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[neetdev]

Hi,

I'm making a 3d idle/clicking game where the concept is that you must ski and win races to gain money. Easy races can be won automatically by elves but you can also unlock crazy races that give you bigger rewards. Here are some webm to understand the idea better (I will improve the graphics after the mechanics are all set).

Concept and shop: http://a.pomf.se/gyvxde.webm
Player race: http://a.pomf.se/fprgug.webm
Early skiing tests: http://a.pomf.se/oyjmyv.webm

As you can see in the webms, there's a shop where you can invest and upgrade your elves and win more money to unlock more things.

My question is about the controls. Right now you left click to gain a tiny boost of speed. The faster you click, the faster you go (there is no speed cap). You can lower gravity with space and make it higher with ctrl.

So would it be better to simply give the player a jetpack with limited fuel to control his vertical speed and add a forward boost with a cooldown for horizontal speed? I like the idea of clicking but will it get annoying?

Feel free to comment on everything about the game, I'm very open to new ideas.
Thanks

[SirNiko]

This looks kind of neat, but I'm not entirely understanding how this is an "idle" game given how much control you seem to have.

It looks like in your first video there's a really short track with an elf going down. Presumably, the player gets money each time the elf completes the track? The second video shows a much more complicated track - is this a track that can be done automatically (idle)? Is this something the player needs to control to succeed? Some sort of visual representation of the clicking would help it make more sense, like some kind of effect to show when the player is clicking and some kind of numerical representation of velocity/acceleration to show how it affects the player's movement.

I really like the overall idea, though, that rather than simply watching a HUD while the idle game plays you are instead in a little world where helpers do the idle tasks and you can poke around and watch them working. The christmas theme fits well with an idea that you're skiing to make or deliver presents.

You may need to explain the controls a bit better (or put up a playable test track) because I don't entirely understand your question.

For an idle game, the ability to adjust the gravity to get the best output on the various tracks sounds like a good idea, but for direct control a jetpack is probably far more intuitive. The clicking aspect sounds really tedious, although it isn't clear if steering is a thing here if races can be won while idling the game. It's hard to say what feels best without understanding the mechanics very well, or being able to play directly and feel the controls directly.

Can you explain each of the videos a bit better to show what is happening and what is automatic versus under the control of the player?

The underlying concept - an idle game that takes place within a 3D world that can be explored - is a great idea and you should totally keep working with that. This seems to have a lot of potential.

[neetdev]

First of all thanks for taking the time to reply.

To make things clearer, a tutorial will introduce the controls and the very simple story of the game (you'll be an elf  going rogue who's plan is to own christmas, the final goal being to literally buy the rights on christmas from Santa. After that you'll have to purchase the earth from aliens or something crazy like that).

The player model will be a special elf character with some kind of multidirectional jetpack on his back. Assuming the controls stay the same, visual effects will tell you what's going on. For example, clicking once will show fire shooting from behind your back in the desired direction.

In terms of idling, the small and simple track around the spawn is the first of a couple of small tracks that you'll be able to unlock and make automatic by purchasing elves. The bigger tracks like the one in "Player race" won't be automatic and you'll have to actually do them yourself.

Basically, compared to cookie clicker for example:
-Doing small tracks by yourself or doing the "player only" big tracks are like clicking the cookie
-Elves and their upgrades for small tracks only are like grandmas and let you idle.

I think in the end it's definitly going to be less about idling than other idle games while still borowing the same style. I hope this helps clear things out a bit.