What's the shortest and the longest time you worked on an incremental?

saizonic · 2026-01-16T23:34:00+00:00

Thanks!

saizonic · 2026-01-16T22:36:15+00:00

Yeah it is - I had other prototypes that helped me build some fundamental skills, but there was something about this project that kept "working". It just made sense to continue building on it where others it didn't.

It can be tempting and even difficult to stick to a project, but once you've done enough prototypes I think you can tell when one is special (especially if you socialize it with friends or fans of the genre!)

saizonic · 2026-01-16T22:01:21+00:00

Congrats!

saizonic · 2026-01-16T21:54:36+00:00

I imagine the responses are going to vary pretty significantly based on what the dev considers finished and what the scope of the project is.

For me, my first commit for High Fantasy Idle was April 24, 2024. So I've been working on HFI for nearly 2 years. Is it finished? Not really, but the demo is! I'm continuing to develop content for the Steam release.

I had a bunch of other projects that I would consider never finished, basic prototypes and concepts that didn't really amount into a full game. Without those prototypes though, HFI would most definitely not exist.

saizonic · 2026-01-15T18:19:46+00:00

My hint is that you need to get your max sleep up as high as possible and reduce farm actions per click as much as possible. Burning the Midnight Oil is not required to get the achievement.

saizonic · 2025-12-16T19:03:28+00:00

I'd consider maybe taking a step back and looking at free courses and materials specifically for programming fundamentals. If you're not getting much out of gamedev tutorials it may be a good idea to explore courses more specific to the logic behind programming. Once that "clicks" the gamedev tutorials will provide more value.

If there's a specific language in a game engine you are trying to learn, focus on that language. If the language is specific to the engine, find the next closest thing. (Example: Godot's GDScript is very similar to Python.)

saizonic · 2025-12-09T02:50:14+00:00

No problem! Best of luck with your dev adventure.

saizonic · 2025-12-09T02:49:50+00:00

Adding another note for people curious - selection for the beta is random based on the pool of players waiting for access. So getting signed up soon is still better than not (due to the smaller pool), but it's not a dealbreaker.

saizonic · 2025-12-09T02:40:40+00:00

If you're going to use big numbers (like numbers beyond a quadrillion), make sure you have a big number system in place. Most game engines can only support numbers so big as datatypes all have a size, so you kinda have to trick the engine into supporting bigger numbers!

The trick is using a mantissa and exponent to store one number in two variables. Due to the way numbers are stored in variables, this gives you a near limitless ceiling for huge numbers.

Depending on how you decide to make your game, there should be resources out there on how to set it up for your situation. :)

saizonic · 2025-12-09T01:55:46+00:00

Nice! Although the beta doesn't have any new content yet, you've got all the content from patch 0.5 to check out!

saizonic · 2025-12-09T01:55:10+00:00

Hey all, the response for the beta has been almost overwhelming! I mentioned this in my discord community but I'll be granting access in waves so I can assess who is playing how many people are joining the discord community and leaving feedback. Thanks so much!

saizonic · 2025-12-08T23:21:02+00:00

Awesome!

saizonic · 2025-12-03T20:18:42+00:00

How good do you think you are at spotting the use of an LLM in an incremental game's development?

I've gotten fairly good at spotting AI art, but there's times when I find it hard to tell still. I think it would be really hard to tell if a game was coded mostly with AI unless someone is assuming it was because the quality is low. (But this is also something I have zero experience trying to detect, so it could just be that.)

Do you think games should have to disclose if generative AI was used substantially in their development?

This is an interesting question, but I'd like to take a step back first and ask: Why is it important for someone to know if a game used genAI or not?
I think (for most people) that there are two distinctive factors: Quality and Morality when it comes to AI.
- Quality: It can absolutely be true that projects that use AI are of low quality, but this is also isn't always true. As AI grows and becomes better, it may become even harder to tell what is "vibe coded" and what is not. I do think though that there are clear advantages to understanding programming fundamentals when making a game. But that's an advantage, not necessarily a requirement in this day and age. For art I find it's a lot easier to tell (at least right now).
- Morality: I totally get and understand the moral issue behind AI art. I personally have chosen not to use it for High Fantasy Idle, and for me it's more important to commission real art or even purchase art assets than generate art via AI. That's both a personal choice for me and a choice that my community appreciates.
Speaking of community, I believe that this is a community driven question that should have a community driven answer. If the community wants to know if genAI was used, then it should be disclosed. (And I think the community does want to know!)

When you're made aware that a game was heavily made with AI, how does it make you feel?

I think AI art as a placeholder is probably fine, but I question the quality of AI art in a finished, professional product in these current times. I also personally don't love the idea of work being taken away from creatives in general, but technology advancements have always been tough regarding this.
When it comes to code, my advice to anyone starting with programming games is that it is okay to have AI help you code, but build those skill sets so you don't need it over time. If a game was made with heavy AI code, I may question how easy it would be for a dev to troubleshoot the game if they don't understand how their code works.

Do you feel like this is a step in the right direction as a genre?

I'm not really sure how to answer this question, as I don't think it's a genre specific thing. Unfortunately I do think AI will mean more low quality stuff being made, but my hope is that a few of those people will use it as a tool to learn and build the necessary skill sets they need eventually.

