Click of Duty
| Click of Duty | |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) |
|
| Designer(s) | Julien Thiennot |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | June 18, 2014 |
| Genre(s) | Incremental |
Click of Duty is a 2014 incremental video game developed by TapBurst Studios and published by Monsteristic. It was created by Leo Bennett, who originally worked for Air Studios. Following the success of the game, Bennett announced he formed a team of developers, forming TapBurst Studios in the process. The most recent expansion, Dark Warfare, was released in November 2023.
Instead of releasing multiple games in a singler franchise/series, Bennett intends to support the same game using the release schedule of expansions that are released every so often each year.
In addition to the development ideas created by Bennett, new ideas had been formed for multiple new games to be released every second or third year. A sequel to Click of Duty was confirmed in 2015. The sequel, Click of Duty II, was released in 2017. A third game was announced to be in development by February 2018. That sequel, Click of Duty 3, was released in 2019. Click of Duty 3 was intended to have multiple expansion packs be released throughout 2020, however due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all the planned content was cancelled so the team could work on their next game instead. A new game, titled Click of Duty: Dark Warfare, was released in November 2023.
The core games are all interconnected in progression and are found all in a singler platform called the "Click of Duty HQ", which was released seven months before the first game did.
Click of Duty is one of the longest running and one of the only franchises to be purely incremental. TapBurst Studios confirmed they plan to release a new game every 2–3 years, with intended support for the latest game for a minimum of one year.
Gameplay
Click of Duty is a free-to-play series of interconnected clicker games. While its core gameplay follows the standard mechanics found in most clicker games, Click of Duty introduces several unique features that set it apart from others in the genre. Since 2017, the series has implemented a "carry-forward" system, allowing players to retain their progress from one installment to the next. This means that progress made in Click of Duty can be carried over to Click of Duty II and future games in the series.
However, there are limitations to this system. If a player progresses in Click of Duty 3 and then returns to the original Click of Duty, their progress will still be saved, but certain features from Click of Duty 3 will be unavailable. Additionally, items in the player's inventory may become hidden when playing earlier versions of the game that do not support newer features.
Traditional gameplay
The basic gameplay from every clicker game is also found in Click of Duty. A player must click a button and earn score. At first, the main objective is to get the most score possible within 10 minutes, but as a player becomes more powerful and rich, the timer is slowly increased (and removed by the end), and the upgrade system becomes more advanced. Click of Duty II introduced new gameplay mechanics such as "Tiered Upgrades", which gives players a different way to progress.
In the original Click of Duty, Tiers are swapped for a boost.
Development
| Click of Duty | ||
|---|---|---|
| Expansions | ||
| 2014 | lightgreen | Click of Duty |
| 2017 | aqua | Click of Duty II |
| 2019 | red | Click of Duty 3 |
| 2023 | #f96800 | Click of Duty: Dark Warfare |
Unlike other popular video games,
Development on the game platform that was titled "COD: HQ" began in June 2014, after Cookie Clickers' popularity blew up in a matter of months. Mob Productions looked for development teams to make the game but were unsuccessful until Ethan Morland agreed to develop the project alone. Development officially began that December and continued all the way until its release in 2023. The development process was extremely slow compared to any other game with the focus on quality of each area of the game.
First generation, Unreal Engine
TapBurst Studios was founded in early 2013 and struggled to choose what type of games they wanted to design and release.
Marketing and release
On August 7, 2023, a teaser trailer was posted, confirming the title. Around this time, a phone number was set up by Activision that was shared via social media. This phone number, after participants agreed to a few terms, would begin sending anonymous messages to participants, such as "we need someone like you, with experience in Al Mazrah." This phone number was noted to give unusual responses when sent the word "zombies" or the names of multiplayer maps from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (ex. "Rust"). A day later, on August 8, Activision confirmed that Modern Warfare II operators, weapons and cosmetic items would carry over into Modern Warfare III and released a blog post detailing the specifics of the carry-over.
On August 17, a full reveal took place inside of a Call of Duty: Warzone event, which concluded with a reveal trailer. Pre-orders were also opened, with players being able to play the campaign up to a week early, as well as gain access to new operator skins and an open beta for the multiplayer mode.
Modern Warfare III was released on November 10, 2023, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Similar to Modern Warfare II, the campaign was released in early access for all digital pre-orders, starting from November 2. In July 2024, Modern Warfare III was made available to Xbox Game Pass subscribers.
Reception
COD: HQ was praised for its ambition at launch, though did recieve some backlash, mainly for being called "COD", something players think of being used for the Call of Duty franchise. The positive reviews praised the gameplay and the feeling that each part of the game felt complete.