Building Clickfluencer Idle

Idle games have always fascinated me. There’s something oddly satisfying about progress that keeps happening even when you step away—a strange blend of psychology, reward loops, and patience disguised as productivity. Clickfluencer Idle was my way of taking that fascination and turning it into something tangible—an experiment in both design and development, and a great excuse to push the boundaries of what’s possible with the latest Next.js 16 updates.

You can play it live at clickfluenceridle.com.

The Spark

Like many side projects, this one started as a small “what if?” scribbled in a notes app. I’ve built smaller prototypes before—most notably Idle Post RPG—but Clickfluencer Idle felt like a chance to take those lessons and wrap them into something more complete.

It’s a tongue-in-cheek look at influencer culture through the lens of an incremental clicker. Instead of mining gold or farming resources, you’re chasing clout, buying ads, and optimizing your way to internet fame. The premise is lighthearted, but the goal for me was serious: build a fully functional, polished idle game using a modern front-end stack and see how much I could ship in a week.

Tech Stack and Tools

The game is built with Next.js 16, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS—a stack that feels as expressive as it is practical. I wanted to explore the new Next.js app-router features and server behaviors while keeping the game entirely client-side.

Tailwind made it easy to iterate on UI quickly, and TypeScript kept everything predictable once the number of systems (clicks, upgrades, storage, themes) started to grow. For a project this small, the setup might seem like overkill—but part of the fun was testing how well modern React architecture can handle a traditional “game loop” experience.

And surprisingly, it did just fine.

The Challenges

Every project has a hidden nemesis, and in this case, mine was themes. You’d think toggling between light and dark would be a trivial switch, but getting the UI to persist and rehydrate correctly across sessions in Next 16 proved trickier than expected. Between server-side rendering nuances, client hydration timing, and Tailwind’s theme classes, I found myself debugging edge cases that felt straight out of a puzzle game.

It was a good reminder that “simple” UI problems are rarely as simple as they look—especially in an SSR-first framework.

Beyond that, balancing the clicker mechanics, reward pacing, and incremental math was the fun part. A few friends helped me test (and break) early versions, pushing the system to find exploits I didn’t anticipate. It’s amazing how quickly a well-meaning playtester can turn a 1% boost into an infinite-money glitch.

The Wins

The best part of Clickfluencer Idle wasn’t any one feature—it was finishing something that felt whole. After years of half-finished prototypes and work projects, it’s refreshing to have a game that’s self-contained, visually cohesive, and publicly playable.

I’m especially proud of how accessible and modular the structure ended up being. Everything from save persistence to upgrade scaling can be adjusted easily, leaving room for future expansions or reskins down the line. The codebase itself became a small sandbox for learning, reflection, and the occasional “oh wow, that actually worked” moment.

Reflections and Next Steps

This project reaffirmed something I’ve always believed: small scope beats big ambition when you want to actually ship. Building Clickfluencer Idle wasn’t about chasing perfection; it was about curiosity, iteration, and giving myself permission to finish.

If you’re a developer looking to experiment with new frameworks or tools, idle games are surprisingly great playgrounds. They teach you about state management, data persistence, progression curves, and UI feedback loops—all within a structure that scales gracefully from hobby project to full production.

As for me, I’m already sketching ideas for the next one—maybe something darker, maybe something cozy, but definitely something that keeps that idle-loop heartbeat alive.

Until then, you can experience the dopamine drip for yourself at
clickfluenceridle.com.