It looks like obbies are dying out. But, difficulty chart obbies seem to be growing in popularity. How would you make a new obby popular? I am actually building a difficulty chart obby myself, so how would it get popular when it’s released? Will difficulty chart obbies get more visits than scam-like obbies?
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Probably using advertising or showing other users on different social media. If you are also looking for ways to make it unique, you should try adding a theme to it, like make it a city or something. It would be cool to see a difficulty chart with a theme and not just colourful blocks!
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I think it would be best to put more work into the obby game, adding features from yourself, you could make some sort of round system, or combine different concepts.l
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To make it more popular, make it more fair for players. Instead of having really hard and complex obstacles with minimal checkpoints at later stages, have more checkpoints. Without a lot of checkpoints in the more difficult difficulties, players will get frustrated, give up, and maybe leave a dislike. Make sure the difficulty scale is always consistent throughout the obby by nicely introducing new obstacles to the player and working with that obstacle in more complex ways, such as combining it with another obstacle.
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Old obbies used to be made out of the limitation on what players could make, but in the modern day they’re more like a “simple” challenge.
Many games are very overwhelming with all the ui, particles, and systems it throws at you. You kind of have to be all in or you get overwhelmed and back out.
Obbies kind of just strip away complexity. There’s a clear win condition, and a clear path to it.
They also have a bit of that “retro” flair these days, similar to brickbattle games. Very easy to get in and out of.
Some obbies people play specifically to turn their brain off and just complete them. If there’s some kind of satisfaction to hitting checkpoints, like confetti or a nice sound effect, people will just keep going and going and going until they hit a really frustrating bit.
Or you could focus on the challenge aspect; tower of hell does this pretty well with its infamy and the defacto “true tower of hell” map. It’s more satisfying to have a goal or challenge that seems worth beating, so if you emphasize your map’s infamy, impossibility, it’s rarity… You draw people in who want to prove themselves.
Difficulty chart obbies cater to both of these aspects in a way. That’s probably why they are popular.
So to note:
- If you’re making a “satisfying obby”, make it long and never too frustrating to get past a certain point. (avoid 10 really difficult jumps in a row you have to complete to reach a checkpoint)
- Keep it simple. People play obbies when they want to clear their head or take it easy. Don’t blast players with UI, options, noises and too much stimuli. You’re more like a hot dog stand, not a full resort.
- If you’re going for challenge, emphasize the villainy of your obby and make it feel infamous.
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I don’t think that obbies are dying out, rather there is a shift in the meta regarding obbies.
Clickbaity Obbies like: Flee the prison obby, escape grandma house obby, get eaten obby.
Are getting replaced by higher quality more challenging obbies like chart obbies.
Also it should be noted that tower of hell is probably the most popular obby currently:
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If you want to make an obby popular you need to make it inovative.
… It needs to stand out, be unique. Very good examples are given above: Tower of Hell, Difficulty Chart Obbies
But only original ones will really get popular, because in some time it will become main stream.
But of course, there are other things you also need: Let’s make something like a cooking recipe, you need…
a healthy advertising/marketing
a good concept
a good builder who’s able to do more than just moving blocks
optional: scripter (depends on concept)
Just saying but difficulty chart obbies are also slowly dying again.
I have a friend who loves playing obbies but now plays difficulty charts i asked him why and he said its because obbies got kind of generic and they were getting less and less hard and he needed a challenge, So the fact of the matter is that obby people want a challenge not just easy stuff.
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Perhaps giving it more exposure, but don’t forget to make it fair and at least complete-able!
(by giving it more exposure I mean advertising it or sharing it with friends .etc)