I would say the design style partially determine the games success as when you develop a game you have a target audience in mind. If you are designing a game for children then you would want it a cartoon style and that will attract that audience. If you are designing a game for people that like FPS games then you will need to design it differently because it has a completely different audience in mind.
Take Meep City for example that game is designed for more kids this means the game will be designed in a more of a cartoon style. Then Phantom Forces is designed for players that like FPS games and that audience like the more realistic look and not a cartoon look.
At this point, most developers look at Roblox’s main demographic; kids, if your main goal is to make it to the front page, the best idea is to tailor your game for it. In this current period of time, low-poly / cartoon styled games appear to appeal more towards Roblox’s player base.
The reason for the domination is just the visuals of the game which appeal to children. I asked my sister about the games she plays and it seems to be quite simplistic with an end goal of satisfaction where you reach.
Games with high standards do not go mainstream, as this end goal is far too “complicated” for young children, which is why more mature children play it.
The game’s art style is subjective to player opinion, whereas the main consensus of Roblox’s player base considers a low-poly art style the basis of a successful game, which is just not the case; subjective. As a UI Designer, the implementation of UI Designing and incorporating it in a specific game style gives it more “pop” to the game itself.
Also from data, younger kids tend to use tablets or iPads, which is optimized for low-poly assets in-game. Other than looks, gameplay is essential, and it must be enjoyable for you for it to be enjoyable for other people.
In conclusion, do research before you make a game, as it tends to guide you into what kind of game to make, and what will be enjoyable for you.
I think research is important, but I really think the biggest thing is just efficiency. For some reason when I orginally wrote this I didn’t think about how its fast to work on a cartoon style therefore thats the reason there is more of those games currently in the market.
Also you, and the others make a good point about optomization for mobile devices.
It’s pretty cool how low-poly games tend to do well in a crowded market, they seem to stand out disregarding the fact of this large epidemic, however players just seem to look for a great experience, which can be done by efficiency, and developers look for something that will stand out, and offers satisfaction too.
At this point really, too much innovation tends to drive away the player base, which is not great for Roblox as a whole, but for a specific genre is outstanding.
I feel like as developers our goal is to try and achieve what nobody else has been able to previously accomplish on site. However like you pointed out, overly innovating something seems to have almost no effect in terms of success which I find quite disappointing.
