IGTAP How to Play: First Hour, Clones and Watts

IGTAP is a precision platformer where every run pays electricity. You complete a short course, the game records your best time, and clones then replay that route for you while you are away. Watts buy the upgrades that raise the payout, so the loop feeds itself.

What the four numbers on screen mean

The official screenshots show four readouts at once, and each one answers a different question.

Above them, the power counter shows your total stored electricity. It grows from watts into kilowatts, megawatts and beyond as you upgrade.

How your first hour should go

1. Finish course one without worrying about speed. Falling into spikes only sends you to a checkpoint.
2. Run it a second time and try to beat your own time. Best time is what clones will copy, so a faster run raises every future payout.
3. Buy your first clone as soon as you can afford one, then watch N Clones grow at the start of the course.
4. Open the upgrade panel with TAB and buy a base reward upgrade. Check that the reward number rises after a fresh run.
5. Leave the game running and come back. Clones keep earning while you are away.
6. When income looks stuck, go exploring instead of grinding the same course.

Why your best time matters more than your run count

Clones do not copy many runs. They copy your best one. The multiplier on screen usually sits around 0.1x, so an idle clone earns a small fraction of what you earn in person.

That is why a player who shaves half a second off a course can out-earn a player who grinds ten slow runs. It is also why the game never becomes a pure idle game. One reviewer put it plainly: the clones “barely give you as many points as actively doing it”.

The trade-off is real though. Another reviewer described IGTAP as a challenging platformer that is “very easy to pick up, do a good run and get enough clones to keep the game running while you go do something else”. Both statements are about the same system: manual skill sets the ceiling, clones collect it while you rest.

How clones and upgrades work together

Clone upgrades come in three flavours, and the order matters:

• Clone count adds another runner. Cheap early, and the fastest way to start earning while idle.
• Clone reward multiplier raises what each clone pays. Worth buying once you already run several clones.
• Clone speed and size tiers are chance-based. Each purchase adds a 5% chance to bump a clone a tier, so they do little while your clone count is small.

Separately, base reward multiplies what you personally earn. Buy it early. It makes both your runs and your clones more valuable at once.

What to do when progress stalls

Stalling has three usual causes, and they need different answers.

1. You are re-running the same slow route. Spend one session chasing a faster time instead.
2. You missed a hidden pickup. IGTAP hides free stat upgrades in the level geometry. Explore the ceiling and the gaps between courses.
3. You need a movement ability. Wall jump, dash and double jump open both new courses and shortcuts inside old ones. Buy the ability, then replay the courses you already own.

A player on the project page gave the shortest version of this advice: if an upgrade looks very far off, explore.

Where the first hour stops being enough

Course one teaches the loop. After that the game introduces a literal upgrade tree, then atoms, and finally the late-game VMAN courses. Do not judge the idle layer by the first hour, because most of its depth arrives later.

If you want the buying order rather than the loop, read the upgrade priority page. If you want to know what each word in the title means in practice, start with the name explainer.

Sources: IGTAP on Steam store description and screenshots, the official Steam achievement list, the official September 21 launch announcement, and current Steam reviews.