Previous entry: Dota Underlords

I think that, by now, I've highlighted enough mobile giants and chances are pretty likely that there will be several more. So, this week, we'll steer away from household names and instead look towards tiny games. Don't worry, it's not Wordle, though that's also a good time.

To find our bite-size experience, we turn to the one place that's actually not terrible at surfacing games: itch.io. I dug into that ginormous bundle that got passed around some time ago and only found very few .APK files, which is the install format for Android devices. Luckily, as mentioned, you can just search the site for Android games and eventually that landed me on Clicker Royale. A punchy name goes a long way, as you can immediately tell what the hook here is. That's solid marketing, plain and simple.

Despite the name, however, Clicker Royale is only an endurance fight in spirit. Made as a game jam by one single person, Maxence Jacquot, the project has a straightforward goal. Tap the button on the screen as much as possible, which will have an effect depending on the current phase. The first and main phase of the game has the taps yield gold. In turn, that currency unlocks a shop with three slots, which hold more power, a multiplier, health or a way to click automatically. The auto clicker option gets cutely represented as a separate finger tapping the button. If you buy twenty fingers, you'll see all twenty digits going at it! 2022 is the year of excessive on-screen elements and I love it.

With each item purchased, the price of the next shop items increase, so multipliers are the most coveted item. There's a pretty sharp balance that requires you to keep tapping, no matter what, so the exponential increase really helps the strain on your poor fingers. In my case, I held my phone in the age-old Tekken claw, so that I could distribute my hits with multiple digits. My second hand hovered above the shop, so no time ever went lost to transition. Work smarter, not harder. You know, it's about time that a clicker game actually required active participation to be a main gameplay factor. It's pretty strange that we've sort of accepted that there are games that play themselves for us, endlessly. Maybe it's best if we don't dwell on the use of psychology in video games for too long. It's all good fun, let's say.

After a set period of grinding money and power, Clicker Royale switches over to a fight sequence. This is what the buildup is meant for. Once again, you'll be furiously hitting your phone screen to defeat a little ghost that does damage over time. After a successful bout, you'll be rewarded with a hefty sum that helps you seed the next round. Health can be regained by eating fries or burgers that are available in the shop. Then, the cycle starts anew.

This tight process will repeat a handful of times, with the final opponent being the king of the ghosts, whose crown is up for grabs. It's a tough boss, but as long as you keep blasting that phone screen, victory should be certain. That is all of Clicker Royale. You've seen the whole package. The entire playthrough will take about ten minutes, which is also the amount of time it takes for someone my age to have their hand cramp up. Maybe that run time is due to constraints around development time, maybe it's a deliberately ingenious calculation. Either way, it works perfectly to close the loop on an entire playthrough.

So yeah, despite its name, there isn't really that much battle royale as implied. This release is more of a light clicker with some growth potential. If there's any downside to Clicker Royale, it's that this is a concept that deserves to be fleshed out into a game with some real hooks or depth. More ways to scale, subsequent playthrough unlocks, enemy variety; that sort of thing. It's tough to really come down on it as a game jam item, however. Especially as a thing that was just made for fun, it's incredibly well established and cohesive. The entire idea is there and plays like a full release would, without any cut corners. Even the pixel art assets look clean. Consider this proof of concept, well, proven. Let's get to building out the full thing!

You'll probably not play Clicker Royale for more than an hour, but as a miniature clicker without the "numbers go up" disease of its peers, it's a refreshing experience. Download a game, play a game, win a game; all in the span of the same lunch break. You won't have to come back for daily missions or prestige exponential features. Having this game contain a natural ending is, in itself, a unique trait in the clicker genre. Then again, if it were to start developing into a full release, it would certainly be just as enticing. I may have even beaten it a few more times, just because it's fun to do. In the end, that's as good of a benchmark of a game as any. We like to have fun around here.

Given that this is a tiny, independent venture, consider leaving a nice comment on the game's itch.io page if you do decide to complete it one day. You can find Clicker Royale here.