulhu like beings]), and even later, three "prestige" factions (dwarves, drow, and dragons [I'm nowhere remotely close to unlocking dragons yet, though I've already unlocked the other two]) which only interface with the previous factions (dwarves with good, drow with evil, and dragons with neutral) rather than being their own thing, and also, apparently an additional mercenary faction that I haven't unlocked yet. I've unlocked the ability to do Excavations, which is basically just clicking a button to use up a shit-ton of money for the chance to get Faction Coins (used in conjunction with the above factions), Rubies (the otherwise "for real money" currency), or Artifacts (individual things that may or may not provide in-"game" bonuses). There is also, apparently, the ability to research stuff, which unlocks at some point I haven't reached yet. Probably the weirdest/funniest/most interesting thing about this "game" is all the secret "trophies" you unlock, most of which have some sort of in-"game" bonus, for doing weird shit like, e.g., for having exactly 1337 gold, or for spending five minutes doing absolutely nothing after an abdication, or for looking at the changelog screen for three minutes, or for leaving the game closed for 36 consecutive realtime hours (all of which I've unlocked at this point). Or, you know, for more normal stuff like building a certain number of buildings, or for unlocking all of a faction's upgrades, or for clicking a certain number of times, stuff that you'd typically do in the course of "playing" it.
(EDIT)
And... yeah... already uninstalled Realm Grinder at least. I made it to the second Reincarnation, but those continue into the hundreds, and I wasn't looking forward to spending literal realtime days on research or whatever, which I hadn't even unlocked yet but had read about on the wiki and such, so I just gave up on it. Only thing I'll really miss is the Evil theme (especially when the organs kick in). Though the Neutral theme is pretty good, too (not to be confused with the initial "neutral" theme you get when you first start, before picking a side). The Good theme is a bit bland, though.
I still have Cell to Singularity installed and may pop into that still, occasionally. It doesn't seem to require as much babysitting as Realm Grinder did, at least.
I also briefly tried NGU IDLE after writing this post, but it's kind of lame, honestly. Too "meme"-y for my tastes. I made it as far as the inspired by/ripped off from EarthBound "I am the third strongest" mole boss and just rolled my eyes and exited out. One of the earlier bosses was a Terminator T-800. Prior to that, you were fighting stupid shit like sofas and refrigerators and cheese and literal piles of shit.
(/EDIT)
So... yeah... I have no idea how much longer these things will hold my interest at all. Probably not for much longer, outside of the occasional pop in to see how much shit has built up over time. If even that much. And I will say this, too: the grand total amount of real world money that I have spent on any of these is a resounding $0, and will never go higher than that. This includes any initial purchase price, because if they'd had one, I wouldn't be writing about them here and now. Most of these "games" certainly want you to spend real world money on them, of course, and some are more obnoxious about it than others, but that's a big "Nah, I'm good" from me, overall.
And that's the first of (at least) three video game related posts I've been meaning to make. Dunno when I'll get around to the others. Might be today or might not be for another week or three or might be never. *shrug*
