Lit is an Idle Game by The Paper Pilot released for the Incremental Game Jam 2021. It runs on The Modding Tree engine known for its use in many Prestige Tree mods, but does not have a tree.
The game primarily consists of accumulating enough color energy to claim light. As you do so, you'll unlock couple of bars representing different colors. You have to carefully manage which color you want to spent light on, as each one provides different benefits of varying usefulness, or if you'd rather not spent light at all, as it can be more beneficial in other cases. Once you have your light set up, begin the cycle again. Reach 69 light to beat the game.
The game received a mod called Lit+ by qq1010903229 that extends gameplay up to 300 light, fixes some bugs, and overall expands the game while staying true to the original. It's officially linked from The Paper Pilot's website.
The original can be played here
, while + can be played here.
No relation to puzzle/horror game by WayForward.
This game provides examples of:
- A.I.-Generated Economy: Cyan light automates mechanics once you have enough of it, with perks like autobuying upgrades at level 1 and autobuying buyables one at a time at level 3.
- Chromatic Arrangement: Your primary upgrades involve the three primary colors: red, green, and blue. You eventually unlock the colors used in printing: yellow, cyan, and magenta.
- Diminishing Returns for Balance:
- The "Quantum theory" upgrade gives +1.5 normally, +1.57 if you have one unspent light, +1.62 if you have two, and eventually it only adds +0.01 for each one. It still makes a surprisingly big difference for the first few levels.
- The "Alhazen" and "Einstein" buyables have weaker effects if you buy them past the effect softcap, 1.78e308x (increasable to 2.41e462) for the former and ^1.36 (increasable to ^1.49) for the latter.
- Empty Levels: Some of the light levels are next to useless. Sure, that red light level doubles color energy production, but the "Wave Theory" upgrade multiplies it by 5 for each unspent light and the "Quantum theory" upgrade boosts the effects of all other red light ones for it. Or those green light levels that add a free level to the "Newton" buyable, which is useful as it helps keep a consistent profit from batteries longer while idling, but may feel next to useless when its effect is above 3x or have them be charged artificially with cyan level 4 and 5. That said, upgrades can massively change what can be seen as an empty level, but cyan level 7 and 9 give you literally no effect without it.
- End-Game Results Screen: The end screen states how long it took for you to beat the game.
- Export Save: You can push a button to export the 8KB+ save file and import it into a pop-up window.
- Magikarp Power: The "Emission theory" upgrade multiplies the battery cap based on how many seconds you've spent in the challenge. It's okay, but won't help too much past a certain point. Yellow level 5 multiplies color gain effect by battery cap, making it a little better. But once you get yellow level 9, which powers its effect by itself^0.75, it becomes freaking amazing with a bit of patience.
- Post-End Game Content: You can select the option to keep going even if you reach 69/300 light and win the game. The game's balanced well enough that you could reach 350 light or more if so desired, going much further would likely get boring.
- Reset Milestones: There are six milestones that unlock colors once you have reached a specific light threshold (light is granted for gathering enough energy to reset for it) and one at 69 (original) / 300 (+) that makes you win the game.
- Theme Naming: Upgrades are named after real/fictional theories, while buyables are named after famous scientists.
- Victory Fakeout: So, you've accumulated enough color energy to claim light? If it's close enough to another buyable, your cyan autobuyer will purchase it and you have to grind a little longer, or you may just exit early by mistake. Thankfully, cyan level 6 nullifies this effect by removing the cost aspect and just turning it into a requirement.
