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Dissecting Design -- Why Idle Games are so Addicting

Josh Bycer of Game-Wisdom takes a look into the Idle/Clicker Genre to explain how these games manage to hook people despite having little gameplay.

Josh Bycer, Blogger

September 19, 2017

1 Min Read

Every week, I put up one Dissecting Design video breaking down a game's design. For this week, I focused on the idle/clicker genre, and how it uses effective progression models to hook players for hours on end.

0:00 -- Introduction

6:11 -- The "End Game" of idle games

13:58 -- Persistent Systems of Idle Games

20:57 -- How Idle Games keep you coming back

28:02 --  Final thoughts and design limitations

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About the Author(s)

Josh Bycer

Blogger

For more than seven years, I have been researching and contributing to the field of game design. These contributions range from QA for professional game productions to writing articles for sites like Gamasutra and Quarter To Three. 

With my site Game-Wisdom our goal is to create a centralized source of critical thinking about the game industry for everyone from enthusiasts, game makers and casual fans; to examine the art and science of games. I also do video plays and analysis on my Youtube channel. I have interviewed over 500 members of the game industry around the world, and I'm a two-time author on game design with "20 Essential Games to Study" and "Game Design Deep Dive Platformers."

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