Wigging Out

November 5, 2024 7:30 AM

Wigmaker, a relatively active incremental game about making wigs, completable over the course of hours.
posted by lucidium (16 comments total)

I’m entranced already. Thank you for posting the perfect distraction.
posted by brook horse at 7:48 AM on November 5 [2 favorites]

Aw fuck, I can't believe you've done this.
posted by Reverend John at 8:15 AM on November 5 [1 favorite]

Do you make wigs?
Have you made wigs?
Will you make wigs?
When will you make wigs?
posted by cortex at 8:17 AM on November 5 [5 favorites]

Can I make a wig out of paperclips?

I keep revisiting these incremental games because they constantly astonish with new ideas. A particular joy recently is The Planet Crafter which mostly is a sort of Subnautica clone about terraforming Mars but has some exponential idle game elements to the terraforming math.

The community has gotten quite well organized. Lucidium linked to IncrementalDB, there's also galaxy which has a lot of incremental games hosted in one place (with permission, I hope.) The subreddit is pretty good too, I've been working my way through the best of 2023 list.

Bonus multimedia: Wig in a Box.
posted by Nelson at 8:21 AM on November 5 [6 favorites]

Is this something I could play inside the Knoxville Sunsphere?
posted by credulous at 11:23 AM on November 5

Finished!
posted by eraserbones at 12:22 PM on November 5

Thank you very much for this. I am enjoying it very much.

I never sold so much as a single wiglet.
posted by Well I never at 5:31 PM on November 5

noooooo I wasn't ready for the game to end! I was starting to really enjoy the vibe of being an evil wigmaker!!
posted by mixedmetaphors at 6:23 PM on November 5 [2 favorites]

I loved the evil capitalism of it. The drones that harassed people who were still wearing hats, for instance. Or putting something in the water supply.
posted by Well I never at 6:42 PM on November 5

Truly. I didn't expect to have my mind crossed by the thought "Should I buy another politician? Why not, I have the money! ...How many politicians should I buy, total?" but, well, that was a thing that happened.
posted by mixedmetaphors at 7:18 PM on November 5 [4 favorites]

Uh, OK, that's weird. I've been playing this game occasionally for years; as I recall, I played it all the way through a few weeks ago. But just yesterday, after Mrs. Intermod and I watched a comedy that happened to use a "glorious" wig in a key moment, I told her about how this dumb game I play uses all sorts of hilarious adjectives to describe the wigs that you're making. She look truly confused about the fact that I would play a game called "wigmaker". Especially since you see no wigs in it. (well except for those silly style silhouettes in that one game element ...)

Galaxy.click has already been mentioned above as an aggregator of incremental games. The other one I go to a lot is Incremental Plaza.

I just bailed out of a Universal Paperclips run this morning. Ditto for Kittens Game a couple days ago.

I'm running a new Space Company session right now.

I may have a problem.
posted by intermod at 10:07 PM on November 5 [1 favorite]

I do not understand what is happening! Are there any instructions? How does pondering relate to investment? Have I missed my one chance at upping wig production speeds? Am so confused!
posted by freya_lamb at 12:03 PM on November 6

I don't think there are any explicit instructions, but I found "flat mode" in the options made it a little easier to see what things each option affects. Contemplating on the "notions" tab builds up a little currency you can use to invest later. For the early game it's mostly just about making sure you keep things stocked up and push new buttons when they appear.
posted by lucidium at 12:24 PM on November 6

Mod note: Hey, thanks for sharing this bit of fun! We've added this post to sidebar and Best Of blog!
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 5:11 AM on November 7 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure if this is a bug or if I'm not playing correctly, but I've got part way in and have 433 wigs and 705 wiglets and I've stopped producing because they aren't selling. If I "Increase Brand" then they start selling for a bit and then it all dies off.

Do I just have to keep clicking that over and over again, selling about a dozen wigs before it all dies off, just so I can make enough money to buy the thing (?) that makes sales happen? Or have I hit a bug?
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 10:07 AM on November 9

Right after I posted this I unlocked "Market Forces" and discovered that I am not making the wigs that the people want.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 10:59 AM on November 9