I worked on a project for 2 years. It failed

Help and Feedback Creations Feedback
1

This post is combination of fatal failure, complaints, personal feelings and more.




In the span of around 2 years, I were making my own game - which I thought will be good one:

ThumbnailForum
ThumbnailForum690Ă—194 53.5 KB

In short - plates of fate but with building.

I made it solo, were working on it every day, as much as I was able, usually by 6-12 hours DAILY, without holidays, weekends and such. I got deep burnouts, depressions and demotivations while doing it, but I still worked and made it. I have tested with my small team of people, asked just random people to play game. EVERYONE, again EVERYONE I ASKED gave me highly positive feedback, and wishing me luck with it. Some people on forum said what may be wrong, and I listened and improved that weak spots.

And when I finished making it, I have tried to do release - I got really tired of working for 2 years with 0 results: I did release gift, rewrote tutorials 3 times to simplify it, fixed a lot of bugs (more than thousand (cuz game systems are not simple at all)), added mobile support, added various events, daily rewards and other things.

And the moment I was waiting for: Advertising.

I had budget of around 35k robux.

I have tested advertisiments for 4 days - with total of 20 credits. I adjusted images, texts, and tried to get max from it.
The best I was able to do was 0.010 credit/visit. Not best, but I thought it was good enough.
For the next 6 days I spent recomended 16 ads/day. Wanted to do all, but stopped, and I think I needed to stop on 2nd day of it - everything I were getting is nothing.
People were coming to game, complete tutorial, and leave.
70% of people was unable to wait a minute in queue to join a round. A MINUTE! And it also scales down the more people join a queue.
But there was 30% of people who were joining round, and 98% of them were just falling to void twice, which resulted in round ending. Isn’t it a common sense that void will kill you? People were stupid enough, to die even before events begin! 20 SECONDS NOT PASSED AND PEOPLE ALREADY DEAD! Maybe it’s some bug??? But no. It’s real. People themselves walked off islands twice. I joined myself rounds and saw the exact same issue tens times.
In the span of this 6 days I were working on monitoring and fixing all found bugs 18/6, with minimal breaks. But I can’t fix people.

And guess what? I got not good results.

Not ok results. Not bad results. Terrible results. I got just Worst Results POSSIBLE.

13k visits (2k had prior), flat 0 CCU, 0 revenue (-35k spent on ads I was saving for 2 years), 0-10% retention depending on stars. While ads were active it was aroun 0.2%, which is bad, I know.
Now, with flat 0 CCU, DAY, all stats are full 0.

2 years of work resulted in losses only. I went in deep, deep, deep deepression.

I tried to analyze what I did that wrong.

Game having some major bug? - Impossible with me testing month in row. Even those ones which still slipped I were fixing in max hour.
Game being too hard? Basic things weren’t hard at all - joining round is possible even as 6 yeared kid - tested on brother. Building can cause some struggles but even my brother undestood that in less than 3 minutes by random clicks and tutorial!
People who came from ads not gone further than this 2 things, not even trying other features, like tool crafting, deep material branches, metallurgy, so I not count them.

What can be wrong else? - I don’t know. And that’s why I now type this here.

I have nothing now.

Game itself.



End...
14 Likes
2

Aw man I’m so sorry for this. Ads on roblox are not the best way to advertise your game tho. I would definitely recommend making videos on tiktok or youtube. Posting devlogs, upcoming updates, funny moments or clips from in-game, following trends, and talking with your community could boost your game significantly. It’s not 100% chance of becoming “popular”, but I would still recommend it.

7 Likes
3

This game is actually pretty good! However, I can see a little bit on why people leave so early. The round teleporting is a little bit broken (it always says it’s full), and in game, there should be more events that are action themed (like giving swords, or something you have to avoid, etc). It’s also a little bit confusing on what to do and since the first objective is to see how much you can last, and that can make some people bored. I would give some default item so you don’t start out empty.
The resource gathering is well made but it’s too much time to saw the pieces. This could be another reason people leave.

About building… it’s not good, it’s GREAT! I love how you went about making the building system. It feels responsive and after using the tutorial, it’s also really easy to understand.

Even if there are some issues tho, I see a huge potential in this game!

(heads up, I bought a dev product to motivate you a little bit more!)

2 Likes
4

It is not the player’s fault for not understanding how to play your game. It is not their fault for falling in the void constantly. No, it is your responsibility as a developer to cater to your players and to make your game accessible and easy to understand. If your players have trouble learning your game that they fall into the void, it is not their fault for being stupid… it is your fault for failing to communicate your game well.

