I’m planning to create a game where you fight waves of zombies in different environments. The basic storyline is infection has started and you need to stop it; going from defending your house to the entire planet from the zombies, eventually curing them all, while you fight or ally with other players.
I eventually want to expand this to different planets and different enemies, allowing for a diverse game experience.
However, once early players get to the final stages I want to expand the storyline. A Mario scenario, where you can win, but there’s no real end to the overarching story.
My main problem is, if I expand the storyline too much, new players might give up on the game entirely, as it’d take several months of intense grinding to get to the (current) end.
What can I do to prevent this? Am I worrying over nothing?
You’re not worrying about nothing. Being passionate about what you are delivering is a good thing.
First, I would like to say that you have a descent idea, but the execution is definitely going to be what makes or breaks your game’s player base. Since most of Roblox’s demographic is children, I would keep the dialogue short and simple enough to keep players’ attention.
You could deliver the story via show and tell. Instead of delivering the storyline via a wall a text please don’t, you could show the player quick cut-scenes of the scenario mixed with a little dialogue so that the player gets an idea of what is going on.
Oof.
Months for a story is a push even for Triple A games. Based on the Roblox demographic, I would not go past 1 month for intense grinding, and even that is still too much for me unless the grinding is impeccably enjoyable.
In saying that, I would focus on the grinding aspect just as much as the story, because if the game-play is not enjoyable enough, no one is going to want to grind to see bits and pieces of story at a time.
I’m not entirely sure why anyone would give up just because someone else if further in a game than them?
I believe this is one of those instances where you have to experiment with your game and see what the reception is from your game’s crowd. You will never know until you get some type of feedback through play times, and by that time you can adjust your game’s mechanics.
What you can do to prevent this is to make content that is for everyone. That is, content that is not locked based on story progress. The more obstacles that are in the way of unlocking the content, the fewer and fewer people will ever get to see that content. Each extra planet could have its own independent story that could stand by itself but also ties back into the main campaign (or whatever).
You are not worrying over nothing. You’re thinking about the long term prospects of your game. On that topic, it may be worth asking if your game is a one-and-done deal, if the game’s success relies on you dropping new content regularly, or if the fundamentals are so strong that people will replay it endlessly. Your answer to this question would strongly inform how it should be structured.