Am i doing something wrong with this game?

Im developing an FPS game that is oriented about changing battlefield scenarios with building and digging in voxel-styled world.
Something that feels like WW1 or WW2.

https://www.roblox.com/games/2555870920/LINE-BUILDING-AceOfSpadez-BETA-2-5-6#

Its a unique game idea on roblox that i didnt really see anywhere else, but i believe im doing something wrong with it.

Game has only 72% like-ratio and im constantly running ads so the game doesnt die, which it would without them.
I always get my robux back, but it still criples my revenue.
I would have 500K+ robux instead of my current 150K+, since my robux-to-visit ratio is around 1:1.

I have a small feeling that people dont care about the building aspect of the game and simply think its a run n’gun FPS like every other on ROBLOX and then proceed to rage quit, because they mindlesly run around and get easly gunned down, even tho i try to tell the players that building and digging is an important part of the game. I put hints above players health for each weapon slot, chat generates tips every 3 minutes and at this point i dont know how to motivate players to actually start building and digging instead of mindlesly running.

Im here to ask how you - other developers - see the game from the player perpective, what is good and what should be changed.

Thanks - NexusKorthos

5 Likes

As just a generic first-play, This doesn’t really quite show it has anything others than Shooting, due that it’s very straight-forward and can play in only 10secs, but is not quite the issue.

Buildings aren’t used might be due that it’s nowhere seen as the meta of the game, People came to fight people and win, i believe people will be automatically willing to use more of the tools if it would guarantee “gains” from building, because it doesn’t feel like it’s the case and people may probably think it’s useless since opponents can also use the path you digged or built. (because it’s currently used as a travel option)

In my opinion, one way to make buildings a major strategic option is to reinforce camping with little new features where Traps can be set, which would make Camping the meta at some point,

But technically, it is getting closer to the gameplay you want the community to go for, Tips you should offer to people constantly losing to campers are how to decamp them, Digging and grenades should have a better obvious use if people are constantly staying idle, Which kinda offers a new experience since it will turns into a hunting game, more than anything.

1 Like

I am in no way a pro game reviewer, but as a regular player here is what I didn’t like.

When I first played the game, I spawn with a gun, people are firing at me, yes my first instinct is to fire back. First impressions are everything and they can get players in the mindset this is a run and gun game. You need to switch around the priorities of your game. Right when they spawn the players should feel the need to build and use fighting as something extra.

One thing you did well with your game is how easy it is to get started. You join in, hit the play button, and then start playing. But you’re starting off at the wrong aspect. You start players off with a gun and they see people firing at each other, what else would they think the game is about?

I have no reason to build… I tried building in the game just because in this post you mentioned your supposed to. But right now I am in the game trying to build, but I still don’t understand why? It’s not enough to tell players building and digging is important, but they need to see a purpose in it. Why am I building? What is your intended purpose? Is it supposed to defend me? Is it supposed to help me gain an advantage? If so how? Because nothing in the game indicates building and digging will actually give me an advantage and help me. And even now when I am trying to build when people are running around firing at me, I feel like I am looking like an idiot just standing there doing nothing. In other words, building and digging in the game has no obvious purpose, and it does not present clear advantages.

If the purpose of building is to build a base or something, you should make the map bigger to give room for that. And maybe add a team functionality so players will be motivated to build together. However, I don’t know what was the intended purpose of the building. So could you reply to this post with that intended purpose and I can give further feedback.

Also… the building mechanics themself are not great. When things don’t work well, they annoy players leading them to just ignore it altogether.

  1. I can not build blocks far away. I understand you are trying to put a range, but maybe instead of making the block disappear, you could make it appear but give it a red outline to better signal to the player “you can not place a block here.”

  2. For digging, add an outline over the block the player is hovering over and do the same thing as I listed above.

  3. Maybe increase the range a little bit? I can’t even build across without a little frustration.

3 Likes

First, your UI is great. So simple and it’s fancy at the same time.

