The App Store is FULL of idle games in all shapes and sizes. Just about any activity or game genre you can think of has some sort of streamlined version built for killing a bit of time on your phone, sometimes actively while you’re playing and sometimes even while your phone is sitting in your pocket. What you don’t see all too often with this type of game is a pay-once premium version with no online requirements, but that is what you’ll be getting with Paragon Pioneers, a passion project from solo developer Tobias Tenbusch that launched on Android recently and will now be heading to iOS devices on June 23rd. This is a city-building game where you’ll be able to construct more than 100 different buildings and produce more than 70 types of items by setting up complex production chains. It’s also an empire-building game, since as your city grows you’ll want to take over more territory by conquering neighboring islands. See it in action in the following trailer for Paragon Pioneers.

I’m actually a big fan of idle games as I think their simplicity and streamlined nature make them a really good fit for mobile, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they need to be shallow or mindless, although many certainly are. Paragon Pioneers strives to be a mechanically deep game while still keeping things breezy enough to pop into from time to time, and I really love games that allow you to make progress even when you’re not playing. It’s exciting to see what sort of stuff happened in a game while you were away. As mentioned it’s not often you get a game like this that’s not free to play, or filled with ads or online connection junk. Paragon Pioneers will simply cost $3.99 upfront with no additional IAP, ads, or online requirements. If you want to pre-order the iOS version it’s available now ahead of the June 23rd launch and you can discuss this one with other interested gamers as well as the developer over in our forums.