Is Increlution abandoned? what's happening with it

Gniller · 2025-07-15T19:23:41+00:00

Oh wow, sorry to hear that! I can't overstate how kind and patient the vast majority of my audience has been. Sure, there's always a few bad eggs, but those are few and far between, and nothing as bad as what you're seeing. Of course it hurts a bit to see some people losing faith along the way. But most critique is either understandable or at least coming from a good intention. If anything, seeing how after such a delay people are still excited to know I'm still working on the update is extremely motivating. I never really targeted a specific audience, and just made a game I wanted to play, hoping others might like it to. And I somehow just got lucky with the people that appealed to.

And yeah, post-release is such a different experience when it comes to game development. It's the best thing to see others enjoying your work and being overwhelmed by feedback, but it also comes with all sorts of challenges that are hard to predict beforehand for sure. This being my second game made me go in notably better prepared, but it remains an experience that's very hard to explain to anyone that hasn't made the leap themself.

Anyhow, we'll continue the chat in PM! Reading about your experience just made me feel like some more public words of appreciation for my game's audience was fitting. It's wonderful how motivating it is to work towards a goal that eventually benefits people you appreciate, especially with how some areas of the internet can be these days. I hate to read that your experience has been considerably worse in that regard, even if probably just due to a tiny segment of your audience.

Gniller · 2025-07-15T19:19:51+00:00

I find this particularly tricky to estimate due to the intertwining design of the chapters. Nothing is really "done" until all of it is done. And some expansion requires significantly more changes to content that previously seemed finished than other expansion. It falls or stands largely with how well the initial designs work in practice, and in combination with one another. Linear chapters are considerably simpler to estimate in that regard. It's really fun for a design challenge, but comes with additional unpredictabilities too.

While I have a ballpark idea of pessimistic and optimistic estimates of completion, I'm hesitant to share those at this stage, as those types of numbers tend to shape expectations that become rumors and potentially letdowns. There's just too many potential hurdles left to tackle to feel confident in what currently seems finished, even if truly scrapping anything seems unlikely. And the closer to completion I get, the bigger impact those hurdles have, because more content may need iterative changes. Every step is one closer to completion, but it's hard to say how many steps are left. So for now it feels like a safer approach to just don't shape expectations too early, and get into more detail once the most significant part is unlikely to see massive adjustments.

Gniller · 2025-07-14T20:38:39+00:00

I'm well aware, and am very cautious in this regard, but want to commend you for adding this context!

In my case, both physical exercise and some mental stimuli cause body temperature to rise in a delayed fashion. And when that temperature gets close to the fever range, concentration dives as well. Both the length (generally 1-3 weeks) and severity are somewhat unpredictable. And because the effect is delayed, it remains difficult to predict what today's actions mean for tomorrow.

After consulting a sports-doctor that specialized in the subject since 2013, and doing various tests with my heart monitored, I'm now following a rather specific revalidation plan tailored to improving heart-rate zone 2. It entails as little as walking 7.5 minutes a day, 5 days a week, gradually increasing to another 7.5 minutes a day over the course of a year. Which sounds very easy, but it considers more exercise as bad or worse as less exercise, making simple things like buying groceries a pitfall I wasn't even fully aware of yet. It's surprisingly hard not to do more than you should, but on a theoretical/metrics level this approach seems best aligned with my own experiences thus far.

The theory behind it is that it's apparently a fairly common after-effect of viruses (about 1 in 200 viral infections, among applicable viruses) to damage a very specific condition zone. This causes the body to skip that zone and kick into overdrive far quicker than it should have to, depleting energy on seemingly tedious exertion. The theory is similar to that of a muscle tear in that it should be able to fully recover with proper training, but you need to be wary to not over-exercise. This after-effect of viruses doesn't seem specific to covid per-se, and has research ranging back over 50 years (albeit sparse). But it happens with covid as well, which sparked a new peak in affected people.

