PickCrafter Review – Incrementer Game Ideas

By
Yaniv Nizan
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PickCrafter is a Minecraft themed incrementer game. It was made with popular graphic engine Unity and is leveraging SOOMLA for in-app purchase. You can download it for iOS devices or Android using the links below.

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Gain resources and make investments

The goal of PickCrafter is simple, get as many picks as possible. Users can start gaining picks by clicking on their screen or tilting their phone as if they were using a pickaxe. Every few picks, users will discover a new resource units – these are the coins of the game. Once users gain enough of these units, they can start making investments. These can be divided into two categories:
  • Items that increase number of picks users get by tapping on the screen
  • Items that give you picks while the game is running
This model usually works in getting users engaged into the race for becoming a billionaire however, there is some room for improvement here.

Gradual complexity increase to ease users into the game

increasing complexity too quickly can confuse your players. its better to ease users into the game by unlocking elements over time.PickCrafter starts with 6 different types of currencies / resources you can gain by swinging your pickaxe and then there are 30 items you can buy and each one is only purchasable with one type of resource. Even complex simulation/strategy games have a max of 3 currencies so 6 would confuse most players. The solution to this is to give users time to learn the different types by gradually introducing them. This serves another purpose which is to give users a sense of progress in the game

Adding items that increment while the game sleeps

If you look at some of the other games in this genre you will discover that some of them also give users a way to make money while the game sleeps. The way this is set up is that users start off with a base rate off incrementing and a limit to how much they can accumulate before they have to check in again. Users can then buy items to increase the rate or the limit. There are two reasons why you want this functionality in your game:

  1. It forces users into making strategic choices and defining their investment philosophy
  2. It makes users work the game into their daily schedule – this is what makes games addictive 

Creating a sense of progress in the game

This game genre has no levels or scores like most other games. Users basically get a sense of progress when they either have a lot of virtual currency or a high rate of accumulation. It’s important to represent both in the game. One thing that PickCrafter is missing is the rate of picking per second (PPS in the game) resulting from the users tapping or swinging action. Another way to improve here is to create some missions and celebrate their achievement.
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