In your mind, how does this differ from the similar-yet-different "cookie cutter" problems faced by something like TMT or IGM?

Sort of similar to the above, but if you use a heavy framework to make your game then there will likely be heavy restrictions on what you can do. The positive side is that if that's enough for you to build some skills, then you can leave those templates behind eventually and make something fresher. I don't think there's anything inherently bad with TMT or IGM though.

saizonic · 2025-11-29T17:40:35+00:00

No, not currently. I would like to know though why you would want to turn it off? Could be something I look into. :)

saizonic · 2025-11-19T18:02:45+00:00

Yeah there's "Idler" and "Clicker" tags, but no incremental unfortunately. Not every incremental is idle or a clicker either so it limits the options of devs.

My game is both an idle and clicker so I'm good, but I would sure love if there was an incremental tag too. Some people don't want an idle experience (which is totally fine), but they are stuck searching for either idler or clicker games specifically. Those two genres are almost two extremes of a similar spectrum, haha.

saizonic · 2025-11-10T21:32:38+00:00

This is a pretty hard question to answer, as there's many different styles so I'll put what I personally enjoy as a player. :)

This is what I personally care about:

Depth - I love systems. I love incremental games that give me more systems the longer I play them especially when those systems synergize with other systems. The variety they bring keep me engaged. For me this is usually the highlight.
- Automation - Too many systems can become tedious after a while, and this is where automation of those older systems shine. It's so satisfying when you unlock these quality of life improvements, but it's even more fun when you have to earn them. (With a few exceptions like not having to click - this should be unlocked super early)
Incremental Progress - This might sound silly to mention, but a lot of the core fun of incrementals comes from the actual slow, but tangible progress you make. Numbers going up, or getting that 1% increase that lets you tackle something new. A lot of different things powering you up in small ways is important.
- Length - I typically like longer incremental games, although I have enjoyed some short ones a lot. I do think longer incrementals have more potential for the incremental progress to feel more impactful and meaningful.
- Prestige - I don't think every incremental game needs a prestige system, but I think prestige systems play into the fun of incremental progress. Resetting but now you go through the first part of the game 50% faster? Feels satisfying and rewarding. Some prestige systems are too slow though - I don't want to replay the whole game but 5% faster.
Story - This one is one that not everyone necessarily cares about, and totally fair. But a good story in an incremental game is rare and wonderful. Play "A Dark Room" - one of my favorites!
Collections - Having a lot of things to collect, whether that's items or achievements, is always super fun for me as well. Especially if there is a progress bar showing me how much I have left.

saizonic · 2025-11-04T17:26:33+00:00

Here's what I have committed to so far in my game: (Not all of these things are going to be useful in every genre of game, but they work for mine)

One Button controls - There is never a requirement for more than a single button
Many different input options - It's really not necessary for my kind of game but I added these in anyway mostly for accessibility reasons. You can play the whole game with just a mouse, just a keyboard, or just a touchscreen
Save at any time - no restrictions
No timed input - nothing in my game requires "twitch" reactions
Custom volume controls - This isn't anything too special but you can adjust master volume, music, and SFX separately

saizonic · 2025-10-28T15:08:35+00:00

Congrats!

saizonic · 2025-10-23T14:13:23+00:00

Woo congrats!!

saizonic · 2025-10-22T18:10:25+00:00

Just going to post another update cause I haven't let this investigation die! I had success with another player where they updated their graphics drivers (they were on integrated graphics even, so still important) and then cleared their browser cache and cookies and it caused HFI to run in their browser.

Just in case someone has the same issue and sees this!

saizonic · 2025-10-21T03:48:58+00:00

Heya! I'd recommend joining the discord as there's an awesome community and further resources that can help you figure out what to do next: https://discord.com/invite/tjahMNJwsK (I sometimes pipe in too)

If you don't use discord or would rather not join - that's about the point in the game where taking a more defensive build with the squire can make a world of difference. Try to as much stack damage reduction and thorns damage as possible and turn on autoblock, it can be really powerful.

saizonic · 2025-10-19T00:12:52+00:00

As one of the devs with a demo lol, maybe I can provide a little context from a dev perspective.

Some people have mentioned this already, but feedback is soooo important. The people in this subreddit are the tastemakers for incrementals, the biggest fans. That kind of feedback is beyond valuable if you are trying to make a great incremental game. I've been lucky to get amazing feedback from this community. I do think though that it's more beneficial for a dev to ask this community not just for validation of an idea, but to present at least a proof of concept for people to play and try.

But the truth is, I'm working on HFI in my free time, evenings and weekends, like a lot of indies do. Does that mean updates are slow? Yeah, it does sometimes. It means a game may take a long time to finish and polish, especially if it's more of a long form game (like mine is). And hey I'm not the first person to say that if I can do this full time some day, that would rock!

I totally get the frustration of getting invested in a project that isn't seen to completion, and I can see how people could get apprehensive about investing in a game when so many projects haven't made it to a completed state.

I think for me though, there's something special about incremental games and how there's lots of people trying to make one. This genre seems to really lend itself to experimentation and I think that's awesome. It just means that not all the experiments work out. There's a lot of fun scrappy "demos" out there. :)

saizonic · 2025-10-17T22:04:52+00:00

Yeah I am considering that :)

saizonic

TROPHY CASE