Hello, before explaining what I am about to share with you, let me introduce myself first. My name is C0BR0T, I am Game Designer of Voice Kuy!, Jungsya’s Birthday, and The Unseen games. My role in developing games is to make games more unique than other games so that players can judge the difference between 2 or more games of the same genre so that a game can have its own value.
Lately I’ve found a lot of Developers who want to make Horror games like “The Mimic”, simulator games like “Pet Simulator X” and donation games like “Pls Donate”. Many of them are asking “How to make a game like Pls Donate?” or “How to make AI Monster like Mimic” or “How to make Pet follow player like Pet Simulator X”.
Actually there is nothing wrong with making a game because you are inspired by other games. Game like The Mimic must also be inspired by horror games that the developers have played in the past as well as developers from other famous games. But the problem is that many of us are inspired by a game and then create a game whose design is similar to the game so that the game you make has no value. Instead of bringing in a lot of players, your game will be empty of players.
Let me introduce a secret technique that I have used to design games so that the games I design have a distinct value compared to other games in the same genre, namely “Observe, Imitate, and Modify (OIM)”.
You have to make observations on the genre of the game that you are going to make, for example the genre of the donation game. Visit some similar games so you have lots of references to make the game. Don’t just visit 1 or 2 games, but visit games with the same genre as much as possible. The more you visit different games (In the same genre), the more references you will get, which is a very good thing.
You are imitating the game that you have observed. Let’s take an example that you have made a lot of observations to various kinds of donation games whose main concept is the concept of the game “Pls Donate”. All you have to do is imitate the mechanics of the game, starting from the leaderboard, VIP Gamepass, booth, and others.
BUT, if you just stop here your game will have no value and tend to plagiarize other games. In my home country, Indonesia, plagiarism is strictly prohibited. Then, what should you do? Keep reading to the end.
You modify what you get from observing and imitating. You have to make new innovations that are unique and different so that players can recognize your game. When players recognize your game, getting new players is not difficult. However, if you make your game exactly the same as Pls Donate (for example) then the player will say “It’s better if I play pls donate because there are a lot of players”.
Let’s add the following to your game:
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Added minigames like Obby and Spleef. This is a very effective minigame to relieve the boredom of the players. Instead of players just dancing around their booth, it’s better if you give a minigame that can relieve their boredom so that they have activities other than dancing.
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Make easter eggs that earn badges. Do you want your game to be flooded with badge hunters? Easter eggs are the solution! Besides they will be busy with the minigame you provide for them. In addition, many players deliberately open their Inventory so that your badge will be visible there and free promotions!
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Make better maps like adding cliffs, rivers, bridges, waterfalls, and others. It may seem like a small thing, but adding decorations to the map will make players more interested in playing your game. Especially if the layout is made suitable in their eyes. They won’t hesitate to come back to your game tomorrow.
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Increase gamepass variety. add Gamepass in addition to the donation board tool that can be taken anywhere. for example, Extra slots for people who have more than 5 products, VIP gamepass, custom music, and others. The more creative you make Gamepass, the more players will not hesitate to buy it.
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Added custom name tag + title. for example if a player’s donation reaches 1K Robux then the title is “New Donator”, if 10K Robux then the title is “Experienced Donator”, if 100K Robux then the title is “Veteran Donator”, if 1M Robux then the title is “God Donator " (don’t forget to give a badge in every rank). You can vary this in your game, this is just an example. You can also add an EXP Bar feature, this will encourage players to donate their Robux to others. I advise you not to add too many benefits for players who receive Robux so that more players donate than those who receive donations.
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Provides additional benefits for premium subscriptions. For example, having a higher jump, having a faster run, being able to access the “:fly” command or it could be a tool that doesn’t make other players feel annoyed and upset. You can also add the title “Premium” in a special Name Tag as developer appreciation for players who subscribe to ROBLOX premium on a custom name tag.
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In-game songs that make players play for a long time (Songs that don’t bother the player’s ears). Choose a few songs that you think are good to listen to, then create a poll so your friends can judge which song should be used.
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Added Daily Mission in the form of how many Robux player have to spend every day to get in-game money which can later be used to buy items in your game such as Trail effects, Following Pet, Skateboard, and others.
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Add a custom greeting in chat to Gamepass VIP users for example “VIP player logged into the server! hello, (VIP Player name)! Have a nice day!”
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And if you can, turn that booth into a real clothing store that actually displays clothes or gamepasses for sale. You can add Mannequins there for shirts and pants, and you can add some boards to show the gamepass they sell. it will make your game very different from the games of the same genre that is donation games.
If you really want a lot of players, I suggest you collaborate with influencers to promote your game because I don’t think advertising on ROBLOX is very effective and will cost a lot of Robux (Please Note This : If you don’t have any connection to any influencers, you are forced to promote your game independently through social media or advertisements on roblox).
I also advice you don’t work alone on your project because it will be very tiring for you. If you are good at Building and Modeling, then you just need to look for Programmers, UI Designers, and Game Designers to run your games.
Thanks for reading my topic up to this point! I hope you get some new insight into game development. If there is anything you want to ask, feel free to ask anything about the topics discussed. If you have additional discussion on this topic, feel free to add any ideas regarding this topic.
I am C0BR0T,
See you on the next interesting topic
