Hello there, I’m recently developing a game that is mainly about driving and roleplay
There won’t be any reward system (money, experience etc.) other than some badges of hidden items that players can possibly find and be rewarded with a vehicle.
The thing is that, this game, if without players, is a death loop, players join and want to roleplay with another player, but finds there is no one in game, it will quickly become boring and they will quit. I have tried another game before that is similar to the one I’ve created, they have a constant of around 1k players.
So I just have 2 questions:
1.How to gain players without spending a lot of robux when my game just started off with a clean stats (around 200 visit, 6 likes (100% like rate), and 11 favourites)
How to escape from this death loop of player quitting when there are no other players but not adding any reward system
Anyways, what ER:LC did was they had these “challenges” you must solve, such as an emergency call from the server about some road debris or a broken arm. This kept the game from getting boring for those who play solo.
In addition, they also built up a community on Discord before the game released (which is what all RP games do now), and that was really successful. I recommend doing so as well.
That’s a useful suggestion, but how are you going to build up the Discord community?
Like I know I can go around DMing my friend or go into the server to advertise it, but it will quickly build a bad reputation for being “too annoying” (as you are constantly sending advertisment about the server or the game)
Also ER:LC has currency system which means player could grind for money even in solo, but I’m trying to create something like Pacifico 2, which literally has no goals at all and most of the time it is players roleplaying
Withkut any currency or goals, it is gonna be pretty hard but there are ways to make your gsme more fun.
Cars being able to crash
Events. For example a crime scene that actually did not happen by a player but an NPC (Maybe you can catch the NPC with no prize)
You shouldn’t make your roleplay that serious. As there is nothing else to do they will end up roleplaying. Just add fun stuff to do.
As for actually getting players, we have some options;
Building up a Discord server
If you don’t have a moderate server at the start or aren’t known, this has no use as building a Discord server takes time and might not go big.
Advertising or sponsoring
Of course, you need lots of R$ for this. You also have to be lucky getting a good amount of players. I think sponsoring is alot better becuase people have adblockers and such.
A famous person joining
It’s a very low chance if there are no players, but there is always a chance.
For your game to go big, you need luck and lots of R$. But maybe it can still go big. Who knows?
Well, I haven’t done this before. I’m not specialized in RP games, so I have no advice to give here. All I know is that building a Discord community is the best way to advertise your game before and while it is released.
But make sure they stay in the server. If they leave, that’s a problem.
make landmarks, places where people naturally want to gather. a store. a lounge or club. apartments and other “communal” residences. a restaurant. give people places to sit down. give them objects to interact with, like vending machines, a kitchen, a gravesite. landmarks stand out from each other. houses are scenes for private roleplays, but the abandoned house with the broken window is where people gather
customization and self-expression. arguably the most important part of a roleplay - after all, customization is what lets you play a role. some roleplays use morphs. others let you load any item from the catalog. bonus points if you allow people to save their customizations, so they can play a single character long-term
distinct factions. people like to make roleplay groups about these. also provides direct inspirations for a role you could play. law enforcement, companies, organizations are all good for these. maybe there’s competitions or sports teams - people want to participate in those
encourage people to come together. if you can see someone’s name from across the map, you can walk up to and talk to them from anywhere
you might have a discord server of people who chat but don’t roleplay. ping everyone in the server and tell them that an important race is coming up and everyone is invited. winner gets a bragging rights role