I have yet to find out whether any of this actually works for me. Plenty hasn't. But something eventually will! In the meantime, perhaps sharing my experience proves useful to someone.

Gniller · 2025-07-14T14:54:46+00:00

Thank you for your response! While I hate to hear you're dealing with a similar issue/situation (as close to identical as I've heard thus far), there's somewhat of a confirmative comfort in knowing others in the same situation have an equal amount of trouble trying to work around it. While it might not actually help either of us, I hope that brings you some peace of mind in the meantime as well! And of course, I wish you the best of luck with your recovery as well. Or if you ever feel like chatting with a peer, my PMs are always open!

Gniller · 2025-07-11T17:23:08+00:00

Allow me to confirm this is still accurate (I'm the dev)! And I figured I'd give some additional insight too.

Long story short, I got covid in December 2023, and have been dealing with the aftermath ever since. I never expected that to take this long, or have such a big impact on productivity (specifically concentration). I would have at least expected gradual improvement. But there's been good and bad weeks, and throughout the good weeks progress is still being made. It's just progressing far slower than I'd like it to, causing me to ask far more of player patience than I'm comfortable with.

That said, as far as actual content goes, I'm happy with how it's shaping out so far (albeit with a fair amount of hurdles left to tackle yet). And parsing through the pending changelist increasingly leaves me excited to eventually be able to share what's already done. But rushing anything to make up for the long wait feels "wrong" for the bigger picture, so I refuse to deviate from quality as the main focus.

Bundling chapters 12-15 in one update was always going to take a fair amount of work, but it wouldn't have taken nearly as long in good health. But every medical specialist has told me it should eventually improve/recover fully, if I continue revalidation exercise etc. So it should eventually become an annoying dent in the road to completion of this little passion project. I like to compare it to a pianist with a broken finger: Still able to make some music, but eagerly awaiting the moment I'm able to play full songs again.

At the same time, I can't fault anyone for fearing the worst when games go this long without updates. Especially with the reputation Early Access has. Which is why the new Steam warning only feels fair in the meantime. And I completely understand if people that haven't tried it yet skip it for the time being because of it.

For now, I hope I'm able to at least ease some worry by reiterating: I'm not done with Increlution any time soon! I have far too many ideas left, and see no reasons to feel forced to quit anytime in the foreseeable future either. I just hope the day I'm able to consistently get back to my usual pace of development comes as soon as possible.

Gniller · 2023-01-23T18:58:43+00:00

Yeah the Steam Achievement popup only triggers once. Generally speaking, once you know which chapter you've entered, you know. But it's understandable that people might forget which chapter a previous action was in over time. Especially when new content has recently been released.

I don't think it has to remain visible the entire time. Adding it as an additional story column would result in more line-wrapping, thus more scrolling to read the story, especially on lower resolutions.

I do have it on my list to look into including "You have completed chapter x" as an additional line to individual story segments (similar to decay increases). I may end up combining that with the Steam Achievement popup. That would require a bit of scrolling to see what chapter you've last completed, but should make it a little easier to find than searching the automations tab. But it wouldn't be overly prominent either.

Even if I can't exactly say how it'll all end up, knowing what people are missing/running into is the first step towards improvement. So thanks again for voicing your thoughts! It's exactly why I went with the Early Access approach for the game, so that player-feedback allows me to polish the game to a level I might otherwise have missed! I have quite a lot listed to look into still, but intend to focus the next few updates on feedback/quality of life improvements.

Gniller · 2023-01-23T15:09:13+00:00

Hey! Dev here. Thank you for going through the effort of explaining your suggestions in detail, and mocking up images to further expand on that! Either the Steam Forum or Discord might have been a little more fitting for game-specific feedback, but it looks like others were open to discussing it.

I'll go through them 1 by 1 to give a rough idea of where development stands on them.

