Egyptian Idle: How to Balance Theme and Progression in Incremental Games

Introduction

Tired of cookie-cutter idle games? Building a pyramid empire in ancient Egypt while balancing the scales of Ma’at… sounds like fun, right? In this article, we’ll show you how to overcome the challenges of blending a rich theme with the inherently simple incremental genre, using Wayline tools to efficiently create a compelling and addictive game loop. We’ll focus on designing a resource management system rooted in Egyptian concepts, efficient art asset strategies, and monetization approaches tailored to this unique hybrid.

The Allure of Ancient Egypt (and Why It Works for Incrementals)

The Ancient Egyptian setting offers a wealth of visual and narrative inspiration. Think majestic pyramids, powerful pharaohs, and a pantheon of fascinating gods. This provides a significant advantage over generic fantasy settings, which are over-saturated in the incremental genre. For indie developers especially, a unique and visually striking theme can be a powerful tool for attracting players. This rich backdrop also lends itself naturally to incremental gameplay mechanics. Building a civilization, managing resources, and ascending to godhood all align perfectly with the core concepts of resource management games.

Prototyping Your Empire with Strafekit

Rapid prototyping is crucial for incremental games because the core gameplay loop relies on constant iteration and refinement. You need to quickly test different progression curves, resource ratios, and upgrade costs to find the “sweet spot” that keeps players engaged. With Strafekit, you can bypass the time-consuming process of creating original assets and focus on perfecting the gameplay loop. The key here is to rapidly mock up core incremental mechanics: resource gathering, building, upgrades, and prestige.

Here are some Strafekit assets that can help you kickstart your Ancient Egyptian incremental game. We have listed them with the most thematically appropriate assets first:

• Setting the Scene: Create an immersive desert environment with the Desert Terrain - Sand Storm and Dune Environment.
• Pyramid Construction: Use the Level Design Modular Starter Pack as modular building blocks to assemble your pyramids, allowing for rapid iteration on pyramid design and scale.
• Resource Gathering: Use the Low Poly Nature Bundle and re-imagine those assets as wheat fields or mines to quickly test resource generation mechanics.

Let’s explore how to kitbash a simple pyramid using the Level Design Modular Starter Pack:

1. Import the pack into your Unity project.
2. Use the various block assets (walls, floors, etc.) to construct the basic pyramid shape.
3. Resize and reshape the blocks to create the desired pyramid slope and height.
4. Apply a sandstone texture from Stylized Materials to give the pyramid an authentic look. To further enhance the Egyptian feel, add hieroglyphic decals using a 2D texture from Abstract FX Texture Pack. Then use Pixelize to make them fit the pixel art theme, if desired.

This approach allows you to quickly visualize and test different pyramid designs without spending hours on custom modeling.

The "Ma’at System": Resource Management with a Twist

Instead of traditional resources like gold or lumber, consider incorporating the principles of Ma’at, the ancient Egyptian concept of balance and order. You can translate this into a resource management system where players must balance different aspects of their civilization to achieve prosperity.

Think of it as the “Ma’at System,” tracking the harmony of key principles:

• Ma’at (Truth/Balance): Overall stability of the empire, influencing resource production and public order.
• Ba (Personality/Soul): Social influence and prestige, unlocking technologies and improving trade.
• Ka (Life Force): Size and efficiency of the workforce, dictating how many structures can be active.
• Ren (Name/Reputation): Fame and legacy, providing passive bonuses to building times or upgrades.
• Ib (Heart/Will): Happiness and productivity of the population, unlocking production boosts and special events.

Here’s a simple representation of how the Ma’at System might function:

Ma’at influences resource production. Low Ma’at (below 30%) reduces resource output by 15%. Players can increase Ma’at by constructing temples (+5 Ma’at), enacting laws (+10 Ma’at), or performing rituals (+2 Ma’at per minute). Ba is affected by trade agreements. Fewer trade routes result in lower Ba. Players can improve Ba by investing in social technologies, establishing trade routes, or constructing monuments. Ka determines the size of the workforce and is increased by building houses. Ren, or reputation, improves building times and can be increased by constructing monuments or completing milestones. Ib, the heart/will, affects worker productivity and requires you to keep your population happy with monuments and food.

An imbalance in the Ma’at System could trigger events that affect gameplay:

• Low ‘Ma’at’ could trigger unexpected Nile floods, damaging farms and reducing resource production by 15%. The player could restore it by repairing the damage and appeasing the gods through offerings (spending in-game currency).
• Low ‘Ib’ (Heart/Will) could lead to a 10% reduction in worker productivity and a chance of random work stoppages. To remedy this, the player could institute a festival (temporary boost, costs resources) or improve housing conditions (permanent upgrade, costs significant resources).
• Low ‘Ba’ could result in reduced trade revenue, decreasing gold income by 20%. The player can recover trade by sending out envoys (costs resources, time-based return) or constructing trade depots (permanent improvement).

The gameplay loop for dealing with these events involves recognizing the problem (low stat), identifying the cause (event trigger), selecting a solution (offering, festival, envoy), and managing the resources needed to implement the solution. Successful resolution restores balance and prevents further negative consequences.

This adds a compelling layer of challenge and depth to the incremental gameplay.