I’ve been meaning to post about it but never got around to it since the thought of needing to get screenshots of the games seemed like such a chore. I did manage to locate some of them by going through my Instagram and Twitter accounts though. ^^
Anyway, it seems like “clicker” and incremental type games are all the rage these days. The idea is that you rapidly tap on the screen of your device to increase the amount of currency or points or whatever you’re supposed to be getting to unlock a myriad of things that’ll up the rate of growth of the currency or points which continually accumulates automatically. Eventually, it’ll get to a point where the game will play itself and manual intervention is only required to purchase more unlockables.
Why are they so popular if the gameplay is so simplistic? Honestly, I think that’s part of the appeal. The other part of it probably has to do with the fact that the players want to get and max out everything in the game. As for me, I mostly like to watch the numbers grow really big. ^^
I’m going to highlight a few that I enjoyed or still enjoy. 😀 All of them are 100% free (with ads) and in Japanese! They’re very easy to play though!
かたてまRPG
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.jp.globalgear.rpg&hl=ja
https://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/katatemarpg/id931821643?mt=8 (Also available in other countries as well, I believe.)
Katatema RPG or Spare Time RPG is a simple little clicker/incremental title from one of my favourite mobile developers, GLOBAL GEAR, K.K. I love this company because their RPG-related games can focus on characters other than the hero, such as a random villager, inn keeper, or a priest in some silly plot. For Spare Time RPG, the story revolves around the hero and his journey to rid the world of some great evil. Or something. It’s probably a bit less generic than that but I honestly didn’t bother trying to read the dialogue. I just wanted to play it! XD
In terms of gameplay, it’s reminiscent to Tap Titans where you quickly tap the screen when an enemy appears … which is pretty much all the time. However, your hero does move from enemy to enemy and will automatically attack foes by himself when he comes across them. The player’s role is almost like an additional ally as your taps count as attacks as well. As you gain money, you can unlock more party members as well as upgrade the amount of damage (that’s calculated as gold ^^) you dish out.
There’s at boss at the end of each area and it typically takes a while to defeat. I recorded the cute attack animations of the full party during one of those battles. Check it out. ^o^ (The link leads to my Instagram account with the video clip.) Although they don’t impact the game mechanics at all, I should mention that there are snippets of dialogue and story between areas too.
村人「うちのツボ割ってください！」勇者「えっ」【放置・育成】
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.jp.globalgear.tubo&hl=ja
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cun-ren-uchinotsubo-gettekudasai!/id961498086?mt=8
The title roughly translates as ‘Villager: “Please break the vase(s)!” Hero: “Huh?” Leave ・ Develop’. (That’s “leave” as in the game will continue on its own even if you close the app.) As mentioned above, the developer thinks up goofy stories for their games. This one starts off with the hero waltzing into an old man’s home and spotting rows of vases and jars. He thinks to himself that he’ll go and bust them all (because, you know, that’s what RPG heroes do) while the homeowner has his back turned. However, the elderly man turns around, welcomes the stranger, and says, “Please break these vases.” Of course, the hero’s surprised and confused so the man has to clarify the request twice, each time with increasing emphasis. ^o^; And that’s how the game begins.
The gameplay of this title is no different than Spare Time RPG; there’s tapping and unlocking. In this case, instead of unlocking new characters, you’re opening up new locations and more and more heroes (or just random NPCs) automatically join in on destroying various items that magically manifest around them as you upgrade.
Oh, there’s a bonus that occurs every 40 minutes called Fever where the hero is joined by fellow adventurers to break as many vases as possible within 30 seconds for additional gold that’ll be added to your overall total. For the duration of this, you slide your finger up and down to guide the band of little pixel people dashing across the screen populated by their targets. The goal is to seek out vases that give the most amount of money.
There are four kinds of vases where each one awards a set amount of G (re: gold). The lowest is 1G and the highest is 10G. The total you get from the run is then multiplied by the current rate that you’re receiving money. The game also provides one extra Fever per day if you decide to promote it through social media. Tip: I usually just tap on the Twitter logo and let the web browser app pop up. But before it loads the site that’ll bring up the Twitter window, I switch back to the game. XD In short, you don’t actually have to commit to sending a message through Twitter to get the Fever. :3
Ah, there’s something I almost forgot to mention: another reason I like GLOBAL GEAR, K.K. is that all their games are absolutely free. There are non-intrusive advertisements though! This one is no exception.
ネズミだくだく ～マウス繁殖セット～
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.umacat.mouse
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/nezumidakudaku-mausu-fan-zhisetto/id858429364?mt=8
I’m unsure what the title translates to but all you need to know is that you’ll be seeing a lot of mice in the game. Although this one’s by another developer, the gameplay mechanic is identical to the vase breaking one; you tap away to raise your overall total and use that amount of unlock and upgrade new areas as well as increase the rate you gain mice. (The mice are the currency. ^-^)
One variation is that there are some horrific looking cats that will appear every now and consume a percentage of your mice. The amount that they eat is dependent on which type of cat shows up. Luckily, you can deter them by playing with them. ^^; Naturally, this requires that you actually catch the predators before they can act. If I remember correctly, there is more or less have a set schedule of when they’ll show up so you don’t have to obsessively load up the game every few minutes. 😛
You can see some of the mutant cats feeding here: https://instagram.com/explore/tags/ネズだく/ Google Images actually picks up more types though so if you’re curious, give either the full game title or the shortened ネズだく a search.
The report in the screenshot above shows various stats like the amount of taps, how many times cats appeared, and how long the mice remained safe for. ^^ I didn’t include an image of the main game area since I have to dig through my tweets from last summer to find some and searching Twitter can be a pain (especially if you tweet like crazy). X__x The other screenshots were from recent times so they were easily to locate. :E
Incidentally, there is a game dedicated to the mutant cats where you get to help them kill and devour mice in gruesome ways. ^^ Once a cat feeds on a certain amount, it’ll evolve in an equally disturbing way. Usually, the metamorphosis involves the current form exploding or falling apart in some manner with blood splurting out everywhere. I have no idea why this developer is so sadistic.
At any rate, this other title is called Nyanko Hazard. It’s available in many regions on iTunes/App Store. The title you’re looking for is にゃんこハザード 〜とあるネコの観察日記〜. Or you can just look for swagApp inc. Unforunately, it looks like it’s region locked to Japan on the Play Store.
koukoupuffs 