Why is my game doing so bad?

Help and Feedback Game Design Support
#1

So I have made a new Roblox experience that’s inspired by Murderer vs Sheriffs Duels, Rivals and KAT.
Players can duel with other players using duel pads. Each person gets a murder knife & revolver, similar to MVSD. But with the addition of Rivals movement: sliding. And to make it more unique, each player can equip abilities for their knives, just like KAT, for example a laser knife, or an explosive knife.

But even with pretty good game stats (Retention, Avg. Session Time, ARPPU), the game is just not doing good. I spent a lot of money advertising, which got the game to like 300 ccu at a time, but most players left after a while. I tried using funnels to check if players just didn’t know how to play, but 100% of players have played a duel? Then I thought the game wasn’t unique enough (the Unique User Qualified Play Through Rate was very low - about 0.75%), but then I saw this game getting popular recently: ( ✦ ) [DUELS] Murderers VS Sheriffs - Roblox, and with an unbiased opinion I think this game is less ‘good’, but it has 3k more CCU than my game.
Should I redesign the mechanics? Like remove the sliding? Or make each revolver 1/1 ammo? I’m just not sure what’s the problem. I even tried 3 different thumbnails to get the play through rate higher, but to no avail. Here’s the Game link: ( ✦ ) MURDER DUELS :hocho: - Roblox

6 Likes
#2

Alright, I’m gonna give you my most true and honest opinion, so please don’t take it to heart.

User Interface
The UI in the game seemed pretty bland and confusing in some aspects. Didn’t stand out far beyond the run of the mill inexperienced developer UI. Just what I’d expect from someone who has not had much experience with the scene. Which is okay! We all start somewhere, just an observation.

The Gameplay
As a new player, the knives seem almost entirely useless. On some of your maps, which are absurdly large for the scale of game you’re playing, specifically Bloxburg, the knife was pointless. Leaving almost all plays using exclusively the gun. And the gun itself is not much greater. The speed and timing of the gun felt off, and the lackluster effects of eliminating someone. Some of the times I eliminated someone, I wasn’t sure if I had done so or not, it was unclear. I have much more I could say in this category, but I digress.

The Maps and Lobby
The lobby itself seemed very slept on, as if you spent all the time developing your gameplay and completely forgot about the very first thing a user sees upon joining the game, your lobby and UI. To keep your player retention up, you need to have the first moments of the game be enjoyable. If they join, see a lackluster lobby, and then go and play a game and get slammed, it is very unlikely that they’ll stick around for another match. I feel the lobby and UI need a full revamp.
The maps were one, too large. And two, fairly dull. I did not feel a sense of familiarity or enjoyment from the maps, they had seemed pretty unenjoyable. For the type of gameplay you provide, the maps do not correlate well with it. I will say they were fairly well put together, but they were insignificant and did not align well with the gameplay.

Again, I do not mean to come in and grill you and your game. I just wanted to give my dead-honest opinion to answer your question. You did a good job with the barebones, I think you just need to pretty her up a big and make it more enjoyable and aesthetically pleasing.

3 Likes
#3

How much did you spend on ads exactly? Could be an issue with that which I can help with.

1 Like
#4

Also, how do your stats look? D1 ret, playtime, etc.

1 Like
#5

I played your game - got my butt kicked :slight_smile:

Here are my initial thoughts - the lobby is underwhelming. There was a FREE crystal sword rotating but I couldn’t figure out how to get it. I’m probably just slow, but so are other users. I jumped on it and clicked it - but it wasn’t for sale it seemed. The game itself worked pretty well, I just did a 1v1 for a few rounds. I did notice there were players coming in the whole time I was in the lobby.

1 Like
#6

You need to add more user engagement. Add things such as a daily wheel that is spinnable, or daily gifts. Also add rewards for Premium and inviting friends. Add a few more gamepasses that are available to see on the games page. If you need any help doing these contact me.

1 Like
#7

theres a timer under the sword, meaning that you have to wait until that timer ends to claim it

1 Like
#8

there is a invite friends button when you’re joining a duel , idk bout daily wheel and daily gifts, wouldnt that make the game look just more cheap/scummy?

1 Like
#9

d1 retention seems very good, almost 90th percentile, playtime like 75th percentile, conversion rate just above the 50th percentile, only bad stat is the Unique User Qualified Play Through Rate (Recommendations) and avg revenue (presumably due to there not being much players at all)

1 Like
#10

Well, the default knife ability is not as useful as the other ones, but it has use cases too. By the speed and timing of the gun do you mean the equip speeds? Should they be able to instantly shoot after equipping? Also there’s literally a hitmarker, hit sound and an elimination UI if you eliminated someone??? Their character even ragdolls?

So for the other stuff you mentioned, the map sizes are the problem? Should I make them smaller? I feel like the maps actually make the game more unique. And I have also redesigned the lobby after you written this to match the maps more.

1 Like
#11

Not really, most larger games that have a big player count utilise it. It increases the amount of playing returning to the game because they want to get the rewards given.

1 Like
#12

That’s interesting… I would say it’s almost definitely QPTR holding your game back. It’s very very important because when low, the algorithm will just be like “well, the user is likely not going to click this… so I won’t display it, because it would be a waste of space.”

Conversions will also need to be higher, even if that means sacrificing the ARPPU, because in my personal experience it doesn’t matter as much as conversions do.

Also, I’ve played the game. The idea is great! and I think you’ve executed it very well and in a clean, simple way. Does the icon show this? NO!! I would definitely play the game again, but I would NOT ever click this icon:
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No offense, of course, but that’s just way too generic… I feel like I’ve seen it before? It doesn’t show anything that looks fun/exciting/interesting (which an icon should).

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I quite like this thumbnail. I assume you’re using thumbnail testing? if not, absolutely do. It’s insanely good at helping me increase QPTR on my games. I think your icon should be more similar to this thumbnail… it looks way more fun, way more interesting, and something is actually happening in it!

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This is great to increase conversions, but that deal (down to 79 R$ from 1397 R$) is completely unbelievable. I think you’ll find more success (in terms of conversions) by making this more believable, and by reducing the time that the offer is valid for (24h is too long for most Roblox games). Also, the user doesn’t know the value of 400 gems because the bundle appears before we’ve even played the game… so maybe just remove those from the bundle because they’re a bit of a distraction and also a little off-putting IMO (I think this is the reason I didn’t buy the bundle, second to the fact that I didn’t believe the offer).

I think you’re right. Although, if you can increase the conversion rate, players who were converted in to “payers” will be more likely to purchase again.

The last thing I’d like to say is… where the hell is the music? the game feels strangely empty and I think the lack of music might be the cause.

I hope this helps, and good luck with the game! I quite enjoyed it, despite its simplicity.

1 Like
#13

Thanks for your feedback! I removed the gems from the bundle and made the timeframe shorter. And added some lobby music

Well, I tested a variation of icons (one that looks a bit like rivals) and this one seemed to have the biggest Ad CTR,

Also what thumbnail are you referring to? The image is not loading for some reason. Also not sure if the icon really matters, since thumbnails show on the recommend page, not icons? And yes I’m using thumbnail testing