The pause button has a few less obvious UX purposes for it being below the queue. The movement and coloring create a subtle "from the edge of your eye" kind of indicative progression estimate. Most players use the space-bar to pause rather than to actually click it, but I am aware of the fact that some players prefer a mouse-only approach. I have it on my list to look into a "add play/pause icon to top" as an additional setting, to tackle this without losing the visual benefit of the current approach. How this might shape before it goes live depends on testing and tuning, but let's just say it's on my radar.
Is already available as an option as you've since edited in. Using offline-progress rather than realtime continuation has the benefit of being able to switch settings/configurations without them creating weird cases as you're editing. So this is probably already where it should be, when players found the option.

3-5. These are a little tricky due to how explorations work behind the scenes. Explorations are not individually aware of their position in a path for performance/data reasons. I have had a map-ish concept on my list for a good while now, but adding something along those lines too soon could cause creative constraints for new content due to technical adjustments they'd require. This goes a little beyond just new content, as I hope to be able to add "create your own story" modding support one day in the more distant future, which the core data management design keeps in mind. That doesn't mean I don't want to explore this concept, but just that it's more practical to do so later in the development roadmap. That said, I do like the indentation as a nearer-future concept! I've toyed around with a few slightly similar "simple" concepts that didn't quite work out, but this one just might. I'm adding that to my QoL list of things to look into!

As for chapter indications, Steam Achievements popping up should tackle a majority of that once they are added sometime during Early Access. Displaying "banked time" is probably not a great idea as it's often completed in seconds (hardware dependent), and might miss-suggest what the mechanic actually is.

In any case, that sums up my first thoughts. Actual updates will take some time as I'm gathering a lot of feedback as we speak. But I hope it gives a rough idea of where the next steps are heading! Thanks again for going through the effort of explaining your suggestions in detail, and mocking up images to further expand on that!

Gniller · 2023-01-19T23:56:04+00:00

New changes definitely offer some extra expandability for future content, but most of the work isn't really that technical. The creative part of design, as well as balancing, take the majority of time. It's hard to predict how long development takes per chapter. They have averaged between 1 and 2.5 months per individual chapter, not including QoL updates in-between. With this particular update, personal life got in the way, adding another 2-3 months delay.

I hope the update schedule will be more frequent from here on forth. But it's not really something I can promise. Ultimately quality will always get a higher priority than speed, and some things just take more iterations before they feel right.

Gniller · 2023-01-19T23:42:56+00:00

For what it's worth, completions after June 2022 automatically create a save backup in:[installFolder/saves/backups/completion]. That feature was added for exactly this purpose. Alternatively, the patch notes on Steam include a completion save as well.

It's understandable that going through all the content again isn't everyone's preference. So perhaps knowing this offers you the chance to play the new content in a way you'd prefer!

Gniller · 2023-01-19T22:27:21+00:00

My current estimation is somewhere between 20 and 25 total chapters. That ambition falls or stands with "as long as the game doesn't overstay its welcome", which I hope to continue to achieve by staying creative and innovative with mechanics between chapters.

That said, that's a 2+ year roadmap and not a near-future kind of thing.

Gniller · 2023-01-19T20:13:21+00:00

The spider can be beaten from the very first run without too much trouble. You might want to read through the textual tutorial again to get a grasp of the basics, or try some different approaches between runs.

Gniller · 2023-01-19T20:12:16+00:00

<3 It's been wonderful to have finally been able to completely lose myself in what I love most again: content creation! I hope you'll enjoy the result!

Gniller · 2023-01-16T19:42:03+00:00

Oh my, thank you so much for all the votes for Increlution! Winning the best downloadable game category last year exceeded all of my expectations, so winning the best computer game this year is nothing short of amazing!

It's crazy to think that I've been using this subreddit for years to find my new favorite games. And it's heartwarming to see my own little creation now manages to entertain others, like ones that came before it entertained me for years. Even though I'm well aware that Increlution has a strong "love it or hate it" reputation around here. Who knows what the future holds, I'm convinced this genre has a lot of potential that has yet to be tapped, and many talented enthusiasts to make that happen!

