How do i make players stick to my game?

Help and Feedback Game Design Support
#1

Hi. I spent couple days on making my roblox game. It’s not my first time cause i’ve tried making mmo as my first project. Obviously i dropped it mid-process, the amount of things i had to do - modelling scripting mapping sound and visual design - was too overwhelming. I moved on with my life, but recently i had an urge to make something.

That’s when i tried to do a simpler game that wouldn’t take as much effort and still be fun. I came up with an arena/battle royale type game, made it in festive style so it’s more likely to be played (as the christmas is coming) and added my own twist. To describe my game shortly - all the players spawn on one of six maps and fight with fists. The zone shrinks in a random place overtime so players dont camp. Besides fists, there are falling presents every few seconds, that contain:
-a sword that deals double damage
-a stick that has high knockback
-an icicle that freezes hit player for a second
-a bomb that deletes the weapon you are holding
-a heal
Every weapon has a 30% chance of destroying itself on player hit.
For winning you get win tokens, for killing players you get kill tokens which you can spend in shop on cosmetics and a new system - gifts.
Basically, when you die and you have bought a gift from the shop, you can send it on the map for 1 win token to add a twist to remaining players gameplay. Gifts that are currently in the game:
-Low Gravity
-No Jump
-Bombing
-Respawn
-Invisibility
-Heal all
-Gift Rain
Each player can send one gift per 3 rounds.

I put it on public, for two days not a single soul other than my friends showed up on the server so i used Ads Manager to promote it for 20 USD. So far, it brought me 400+ visits, and this is what i observed:

-Players are joining and instantly leaving the game
-Players who stay long enough:
*80% have movement and fighting so bad that when i spectated on 2 of those players they couldnt kill themselves for 2 minutes straight
*15% die and ragequit
*5% stay longer than 5-10 minutes

I wonder, why is that? When i played with group of 5-10 of my friends we had a blast and couldn’t stop playing, i think it’s mainly because of the competetive aspect, that every single one of us tried to win. How do i engage random players to have that urge?

I thought that mabye players don’t know how to play when they join, so i put a transparent circle in lobby so they can see that the match is ongoing and put how to option and billboard gui with controls. They still leave after 1 match/not even one.

Second idea i had is to engage player by rewarding them something other than a place on the leaderboard, however i don’t have a nice idea that would fit the game and it’s “competetive” nature that wouldn’t be pay2win.

I am desperate for even a small playerbase, as the third reason i think players were leaving is they saw that there is noone to fight with. The game literally doesn’t exist without atleast 2 players. My biggest playercount without my friends in one time was 8 players, which shrinked to 4 in seconds. And with how advertising in roblox works and deletion of featured survey its really hard to get your game in front of an audience and then based on the feedback make the game better/more engaging. If not me spending money i would have no feedback at all.

I wish roblox had an easier way to show off your game other than spending money (i won’t count social media, because other than already having a following its sheer luck if your tiktok/video gets blown up - which doesn’t mean i don’t try, i post and think of tiktoks that could help all the time)

And that is the reason why im posting right now - can you guys give me feedback on what should i improve to make players actually play the game for longer than 5 minutes (without making it a tycoon if possible lol)?

Here is the link to the game, im waiting for all the feedback, no matter how harsh the reality would be :slight_smile:
thanks
Note: You need atleast 2 players in lobby to start a match

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#2

I kind of skim-read this post, but the final note about the game requiring a minimum of two players could be the underlying reason. Players may join the game, but if they are alone, there’s no way to actually play the game, rendering their time spent in the game a waste.

How many players were joining the game at once? If you see that only one player joined at a time, that could be the cause.

At the time of writing this, I have realized that you actually mentioned this in your post.

So, how can we get around this? Well, popular games such as Piggy implement the use of ‘bots’ where the player can play against bots. If you can implement bots that the player can battle against, this would mean the game wouldn’t require a minimum of two players. The main problem is, though, your game wouldn’t suit the implementation of bots; it’s a PvP game.

I see no issues with your thumbnail, icon, name, or even description. Good job there! So, the way to potentially keep players in your game would have to be changing something in your game. Your best bet would be to have a ‘friend referral’ system where there is a pop-up box that allows players to invite their friends. You could expand on this by giving them some sort of reward if they use it. Additionally, rather than limiting the game to multiplayer, you could make a single-player mode, such as a training ground (you know, the ones with targets and dummies). This would not only help the player familiarize themselves with the game’s mechanics, but it could also allow time for another player to potentially join the game. These are all examples of things you can implement, so customize them as you’d like, but they might help!

Apologies for the long reply, but I’ve been in this position, and I don’t want you to be stuck like this and lose motivation!

1 Like
#3

Progression is really what keeps players engaged, I would recommend some sort of shop/achievement system which unlocks players new weapons & gear or special abilities. Besides that your game sounds really well made & I’m sure it will grow with time too.

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#4

Training dummies are brilliant idea. I got an idea that i could put a mini-game inside a lobby where you kill NPCs for the currency, of course it would be harder to grind it than kill actual players, but people that would join and there would be noone in the lobby could do something until the lobby has players. Thanks for the encouragement!

#5

While what me and takeabyte said is a short-term goal that could help, ability system is definetly in my sight, just gotta balance it out so rather than giving big advantage, it makes your playstyle more fun/focused on one side of the combat like fists or movement. Thanks!

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#6

After trying the game out with my alt account, Here are some things I’d suggest for your game:

  1. Add music. Music is what keeps a game lively. Or atleast add sfx like birds chirping etc.
  2. Fix your animations. From what I seen the running animation is very slow and the jump animation feels like my arms have completely detached from my body, and the walking animation feels so choppy.
  3. Add more weapons. Add weapons like Frost Sledgehammer, Ice cannon or something. Spice your game up.
  4. Make your maps bigger. Don’t just make only a hill map, and make it bigger.
  5. Increase the player’s stamina. Running only lasts like 4 seconds before the player’s stamina is completely depleted.
  6. Add more features. Features like rolling/dashing, double jumping, skills etc. are what players want in most fighting games.
  7. Make a bigger lobby. Players like a fun and big lobby.
  8. Add a voting system. On the intermission part there should be a voting system where players can choose which map they want.
  9. Spice up your game with more gifts such as giant gift, lucky gift, etc.
  10. Add gamemodes like FFA (Free for all), Team Battles, Zombie infection, King of the Hill, etc.
  11. Not saying your thumbnail is bad or anything, but I suggest improving it a bit more to catch more player’s attention.
  12. Add an effects shop. Something like auras or cosmetics to weapons and trading.
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#7

Hello once again! Im consistently working on the game. I added abilities, voting, code system, repaired a few minor bugs, chest system so players can drop cosmetics/abilities. Still no/low playercount, im sending every youtuber i can think of a message, but im discouraged and think of leaving the project behind. Just leaving an update here for anyone wondering. I wish featured sort survey would still be a thing, i wasnt in the community back then but it sounded like a great idea for new developers. Im working on a second update, if it doesnt work out then guess i gotta move on and forget about it. Also for the ones reading it - you can use the code: “DevForumIsCool” in settings! :wink:

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