I don’t mean to downplay your tutorial, but here’s my take on it and its contents:
I don’t believe that this is enough to come up with a solid game idea. For example, “pick a genre” isn’t as simple as you made it to be, you have to pick a genre that you think will yield a profitable game (which can change very frequently) or the one that is the easiest for you. You may actually find a sweet-spot between the two, but it’s certainly not the run-of-the-mill pick-a-choice situation. After all, the beginning steps of a game are the most crucial ones.
Picking a Genre
Anyways, I truly think one of the best places to start as a new developer is with round-based games. If you add enough items to the shop, create quests, have different modes/maps, etc., then it is bound to have high replay value. Plus, from my experiences of playing round-based games, the rounds always tend to be different each time because of the settings set by the game, your boosts/perks, players’ skills, your own skill, etc.
However, I strongly suggest anyone avoid overly grindy games, because even if you have a global leaderboard to give players the motive to be on it, most people will likely quit relatively quickly. For example, I have seen that such games often have huge leaps from one item to another as the game progresses, and without any Robux purchases, it’d take literal straight-on hours to reach the goal. Plus, depending on the game mechanics, some games can get so grindy that people often sit AFK with an auto-clicker on just to rack up coins. Do keep in mind: the kick that Roblox automatically does after being idle for 20 minutes is completely bypassed via user input, even if the character itself is idle.
Trust me when I say this: most servers’ chats often empty since their players aren’t actually engaged. Using AFK methods such as auto-clicking, players can grow extremely fast, not pace their screen-time, and leave as fast as they grew in the game. Let’s delve deeper into what the last point is saying: it is a fundamental phenomenon. The quicker something grows, the faster it will come to an end. This happens everywhere in the universe. Stars that burn very bright burn out all their fuel much earlier than dim stars. A nation’s economy, it is intentionally kept to grow at a steady pace, because otherwise, it can collapse just as easily. So, if your game is so grindy as to make players spend hours-on-end AFK, they’ll leave very fast.
Also, games are supposed to be fun online experiences, not click-a-million-times-to-complete contraptions.
Grindy games are still quite common because of their profitability. Players, if they have Robux, will be extremely likely to buy boosts to speed up their painful pace, and those who don’t, they’re lucky to stay until the higher tiers of the game. Therefore, round-based games are the perfect balance between fun, profit, replay value, and difficulty in terms of developing. Plus, it won’t make players go full-out grind-mode and “complete” the game in a matter of days or a couple of weeks.
Now, that is what should be going through your mind while picking a genre. Which brings me to another point:
Play Other Games, Use Its Good Traits in Your Game & Avoid the Bad Ones
My A+ essay above came from my experiences with playing certain games. The server-chat-being-empty thing can’t be seen from the outside, you have to see it in-game. Plus, if you actually play, chances are you’ll stumble across major flaws such as an entry point for AFK auto-clicking, which you’ll know are red flags when setting up your game mechanics.
Now, with that being said, you’re also very likely to find clever marketing strategies, factors to maximize the replay value, satisfying experiences such as receiving a buttload of coins, etc. For example, although this is not on Roblox, Angry Birds 2 is far beyond just launching birds using slingshots. Since it’s the remastered version, they have included daily quests/challenges, free treasure chests every 30 minutes, competitions against other players, etc. Not to mention, there are hundreds of stages:
Not to mention, each stage has 2-5 “rooms” which are mini-levels within a level, so there can very well be over 500. Plus, I don’t know if this is entirely true, but it seems like the levels are procedurally generated (I noticed after failing a level and replaying it), so there’s that.
So, what I’m trying to say is, include these replay-maximizers in your game in a way that each of them seem very minor and specialized in their purpose, but together can engage players for more than an hour. You can translate this into your game by, for example, adding daily obbies which are procedurally generated, find-a-lost-thing type of quest, boosts that have a cool-down, etc. I love how Bee Swarm Simulator does it: despite it having the grindy aspects of a simulator, the developer added so many aspects such as bear quests every hour, a memory card matching game, dispensers, mobs that spawn every hour or so, etc. That increases the play-span of a player from 10 minutes (typical, raw simulator) to well over 45+ minutes.
See now, that’s game-planning 101. I often run ideas through my head when I can’t sleep or I have nothing else to do. If you spend enough time brainstorming, chances are, you will have come up with a starting idea. Plus, a better method is meditation like how @NickTimesTwo explained it in their tutorial.
PS: I notice that you also have a tutorial hub for yourself. I also noticed that you may have inspiration from me, which I find very cool!