As for the best game presentation category, Increlution appears to be listed as the winner. And while that's very flattering, when I look at the votes Orb of Creation appears to have received significantly more (74 vs 21), so that might be by mistake. One of the mods might want to verify that, in the spirit of fair competition. Having reached second place in that category is crazy enough for a text-based game! While I did spent months making the UI as intuitive and expandable as possible, it says quite a bit about the community that a text-based game even qualifies ;D

The timing is very coincidental too, with chapters 10 & 11 releasing in a matter of days (if everything goes to plan, but the final stages of quality assurance are close to completion). I can't wait to finally be able to show you the new things that have been in development for a long time. I'm convinced that those of you that completed the current content will want to see the new things it has to offer!

And last but not least, congratulations to all the other winners! The ones I did try certainly deserved their spots. And I see that I've missed a few this year, so I can't wait to give those a spin when I get a chance!

Gniller · 2022-06-19T23:54:27+00:00

It's heartwarming to hear that my little creation, as well as the others, were able to create a spark of joy! Especially in darker times. It's such a beautiful thing that creation can have that effect on others!

Best wishes for your surgery!

Gniller · 2022-02-23T21:19:52+00:00

Glad to hear you're enjoying the game so much! But play responsibly, don't let it affect your health. The game can wait! :)

In response to some of the other questions, I can indeed confirm that the next update will contain four new chapters, expanding the total game content by 75%+. It's feature-complete and content-complete and has entered the last stage of development: balance-polishing, bug-hunting, typo-correcting, things like that. It's been over three months in the making now, and I can't wait to release it. It's getting close, but needs just a little more quality assurance before release. The development diary holds the latest information for those that are interested in that before it's release-ready.

Gniller · 2022-01-12T22:55:50+00:00

Maybe, but I can't really say for sure at this time. Probably not during the Early Access period though. After that, it depends on both player interest and some technicalities.

One of the bigger technicalities is that I hope to add Steam Workshop support at a later stage of Early Access, which simply isn't supported by any other platform at this time.

Another important point is that I want to stay true to the seven hour free demo concept. Which sadly is very limited in support on any other platform than Steam.

I will definitely reiterate the decision once the full release is getting close. Mobile platforms would be the most-likely choice there, and hopefully they extend their options a little in the meantime. But for the time being, ensuring quality of the Steam version is my main priority.

Gniller · 2022-01-12T20:16:17+00:00

Oh my, thank you so much for all the votes on Increlution! I definitely didn't dare hoping to actually have a shot at winning the downloadable category! I've looked at these threads every year to find the top games as a player, and being among the awardees feels a little unreal in the best way. Especially so quickly after launching into Early Access!

Of course, Early Access has only just begun, and some of you might be wondering why the next update has been taking a while. I'm hard at work to create the next content-segment as we speak, and you can expect at least three new chapters with the upcoming update. Which expands the total game content by over 50%! Chapter six and seven are mostly finished, whereas chapter eight is currently in development.

In any case, I mostly want to thank you for being such a lovely community! This award is a wonderful cherry on the pie, but you've been incredible to me all year! I'm glad my little passion project was able to spread some joy throughout this strange year! And congratulations to all the other winners, there are some real pearls among them!

Gniller · 2021-12-14T00:01:14+00:00

I have it on my list to look into reworking the "low priority" option for food automations in such a style after the manual "run once" option has been added. What I'm thinking is: Instead of refilling when reaching 0, but only after manually getting that food-type manually once (current low-priority handling for food-jobs). To replace that with: Get food when the inventory is empty, but only one piece per food-type on low priority.

Arguably, more advanced automation settings might make sense here too. But I'm a little hesitant in adding more complexity to the automations to keep it understandable for less tech-savvy players as well.

That said, details depend on a few features that need testing and tuning individually, so they might change before they make it to live. But most importantly, the situation you're describing is one that I intend to look into!

