This would be soo nice! I love getting notifications on YouTube videos, so having them on games would be fantastic! I also agree that the way games present updates int the best and needs to be improved.
I support the idea for an updates tab feature as using the description of a game isn’t what it is intended for.
I think banners are still a great thing as it sends the information directly to other people, especially if done correctly.
I’ve wanted this for a long time - would be so useful!
There are quite a few developers (myself included) who use Discord/Twitter to notify players of an update but there are still lots of players who don’t have either of these and need to be notified of the update - support!
I’m shocked we still don’t have something like this. This would be great as long as you can opt out of sending update messages for minor bug fixes.
Support
The prompt to name and blurb the update would appear every time you publish and if you fill it out would be displayed under Version History in the place settings. There would be a separate option to display this update on the game’s update page and to send it to subscribers.
Strongly support!
Made a mock-up of this:
(Icons in the top left of releases could be optional)
(Pin option, so an important release isn’t buried)
(Ability to list off updates & such similar to an update log)
How does Developer release work?
Basically explained in shortest terms, a commentary section for the game made for update details, news, sales, etc., where only the developer could post. The developer could add whatever they want to be broadcasted to the general public and of course have the option to edit/delete any past posts. Users could subscribe to ‘Developer release’ to be notified when something new is added that could be anything ranging from updates, clan raids, or when a sale is happening
Why is Developer release good?
The game’s description should be focused on describing what the game is about and how to play the game, not recent updates or when a sale is being held.
I have full support of this. Having features like this will definitely make developing easier, as you won’t have to change the game info constantly.
I really do like the concept of this idea
However, I have a feeling that developers will update their titles and thumbnails anyway. Because such a small percentage of players will be subscribed to their game, so developers may still feel that it is necessary to update the name/icon to show an update, or to increase their player count.
Great idea, roblox developers need better support to announce updates.
Support!
Let’s make the assumption that 50% of players who bother favoriting a game would also subscribe (that number would probably actually be higher)
For Miner’s Haven, that would be 310,000 subscribed players. That’s 310,000 players who find out instantly when the game gets an update. Any players gained from editing the title, description or icon would be completely negligible if even a tiny fraction of players (310,000 is 6% of the 5,100,000 unique registered users who have played Miner’s Haven) get a direct notification would the game is updated.
Let’s extrapolate the assumption that 50% of favorites would also subscribe to other games:
Jailbreak: 900,000+ subscribers
MeepCity 1,000,000+ subscribers
Murder Mystery 2: an astonishing 1,200,000+ subscribers
This effect wouldn’t be felt right away, but the subscriber count of games would go up exponentially as every update is pushed to more and more subscribers.
There would simply be no reason to edit your title, description or icon. The whole practice would very quickly become highly stigmatized as a desperate attempt to squeeze out more players at the cost of presentation.
Even if only 10% of users who favorite the game (A tiny 1.2% of all players) subscribe, those would still be vast numbers.
Wouldn’t even a temporary solution like a in game subscription button to send a players Id to a server to tell a bot to add that players name to a list work for now? I’m not entirely sure on ROBLOX’s rules with how bots are OK to be handled but a bot that sends out a message to people when you prompt it seems to be your only temporary solution. This or ask people to follow you on twitter…
Neither bots nor Twitter are good workarounds. ROBLOX has a limit on how many PMs you can send out in a certain period of time, so you would have to actively try to bypass that to use the bot (circumventing things like this is against the rules). Twitter hardly amounts to ROBLOX subscriptions either because not everyone has a Twitter account or if they do, actively uses it. Even for users who are active on Twitter, opening up another site and following someone is a lot more work than clicking a subscribe button on the game’s page, so there will be substantially less players who subscribe to your updates.
I definitely see what you are saying
But, I still do have a few counter-arguments that you might want to consider when developing this idea further.
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Developers will continue to change the icon/title because it’s appealing to players who aren’t subscribers
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Doesn’t suit users who don’t interact
generally there is large group of people who don’t interact with things online - e.g not liking, subscribing, favoriting. Therefore, there would be many, many people who don’t see that the game has an update. Therefore it would reduce player loyalty amongst those players who aren’t subscribers.
- Favours larger games
The subscription system generally prefers successful games with larger fan bases rather than new, upcoming games.
- Would people really stop changing the title?
You mentioned that it would become stigmatized to change the icon and name. Developers may start to look down upon this practice, but would players care? From experience, players, especially younger ones, really don’t care about how professional a game looks and will generally click on anything that grabs their attention.
Anyway, I still think that despite these negatives there are some great positive sides to for idea, so good luck with it.
What you are saying is that changing your title currently increases your player count substantially. I disagree with you that most of the players who see the title and join because of it are new players. I think a great deal if not all of the people attracted to the title change are existing players. When existing players join the numbers jump up and that increasing player count is what attracts new players.
My argument is that subscriptions would create such a massive group of players who will return with every update that the amount of players you would get from changing your title would be comparatively pathetic.
I also disagree with this. While huge games will have the largest subscriber pools, niche games with loyal audiences will have the highest subscription percents and the fastest growth. I think this will actually benefit smaller games more because it will give them an established community and help lift them off the ground with each update.
sorry, I worded my first point extremely badly. I’ve edited it
The point still stands. New players don’t come because of the title. They come after existing players boost your numbers. The growth in numbers is what attracts new players and a dedicated subscription service will offer much bigger numbers than changing your title.
Think about it this way: every time you update you will get a massive boost of players. However, instead of just cooling down and resetting for next time you update, many of the people in that boost will subscribe. Your next boost will significantly larger. The boost after that even larger. This sets up games to grow in a way that changing the title just doesn’t do.
I agree with this. This is definitely needed and should have been a thing for a while now.
I would love to see this happen. Every time when I make a considerable update to something I’ve made I post it on twitter lol.
Support!
Right now, there is a way to get a version history/change log if you use @Nexx’s fabrick plugin, and update the changelog via Fabrick. Works pretty well rn.