Cookie Clicker is an incremental game created by French programmer Julien "Orteil" Thiennot in 2013. The user initially clicks on a big cookie on the screen, earning a single cookie per click.
They can then spend their earned cookies upon purchasing assets such as "cursors" and other "buildings" that automatically produce cookies. Upgrades are also available and can improve the efficiency of clicks and buildings, among many other mechanics that allow the user to earn cookies in different ways.
Though the game has no ending, it has hundreds of achievements, and users may aim to reach milestone numbers of cookies.
The game has a dedicated fanbase. Though the first version was coded in one night, Cookie Clicker is regularly updated. It has been widely described as addictive, and it has been noted that the game almost does not require a human to play it.
Gameplay
At first, the player clicks on the large cookie on the far left side of the screen, earning one cookie per click. With these cookies, the player can buy new assets such as cursors, grandmas, farms, mines, factories and banks that automatically make cookies. Prices increase exponentially, each asset costing 15% more than the last-purchased asset of the same type.
The player may also purchase upgrades to increase cookie production for these buildings. Golden cookies, small cookies that appear in random locations and fade away after several seconds, appear periodically and grant effects, such as golden cookies, or a temporary increase in the rate of production if clicked before they disappear.
After earning a certain number of cookies, the player can 'ascend', losing their progress but earning heavenly chips and prestige levels. Prestige levels add a permanent boost (+1% per level) to the rate of cookie production in future play-throughs, while heavenly chips can be spent on a wide variety of prestige upgrades. However, the number of cookies needed to unlock the next prestige level goes up proportionally with the cube of the level, becoming harder to attain as more are acquired.
Other game mechanics include "wrinklers" (eldritch beasts which reduce cookie production, but can be popped by clicking them, returning all the cookies it digested with interest), Krumblor the Cookie Dragon, mini games, and sugar lumps (which take 24 hours to coalesce and are used to level up buildings and boost their production rate).
Achievements can be earned by completing various tasks or goals, such as reaching a certain number of total cookies produced, owning a particular number of buildings of a certain type or clicking a certain number of golden cookies.
Upon reaching a certain number of achievements, the player unlocks different colors of milk that appear below the cookie. With "kitten" upgrades, the player earns extra production depending on their total achievements.
Additionally, seasonal events occur during their respective holidays which come with more upgrades and cookies to unlock.
The game features geometric growth: the player begins baking handfuls of cookies, but can quickly reach billions of cookies, and eventually attain duodecillions of cookies or beyond. The game has no clear ending.
Because of the game's relatively simple code, cheats and add-ons are widely available and simply implemented by using browser consoles and bookmarklets.
History
Julien "Orteil" Thiennot created Cookie Clicker in August 2013. Written in a single evening, the game was posted in a link on 4chan, and garnered 50,000 players within hours.
A month after the game's initial release, it had over 200,000 players per day. Orteil later wrote that traffic had peaked at 1.5 million hits in one day during August 2013, and as of January 2014 Cookie Clicker was still getting a steady 225,000 hits per day.
The game has had continual updates since its release, notably the "legacy" update in February 2016 and the "spiritual" update in July 2017. On October 25, 2018, Orteil launched the game's Patreon page, with the intent to develop Cookie Clicker and other Dashnet games becoming a full-time job. On August 8, 2019, the mobile beta for Cookie Clicker was released for Android devices after a long delay.
Cookie Clicker is similar to Cow Clicker, a previously existing idle game created by Ian Bogost. Bogost has called Cookie Clicker "the logical conclusion of Cow Clicker".
Orteil later released other idle games such as: Idle Game Maker, a tool allowing customized idle games to be made without coding knowledge; AdventureQuest Dragons, a mobile game created with Artix Entertainment; and Neverending Legacy.
Steam release
On August 8, 2021, Orteil announced on Twitter a Steam release of Cookie Clicker, with the planned release date of September 1, 2021. The game was released on Steam on its originally announced release date. The release also consisted of a soundtrack composed by C418.
Video Gameplay
Screenshots
System Requirements
OS: Microsoft Windows 7/8/10
Processor: 2.33 GHz or faster x86, or Intel Atom 1.6 GHz
Memory: 512 MB
Graphics: 256 MB
Storage: 109 MB
How to install the game Cookie Clicker?
Disable your antivirus! It can block files necessary for the game!
" alt="Halloween Stories 4: Defying Death">
" alt="Hexcells">
" alt="Zafehouse: Diaries">
" alt="Edna & Harvey: Harvey's New Eyes">
" alt="Fragments of Him">