I’ve made this topic, because I am about to begin working on a simple, but fun game. This game is targeted towards younger players. Preferably from ages 5-10. These players don’t really chat that much. They just like to play the game, and if it is good and simple enough to play, they will most likely join back another time when they have some spare time to play Roblox.
Well first off, I know how I can get younger players in my game. This is with advertising (sponsors and normal ads). I think you can decide which ages you would like to advertise to, but what I need to know is how to keep them. This sounds a bit weird, but what I mean is how to keep them playing my game.
A few ways of doing this could be:
Simple mechanics.
Bright/pastel colours. (gets more attention)
No p2w (pay to win) items. Most young players don’t have robux, or have very little. This means I could add a few items that cost anywhere from 10-50 robux.
These are a few ideas I got, but if you are willing to list some more ideas that can keep younger players playing my game, I would really appreciate that.
I can also add a lobby, with for example an obby, etc. Simple things that people like to do if they are not yet in a round. There should be a little shop, where players can buy things from coins they got from playing or winning a round.
A good example of a game I will take some inspiration from. Not the type of game, but the stuff that keeps young players playing. Go and check it out and you will see there are players speaking multiple languages, but most are just silent and stay in the game for a whole time. You can also obviously see these players are pretty young.
The main thing is probably the icon for the game. Icons always get more players. But you can also make the game colorful, add daily rewards so the audience comes back everyday to get their reward. I’m pretty sure that will work because some games do this and get the audience to come back everyday. (Cant think of any games that have this feature than Pet Simulator X.)
These are good in general, but some important points I think may affect experience:
The mechanics should be unique but in an intuitive way
Avoid spamming bright colours and like lime green and new yeller as they can be visually distracting (They are good but in moderation like neon)
The GUI should look neat and should depend on the age group eg. players who are extremely young (5-6) may enjoy cartoony fonts and rounded GUI better, while players who are around 9-10 may like something different
You already have a good understanding in what you need to do to maintain a young audience. I have formatted a list consisting of ideas already mentioned as well as my own below in an easy-to-read list.
Gameplay
Simple gameplay (nothing too confusing, no feature creep, etc)
Constant stimulus (minigames/obbies in the lobby, bright colors, shops)
Consistent updates
Constant rewards from tasks, play-time, or dailies (easy dopamine rush)
Design
Bright and interesting icons/thumbnails
A good title and description
Non-intrusive and simple user interface
Advertising
To answer your title on how to “get a younger playerbase”, the most effective way I can think of is to pay a YouTuber with a young audience to create a video on your game. This is because Roblox removed the option to target market towards a <13 audience using their advertising systems.
Add a bright and eyecatching thumbnail, and a lot of bright, flashing, mesmerizing colors. Also, I would say make a lot of gamepasses, if your looking to make robux, younger playerbase games always get a lot of robux from gamepasses.