From Clicking to Passive Income
Earn the first pile by hand, then buy machines so you don't have to.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- Design focus
- Economy · Progression · Time
No.156Cookie Clicker01The core loop
Action → feedback → next choice- 01Click to earn
- 02Buy a first producer
- 03Passive income grows
- 04Clicking becomes support
↻Feedback changes the situation — the next round starts from there.
Walk through one round
A simplified design example. Situations and numbers illustrate the mechanic, not exact rules from a reference game.
- T1
Turn 1 · The situation
Each click earns 1; you have 15. An auto-producer costs 15 and makes 0.1/s.
- T2
Turn 2 · The player chooses
You buy it and keep clicking 3 times a second.
- T3
Turn 3 · The feedback
Income goes from 3/s to 3.1/s—tiny, but the first passive counter ticks on screen.
- T4
Turn 4 · The next decision
The next costs 17, and you start computing when passive will outrun your hand.
How it plays
At first, clicking is the only income: tiny but instant. Saving up buys automatic producers that output per second and soon outpace your clicks. Clicking then shifts into bursts or skills, a supplement rather than the main engine.
What the player weighs
- Click upgrades pay off fast; producers pay off longer
- Active clicking earns more but wears players out
02Start small
Scope is an editorial estimate for the minimum prototype, not the reference game or a production schedule.
03One mechanic, different implementations
Cookie Clicker
You start by clicking the big cookie, then buy cursors, grandmas, farms; late-game clicking mostly pairs with golden-cookie bursts.
Clicker Heroes
Clicks deal damage while hired heroes provide DPS; mid-game you can progress almost purely on hero DPS.
The difference worth noticing
Cookie Clicker's shift is purely economic; Clicker Heroes frames the same shift as monster-killing progress.
Case notes are Yoroll editorial summaries; rules may change between versions.
04What could you combine?
Allow loans for early producers whose interest drains per second, turning clicking into a debt sprint.
Prototype this combo in Yoroll→Follow the next idea
Farm or Push
Stay where income is safe, or risk failure for the next tier?
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- 01Gauge your strength
- 02Choose farm or push
- 03Get reward or fail
- 04Retarget your tier
Setting Up Before You Leave
Your last minute before logging off decides the next eight hours.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- 01Check every output
- 02Plan for time away
- 03Log off
- 04Return and collect
Quantity Milestone Jumps
Three more to double output—that pull keeps people buying.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- 01Eye the next threshold
- 02Buy to reach it
- 03Output multiplies
- 04Aim for the next