Developer Spotlight: The Developers Behind the Featured Games (July 2018)

new_storm · July 23, 2018, 11:13pm

Following the new Featured Games list that was posted on July 10, we chatted with the developers who created the games in the new sort. If you’ve ever wondered how certain games were selected for featuring, or how to get featured yourself, find out what these developers did to get there and see if you can apply some of their process to yours!

Game Promotion

On of the goals of the Featured Game program is to elevate games that are fun to play and high quality games. The Featured Game program can increase games’ visibility and discoverability, but it is not the only way that games are promoted. We asked the Featured Game developers of this sort whether they’ve done any pre-featuring promotions.

The developer of TDTNTOR 2 recalled promoting his game using a few different methods; Cloakedyoshi always promoted his game via Twitter, when the game became XBOX compatible, and when TDTNTOR 2 came out.

Others promoted in their Roblox group, but they also used in-game promotions as well, leveraging events and new content for players. Are31 also pointed out that they worked with Youtubers who made videos for their game, and they ended up with 100+ videos made for their game!

Other developers also did some promotional work for their games: VRYLLION sponsored his game a few times and Lightning_Splash had a friend help promote his game. Alternatively, FutureWebsiteOwner did a month-long Alpha test of his game, where players could get an “Alpha Testing Badge”- and suggested that he might continue to use this in the future!

Featured Games Process

The process to get your game featured is not an easy one; it requires rigorous testing, adjusting and updating your game. The Developer Relations team works closely with developers in the program to make sure their game is front-page ready and in the best state to be promoted. We asked participants what they learned from the Featured Games program, and here are the takeaways they told us about.

VRYLLION focused on localizing his game, saying that he enjoyed learning to use some of the localization tools that are available to developers, and FutureWebsiteOwner also mentioned that he’s interested in localizing his game soon.

Almost all developers mentioned a similar process: going through the Featured Games process has encouraged them to develop future games with Featured Games guidelines in mind. Developing a game with Featured Games guidelines in mind will, from the beginning, make the Featuring process easier. These guidelines also point to some other beneficial game features, Hoboj03 says, such as optimizing your game to be played across multiple platforms, and ensuring that your Roblox audio is copyright-free.

Advice to Aspiring Featured Game Developers

We asked the Featured Game developers to give us one piece of advice around making a Featured Game, here’s what they said:
“Besides having a unique and creative game, put usability at the top of your priority list! Make sure that nothing in your game is too vague or confusing for players of all ages to understand. As a developer you will find it easy to know how your game works inside and out, but if you ask a regular player for example they may get confused about how a specific GUI works or what to do in the game.”- VRYLLION

“If you are trying to get in to scripting be sure to start small. You can’t just jump right in and start making a game instantly. You need to work your way up. Also, the most important elements of a game are: gameplay, sounds, user interface, and a unique idea that keeps players interested.”- Hoboj03

“For aspiring developers, learn to use Filtering Enabled. It might be hard at first, but it will definitely help you understand how games work. Plus, being featured requires Filtering Enabled anyway.”- FutureWebsiteOwner

“As cliche as it sounds, never stop trying. If you have a fun idea, strive to make it. The literal worst-case outcome is that you learn a lot of new skills from the process - which isn’t bad at all.”-Cloakedyoshi

“Be passionate about what you do. It’s not easy to get a game to be noticed among potentially thousands of other well made games. You must have a creative and unique idea to set yourself apart from the rest of the crowd. Plan accordingly and have your goals set from the very beginning stages of development.”- Are31

“As long as you work on something you like, you’ll eventually get noticed. Effort brings quality and quality makes players happier with your game.”- Lauri9

“Keep working hard. It may seem hard, but once you’re in that “zone”, there’s no getting out of it. Dominate!”- AccidentalDeveloper

Interested in Getting Featured?

Our team sees a lot of different games submitted to be featured. While we wish we could feature all of the games on Roblox, only a handful of games can be featured each month. In order to get your game to the top of the list, there are a few other considerations you should make (aside from those provided by our Featured Games devs!). This list of considerations came directly from our summer Incubator/Accelerator game presentations, and are aspects of the games that they must have planned ahead of developing.

Anyone hoping to get their game featured should consider the following questions, and have answered all of them for your game:

Does your game have the following?

Gameplay Loop
Progression Loop
Social Loop
What features can be implemented into your game to boost player retention?
Do you have a balanced monetization strategy in place?
What is your target audience and how will you market your game with this knowledge?
Take advantage of your analytical data to see which areas you can improve on.
Does your game have an international audience to help boost player count/retention?
What platforms does your game run on?
Have you already tested your game on these platforms (to the best of your ability)?
How does the future development timeline for your game look like after answering the questions above?