It has a little more in it than most simulator games, but it still has the simulator aspect of collect and sell within it. It has very detailed pets in it that give you bonuses just like others. The game also has a pvp aspect.
What do you want to achieve?
I want to ask developer forum members what I am doing wrong within my game that is causing it to not gain the traction that it had when the game first released.
What is the issue?
I am not retaining players. My game used to be popular, but it fell away due to a lack of updates, and I understand that is why it fell off. I thought I could bring it back by participating in a live-ops event and adding a massive update to the game but it did not work. I believe it may be due to the progression in my game being unsatisfying, not very rewarding, or not enjoyable. I am not sure what the issue is. I hope some people can give me their insight.
What solutions have you thought of so far?
I have added new gods, pets, moves, and areas to the game.
After a major update I ran several ads for a substantial amount of robux. (I am aware of the decay when “over advertising”)
I am seeking options that hopefully don’t require a large change to the core of the game.
Please let me know if I need to include more.
This is exactly the point, it was a brand new game and experience for a ton of players. You have to find a way to give them this “new” feel again and something to truly achieve. If you look at different major games and brands, they get the hype for these incredible updates that truly change the game and add tons of content to them.
“Lack of updates” you said it yourself. Just update the game and do what I mentioned above, it’s worth understanding that Live-Ops won’t get the attention you think it will aside from a hundred players or-so. You really gotta hype and push the major update and focus on fun and giving players a rewarding feel.
Now in my own opinion, you need to pay attention to when your advertisements work the best and what types of things players are interested in and what you are hoping to achieve. You want to grow your game? Make it feel special and new, give players something they’ve never had and etc… GET HYPE.
You probably won’t be able to ever achieve the same hype and player counts that your game first had but this is to be expected. Your goal is to regain the players and new ones by having that content and giving them updates.
I think the most prominent and easily fixable issue is the length and unskippability of the tutorial - the average player only spends a few minutes in game, and if a quarter of that is spent clicking through text, the player is going to be pretty bored and more likely to leave. Get him straight into the action!
However, unfortunately I believe that the main issue is with the core loop itself. There’s a huge saturation of these types of games, and just by observing the popular sort, players very much treat them as “flavors of the month.” You’ll need to iterate on the grindy clicker gameplay to make your game stand out.
Yes I understand what you are trying to say, but your response is very general. I don’t think the game will ever reach the popularity it used to have, but I do believe it is a good quality game and is just missing some things within it. I think I am looking more for gameplay suggestions. Hopefully you can give the game a play and see what the game itself is missing.
The tutorial is there to cover any questions(more of a liability type thing) and is rather short for a tutorial in most games. I also have not received any issues/complaints regarding the tutorial. I did my best to add my special twist to the game with the special abilities and unique gods. Do you have any suggestions on how to iterate on the gameplay? I thought that the pets, variety of gods, and highly detailed and unique abilities would be enough.
It’s good to have tutorials be interactive rather than passive reading - instead of only telling the player, “this button does this,” it’s better to engage the player by having them actually do the action.
Right now your loop looks something like this:
Destroy stuff or fight players → Empty pouches → Purchase items, pets, level up/unlock abilities, etc.
You can further the gameplay by introducing sub loops under the main core loop. You already have one of these - the quest system. I haven’t progressed very far in you game, so you may have some of these
already, but other ideas include:
Collaborative activities, perhaps multiplayer quests, maybe a mob or enemy that requires teamwork to take down (I didn’t notice anything in the world that actually attacks you, or even tries to get away from you - might be a good place to start)
Players love getting loot (discrete items, not just currency.) Think about introducing items the player can collect through gameplay, show off, craft with, trade, etc.
With the theme of your game, I think it would be cool if you could also create, instead of only being able to destroy - perhaps the player could construct their own little town to lord over as they see fit. One could defend it from other players, maybe it could even confer some benefit, such as passive currency generation.
Thank you for your suggestions. I have considered adding creatures that attack you into the game as of late. I also like your idea of getting loot. I like those 2 suggestions a lot. Thank you for your feedback and taking the time to be constructive. I will see if I can tweak the tutorial to be a little more interactive and not as plain.
Looking in the game, there were a ton of new players (at levels <3), meaning players don’t want to return. Playing your game quickly, it seems to be because it is simply not interesting to users. These are kids who are playing your game, and they are going to switch games if there is something more interesting. You should try to add in features to keep users to come back. I really don’t have any suggestions on how to change this, but in games such as BloxBerg, players are in-game for a long time to earn cash and build up their house, which is more attracting. In Jailbreak, there are tons of things to do and there are constant updates.
Alright, your building, scripting, animating, sounds, and designs are well done up really well. They have a professional execution about them, and they are all individually amazing.
Now where I think your problem might be is the authoritative direction behind the game. Many have mentioned your tutorial, I think it’d done great from a GUI perspective. However, its also a lot of words to take in and it doesn’t leave a strong impression on necessary knowledge to play your game. An interactive tutorial or simplified one might benefit you. But even more so, I would strive to create a more concrete simple start to the game. Give the players a basic strategy to earn and sell to start off, and then build complexity off of that.
Your game is fairly impressive, but try and provide a subtle guiding direction to new players. I feel like that would help out your player retention, best of luck!
Not entirely sure if this is an issue on other devices however the present camera angle is an annoyance on mobile. I’ve provided an example here
It’s possible that players might’ve moved on, this is a huge risk whenever your game is built around a trend that can become over saturated at any given moment.
In my opinion, it has far too many similarities to the competition. The only notable difference would be the execution however it’s still considered a reskin.
You never do this when it comes to trend based games, simulators aren’t designed to be long term. In the future if it’s absolutely necessary to leave temporarily than you must 100% make sure there’s enough content for players to indulge till you’re able to resume production.
What dates, time did you run the advertisements? Monday-Thursday (unless there’s a holiday) your targeted audience will be occupied with school. Friday 12 PM-Sunday would be my recommendation for ads.
Adding on to this, I didn’t even bother to read any of the text shown as consumers have developed a bias towards these particular tutorials. Majority of the mechanics are self explanatory however since tool bars aren’t as normalized anymore, it took me awhile to engage in combat.
Couldn’t agree more, there’s minimal player progression presently. Pet’s simply isn’t enough to satisfy consumers long term. Refer to ghost simulator’s progression as an example.
Instead of just one secondary, there’s two secondary objectives being pets and hover boards. Where as the main objective is to upgrade your weaponry to continue player progression.
I’d recommend implementing fast travel as simulators have normalized this feature.
Thanks for the feedback i appreciate it! I will definitely focus on several of the things you said like the fast travel and making it more unique instead of a reskin. I just wasnt in a position to make full updates at that time due to college and track, and other things.