I made a cozy offline skilling idle RPG. Feedback welcome!
Hi all! I'm a solo dev and Tide Idle is my first released game. It's an idle skilling RPG where a great wave swept your village's fleet away and you rebuild from a raft into a pirate ship and conquer the seas island by island.
I've always loved classic skilling games like OSRS, but these days I just don't have the hours to sit and grind. Idle games are my other favorite, so I combined the two: the slow, satisfying skilling progression I love, but it keeps going while I'm offline. I'd really love feedback on pacing, especially the first 30 minutes and whether the mid-game drags anywhere.
What's in it?
- 14 skills to level 99: gathering (Foraging, Fishing, Mining, Woodcutting), crafting (Cooking, Shipwright, Smithing), and combat at sea and on land (Gunnery, Attack, Strength, Defence, Hitpoints, Slayer), plus Trading
- 7 islands and a story with 69 quests, ending with the Elder Kraken
- 13 sea monsters and bosses, a bestiary and rare legendary drops
- Your captain fights ashore too: a dungeon on every island, gear to smith, and rare keys that open treasure chests with 11 unique items
- Slayer tasks and lairs, plus a Harbor with daily bounties and cargo runs
- 7 ship tiers that visibly change with every upgrade you build, in your own colors
- Up to 24h of offline progress
Free to play. Bonus ads are optional (watch one to double your offline haul and more). A one-time Captain's Pass removes all ads and gives every ad bonus for free.
Play on Android (free): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tideidle.app
More info: https://ebranding.ee/tide-idle/
AI disclosure: I'm a solo dev and used AI as a coding assistant. The game's art (items, monsters, islands, ships, captain, icon) is AI-generated. Game design, balance and progression are my own, and the sound effects and music are synthesized in code.
2 comments · 10% upvoted · source · other discussions
Here's my boilerplate response to every fucking post like this:
If you need to use AI to code your prototype, fine whatever, players can't see the code. But this looks like shit man. The UI has the same exact look every AI-generated UI does, which is entirely sterilized and lifeless, and the art assets are eye-gougingly bad.
I won't try tell you to start over but at the very least build something human on top of your codebase. There's plenty of easily accessible and extremely affordable art assets made by actual artists. You could buy a package from itch.io for under $20 and it would make a world of difference.
One-Fill-7577 [OP] 0 points · 5d ago
Hey!
Thanks so much for the review and recommendation!
I totally get your point about AI-generated assets lacking uniqueness. I actually looked into hiring artists on Fiverr, but with over 400 assets needed, the costs were a bit out of reach for me at this stage. AI ended up being a much more affordable way to get the project off the ground. Hopefully, as the game grows, I'll have the opportunity to work with artists and give it a more unique look.
In the meantime I'll definitely check out itch.io.
Really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts! :)