So my team and I recently released our new game Zombie Zone (Zombie Zone 🔥[NEW]🔥 - Roblox), it is intended to be a modernized version of the big zombie shooters like Zombie Uprising, Zombie Attack, and formerly Zombie Rush. We released on 11/20/2024 so we’ve been out for about 2.5 weeks, but I am seeing almost no traction in CCU outside of ad spends. We’ve been consistently advertising at 5 credits a day, with bigger spends on the weekends. I have read that the algorithm should start pushing your game within about 2 weeks of release but so far I am seeing very few homepage impressions.
Our stats are decent in some areas but not great in others. These were our benchmarks for yesterday (December 5th):
Obviously retention is not good right now and I am not quite sure why. We have a (seemingly) robust progression path with plenty of content for players to come back to.
We’ve also had days with much better stats overall. Here was our best day on November 29th:
So ultimately, my goal here is to ask: what do you think our game needs to compete with the major players in this genre I previously mentioned (zombie uprising and attack primarily)? And outside of improving our benchmarks, what do we need to do to start getting pushed by the algorithm? Should we just keep sponsoring and wait? I am unsure at this point.
Think about this, what are you doing that makes your game unique or better to stand out from your competitors ?
If you’re struggling to find a significant answer than thats probably part of your issue, I didn’t play the game but from watching your trailer, I’m not seeing anything that stands out from your competitors.
Another issue is your trailer itself, to me it just oozes low effort, and even worse, it only shows 1 aspect of the gameplay which is just shooting zombies (assuming there is more to the game than that…) A trailer can make a big difference in how much attention you get from new users, Put some more effort into it.
I don’t know what the rest of your marketing looks like, but If you haven’t been marketing your game before release, you’ve already made a huge mistake. most people are going to ignore games with under 100 players or. that community is very important to build up before release, so when the game drops, you already have a starting player base, which gives more encouragement to potential players to give it a try.
I would advise you to reflect on your game and marketing strategies as a whole here’s a few things you should ask yourself.
What are you doing differently ?
what makes you stand out from your competitors ?
What methods could you be using to reach new players ?
Can you see yourself willingly putting in the amount of time playing your game you hope your audience would, and If not, how can your improve the gameplay ?
I think your map designer and your zombie designer went their own ways; pick one style. The zombies look cartoonish and the map looks like it is from the Middle Ages.
I noticed most players just hang around the same central location; there is no reason not to. Maybe make the horde enter the map at different locations each time a group is wiped out. That way players have to move around.
Like most horde games, it suffers from people just walking backwards to stay ahead of the horde. That gets boring. Maybe give each player a teleport gun that instantly sends them to where they click. At least it would mix it up.
I like that cash is dropped by zombies. Maybe make them drop interesting weapons as well.
There seems to be nowhere to hide or gain an advantage. I know from experience that horde games get tiring when you constantly have to walk backwards. Taking away a players ability to get to high ground seems like a bad idea. It can be nice one in a while to just stand there and shoot zombies without effort. Plus, it helps players rank up to better guns more easily.
Random thought: allow the zombies the ability to destroy sections of the map, trapping players. That way, the players need to do repairs while also trying to fight off the horde. Hum… maybe.
Game’s good enough but it’s just another generic zombie shooter.
Rolling is useless since you can just backpedal.
Since this game is pretty casual just make it so when you are browsing the menus in game after pressing z the zombies don’t target you, so they can buy stuff without moving around to avoid getting hit by zombies.
I don’t think the game has enough depth to ever be able to have a good day 1 retention, the progression needs to be much faster to increase this stat, when you kill 10-15 zombies you should already play with a different weapon or unlock something.
The only way to succeed is through volume, if you get lucky the game will be pushed by roblox sooner or later, if roblox doesn’t care about the game you are cooked, as soon as the ads stop you’ll probably reach 0 active players pretty fast
