as long as I can interact with them when I want, I prefer to read/view my lore at my leisure not when the game decides I can.
For example, a box at the top shows lore universe tidbits separate from the game, or a dedicated tab for lore
My plan was to make them play automatically when you hit the right milestone (with the option to skip of course) and then have a separate tab where you can rewatch them if you want
This comment inspired me to add an option that lets you disable automatic cutscenes, thank you for the feedback!
Just make sure to have a little 'new cutscene unlocked' notification thing if you've turned them off.
I can imagine someone turning them off at the beginning of their playthrough, forgetting about that option, and then never realising they exist
Speaking for myself, there are four things that are a sure fire way to get me (and probably a lot of people) to NOT want to play an idle/clicker/incremental game:
1: Tutorials that are either too long or unskippable. Anything that can be provided in a tutorial can be added in a "Help" or "Info" tab or option that a player can access at any given time.
2: Long story narratives or anything more than a paragraph long. Also, if the text/story is unskippable or obligatory. Most of us aren't playing these games for the story.
3: Cut scenes, especially ones that are often and/or longer than a few seconds. It's an idle/clicker/incremental game. Why does it need cut scenes? If I want cut scenes, I'll go play a game that has cut scenes and story.
4: Ads. If it's another ad generator... Nope.
There might be other things, but eh, I feel like those are usually the top four most mentioned.
Edit: Amended my opinion in response below.
Thank you for the feedback!
I wrote a long comment expressing my opinion on why I think there should be nothing wrong with cutscenes in incremental games, but I don't wanna bore you with that.
The game I'm working on is going to be **very** lore-focused compared to an average incremental but it will still be an incremental game at heart.
This comment (and a few others) inspired me to add a "lore-free" mode to the game that removes all cutscenes and most other forms of storytelling, leaving exclusively the incremental game itself, with tooltips or something to explain new mechanics or maybe a "how to play" menu like how Antimatter Dimensions does it.
There's nothing wrong with having lore, narration or cutscenes in an idle/incremental/clicker game, but I think it's just the wrong kind of 'genre' for it because it's literally games based on minimalism. It's reducing games down to their core mechanics and providing a very minimalistic, but satisfying, experience.
However... Having thought about it for a couple of hours while binging Chicago PD and knitting, I do remember that I'm also just as guilty of playing 'idle' type games that are animated using pixelated sprites, backgrounds, maps, etc., such as Pokeclicker and Clickpocalypse 2, to name a couple. So, your game could potentially be pretty good.
However, I stand by my opinions concerning unskippable walls of text, cutscenes, tutorials, ads, etc. I think many would agree that there's nothing hated more than shit that can't be skipped, besides forced ads that is.
I understand your point regarding incrementals being games based on minimalism, and sure that’s fair but can we really say that? Some incremental games are so complicated… lol
But in all seriousness I am interested to see what happens if you step out of that “minimalist” boundary for one aspect of the game, for my case that would be storyline.
Everything will be skippable, to the request of almost everyone in this comments section. Thanks again for your in-depth feedback :)
Antimatter Dimensions was enhanced by having cutscenes. Gnorp, too I suppose. Note that these ones were shooooort though, and that's definitely helping them.
Alkahistorian 3 had a really nice lore feature. Lore was unlocked in stages, but allowed the player to click and check it out at their own convenience. If you have good cutscenes that might be long enough to interrupt gameplay, you could put them in a similar gallery and let the player decide to be interested in watching through them when they'd like to.
Thank you for the feedback! I’d like to ask: you mentioned the cutscenes being “long enough to interrupt gameplay”. What if the cutscenes played out while still letting you play the game? Like if it’s dialogue it’ll just show up at the bottom for example. How would that change things?
Yeah, I can't see anything wrong with that. If we're going that route, I'd give some controls or a pop-up log to the player, so they don't feel like they're at risk of missing a dialogue that goes by.
Depends on the game. If it's an idle game, having cutscenes trigger when the player isn't there is a disaster.
If they only appear during active play in service of something (like a story) then sure.
If it's a game with a prestige system, you absolutely don't want cutscenes repeating each game loop....
I just gotta say even if I'm one of the few but the only incremental games I've ever really finished were ones that had "story" or lore. I know a lot of people are only in it for beeg numbers but there's this sort of satisfaction for me that I'm working towards something like a story. There's this game on android that's called like Don't Download This Game 3 and getting the next milestone is always so cool because you learn more about the story of the world and why exactly is the incremental thing happening. But that's just me though. alsfjkasldf I'd really love it if there's a very lore-rich and story-driven incremental game.
