Does roblox want my game to fail? PLEASE HELP!

Help and Feedback Game Design Support
#1

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UPDATE: the game has now bent down to an average of 10-5 CCU at any peak time. It used to be 40-50. What did I do? Optimize the game a bit, and add new areas of the map. WTF Roblox???

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I have a game ive been updating and dedicating my free time to, called Flamethrower Engine. (link). It’s a game about destroying buildings, small towns, and structures with a flamethrower, bomb, and many other tools you can unlock by progressing.

Ive added many optimizations to prevent lag, like trashing and removing scattered debris, and lowering memory usage. I made a module i used open source to help creators that want to make an identical game to mine without having to deal with physics throttling and lag. (dynamicdebris)

There are mechanics in the game i am personally very fond and happy of, like flame skin unboxing and the quest system i’ve been working on for a week and a half, although the system isnt finished, its in a testing phase and already allowing players to test the system out.

Now to the part where im very stressed and confused about,
LITERALLY EVERYTHING!!!

I have no idea why my stats are this horrible, why???

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My game has a core loop, isnt laggy, has daily rewards, and theres no frusterating part about onboarding or gameplay; its a good game to play that should last you a good 10 minutes at minimum.

Now, ive seen that my onboarding is also horrible, but i also have no idea why. Its easy to follow, it should at least take 2 minutes to complete at max. You can join the game and see for yourself.

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Theres no troubling part about opening the shop; the game literally teleports you infront of the shop for you to walk a couple of steps and click a button that is highlighted. There is NOTHING HARD about it! Again, see for yourself.

Next, Im confused about my playerbase. I observe the actions and progress they take and they look like they have no clue on what they are doing, mostly because ROBLOX IS RECOMMENDING MY GAME TO CHILDREN <9 ONLY! This is soooo frusterating since I then have to cater my game to this audience, which i really dont want to do since this was not my intended audience of players. No matter what i do, my game is only getting impressions on these players, with occasionally a teen player here and there, but its super hard to communicate and work around with a community which is, in my opinion, thoughtless and silent.

I look at other games somewhat like mine and see their success, and wonder, “How does this game have mass popularity compared to mine? There is no gameplay loop and its barely optimized!”, an example is this game, which does have a very well built map, but horribly lags on my iPhone 12, doesnt have smooth destruction optimization, and barely a gameplay loop. And for some reason, they have a more diverse and aged community, compared to mine.

Honestly, I really think Im overseeing something, is there something I need to improve on, or is there an eyesore of a bug sitting infront of these players that I dont see? Please help, give tips, whatever helps.

(ps. emoji’s in the description very likely arent a factor on why my players are younger and less intelligent)

4 Likes
Planning to do low budget ad's for a middle tier game, what to do, and not to do?
#2

Hi my friend,

I used to be dev at a game with mostly 50 ccu and maintained that for a year and we had a little bit better statistics than ur game, which also has 13 humans playing it right now which is so cool in my eyes. Anyways, my tip for ur game to keep the players playing longer is to make everything smoother. You know, more and cleaner UI, more and cleaner sounds - make the destroying more beautiful.

And u could make like a timer UI where player gets like a huge bomb every 2 minutes that mus be VERY satisfying. And theres much more tricks like this, just sit in studio and think. How do I make a human brain now leave now, how do I make a kid wanna keep playing because and thats what you need to keep in mind for now, your target audience - like it or not - are kids at the age of 9-13.

Hope that helps

2 Likes
#3

I wish it was 9-13, like I said it’s <9, I really don’t want this audience and to cater towards them, it will only lure more players like this. Thanks for the tips though.

4 Likes
#4

This is just my opinion, but I think the reason why you’ve attracted a younger audience - compared to the other game - comes down to the models used and the stylization/presentation.

First, most of the structures in your game are old models taken from games like Natural Disaster Survival, which older players of roblox have explored and seen destroyed countless times already. On the other hand, Destroy the City has somewhat more obscure buildings (assuming they’re not custom), so players old and new to roblox have something to discover there.

