As a Roblox developer, ensuring that the published date of a game accurately reflects its true release date is crucial for historical accuracy and player clarity. Currently, developers often create duplicate games—one for development and another for release—just to have the correct creation date, which can be cumbersome and inefficient.
I propose a feature that allows each game to have a one-time option to set a published date , reflecting when the game was officially released to the public. For already existing games, the current published date could remain as is, while this option would only apply moving forward.
Key Details of the Proposal:
Developers would have a single opportunity to manually set the published date for a game, aligning it with its release date.
This feature would only be accessible when a game is first made public.
Existing games that have already been published would retain their current published date to preserve historical accuracy.
Benefits of This Feature:
Simplifies the development process by allowing developers to work on a single game without concerns about duplicating it for release.
Ensures the published date truly reflects the release timeline, which is important for marketing and player engagement.
Reduces confusion for players and saves developers time and effort.
Thank you for considering this feature request! It would be an impactful addition to the platform, enhancing both developer workflows and player experiences.
Duplicate Game Creation: Currently, developers may feel compelled to create one game for development and another for release, just to ensure the published date reflects the actual release date. This proposed feature removes the need for duplicating games, saving time and effort.
Historical Accuracy: The ability to set a one-time published date ensures that the timeline displayed to players matches the reality of when the game was truly released. This is especially important for tracking milestones and maintaining clarity for the community.
Streamlined Workflows: Developers can focus on building and refining a single game without worrying about managing multiple versions, which simplifies the overall workflow.
Player Clarity: For players, seeing an accurate published date enhances their understanding of the game’s history and prevents any confusion about its timeline.
In essence, this feature supports developers by making the game release process more efficient and transparent, while also benefiting players with accurate information.
I feel like duplicate game creation is a problem created by developers and not necessarily Roblox. For the other points I think it would be cool if Roblox implemented an update log feature for experiences so users can see a game’s active development history. In terms of games being in beta and “fully releasing” it would be nice if Roblox added an official beta or Early Access tag to games so that when the tag is removed the creation date is updated. This would also more accurately allow users to know what they are getting into when paying for access to games such as these (even if oftentimes they say beta/alpha/early access in the tile aswell).
Update log is a cool idea! Though, what do you mean by developers fault? Developers simply make a game to begin working on something, by the time it’s actually released, it could be months or even years after the “created” date.
Yeah, I get that. I’ve also seen a ton of developers just rerelease games under new experiences, which is what I was meaning. I don’t entirely understand the reasoning behind that.