An incremental game lives or dies by its pacing. Too slow and it's boring, too fast and it's over.
A headless simulator
We built a balance simulator that plays the real game logic without graphics, as an ideal player would. It tells us exactly when each upgrade, mower and area becomes affordable.
Fitting the prices
Prices and level requirements are fitted to target times: every branch of the tech tree should offer something new every few minutes, and prices only go up along a chain. Some results for an ideal player:
- first upgrade after 24 seconds, 60 upgrades in the first 15 minutes
- Electric Mower at 2:33, first robot at 3:33, Ride-On at 6:12
- the first season ends after about 45 minutes
Money ×100
We also switched to whole euros: a square metre of backyard lawn now pays €1 before multipliers. Big numbers feel good, and old saves are converted automatically.
Seasons and Seeds
Ending a season gives you Seeds for a permanent seed tree. The bottom of that tree is cheap, so your first End Season already makes the early game twice as fast.