Best Programming Idler Games on PC

Crypto Mining Simulator

Can’t really recommend this game. Seems to be pretty poorly constructed. I’ll try to point out some of the design flaws.

Game crashed and dupped the rig I was working on. I broke the game and I wasn’t even trying

UI is pretty confusing. You can’t tell what is buttons and what isn’t.

Inconsistent UI, i.e. you can sell Eth from the escape menu but have to go into the market to sell BTC.

Outside of the tutorial, which is short, there’s really nothing to do but let money accrue. Might as well be an idle game.

– Real player with 30.4 hrs in game

Read More: Best Programming Sandbox Games.

Before I slam this game for all the problems it has, I will say I’d be willing to revisit this after they fix the issues and make some enhancements moving forward.

Pros -

1. Fairly easy to move forward with mining and building

2. Allows one to redesign there room

3. Offers a sandbox environment.

Cons - (there are a lot!)

1. Customer builds never seem to work, After accepting a task, building to spec, placing in customer pickup area …nothing happens.

2. Sometimes buying a rack comes completely assembled

– Real player with 16.7 hrs in game

Crypto Mining Simulator on Steam

Stone Story RPG

Update (October 3, 2021): The Quest system is finally live, and it’s fantastic. Recent updates have added lovingly crafted story content (including new music and new characters), expanding the game world and lore. It’s all very charming, and from a mechanical point of view, it’s also a great way for new players to get the gear they need without having to grind as much. I really recommend checking out the quests if you are a returning player.

Update (November 25th, 2020): Three huge improvements have been added to the game:

– Real player with 8590.2 hrs in game

Read More: Best Programming RPG Games.

My ONLY gripe with this game is that it labels itself as an RPG.

This game focuses WAY more on the aspects of an IDLE game than an RPG, which leads to many people confused as they were expecting something else from this game.

If you come in expecting an Idle game, you’ll get a damn good one.

If you come in expecting an RPG, you’ll get a somewhat grindy, automatic one.

Also, spoiler warning.

Honestly, this game is pretty grind-based in the endgame. Early game starts incredibly fresh and you’ll have to experiment with different item combinations to get through levels, and my god, the stones that you gradually unlock which add new features, are incredibly fun and rewarding. But once you’ve beaten “The Temple” (which appears to be the last real stage, from what I’ve found), you’ll get the Mind Stone, and with that you’ll have all of the stones, except for Moondial Stone, which you get from an endgame boss.

– Real player with 873.0 hrs in game

Stone Story RPG on Steam

Screeps: World

I have played lots games over the years. have forgotten 95% of them, 4.9% of them i remember due to them being an excellent game and myself enjoying, Paradox games I love but don’t rate as in the top .1%. Only a very rare game has me remembering epic or defining moments that really set that game apart for me. EvE online is one, for creating a sandbox of such freedom, politics, warfare, resource gathering, trade, which all helps to create proper player driven stories.

The other is Screeps….which has given me my most proud moments in any game i have played. The games are of course markedly different but also surprisingly similar. Screeps like EvE has trade, crafting, factories, land ownership, politics/alliances, resource gathering, warfare, but ants instead of ships and where in EvE when u get killed you take a big loss, in Screeps it can mean game over, time to respawn from scratch……again.

– Real player with 3117.3 hrs in game

Read More: Best Programming Open World Games.

Note: I am not associated with the developers in any way, I’ve just been playing a lot recently.

Screeps is a game for programmers.

But it is possible for someone without any previous programming experience to learn it with enough dedication, though I recommend at least learning some basics of programming/JavaScript from somewhere like codecademy first. And try the free tutorial before you buy the game (I am still running code that started out based on the tutorial code, 2 months later).

The game has deceptively simple visuals, but a lot of increasingly complex systems that you gain access to as you progress within the game, providing interesting challenges for your programming ability. How complex it ends up getting depends in part on how much of it you end up wanting to automate. Pretty much anything you can do, you can get your code to do for you.

– Real player with 2606.2 hrs in game

Screeps: World on Steam

Game Developer Simulator

In the Simulator of a game developer, you will be able to understand all the subtleties of this profession, understand how the game industry works and all the difficulties of one developer.

You will have to be a person who has needs and problems, each of your mistakes will become a lesson for you in the life of a lonely developer.

Start from the bottom and become a millionaire, achieve success in your games and win the hearts of gamers!

Features

Making complex financial decisions

Game Developer Simulator on Steam

A Night Before the Deadline

This game was more than I was expecting. The atmosphere from the audio in game puts you on edge, the “story” (though I called it early) was something new (although very short). Took roughly 25 minutes to 100%. While the walking is rough and awkward at times, the sprint is bae.

Overall, it was very short, but definitely made me feel uncomfortable with the atmosphere. The mini games were different, and it felt like a good start to something!

– Real player with 3.2 hrs in game

A Night Before the Deadline

Enjoyable for the short time on offer, with just enough variety to keep it interesting. The controls are terrible and the searching is a little tedious. I’d maybe recommend it in a sale.

A Night Before the Deadline is an adventure game set in the IT department of an office block. The deadline for an important piece of software is due for completion tomorrow, and Joe must stay late to complete the work.

– Real player with 0.9 hrs in game

A Night Before the Deadline on Steam

Startup Panic

living the Dream

Manage your time as a bedroom programmer. Pick projects, contract-work and vacation days to get by, then start to build some passive income through your startup.

Beware though: Once you start hiring your first employees and upgrading your office, you’ll attract the attention of competing businesses…

don’t Panic!

You decide how each project goes and what to focus on
Spend a week training your staff, or earning money, or building features… but choose wisely!
Upgrade your company in the skill tree: Will you take longer vacations or cheaper air-co?
Hunt for new employees and hire the ones that fit your style: Social butterfly? Marketing expert? Lone Wolf?
Compete with rival CEOs for new users in your region, and then expand out by building new headquarters on a world map!
Hurting for cash? You can take out a loan or search for investors, but don’t think it’ll come for free…