Hey there! I’ve been wondering why many games have loading screens and many don’t, people say loading screens are bad and take time also makes people ragequit, others say it really helps. Who’s wrong?
0 voters
Most of the time games use loading screens to wait until the assets of the game are fully loaded so it is not invisible of sorts! Sometimes games with not a lot of assets will use them to mimic as if it a big game or to have a loading feature! My personal opinion is if a game has a main menu it looks better with a loading screen!
Loading screens are essential because they wait for the game to load all the assets. This prevents issues like:
Only have a loading screen if you have an efficient and quick way to load assets. Nobody wants to wait dozens of minutes for their game to even load.
You need to have a loading screen because roblox’s default loading screen does not load game object or assets.
Most experiences don’t need a loading screen. If you do then make sure it’s only to get the most important assets visible to the visitor as soon as possible after joining and that it doesn’t last for a very long time. Loading times can be annoying and delay the time a visitor gets to your experience. Visitors with low attention spans may leave before loading completes and, if long loading times are their first impression of your experience, may not think about returning.
Both are right in part.
As ThePoisonFish pointed out, it prevents things like grey characters, invisible objects and ui elements, idle animations on moving players etc., from being present in the player’s view, which would make them have to wait even longer to start enjoying the game.
So a loading screen can help with this, allowing time for all the assets to load up so that the player’s initial experience is better.
However long loading screens can also ruin a player’s initial experience, making them have to wait for a really long time before they can play the game, it becomes frustrating and many times player’s will just leave. Some games have a “skip” button feature, so that player’s can just hop into the game, even if not all the assets are loaded up yet. Another thing that could be done is to make an animation that plays while everything loads, a UI animation could be made, or one with models, but one long enough that it keeps the player entertained while all the necessary assets are loading in.
Sometimes the loading screens aren’t even necessary though, if the game doesn’t have much to load up then a loading screen isn’t needed.
If you’re not completely certain though if everything will be loaded in quickly enough, you can always add something like a “made by: AzulLitex” , or a "Created by: [Insert Group/Player name] ", screen, just something small for while the potential unloaded assets load in. Like how some games have a screen appear showing their game’s logo and/or name, or their development group logo or/and along with their group name.
It really all depends on how much you’re game’s needing to load in, or how much you think is necessary.
Edit:
As RoGamxr pointed out, loading screens can also be used as an aesthetic feature, to make the game look better, or more professional, so it’s also up to personal preference as well.
A loading screen is very efficient since it waits for everything to load. Without a loading screen your scripts might as well not run very quickly. The game assets will be invisible to the client and tons of other things. Your scripts might as well also not work on that client since the client hasn’t loaded in yet. Don’t make your loading screens too long or else your players may leave the game considering the waiting they’d have to do just to play the game. It’s like a game for $100000 robux(I know it’s an exaggeration but still) you need that much robux just to play a game and it’ll take a long time to save up for it. Goodness, now I think about it roblox may even be dead the time you save up for it!
I only say no because Roblox already has a loading screen. They end the loading screen when the game is playable. Unless you have a really bad computer or the developer is using too many unique meshparts/textures, things shouldn’t appear ugly.
If you do make a loading screen, please please please add a skip button. I’ve never had to wait through a loading screen because my PC would already load the game by the time I got in and some games make me sit through the 30 second loading screen.
Yes and no. I think it makes the game look better, but at the same time do you really need it? If your game loads up right away I don’t think you need it. But if your game takes a while to load (like those games where your just staring at the sky for a while before it loads) I think you do just to have something to actually look at.