Then there’s how the game is presented. Personally, I believe the reason why there’s such a large drop-off after the second funnel is that players simply are turned off by the presentation, rather than not being smart enough to buy an item from the shop.

I’m sure you’re aware, but the spawn is filled with neon lights, flashing particle effects, big obvious arrows, and hovering bold text. For lack of better words, it gives off an aura of “trying too hard”, which can come off as unwelcoming. If the spawn place was simplified and more elegant-looking, it would definitely get rid of that feeling.

On a slightly larger scale, another issue is that there’s not a whole lot for the player to look forward to when they think about playing more. This is extremely important for literally any game seeking to retain a playerbase. There’s lots of ways it’s done too, from having a story, players to show off/defeat with your skills, or just exploring around. At least, these elements aren’t apparent in your game on a surface level, and if they are, they should be revealed at the start.

3 Likes
#5

Man this reply honestly sums up what I’ve been thinking for the past couple of days in regards to game creation in general.

I can’t really speak on the other game’s success, but for the original poster’s game, he sort of fell into a tunnel of bad decisions that is causing him these problems.

Youthful style icon → Younger players joining game → Less understanding of how to play
Then on top of that there’s errors in retention hooking. There’s a forced sense of reward in the tutorial making the already young audience even more reluctant to continue playing in the future since it doesn’t have the same simplicity imagined.

I’m honestly still learning the ropes of game development so I can’t help further, and these are the same traps that I fall into when making games.

#6

Any other thumbnail I make makes Roblox drop many, many impressions for my game.

If I don’t have a tutorial like the current one, players dip Waaaay faster, like I’m talking two minutes of session time.

And it is my players. I check users above 9 and it shows a way more obvious completion rate, it isn’t presentation. A 1x1 thumbnail being somewhat flashy doesn’t mean the Skibidi toilet indulges hop instantly

1 Like
#7

look, im not much for retention or profit from games; i mainly make them myself just to have fun with my friends or to support a group project.

if you want player retention and for users to genuinely keep coming back to your game, you need something of value that they will stick to and stay loyal to.

games like entry point that have gotten no updates for years (at this point) still keep a steady player count not just because they’re fun, but because players love the game’s characters, story, and gameplay loop. now i know those first 2 dont really apply to you given it’s a simulator, but you could definitely lean into something like the destruction mechanics and graphics as well as a levelling system to maintain what i like to call a “point of progress” (i.e. “i play phantom forces because i have some really cool guns and im level 72.” your saving data is your point of progress)

that pretty much concludes it, id say this is a pretty long reply that ive dropped and the TL;DR is that if you want dedicated players make a fun core gameplay loop (not that you dont already have one, just enhance it) and make this game more than a one-time “oh thats cool” into something like “i wanna play this again with my friends tomorrow” through a levelling system that saves through sessions.

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#8

I’ve done all of that; I’ve added skin unboxing, leveling, and a basic core loop. The problem is the session time specifically. My playercount is also dwindling, and Roblox seems to push it out less now, which is making me very worried, as I have school and the time I put into developing my game is at max and Roblox seems to want me to be faster, which I can’t.

#9

if you want results fast, i think it might be better to lean into a lower age demographic and present your game with a more flashy style. simplify the mechanics to the point where they only keep people coming back with some degree of progress like new flamethrowers and such.
also, when i visited your game today, you had 17 active players. congrats!

#10

thank you, seems like roblox picked the game back up again.

#11

Idk if this is the case, but all games should have both single-player and multi-player built into it, this mean it’s nice to play with others while also you can have fun solo

1 Like
#12

Since I also need a source of revenue in my game, i have enabled private servers at the price of 20 robux, which some players can purchase if they want to have a private experience. Public servers are optimized enough to play in, so its no problem for players with laggy devices, tested it on a low end android tablet.

#13

aand the player count is back down. Im not as annoyed right now since im going to purchase ads for my game to burst player count; i have been studying the algorithm, and right now roblox is putting me at a hard stop unless I externally get players thru ads or social media promotion.

#14

I mean that game should be enjoyable by one player and many players

2 Likes