The idle game progression problem
Most idle games have a progression system that works like this: you have one number, and it goes up. Maybe you prestige and it goes up faster. The “strategy” is deciding when to prestige.
That’s fine for what it is, but it’s not what I wanted to build. I come from a background of playing RPGs where character builds matter — where two players at the same level can have completely different capabilities because they made different choices. I wanted that feeling in an idle game.
Choices that matter
In Manu Idle, your character has multiple skills that level independently. Mining, Smithing, Woodcutting, Combat, and more. How you distribute your time and resources between these skills shapes what your character can do and how efficient they are.
This isn’t cosmetic. A character who focuses early on Mining and Smithing will have access to better equipment sooner, making Combat easier later. A character who rushes Combat will progress through content faster but hit resource bottlenecks. A balanced approach avoids both pitfalls but doesn’t excel at anything early.
None of these paths are wrong. They’re tradeoffs, and tradeoffs are where interesting decisions live.
The problem with “optimal”
Any game with real choices will have players who try to find the optimal path. That’s natural and it’s fine — optimization is its own kind of fun. The design challenge is making sure the optimal path isn’t so dominant that every other approach feels like a mistake.
My approach is to make sure multiple strategies are viable at each stage of the game, with no single path being more than 10-15% more efficient than alternatives. The differences should feel like preferences, not errors. If you enjoy Smithing more than Combat, you should be able to lean into Smithing without falling hopelessly behind.
This requires constant balancing, and it’s the area where alpha tester feedback has been most valuable. When testers independently converge on the same build, that’s a signal that other builds aren’t competitive enough.
Depth without complexity
There’s a trap in RPG design where depth gets confused with complexity. Adding more systems, more numbers, more menus makes a game more complex but not necessarily deeper. Depth comes from interactions between simple systems — when your Mining level affects your Smithing options, which affect your Combat power, which determines what content you can access, which opens up new Mining locations.
I aim for systems that are individually simple and collectively deep. Each skill has a small number of clear mechanics. The depth emerges from how they connect and how your choices about one skill ripple through the others.
Idle-specific design constraints
RPG progression in an idle game has constraints that traditional RPGs don’t. The biggest one: the player isn’t always there to make decisions.
This means every system needs two modes. An active mode where the player directs their character — choosing what to train, which resources to pursue, how to allocate effort. And an idle mode where the character continues whatever the player last set them to do, autonomously, for up to 24 hours.
The idle mode has to be smart enough to be productive without being so smart that active play feels pointless. My solution is that idle mode follows the player’s last configuration faithfully and efficiently, but it doesn’t adapt. Only the player can redirect priorities, react to new unlocks, or change strategy. The character is a skilled worker; the player is the manager.
What’s still changing
The progression system isn’t finished. Alpha testers are still finding imbalances, suggesting new skill interactions, and debating whether certain builds are underpowered. That’s exactly where it should be at this stage.
The core philosophy won’t change: give players real choices, make those choices matter, and respect their intelligence enough to let them figure out their own path. The specific numbers and balances will keep evolving based on how real people actually play.
If you want to help shape those systems, the alpha is still open on Discord.