OH, AND!!! (I'm so sorry.) There's a company in Japan that makes a certain kind of game that is uniquely them... KairoSoft. Every once in awhile I get a hankering. Usually they're pay up front, in the $5-8 range, which is nice because zero ads, ever. (They experimented with that model and it failed; those releases by them sucked.)
They're super cute little tycoon type games where you run a mall or school or TV station or sushi bar etc. You make money and buy upgrades, research, new people come, rinse repeat. Just really cozy.
My faves from them include:
Mega Mall Story
Game Dev Story
Hot Springs Story
Forest Camp Story
Probably time for me to play another one of these! They have a ton of titles I haven't tried and it's been awhile.
@vlrny@LonelinessCorps One fun thing is that in most of these, just about when you think the game is "done," you "prestige," which means the game starts over but with changes or benefits that alter or speed up gameplay. Some have multiple layers of prestige resets. That really threw me many years ago the first time it happened. :) But it's a very core part of this style of game.
I'm a big fan of "idle" or "incremental" games. I've played just about all of them on iPad up to about 4 years ago when I had to get super choosy about which ones I tried because they most all turned into insulting ad-bloat grabby money grabs (and that's with me being willing/able to pay a reasonable amount for a game).
This genre is one where typically it's about making passive purchase decisions to cause the numbers to go up faster to purchase more things, and the numbers get really huge. Maybe it's managing a restaurant or farming chickens or even military/combat/fantasy RPG themes — basically everything has been done. I like them because for most, it's impossible to lose, so I can sit and space off and not be penalized. The numbers will go up with or without me, often even while not playing.
Very few of these (unfortunately per your request) are social games, though there are some that are MMO-style. I might be interested in joining if you find a nice social cozy game — I usually steer clear of social games because trolls.
I made a list awhile back but it was from memory, and these might have changed with updates or not be on android, so YMMV. A few that I've enjoyed that at least somewhat fit your criteria (particularly no combat) include:
BitCity (NimbleBit)
Idle Planet Miner
Zen Idle
Idle Dice Tycoon (Gaga Games)
Idle Dice (Lutz Schoenfelder)
We Happy Restaurant (has irreverent/weird themes)
Idle Idle Game Dev
Exponential Idle
Perception (Andrew Zuo)
Idle Pet Shelter
Idle Mystery Room Tycoon
Idle Ghost Hotel
Idle Ball: Tower
Egg, Inc.
Dawn of Crafting
A Dark Room
Crafting Idle Clicker (Bling Bling Games)
Idle Brick Breaker - Breakout (Tech Tree)
Idle Tower Builder (Alexey Izvalov)(IIRC this is a Ukrainian developer, and all of their games have a similar gear-building factory flow type deal that's creatively fun)
Pincremental
Idle Game 1
Zen Shards
Leek Factory Tycoon
Church Tycoon (seems religious but it's irreverently critical)
@vlrny @LonelinessCorps
OH, AND!!! (I'm so sorry.) There's a company in Japan that makes a certain kind of game that is uniquely them... KairoSoft. Every once in awhile I get a hankering. Usually they're pay up front, in the $5-8 range, which is nice because zero ads, ever. (They experimented with that model and it failed; those releases by them sucked.)
They're super cute little tycoon type games where you run a mall or school or TV station or sushi bar etc. You make money and buy upgrades, research, new people come, rinse repeat. Just really cozy.
My faves from them include:
Mega Mall Story
Game Dev Story
Hot Springs Story
Forest Camp Story
Probably time for me to play another one of these! They have a ton of titles I haven't tried and it's been awhile.
@vlrny @LonelinessCorps Some notable non-idle mobile games (and I wish I'd kept a better list of these) that fit your request sans social are:
Wizards and Wagons (trading and inventory management game)
Fiz (run a microbrewery)
Shop Titans (selling fantasy weapons, but YOU don't fight)
Project Highrise (building offices in skyscrapers)
The Final Earth 2 (building a space colony)
Pocket Frogs (collect and raise frogs)
IncrediMarble (build marble tracks)
Townsmen (town builder)
Hotel Story
Other Idlers I forgot:
Idle Tap Zoo
CraftBound
Wasteland Orchard
@vlrny @LonelinessCorps One fun thing is that in most of these, just about when you think the game is "done," you "prestige," which means the game starts over but with changes or benefits that alter or speed up gameplay. Some have multiple layers of prestige resets. That really threw me many years ago the first time it happened. :) But it's a very core part of this style of game.
@vlrny @LonelinessCorps
I'm a big fan of "idle" or "incremental" games. I've played just about all of them on iPad up to about 4 years ago when I had to get super choosy about which ones I tried because they most all turned into insulting ad-bloat grabby money grabs (and that's with me being willing/able to pay a reasonable amount for a game).
This genre is one where typically it's about making passive purchase decisions to cause the numbers to go up faster to purchase more things, and the numbers get really huge. Maybe it's managing a restaurant or farming chickens or even military/combat/fantasy RPG themes — basically everything has been done. I like them because for most, it's impossible to lose, so I can sit and space off and not be penalized. The numbers will go up with or without me, often even while not playing.
Very few of these (unfortunately per your request) are social games, though there are some that are MMO-style. I might be interested in joining if you find a nice social cozy game — I usually steer clear of social games because trolls.
I made a list awhile back but it was from memory, and these might have changed with updates or not be on android, so YMMV. A few that I've enjoyed that at least somewhat fit your criteria (particularly no combat) include:
BitCity (NimbleBit)
Idle Planet Miner
Zen Idle
Idle Dice Tycoon (Gaga Games)
Idle Dice (Lutz Schoenfelder)
We Happy Restaurant (has irreverent/weird themes)
Idle Idle Game Dev
Exponential Idle
Perception (Andrew Zuo)
Idle Pet Shelter
Idle Mystery Room Tycoon
Idle Ghost Hotel
Idle Ball: Tower
Egg, Inc.
Dawn of Crafting
A Dark Room
Crafting Idle Clicker (Bling Bling Games)
Idle Brick Breaker - Breakout (Tech Tree)
Idle Tower Builder (Alexey Izvalov)(IIRC this is a Ukrainian developer, and all of their games have a similar gear-building factory flow type deal that's creatively fun)
Pincremental
Idle Game 1
Zen Shards
Leek Factory Tycoon
Church Tycoon (seems religious but it's irreverently critical)
@atomicpoet @recordpics @phaedral I love how that case is already cracked. Screams authenticity. Did it come that way?