and I’m not really sure where to go with it to get more attention. I’m aware single player games don’t have good retention on Roblox but it bothers me that my other single player game 1010 has done much better with visits and retention. I know that’s probably just because the game requires thought and each round/match/session/whatever is much longer, and so it’s generally more interesting, but…what do you guys think? Also, I don’t want to spend much more money on advertising since that’s a money pit.
How can I make the game more retentive?
How can I improve the icon to catch more attention?
Any general advice/feedback on anything at all about the game?
I’ll try it out! I’ll edit this once I’ve finished playing!
So 2 minutes into this game, I think I can assume the end of the content. It feels pointless with no progression outside little cosmetics which seem like the same character, just recolored, like a mobile game. I feel like I’m wasting time. There’s nobody to compete against, there’s no groundbreaking mechanics or story, there’s just an endless amount of me clicking, and having to start over again, the background even stays the same, a boring white.
Here’s some suggestions:
More mechanics! Maybe enemies who chase you so you feel an urgency to go faster down!
More backgrounds! I’m talking rain forests with wildlife, maybe monkeys who throw stuff at you so you gotta climb down to avoid them.
A competitive mode! Maybe like racing, racing to see who can get to the bottom first!
Mechanical progression! Like a line beam or jumping or leveling, so on.
Cosmetics that look different, not just recolored! Like race cars, tanks, bombs, maybe even a gamepass which allows you to insert your own decal ID for your character!
Honestly the game just kinda feels like an infinite grind of the same content over and over. I’ve now played for about five minutes and it just feels shallow. Wide as an open, but as deep as a puddle.
In general, just try to spice it up a bit, try to make the gameplay loop feel less like a pointless grind, and more like a progressing journey! Worst case, focus on making this a mobile game. Cookie Clicker/Candy Crush type games that are meant to pass the time might work on a mobile title better than PC.
TL;DR https://gyazo.com/3e7c28d3425aee50b5e65bc7cf3d8faf
Honestly, this just feels like more of the same content over and over. I can’t see a lot of people playing this more than hour in total, and that’s pushing it.
Simplistic Design, the game is too simple to progress even further; after learning all the mechanics of the puzzle there aren’t that many ways to progress. Do you notice how great games slowly add in more game mechanics and expects the player to be flexible and incorporate said mechanics to their existing strategies? This leaves the player learning more about the game to try to be the best at it, so keep adding more mechanics and catches so keep them in this loop.
Level design is luckluster, they don’t seem planned at all. Some interesting blocks and game mechanics can benefit from this, maybe put them in a time crunch to force them to stop thinking too deeply about the current stage while posing itself as a challenge.
Example of a game with this, and what it pertains to your game
As an example for this, I will talk about a game called SeaFall(board game). After each milestones, the game tries to make sure that the players know what they are doing and learned how to strategize with the current rules and mechanics. After this milestone, the game presents the player with a locked chest(a box with tape keeping it shut), inside are more rules, more game pieces, and mechanics [MASSIVE SPOILER]The Research and Upgrade mechanic is even locked at the start of the game!. When the game ends and another one is played, the opened locked chest persists, their rule changes stick between games~! This is like adding bit size pieces making sure the player knows what to do making them comfortable about the game then introducing these novel features.
Why this example? After the player learns that clicking shapes disappear and the goal is to reach the bottom, add in a hurdle, and again then again. If they were to lose, those new rule changes persists, YAY you just added replayability~!. But make sure players are able to reset these and a tutorial to explain new rules AND players master these, you don’t want to frustrate them if they don’t know how to accomplish the hurdle you introduced.
If you want to learn more
You also have the alternative of anti-player design, but it will be long to type here, just ask if you want to learn about it. I’m fine with brainstorming some ideas with you.
This game reminds me very much of that one mobile game, forgot what it is called.
Overall my recommendation is to not try to copy mobile game onto roblox. People play mobile games for short periods of time when they are bored, and so often the quickest and easiest to get into ones work.
This is not true for roblox. People sit down for long periods of time to play roblox games. You can see this for games such as jailbreak, it takes quite a bit to escape, rob banks, and avoid cops.
Overall trying to take the mobile formula and push it onto roblox just wont work. I wouldn’t be surprised if this game didn’t do well financially either - mobile games rely on ads to profit.
Thank you all for the feedback on the game so far! What I’ve suspected and gathered from this is, of course, that the gameplay is too bland and samey and lacks interesting mechanics/progression.
@ScriptideALT - I’m not exactly trying to push the mobile formula onto Roblox as I’m aware it’s not the same audience and that the same monetization techniques are not as effective on Roblox. Thank you for the insight however
While this game would have potential to take off on the App Store, I don’t think it really works on roblox, Especially since roblox is built to be a social game and without multiplayer or being able to see your characters it really just gets rather dull.