If you get trapped into thinking that there must be something wrong with the player than with your game, then you have it all wrong. You must understand that you work for the player, and that you will make zero zilch nada if your players are unhappy. Your game’s success is directly tied to your players’ enjoyment.

Lastly, games are not guaranteed for success just from having good code or a solid gameplay loop. Some games are just unenjoyable or unpopular. Again, remember you are making games for your players, and your players have changing interests. If you appeal to everyone, you appeal to no one, so I recommend you stick to appealing to your ideal audience (people who REALLY like Plates of Fate) and catering to their needs specifically.

I don’t know what your post is implying, but never get it twisted that things are out of your control as a developer. There’s always more to do, more to improve in your game. But, yes, becoming a hit, viral game takes a bit of luck. The chances are very low on Roblox. What does that mean? It means you need to double-down and put even more effort.

Instead of constantly hoping for your big break, hope that you can best appeal to your audience, and that’s how those viral hits usually happen. The best, most popular games have not gotten to where they are 100% by luck. They are meticulously and carefully designed to appeal and entertain a certain group of people.

Additionally, understand that you did not lose 100%. For what it’s worth, you still made a complete game, reached 13K visits, and I’m sure you’ve learned a lot of lessons and made a bunch of mistakes along the way. This is the process of maturing and learning as a game developer. Take note: the more you do this, the more likely you are to succeed. It is common sense that the more often you work on games, the better your games will be and the more successful they will be. So, if that’s your goal, keep going! The lost 35k robux is just a step in the road. Who knows what waits in the future? But if you quit now, then you’ll guarantee your failure. If you keep going, you cannot lose.

6 Likes
5

Isn’t this a repost? I’m pretty sure I’ve read this before

6

I won’t go easy with my responces. Sorry.

There should be at least a tiny bit of common sense for players. Obbies don’t tell players that if they fall to void they will need to make it all again, lava parts are red and kill you and such. Yes, they also allow to try again in 2 seconds, but that don’t changes this point much.
I can’t put 1000 text labels saying “You shouldn’t fall into the void”, “You shouldn’t touch fire” and such. Basic principles are BASIC.
If player lost even such low level logical abilities, then it’s PLAYER’S fault.
I can’t fix that. Even if I try. Only thing which is possible is making completely diffirent game which this logicless people will “enjoy”. But will it be truly something worthy? There’s already millions of such games, trying to milk money from this dumb people. Yes Roblox promotes them due to the fact that they earn them money from that.

I don’t want to be gray mess, like other people. I don’t want to lose MY humanity.

I understand that too. That was the reason I redesigned everything to be much simpler than it used to be.
Everyone has diffirent happy requirements. I can’t meet all of them. People are happy when they are not lonely, when they get ultra-rare item and such. I can’t make multiplayer out of air and give players ultra-rare items from the start without efforts. This’s game after all, not giveaway.

I have been improving things for a year, adding new features, fixing bugs, adding items…
I don’t want my game to be like Grow a garden, having 10 million of players on saturdays. I want to have something that’s bigger than zero. Even 5-10 is good.

You mentioned group I was targeting for already - PoF players.

The problem is life…

I have no road left. In 25 days, I’ll be forced by Russia laws I’ll get conscription into the army for a year. I can’t delay it. I can’t cancel it. I can’t do absolutely anything. While I had time, I tried to do a lot. When I have lost even it, I can’t do anything anymore.

No, this isn’t repost. I have devlog, “is my game ready to release” post and all.

1 Like
7

I learnt the basics in 2 minutes. It’s not very hard.
Falling into the void and dying is common sense, I should say. I’m not adding 50 tutorials for a 3 year old playing with their mother’s phone.

1 Like
8

Don’t lose hope. Try to advertise on Tiktok. You can look other games that did and do something similar.

I also wouldn’t want to take the route of milking every single dollar off kids with brainrot copy and paste games.

9

If you aren’t willing to go the extra mile for kids and designing your game so, then perhaps you shouldn’t make your game for kids. You seem to really hate making kids games. A developer that hates its audience will make horrible games for their audience. Don’t be surprised that your results are abysmal if you have this attitude of calling your players idiots and not wanting to cater to them.

I can’t help you with whatever Russia stuff is going on, don’t slide that into the discussion as if it’s relevant. If you want to be sad and do nothing, then this is not the place for you, because I will not help you feel like a victim. Instead, I’ll give you actions on what you can do and a way forward.

