via: Pexels / Ekrulila
Have you played Egg Inc. yet? This incredibly popular (300,000 estimated iOS downloads a month) is turning heads for taking the relatively stale tapping genre in an intriguing new direction.
Never fancied yourself a farmer? Well, get ready to, because you're going to be spending quite a bit of time on this poultry centric clicker.
Let's waste no time and get into the nitty-gritty in this overview.
What is Egg Inc.?
Egg Inc is an extremely engaging, mind-numbing idle "clicker game." You know the type. The type that makes a day at the DMV seem like you've made some progress in life. It's got a weird, nebulous, sort of backstory. I dig it.
Space eggs. Cause... that makes sense. I'm sure I've read about chicken omniscience in one of those big books I was supposed to have read in college. Anyway, in the very near future scientists have discovered the secret to the universe wasn't physics, it was eggs.
Sounds crazy? Maybe, but aside from accepting a completely plausible premise you really don't need to buy into the philosophy of the game's backstory. You just need to remember that eggs are important. Got that? Okay, let's go.
Because eggs have proven to be so important to the future of humanity, the natural economic response is to create the most profitable chicken farm possible. And that's exactly what we're going to do.
How to Play Egg Inc: 6 Steps
There are so many fun parts of this game that transcend the clicker genre. You have to play.
If you weren't sold by "space eggs" I don't know what closes the deal.
1. Download the Game
Sure that seems obvious. But really, do not make the mistake of not downloading this game.
It's easy to download through the app store of your device overlord's choosing. That said, it's available on Android and iOS. If you're still using a blackberry or windows phone, you probably are better off starting an actual chicken farm.
I mean, there are 16 billion chickens in the world, so it may not be the worst idea. Remind me to follow up on that.
2. Run through the tutorial.
It's pretty comprehensive. At the same time, refer back to everything you thought you knew about clicker games. Get your ego in order. There's a twist.
The tutorial starts off a bit slow but really does run the player through the ins and outs of the game. As with most clicker games, there's a constant barrage of information and items to click. That can be distracting.
As a guy who has put together dozens of pieces of IKEA furniture without the roadblock of instructions, I can honestly say that this walkthrough was worth the time. Well done developers.
3. Upgrades
Upgrade everything. This is the hallmark of clicker style games. You can upgrade output, delivery, chicken coops, vehicles, how much your chickens will earn, etc.
Upgrade and upgrade consistently. Upgrade constantly. Upgrade until you have some arthritic reaction to upgrading. Then upgrade some more.
Since chickens produce eggs and eggs are the goal, start upgrading your chicken coops first. You can move from a shack to what appears to be a nice split level single family residence. Nice universe to be a chicken.
Drones... Let's talk about drones for a second. Drones will randomly appear that you will click and kill... Because I guess chicken farmers don't like drones any more than anyone else does. Click a drone, get a reward. Be it cash, or egg. Hopefully the latter.
But this piece of gameplay will keep you from going insane on the basic structure of a clicker game.
Hot Tip: The big trick with drones is to wait until your farm is a bit established. The drones that bite the dust yield rewards that are commensurate with your farm. So, while it is certainly cathartic to watch the drones hit the ground at any level, you won't see a sizable financial return on that click until you've put in the hard work of upgrades.
4. Eggs v. Cash.
Eggs are real money. In game cash, which makes you feel like a balla' are just carpel tunnel inducing clicks. Know the difference. Live the difference. This is where they get ya! Offset that with the bonuses which are called "Boosts".Watching an advertisement will double your productivity for a period of time. Spending eggs will give you different output boosts.
Hot Tip: If you're going to spend eggs on boosts, make sure you've done your cash based upgrades first. An investment of two eggs will allow you to create an unlimited (limited only by your fingers) for 30 seconds. But you're not going to see the return on the egg investment if you don't have your chicken coops maxed out.
5. Show up
This is just a life lesson that the makers of the games have decided to include, and kudos. The huge difference in Egg Inc vs. normal clickers is you need to come back often to keep your farm running efficiently. Which, whatever. Very few of us playing app clicker games are models of efficiency, but hey, maybe we'll learn something.
In order to keep your farm running while you're away, you have to keep your chickens fed. So, feed silos are key to maintaining idle profits when your fingers need a rest.
The central planning committee that oversees the construction of feed silos limits construction to a mere two silos. Which is disappointing... but expected, and kind of clever.
What this means is that you need to come back and check in with your farm roughly every couple hours to refill those feed silos.
Though, for five bucks, you can get a permit that allows you to construct 10 silos. Imagine that. You can quintuple your storage for five bucks.
As far as in game purchases go, that's probably not a bad investment.
6. Time to Sell
As with most clicker games, once you've got a good thing going, it's time to start over. Egg Inc is no different in this regard, but there is some nuance that makes the process of selling more fun than it probably should be.
It has sucked us into the idea that eggs are at the center of the universe. So, it makes total sense that when you sell your highly profitable farm, you get a new egg.
When you first start, you have a basic white edible egg. I'm sure it's the incredible, edible egg.
When your farm reaches a certain value you have the option to sell and receive a new egg. Sure, your farm starts over, but you have a new egg with a new earning multiplier.
Discovering a new egg is certainly addictive. Be careful.
Secret Step 7 - Know Egg Inc. Cheats
Look, cheating is immoral... I get it, but if we don't cheat we're not giving the coders any incentive to do a better job tightening up their work. And where would we be as gamers if we weren't teaching coders how to be better people? I'd argue nowhere. So here we go.
The game delivers bonus eggs and cash based on time. If you can manipulate time, you can manipulate the game's bonus structure.
Most of the egg inc cheats are based upon changing your phone's clock. Sure, you won't know what time it is, or what date it is, but you'll have a tremendous amount of cash. So, as with most of life's cheats, there are trade-offs.
More Awesome Game Guides
- There is no game- Ready to spend a little time with a truly unique not a game? It's fun though.
- Facebook's number one game, Everwing, is a fun fantasy romp.
- I've never seen something quite so simple or intriguing as Candy box 2
In Conclusion
Clicker games have a very therapeutic, zen-like, experience. In that sense, the game isn't an outlier. It's extraordinarily fun.
Moving from the menu based clicker based tropes to a graphics gameplay interface was a welcome move.
There's nothing magical here, sure, but Egg Inc is surprisingly engaging. While clicker games can get somewhat repetitive, it has spent some time making sure that once you install the game, you'll want to come back.