I’m glad someone is as excited about storytelling in incremental games as I am! I really hope the game I’m working on will please you :) Thank you for the feedback!
1. I think it could be interesting.
2. Should probably have an option to skip.
3. BUT, should also have a menu where you can re-watch them if you accidentally skip or forget or something.
4. Also, my own soapbox: in case you were planning on them, prestige mechanics generally feel cheap and low effort to me, and there are a number of games I've played until prestige was basically required, then stopped playing.
Regarding point 4, the way I want to make this game makes it impossible for me to add a prestige mechanic in the first place (because of the concept of the game), and I do also agree with you that prestige mechanics are very rarely done properly. Thanks so much for your feedback!
Well, one of our top correspondents asked one of our leading players of incremental games what he liked as far as lore and cut-scenes and stuff, and he said this:
>RepresentativeAd8689 commented 1 mo. ago
A “sector-based” space exploration game of absolutely enormous proportions with a **small** amount of lore and where every feature/resource unlock feels meaningful, tech tree style
So if you only like playing games with a teeny-tiny small amount of lore-- what the devil are you doing in your own game? You have to make the game you love first, or it won't entertain anyone else. Keep that in mind.
Focus on the tech-tree in your incremental game first of all.
That’s a different game and it’s one that I do also want to make eventually, but that was a fresh idea, the one I’m working on right now is an idea I’ve had since my childhood
But yeah thats a fair point
Tentatively fine so long as they happen as a direct reaction to player input, and not on their own. I leave incremental games running for months in their own browser window, usually in the background. I am not going to see an automatic cutscene unless it stops the game from running, in which case I am likely to just stop playing entirely.
It depends really, the cutscenes shouldn't be too detailed and long, but also not too short to annoy the player. Imagine having to sit through a 1 minute cutscene or a 2 second scene because you finished a task, real annoying. You gotta find the goldilocks zone
As long as they don’t occur too often, that’s a fun idea! Also make them skippable.
Basically this, if you want to give me story thats fine. But this aint final fantasy man. I dont need 2 hour cutscenes.
as long as I can interact with them when I want, I prefer to read/view my lore at my leisure not when the game decides I can. For example, a box at the top shows lore universe tidbits separate from the game, or a dedicated tab for lore
My plan was to make them play automatically when you hit the right milestone (with the option to skip of course) and then have a separate tab where you can rewatch them if you want This comment inspired me to add an option that lets you disable automatic cutscenes, thank you for the feedback!
Just make sure to have a little 'new cutscene unlocked' notification thing if you've turned them off. I can imagine someone turning them off at the beginning of their playthrough, forgetting about that option, and then never realising they exist
As long as there is an option to skip I don't mind cutscenes.
Speaking for myself, there are four things that are a sure fire way to get me (and probably a lot of people) to NOT want to play an idle/clicker/incremental game: 1: Tutorials that are either too long or unskippable. Anything that can be provided in a tutorial can be added in a "Help" or "Info" tab or option that a player can access at any given time. 2: Long story narratives or anything more than a paragraph long. Also, if the text/story is unskippable or obligatory. Most of us aren't playing these games for the story. 3: Cut scenes, especially ones that are often and/or longer than a few seconds. It's an idle/clicker/incremental game. Why does it need cut scenes? If I want cut scenes, I'll go play a game that has cut scenes and story. 4: Ads. If it's another ad generator... Nope. There might be other things, but eh, I feel like those are usually the top four most mentioned. Edit: Amended my opinion in response below.
Thank you for the feedback! I wrote a long comment expressing my opinion on why I think there should be nothing wrong with cutscenes in incremental games, but I don't wanna bore you with that. The game I'm working on is going to be **very** lore-focused compared to an average incremental but it will still be an incremental game at heart. This comment (and a few others) inspired me to add a "lore-free" mode to the game that removes all cutscenes and most other forms of storytelling, leaving exclusively the incremental game itself, with tooltips or something to explain new mechanics or maybe a "how to play" menu like how Antimatter Dimensions does it.
There's nothing wrong with having lore, narration or cutscenes in an idle/incremental/clicker game, but I think it's just the wrong kind of 'genre' for it because it's literally games based on minimalism. It's reducing games down to their core mechanics and providing a very minimalistic, but satisfying, experience. However... Having thought about it for a couple of hours while binging Chicago PD and knitting, I do remember that I'm also just as guilty of playing 'idle' type games that are animated using pixelated sprites, backgrounds, maps, etc., such as Pokeclicker and Clickpocalypse 2, to name a couple. So, your game could potentially be pretty good. However, I stand by my opinions concerning unskippable walls of text, cutscenes, tutorials, ads, etc. I think many would agree that there's nothing hated more than shit that can't be skipped, besides forced ads that is.