Truthfully, you are not out of ideas, you are clearly dismissing them and cutting off brainstorming sessions by saying “it’s the player’s fault, my game’s perfect, there’s nothing I can do.” There are two reasons why I mention to take responsibility for everything. One is that it is indeed your responsibility. But the second is that it’s the only way that you can engage in productive actions.

There’s no point in hoping for a smarter 6 year old that’ll play your game. You can’t impose your wishes and transform your audience. But you can improve your game, and you can work with the reality you have. In other words, focus on what you can control and improve, rather than what’s outside of your control. We did not go to the moon by getting angry at gravity and sleeping in bed all day. We worked with reality and used everything at our disposal. I recommend you do the same.

3 Likes
10

The game itself is not designed for little kids, I even set 9+ barrier. Kids lie about their age to get 13+ games anyways, so that’s not valid point.

So far everything you have said I can see as proving me being wrong, wrong and wrong, and placing player over everything. Yes, player is a person for who games is made. I know rule:

But still, you have no any RIGHT to blame me for all player faults. It’s the same as serving customer in cafe with what he ordered, and he flipping his dish and saying that it’s cafe’s fault and they need make new one for free.

I have done enough things to tell user what this game is about, show it like needed. After some point, it’s user fault. I hate only the fact that users have absolutely no possibilities of understanding basic things, and you don’t understand this simple point, or understand but still believe that all fault is developer one.
My game can’t fullfill dreams of 4 yeared kid which wants to get ultra rare pets, instead it’s targeted for a people which prefer building and surviving and more mature.

My game is definitely not perfect, and never will be. And I can’t work constantly too, improving things. Everything has it’s own resource and limits. I were brainstorming things for months, did many updates to it, to improve things. But everything has it’s own limit and ceiling - you can’t make 100% gold turn into 110% gold.

All you have said so far is “Scrap your game, and make Brainrot game cuz this will serve kids which you call idiots well enough and you will be happy”. I won’t do that.

1 Like
11

I will note down some stuff I noticed, as a game developer, that I would change.

If you would try ads ever again, I would recommend doing 18+ age group only, to check if you have better stats along that age group. This is only for testing, so a small amount of ad credits would be enough.

Blacksmith, partyman UI’s should pop up when getting close to them. I didn’t even know what to do when I was standing in front of the blacksmith, only after moving the cursor onto them.
The expand slot sign is well.. not really good. Black text on a sign and I can’t really read it. You should add something different not a small sign saying expand slot.

I was playing on PC and for me, the UI texts were really, really small. Quite hard to read. I would recommend scaling it up.

Playing the game
The game is really dark. At least it was for me. It felt like I’m in the void. Acid rain basically did no damage, my health went from 100 to 99.8.

Thumbnail & icon are not the worst, I’ve seen much worse than these but it could be better. If you would advertise again, I believe if you would pay someone on for example fiverr for a thumbnail and icon in the style you need, you would get better results on ads than with your current ones.

And also promote it organically. Tiktok, Youtube shorts, youtube longform videos etc.
That’s all.

1 Like
12

And what’s your plan of action? You said it yourself, your players are totally at fault, they are too stupid and feeble-minded to play your game.

What are you going to do now?

This is why your attitude doesn’t work. Because it is an excuse to do nothing. Out of all the complaints you’ve made, you’ve not noted one idea as to how you could solve these issues.

This is what happens when you make your world revolve around yourself rather than your players. You think your players owe you something for your work, and you don’t need to do anymore than you already have.

Compare this to my attitude where I say, no, you CAN do something, success IS possible, there IS a way forward.

If your game is for 13+, then make it for 13+. If your game is for 9+, then make it for 9+. If you perceive good accessibility as “brain rot”, then you aren’t going to make progress. Is a tutorial “brain rot”? What about a warning to not fall in the void? Is that “brain rot”?

I totally understand that you have a vision for your game. But you also want to pander to a certain audience. You have to pick one and make them work. You can’t make games for 9 year olds without having it be accessible for 9 year olds. If your vision is to do something more mature, then don’t be surprised that kids struggle to like your game.

4 Likes
13

It’s an incredible disservice to yourself to say that you have nothing now.

You spent 2 years working on a project which can’t serve its original purpose anymore. And it’s valid to be frustrated and upset about that.

