The text on them is hard to read. The layout is also weird… The buttons are (seemingly) randomly placed and I accidentally touched one while walking around. Yikes.
The UI is okay, but it would be much better if it was all placed on the same side of the screen (or in less random positions). Information overload!
As for the game concept itself… I’ll just be honest. It’s boring. Tycoons like this were popular back in the day, but this is 2018 (almost 2019!). I expected something really cool like Theme Park Tycoon 2 where I could place items wherever I wanted, and maybe have elves or something working for me. Everything’s a preset.
As for the game passes, most of them are worthless. I have no incentive to buy any of them, and there’s like eight. Only keep one or two of your bestselling ones up for now.
I can tell you put a ton of work into this, but you should probably go back to the drawing board. It doesn’t seem like you tested it out before you submitted it to be featured which is a huge no-no. I have tested the same game 3 times, reworking it for literally years trying to get it perfect. It’s normal to have flops like this in the process, so don’t give up!
Ok he should absolutely not conserve his panic. There is no point in sugarcoating it, if you don’t even get a third back from ads on day one, there is something very wrong and he needs to fix it. Preferably while he is on featured sort if he wants to recoup losses.
Now to address OP, played your game for like 10 minutes and just from first glace I see two main issues. 1. Your robux to visit does not seem very good 2. You have the 2nd worst player count on featured sort at the moment.
Problem One: I was confused on what buying presents did and it took me over 3 minutes to figure that out. It might be just me, but having presents as your currency made me think they were some kind of lootbox I was buying. You may have explained this in the tutorial but I clicked through that without reading and that’s what most kids are going to do. Additionally, as someone mentioned before your gamepasses are on the cheaper side in relation to how quickly you are able to complete the game.
Problem Two: I would mention tycoons generally being on their way out, but you can’t change that and there is a lot more you can improve on to make the best of it. First impressions are everything and your thumbnail and icon are generic. It’s arguable that a lot of frontpage games have more generic icons but they reiterate game titles most of the time. EX: “Welcome to Bloxburg”, Guy in icon is waving to you like he is welcoming you. Santa holding a bag does not really emphasize “Winter Wonderland”. Also I’d assume there are people that did join but got confused because game mechanics are not very self explanatory. The presents think threw me off but after I got the hang of them it played like a tycoon usually does which is pretty good. I’d say do a better job of explaining things.
Note: Didn’t mention quality issues here because that’s an entirely different thing and gameplay is more important
That is one of the barriers of confusion that might be turning players away. I think it would be a good change. There is a tradeoff though, since after playing for 15 minutes, the mechanic of pressing the button to receive presents seemed like gameplay and somewhat rewarding. Pressing a button to collect money feels good. Players would not get to experience that sense of reward anymore.
I think that it’s biggest issue is the amount of upfront information. If you would see the largest retention improvements if you cut the game down to the basics at the beginning. Have new players only see the necessary elements, and introduce new systems of the game to them one at a time.
Do you guys think that its best that we make the first dropper automatic, rather than manual? The second one right after it is automatic and free? We’re thinking of just making the first one automatic so that both of them are automatic.
To not give the impression to players that the droppers will take forever thus taking forever to beat the game.
Perhaps if you have manual droppers, they would give a better output in terms of currency, but an anti-macro should be put in place. The first one should be automatic to let players know what’s happening and then later on you could add manual.
Honestly, the tycoon idea is really overused. I’d suggest keeping the name (remove tycoon of course), but going for a different styled game, as the map itself doesn’t look that bad.
It’s just really difficult competing with the already well known tycoons, and if your tycoon hasn’t become popular yet - and you’re 7k in debt as-is - I’d suggest looking for another way to go about the game.
But if you’re really down and set on this tycoon game, do something extraordinary that really stands out. Best of luck to you.
Fortnite is the most successful game online right now. NONE of the products they sell help you win the game. They are all social items and cosmetics. The gaming experience is becoming more and more of a social task, people tend to care more about appearances than actually winning.
ALL of your products are to help players win easily. Advancing in your game is not very rewarding so there isn’t much incentive to pay to win.
Too raise your income you need to fix three things.
Most important, make your game feel more rewarding. You can do this through flashy GUI’s, small rewards, or larger public displays for those who grew their factory. Your tycoon is slow and easy to win, you just sit there. There is no challenge or need to pay to win and even when you do win it doesn’t do anything special.
You need to switch gears and sell some cosmetic or social items. Make your game a place where friends can talk or compete and you will see the gameplay become longer.
Finally you need to raise your prices, the vast majority of your products are under $100 Robux. Look, players have money to spend, its ok to charge a little more. It also makes what the player buys feel more valuable to them when it costs more. They are more likely to spend a longer time in your game if they invested more money. In no way am i saying remove all cheap products, you should target as many demographics as you can, but you should have options for people who are willing to spend more.
Do these three things and your revenue will increase.
Considering that your game is on the featured sort, has a fair like/dislike ratio, but has a low player count, I get the feeling that your icon and thumbnails may be one of the issues.
Also your logo doesn’t seem very marketable. At a glance, I don’t see the word winter.
I did a comparison between a grayscale and blurred image to show you which parts stand out the most (R RLAND TYCOON)