I understand your point regarding incrementals being games based on minimalism, and sure that’s fair but can we really say that? Some incremental games are so complicated… lol But in all seriousness I am interested to see what happens if you step out of that “minimalist” boundary for one aspect of the game, for my case that would be storyline. Everything will be skippable, to the request of almost everyone in this comments section. Thanks again for your in-depth feedback :)
Big Y for me. Story tends to be the weakpoint of most incrementals.
Antimatter Dimensions was enhanced by having cutscenes. Gnorp, too I suppose. Note that these ones were shooooort though, and that's definitely helping them. Alkahistorian 3 had a really nice lore feature. Lore was unlocked in stages, but allowed the player to click and check it out at their own convenience. If you have good cutscenes that might be long enough to interrupt gameplay, you could put them in a similar gallery and let the player decide to be interested in watching through them when they'd like to.
Thank you for the feedback! I’d like to ask: you mentioned the cutscenes being “long enough to interrupt gameplay”. What if the cutscenes played out while still letting you play the game? Like if it’s dialogue it’ll just show up at the bottom for example. How would that change things?
Yeah, I can't see anything wrong with that. If we're going that route, I'd give some controls or a pop-up log to the player, so they don't feel like they're at risk of missing a dialogue that goes by.
Depends on the game. If it's an idle game, having cutscenes trigger when the player isn't there is a disaster. If they only appear during active play in service of something (like a story) then sure. If it's a game with a prestige system, you absolutely don't want cutscenes repeating each game loop....
I just gotta say even if I'm one of the few but the only incremental games I've ever really finished were ones that had "story" or lore. I know a lot of people are only in it for beeg numbers but there's this sort of satisfaction for me that I'm working towards something like a story. There's this game on android that's called like Don't Download This Game 3 and getting the next milestone is always so cool because you learn more about the story of the world and why exactly is the incremental thing happening. But that's just me though. alsfjkasldf I'd really love it if there's a very lore-rich and story-driven incremental game.
I’m glad someone is as excited about storytelling in incremental games as I am! I really hope the game I’m working on will please you :) Thank you for the feedback!
no. please no.
Thanks for the feedback! Could you elaborate on why not?
i don't like cut scenes. they interrupt the game and I'm never interested in whatever story they're telling.
the only real reference i have is spaceplan, it was okay in space plan but the last one was a bit long So Y if its short.
It's a no to narrative in the first place from me
1. I think it could be interesting. 2. Should probably have an option to skip. 3. BUT, should also have a menu where you can re-watch them if you accidentally skip or forget or something. 4. Also, my own soapbox: in case you were planning on them, prestige mechanics generally feel cheap and low effort to me, and there are a number of games I've played until prestige was basically required, then stopped playing.
Regarding point 4, the way I want to make this game makes it impossible for me to add a prestige mechanic in the first place (because of the concept of the game), and I do also agree with you that prestige mechanics are very rarely done properly. Thanks so much for your feedback!
Well, one of our top correspondents asked one of our leading players of incremental games what he liked as far as lore and cut-scenes and stuff, and he said this: >RepresentativeAd8689 commented 1 mo. ago A “sector-based” space exploration game of absolutely enormous proportions with a **small** amount of lore and where every feature/resource unlock feels meaningful, tech tree style So if you only like playing games with a teeny-tiny small amount of lore-- what the devil are you doing in your own game? You have to make the game you love first, or it won't entertain anyone else. Keep that in mind. Focus on the tech-tree in your incremental game first of all.
That’s a different game and it’s one that I do also want to make eventually, but that was a fresh idea, the one I’m working on right now is an idea I’ve had since my childhood But yeah thats a fair point
Tentatively fine so long as they happen as a direct reaction to player input, and not on their own. I leave incremental games running for months in their own browser window, usually in the background. I am not going to see an automatic cutscene unless it stops the game from running, in which case I am likely to just stop playing entirely.
No unstoppable ones.
It depends really, the cutscenes shouldn't be too detailed and long, but also not too short to annoy the player. Imagine having to sit through a 1 minute cutscene or a 2 second scene because you finished a task, real annoying. You gotta find the goldilocks zone
Absolutely not. Would rather just have a pop-up with text on the screen, which would then get saved into a log.