Hello, i recently spent alot of time developing another game. I learned from my past one that i shouldn’t do anything big or too complex, so i went with the trend of “RNG” games. I didn’t want to just put a simple cash grab because i would never do that, so i polished it and after 80+ hours of work released Catch The Crate, and after 2 days released first update.
I spent 35$ on roblox sponsored ads, it got me nearly 2k visits, however most of the visits were 5 minutes of playing and then leaving. I got some loyal players that play even now, and that’s kinda what keeps me going and developing new updates, but its like 5 people at max. I got some other more advanced devs like Primeheide to rate the game, and their feedback was positive, whatever concerns they had were minor and i had already fixed them.
Is it even possible to get the game out there without having a big audience or a big wallet; Do you have to be a good salesman in addition to being a good dev? Is it possible for the game to randomly blow up? I am absolutely the worst when it comes to promoting, i just want to develop games.
Look to have additional fun or useful products for sale. If you can start selling you will have Robux to reinvest in advertising until your game gets picked up by algo.
5mins of playtime is a little low which will make it harder to secure sales. If you can add to game to improve playtime to 8 - 9 mins and have interesting products to sell the game may be self sufficient and possibly get picked up.
To answer your question “is it even possible to get the game out there without having a big audience or a big wallet”. I think yes it is still possible. Good luck.
That’s what i dont get, my average session time in overview is 40 minutes because some people leave it afk in afk zone and some people just play few hours a day, im talking about the new players. I’ve done many things to increase the average playtime, gave them more crates to open at the beggining so they have faster sense of progression, made a visual tutorial, improved overall visuals, still no use. Is being picked up by algorithm totally random or some things contribute to it more than others?
Not really for a game aimed at young kids like this. Unlike older audiences, they won’t really be on social media or spreading much through word of mouth. They’re also less likely to be intruiged when randomly stumbling upon it since it looks like any of the other thousands of RNG games.
My advice? Create a game that you’d want to play. You’ve probably heard that before, but it’s said for a reason.
I made the game i would play myself and it totally flopped, as i couldnt even play it - it needed atleast 2 players, with average 8 for it to be more fun. That’s why this time i made something i would like to grind but not like a dream game, cause sometimes i just wanna hop in and mindlessly click to get something rare.
So just cross my fingers and wait for a lucky day? Or are all rng games doomed nowadays.
Its this one. Im not saying it was flawless, but the base concept of the game was fun for me and for my friends, we used to play once a few days, but everyone moved on from roblox. I guess the main problem was that solo players couldn’t play, but tbh after i stopped sponsoring it only randomly one person in a week/even a month would join, which discouraged me a lot
With all due respect, this is barely different than an ordinary clicker game. I got bored 2 minutes into the gameplay after walking around the map spamming “E”. At the end of the day, it’s a simulator/RNG game, which will only get you so far. No matter how polished.
I didn’t check out the other game, but it seems to be the crate opening with a few gameplay twists, which can ultimately break the routine of just walking around and opening boxes.
My advice is to try and stay original as much as possible if you’re looking to create a hit.
I think the issue was that nothing really stands out about the game compared to similar games. It might be fun to play, but would you play it over other games of a similar type?
Well, i wouldnt agree that making rng will only get you so far, plenty of other rng games blew up with similiar or even the same gameplay, just different visuals. Not saying it’s my game of course, but there’s an audience for these types of games, my top1 scoreboard player was a random guy that spent 50 hours grinding already, some people just like getting rare stuff (me included). Im just kinda bummed that copylocked cash grabs can get thousands of visits randomly, atleast i enjoy developing and do it mostly for fun. Gotta change the mindset
Oh and note, second game isn’t about crate opening, it’s more of an pvp arena type game, crates are just a small mechanic that give you temporary weapons for a round, something like in super smash bros.
Maybe it didn’t stand out, but i made a game i would play and i wanted others to enjoy it as i did. The problem is no one was there to say if they would rather play it over other games of similiar type, as it was best enjoyable with more players in the lobby, which my game lacked and i never filled the lobby with more than 4 players (other than my friends, and we enjoyed it).
As if i would play my game over other games of a similiar type? I don’t think if i can be objective if im talking about my game, which i was doing based on my preferences
You’re right, people can still gain success from making RNG games, and simulators, and blah blah blah. But it is IMPOSSIBLE to gain success without bigger advertisement, for these type of games that don’t stand out, roblox sells bidding space more to the higher bidder, so if you dont spend more you wont get much advertisement as you’re competing with behemoths, which is why it doesnt make sense for small developers. also, you need to know quite a bit about roblox, the algorithm, what works and doesnt, have lots of money to experiment with, know about statistics, and all so it just isnt worth it
Yeah that’s what i was thinking, i suppose if you pump enough even if its 1% of the players that will stay for longer it will keep on going. Shame, but not suprising, better this way than have high hopes with not coverage. Or maybe not even shame, since i kinda knew what i was getting myself into making a game like this.
i just played it and there’s a few things i’d fix. the game is pretty dull so, if i were you, i’d add music and change the lighting and the sky to match the vibe of the game
I don’t know too much about advertisements and such , and I don’t know what should fundamentally change , but there are a lot of small changes you could make.
First off, I don’t think your game flopped. With that level of advertisement something like this is expected, and most games will not magically get picked up by the algorithm and get players. You should try to find ways to put your game out there (a quick search will return many ways)
Onto the changes I would make:
The tutorial is a bit wordy, and the pictures are stretched out. Fixing the images will make the game look more high quality. Also, adding a tutorial that isn’t just UI and actually directs the player what to do will be helpful
The world is a bit dull. A brighter skybox would help as well as some lighting effects.
Bugs, there are a lot of floating crates and Proximity Promts on the ground
More satisfying Visual effects would help when opening the boxes. I am not sure what the lines coming out of the box mean but it looks weird
There needs to be a “sell all” option
I dont know if you change it for mobile, but using touched event instead of a Proximity Prompt might be helpful to make gameplay faster
There is a strange dot in the middle of my screen
Quests should send the player some sort of notification when they are complete
Upgrade UI is off center
This is personal preference, but using another cartoony font like “FredokaOne” might look better. I do not like looking at everything all caps
Overall, I would say the game has a good idea, but needs a lot of polishing of graphics and UI if you are looking for success. Adding more moving UI parts and flashy effects will help. 80 hours in game development is not a lot, and usually not enough to make a good, polished game.
