HTML5 has been hailed as the future of gaming in web browsers for years [http://goldfirestudios.com/blog/80/Why-HTML5-is-the-future-of-online-gaming]. Back in 2011, however, HTML5 was running into headwinds due to issues with performance and compatibility. There was general optimism about the technology, but few were willing to adopt it for their own games. Things became more urgent recently, though, with the deprecation of NPAPI plugins (i.e. Unity, Java, Silverlight, etc.) and an ominous cloud

This three-part series is intended to break apart my MIGS 2016 slides [http://www.slideshare.net/AnthonyPecorella/the-rise-and-rise-of-idle-games-68916528] into what are hopefully detailed but accessible angles on the math and mechanics behind idle and incremental games. The sections draw heavily from a collection of spreadsheet models [http://kon.gg/idle-math-spreadsheets] I built and have opened up for you to play around with. In Part I [https://blog.kongregate.com/the-math-of-idle-games-par

A few weeks ago, in Part I [https://blog.kongregate.com/the-math-of-idle-games-part-i] of this three-part series, we looked at some of the standard math behind rapid-growth idle games, primarily at the relationships between exponential and polynomial growth and some methods of checking and adjusting the balance of the various generators over time. In Part II we’re going to explore a different option for growth outside of the Cookie Clicker model that the vast majority of idle games use these da

I’ve given a few talks in the past about the appeal and general mechanics of idle games, but what if you actually wanted to make one? Theory and patterns are nice, but there’s some complicated math running behind it. And how on earth do you balance a game that has insanely large numbers? This article is Part I of what will be a three-part series detailing topics covered in my most-recent talk [http://www.slideshare.net/AnthonyPecorella/quest-for-progress-gdc-europe-2016]. Part I discusses core