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How to Make an Idle Game?

Millions of people worldwide play idle games 24/7 on their mobile devices and PCs. This type of online game is righteously considered one of the trendiest in 2022. Thousands of games exist. New idle gaming products are launched almost daily. Is it hard to create a clicker game? Let us figure it out.

What skills do you need?

Clickers are often referred to as casual games as they do not require the development of any special skills. In any idle game, a player must perform simple actions, such as repeatedly pressing a button, which gave rise to the term “clicker” to generate in-game currency and manage automatic processes.

Clicker games do not require large development costs and usually bring huge profits. However, you will need to choose the right target audience and come up with exciting mechanics that can compete with the best examples of the genre.

To create an idle game, a developer needs to have average programming skills on different platforms. It usually takes from one to four days to create a quality idle game. Plenty of tools can be used to make a clicker. Unreal Engine and Unity are the most popular engines used by the majority of developers of idle games. You also should decide if you need a backend. As a rule, clickers do not take up much space and are stored on a user's device. If you still need a backend, you can create an idle game using Ruby on Rails or Python.

What to think about while making an idle game?

Before starting programming your first clicker game, you need to decide on the following simple points:

  • Think about why and what a user should click on. Answer: A user should click anywhere on the screen.
  • What should happen when a gamer clicks? Answer: when clicked, the object should change.
  • What should happen if a gamer doesn’t click? Answer: if a gamer doesn’t click, he/she loses.

Choose a unique theme

Like any casual game, your idle game must have a catchy theme. It should attract new users instantly and provide them with a pleasant gaming experience. For example, Cookies Inc. is a clicker where gamers should build a manufacturing empire. The gameplay of Cookie is similar to most other examples of the genre. However, the vivid theme makes it stand out from competition.

Additionally, the theme of your clicker game should be familiar to the potential audience so that people quickly understand its essence. It is recommended that you check out such popular examples of thematic clickers as Bitcoin Billionaire or Miner Tycoon. The goals of these games are understandable even from their title.

Now, you know the basic principles of how to make a simple idle game. If you have the corresponding knowledge, time, and inclination, you can start creating your idle game right now. This market is very diverse. You can spend some time learning to develop idle games and earn good cash shortly.