During all that time you will have learned various methods and techniques of game development, design, programming, which you would otherwise NOT have picked up if you didn’t choose to embark on this journey.

It’s more-or-less knowledge for life and you get to choose if you want to take advantage of this newfound experience or not.

Please consider why it is you do what you do, as it sounds like you have put the value of yourself in the hands of the outcome of a single project, something which would devastate anyone else who puts themselves in the same shoes.

Life is iterative, embrace that.

8 Likes
14

This. +1 point for Crazyblox.

Even though if all your resources have ran out, you still have one thing left: your knowledge. You learned about all kinds of stuff in the last 2 years you have possibly never learned before.
And if you have a failed game? Move on. You have collected some info that can become crucial in the future, even in different fields not just game development.

Image this: you played video games in the last 2 years. You played battlefield 5, PUBG etc etc. What do you have? Nothing. besides some cool cosmetics. But what did you receive in the last 2 years, creating this game? Everything. Information you never had before, and it is worth much more than you think.

1 Like
15

I can 100% understand how you’re feeling right now, but you shouldn’t give up on everything because of it. As @Crazyblox already said, you’ve gained a lot of new, valuable experience and are definitely a better developer now than before this project, even if it flopped.

You should take some time off now and return to game development at some point and start a new project—but you’ll do better than this one, because you’ll be smarter than you were before this failed project.
You should make sure you don’t experience any more burnouts and work on a game you’re passionate about.
If you want, you can of course return to this project at some point, look back on it, and rework it. It definitely has the potential to be successful.
However, never forget, health comes first. It doesn’t do you or the people you care about any good if you have a successful game but aren’t healthy.

Personally, I think your game is very good, but in case you want to improve your game at some point, I recommend reducing the text that appears at the top of the screen during a round, as it can be distracting.

No offense, but that sounds strange. Of course, it’s the players’ fault for being stupid. The game is rated 9+. Nine-year-olds and older can be expected to be able to think logically at least a little. Sure, a lot of people lie about their age on Roblox, but that doesn’t mean you can make the tutorial abnormally long, because young children, and even older ones, often don’t have the patience for that.

I partly agree with you. The game’s genre isn’t exactly the most popular, but I still believe that a well-developed game always has the potential to be successful or at least known as an underrated Roblox game.

So, I’m sorry you’re in this situation, but there’s no point in just giving up and feeling sorry for yourself. The best developers know what it feels like to fail. Yet, they somehow managed to become successful in the end. You can do it too. But it won’t be an easy feat. Ask yourself if game development is really what you want to do, and if so, don’t doubt yourself, don’t give up, just keep going, but only as long as you’re healthy and don’t experience burnout. Never forget, nothing is impossible as long as you do the right thing.

2 Likes
16

I couldnt play the game much cause I was alone. Just curious, whats the difference about this game from “Horrific Housing” game? Horrific Housing - Roblox

17

there’s like 20 plate games, horrific housing isn’t the only one. im sure theres plenty of differences between these.

18

Horrific housing has premade house, and you can add some furniture to it, change walls colors and add some outdoor accessories. And after, survive events.

In my Plates of fate variation, you can gather materials, obtain furniture items and usables, build your island from the scratch, like you want, and survive on that. You can not just build house, but castle, landscape, bunker, ANYTHING that will fit inside your plot. And all you will build is fully destructable!
Overally, there’s much more content. Even if just take materials, there’s just giant branch of them:

image
image1920Ă—1920 118 KB

(And that’s not all of them!)

2 Likes
19

Don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s all part of the process. As cliché as it might sound, if you don’t fail, then you’re not even trying. We failed for 2.5 years before we figured things out, and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. The amount of knowledge we gained through experience is second to none.

A list of our failed projects:
Sticker Monster Simulator
Find the Cats
Hatch the Cats
Chest Hero
Nightmare Clash

Then, one day, it just all clicked when we followed one simple rule: “Make a game for an audience that exists.” And just like that, we created Mosquitoes vs Humans, Dead Roads, +1 Prison Speed Escape, Squid Game 3, Tung Tung Tower, and much more on the way!

Don’t let one failure stop you from developing more games; use it as a stepping stone to your next project and repeat the process. Failure is a common occurrence in game development. :smiley: so adjust your mentality and learn to embrace it :smiley: Good luck and keep at it!

Good Luck!

3 Likes
20

I think events are too often. Also tutorial would be better for players to understand and not get bored if you make them learn the tutorial not by text but by playing.

1 Like