Second, the game I spawned in was 50 minutes long. I can’t play that long in the same map, especially a map I don’t like. Sure I could switch the server, but many people don’t like to play leap frog like that.

Now, outside of that, the mechanics themselves aren’t amazing. They are okay, but I feel like it doesn’t compare to something like BIG Paintball, for instance. And I know that you have a different goal here, but I am mainly talking about fluidity and how the guns feel. It really feels more like Base Wars, for those who remember that game from the ancient times.

However, unlike the above, I did see a purpose for building. The map I was in was a little big, but in a small map I could see its advantages. Now, the issue with building is that Roblox has a younger player base than you think, and may not see a purpose to build when you can just run, jump, and facecheck everyone with your gun. I mean, look at Arsenal - that’s exactly what you do in that game.

Taking these things into account, I can see that it is well-made, but I also see why it is failing. Hopefully you can rebound and get your game up to the standards it deserves to be at.

1 Like

Players probably don’t want to build because the building system is kinda janky.

I also feel like it would do better if it wasn’t named after a real game, because there was that thing a while back where people would make nice renders of fake games and get to front page off the popularity of a real game like Fortnite.

I agree with this, first impressions are everything. I would suggest adding a quick tutorial, you should also add an anti-spawn kill system, as soon as I joined I was shot. Just add little things that prevent players from getting angry, and leaving. Sorry, I didn’t have time to type up a full review.

1 Like

As a fan of your game, I got some general things I’d see as improvements. You mentioned how people don’t care about the building mechanics, which I’d say is mostly because there’s no need to build, there’s cover everywhere. The building mechanics also feel a little buggy and inconsistent, especially the range of it.

The obvious way to try and get building more involved would be to decrease cover around the maps, as it would require players to build more.

Now your player base seems very split, there are the people who’re there for building, and there are the people whos there for the fighting, so if you could make something similar to a building class and a fighting class would perhaps be another solution for it.

I also feel like the game could have some general Improvements regarding the feel of it, the framework feels clunky and could be improved.

Anyways, the game is fun to play and I hope you’ll get satisfied with it.

1 Like

I think the building works very well on most maps. The maps that work well are the ones with a lot of existing architecture, because it creates a lot of interesting ways that you can gain an advantage in both the long and short term. On the pyramids map you can destroy the bridges to prevent the enemy from using a common path to your spawn, and in tight corridors you can block them off or create a wall that can only be scaled from one side. Maps like the one that’s just a long rift between two mountains don’t let you do very many interesting things compared to something like front line.

Knowing where it’s good to build and what kinds of structures are worthwhile takes a bit of practice and experimentation, as well as strategic thinking. Doing that at the same time as playing an FPS might be overwhelming for many players, especially if they aren’t super good at FPS games in the first place or haven’t played Minecraft.

The game modes don’t really encourage building that much. Why not make building/destruction- based game modes? Maybe a mode where there’s a bridge that one team must defend and the other team destroy, and at the end of the round a convoy of tanks or trucks tries to driver over it. If they get over defenders win, if they fall to the bottom of the canyon the attackers win. Or a mode where a both teams have a block that they must defend, and if it gets destroyed the other team wins? Give both teams 5 minutes to build stuff with no guns/ a barrier on the map, so they can focus on building and preparing. Also, people almost always vote for TDM in my experience of playing ~8 rounds. Maybe rig the system to only give TDM as an option half of the time? :stuck_out_tongue:

2 Likes

Good feedback, yeah im removing TDM in the next update, since it requires to just shoot instead of defending points or flag.

2 Likes

It was really fun to play and a very interesting take on the FPS genre that I’ve never seen before in Roblox. The 1 thing that was really off putting to me was how hard it was to grab the suitcase. I managed to get to it but had to shoot at the tower for 30 seconds, then die and then return only to find it built up again. Not allowing to build at the suitcase would make people more defensive and build more defensive buildings instead of just rushing out.

2 Likes