https://jtippetts.github.io/GoldRush.html
I’ve been working on a small little incremental game project for the last several months, off and on. It’s built for the web using the WebGL back-end. The game is similar to and inspired by an idle game called Reactor Idle that I played for a few months last year: you construct units on a map that convert heat, generated by heat sources, into gold. Various game mechanics exist such as direct conversion, water-cooling, steam generation, and power/electricity generation. The game is still very much in development, and much of the artwork and mechanics are still in flux. Here is a development screenshot of it’s current state:
In this shot, all units currently implemented in the game as of this writing are unlocked using some cheats. The multi-colored icons on the top row of the build menu represent the various heat sources, ranging from a simple campfire all the way up to the ultra-powerful Eldritch Artifact. The game map view shows a map build with various pipe setups, including heat pipes (the red pipes), which can carry heat from heat sources and disperse it to any connected camps, water pipes (blue) which carry water from shoreline pumps to any camps that utilize water cooling, steam pipes (cyan), which carry steam from boilers to any camps that can use steam, as well as some direct-conversion setups on the bottom and on the top.
This shot is a more typical gameplay setup from an actual playthrough. It has a water-enabled setup on the top 2/3 of the map, and a science enclave on the bottom.
I keep a fairly up-to-date build live at https://jtippetts.github.io/GoldRush.html if anyone is interested in giving it a go; just bear in mind that it changes frequently, sometimes has cheats enabled for my own testing, and occasionally is completely broken. It has game persistence using local storage, but some builds will reset the game if things change drastically enough. You can also manually reset your game from the Stats menu.
Gameplay (Long):
Select a unit from the build menu on the left. If there are any upgrades that apply to that unit, they are listed below the build menu, along with the price to purchase an upgrade (+) and the amount of gold you get back if you sell-back an upgrade (-). In the top-left corner are displayed your Gold and Science amounts. Building a unit costs Gold. Some technology researches cost Gold, others cost both Gold and Science.
Left-click on the map with a unit selected to build a unit. Right-click a unit already on the map to destroy it. Hold down left and drag to create multiple units; hold down right and drag to delete multiple units. Hold down Ctrl and right click a unit to destroy all units of that given type.
At game start the only unit available (ignore some currently enabled units in testing for now) is a Panner, an old-timer in a cowboy hat who, when constructed, will generate a tiny amount of gold per game tick. By spending gold you can upgrade the amount of gold a panner generates, as well as the duration the panner exists before it must be renewed. Units renew automatically, spending the purchase price of the unit to do so.
After you have earned 1000 gold, you can research Camping under the Research tab, which will unlock two units: Panner Camp and Campfire. (Note that as of this writing, the graphic for Campfire is busted, so it shows a stove-graphic instead. Sorry. ) Camps are units that convert heat to gold. When placed adjacent to a heat source, such as a campfire, they will collect the heat (portioned out equally to all heat-consuming units adjacent to the heat source) and turn it to gold. Camps have an upgradable conversion capacity and excess-heat capacity. Upgrading the Camp Effectiveness increases the amount of heat Camps can convert to gold. Upgrading Heat Conductor Capacity increases the amount of excess heat a Camp can accumulate before it explodes.
If you overheat a Camp beyond its capacity, it will explode. Try to match camps with campfires such that there are enough camps, with enough capacity, to utilize all the heat the fire generates.
After awhile you unlock heat pipes. Heat pipes can be constructed in lines or networks, and allow you to spread the heat from a high-powered heat source out to many camps. If your heat pipes explode, try upgrading Heat Pipe Capacity. The capacity of heat pipes and the over-heat capacity of Camps can allow you to disperse a great deal of heat. You can build Heat Pipes just as you build regular units. The game auto-tiles the pipes so that they automatically configure and hook-up to adjacent heat-enabled units.
After unlocking Heat Pipes, you can eventually research Science, which unlocks another unit type, a Science Hut. Science Huts work similarly to Camps, in that they convert heat to Science. Beware, though; they have a much smaller over-heat capacity than Camps do, and over-heating a Science Hut beyond it’s cap causes it to explode and deal a large amount of heat to units in the explosion radius. It’s possible to take out your entire science enclave this way if you are not careful.
Eventually you will unlock a higher tier of Camp called a Sluicer Camp. The Sluicer camp operates similarly to Panner camp, in converting heat to gold. However, after unlocking it you will eventually be able to unlock Water Technology, which gives you access to water pipes and water pumps. Water supplied to the Sluicer Camp drastically increases the amount of heat the camp can convert.
And so the game goes. Periodically, new and hotter heat sources are unlocked, as well as new technologies. From the Map tab you can purchase a new Map. The old one is permanently discarded; however, you keep the amounts of your Gold Avg and Science Avg when buying a new map as permanent bonuses. You can view your current Base Gold and Science, as well as some rudimentary map stats, in the Stats button.
When the game is offline, or you are switched away from the tab, the game will accumulate bonus ticks, displayed in the box underneath the Stats tab. Next to the bonus ticks is a button, Go Fast, that will toggle using bonus ticks. Bonus ticks accumulate 1 per 10 seconds of offline time, and when used they increase the speed of your tick rate by 10 ticks per second, allowing you to speed up the game for as long as your bonus ticks hold. You can accumulate bonus ticks while offline, and you can eventually construct a unit which converts power to bonus ticks.