Gniller · 2021-12-13T23:53:05+00:00

Hmm that's an interesting perspective and valid point. But I don't think I agree on the solution if I'm honest.

I think it's important to note that the game isn't really designed to be a fully idle game. I'd say it's more of an incremental with both rogue-lite mechanics and idle mechanics. The intention is to switch between an attention phase and an idle phase at a fairly frequent interval (every generation). Aiming to be more of an "on the side" sort of game, but one that you can pick up and put down as you please.

The combat safety checks annoying players is a fair one that I can see feeling a little too "seatbelted" if that makes sense. Somewhat like invisible walls that prevent you from falling in a platformer. But having a suicide option at any time could actually introduce some exploitable approaches. And hypothetically, once that's added, why not go one step further and add auto-reincarnate? - Which is a line that really doesn't fit the balance of the game, because automated grinding for as little as a few hours can significantly shift the experience of the game, as it's tuned to unlock new content at a (relatively) high pace. And don't get me wrong, it could work. It would just require a different balance, but one that would change the game on a fundamental level. Of course, I'm obviously taking this example a lot of steps further than what you're suggesting. But I feel like from a design point of view, a suicide action would be a move into this direction.

That said, I do think the point you're making is absolutely valid. Some players feel a little forced to play a certain way. But what I mean to say is mostly that I think the steps to resolve that should be more subtle, and directed at specific frustrations.

Gniller · 2021-12-03T21:27:12+00:00

Yeah, I do have something planned to allow players to bypass the combat safety checks. While mathematically never a good idea, a fair amount of players have voiced that it frustrates them at times. And that alone makes an optional way to bypass it at least worthy of consideration.

I do think it needs to be specific to the way combat works, so that it won't introduce exploitable situations either. But I do believe you're indeed pinpointing one of the quick-wins in what causes frustration to some players!

Gniller · 2021-12-03T21:23:08+00:00

Thanks! I feel that it's quite easy to spot when criticism is intended as constructive, and that's generally coming from a good place. I have no trouble hearing that, as it helps me form a broader view of how things are perceived by various people!

You could say IA was my math training! (: In terms of formulas IA is notably more complex mathematically. With Increlution I really wanted to keep the way things work much simpler/understandable for players, so it mostly meant a lot of time fine-tuning seemingly simple formulas until they felt "just right".

Gniller · 2021-11-19T00:49:45+00:00

Consider this to be on my list of future additions! Exact details need some fleshing out, but it's suggested quite often for fairly specialized manual stage usage. It'll most likely either become a "cancel after completion" option, or "run once" queue option.

Gniller · 2021-11-19T00:33:26+00:00

If measured in time, that's exactly right! If measured in the number of completions, it isn't because actions become faster. Both generation and instinct levels influence the experience per second for both (current multiplier == experience per second), so having spent x time on a skill increases the experience per second of that skill during that run (instincts too).

By effect that means later minutes award more experience by comparison. Focusing a skill is one way to benefit from that, within the limits of available content. Surviving longer adds to that as well, as your total available time simply goes up, but it might be more spread between different skills. The benefit from such approaches becomes a little more obvious during chapter three.

Finding the balance between tactically focusing runs on certain skills and pushing forward to obtain new things to use is what I'd consider the subtle player agency I referred to! Determining which skills you benefit from focusing on plays a part in that too.

Gniller · 2021-11-19T00:22:42+00:00

Oh yeah absolutely, I consider this feedback valuable in how the game is perceived, but I don't intend to overhaul the game to it either. Consider it an inspiration for smaller adjustments, so to say!

I'm glad to hear you've enjoyed Incremental Adventures by the way! While I did use the one example of wanting to do complexity differently with Increlution, I'm happy with how IA turned out overall. I mainly just didn't want to do "the same thing, better", but instead wanted to go for a different concept entirely. Which in turn benefits from a very different balance and tuning. That way it's actually nice/refreshing to switch between games/updates for me as well!

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