On Friday night I ran an ad (attached below) with high hopes of my game doing well. I have done all I can think of to monetize my game without prompting a purchase every time the user presses a button. I have added in game currency purchases and a starter pack. All my gamepasses and dev-product prices are fair (even cheap) in some cases. I have attached below some of my place statistics and I cant seem to figure out why my visits aren’t correlated with Robux spent.
My playtime is fairly decent (9-12 minute average) so user engagement isn’t really the problem.
One of the things I noticed is with your ad because it doesn’t really show what the game is about and is just random box which players have no idea what it is. Also you shouldn’t expect profit right when you run the ad because usually the profit comes after the ad is done.
Shop menus decrease revenue (from what I can tell). No one is joining your game to spend money. This may not cross their minds unless the product is placed where they can see it.
And even if the product is in sight, they should be able to imagine a future in which they are happy with your product. The starter pack’s money and gems are ambigious numbers. I have no idea what cool things I can buy with that money, and thus in my imagination I can’t envision that happy future. The player has already went out on a limb to even try your game. They won’t have the patience to investigate menus to see what the currency is good for. It would probably be better to offer specific, easy to understand rewards in the starter pack.
To add on to what the other reply said, ads may not be a good option for short term gain. Aiming to obtain a loyal playerbase is a more sensible goal. Even if getting a following puts you in the red, you won’t stay in the red for long if you have a stable community.
.81% CTR on an ad is not good. Keep experimenting with different styles and you will find something better. I also reccomend getting the art design support forum to criticize your ads. They can be harsh but that brutal honesty is the kind of feedback every dev needs.
I’m planning on making the descriptions a little more flashy and changing the icons to something a little nicer to look at like a little graphic instead of just plain text.
Based on what you have seen so far, would you think giving a trail replacing the gems be a good idea (can be bought with gems or money)? Did I make it obvious enough what trails actually do. If not how would you recommend I go about showing that.
I have been interacting a lot with the new users and even adding their content ideas into the game, so all this should increase loyalty and interaction to see if their ideas were implemented.
Since my AD has ended, I have even added a little referral system giving users special rewards for inviting friends who join the game.
Definitely got unlucky with the ad. On my first test it was sitting on around a 1.25% CTR which is decent but still not too good. I’m going to try a few more this week in lots of other styles. Hoping for something above 1.5% CTR.
You need to make sure the day is not the most competitive because if users are running ads and bidding high prices then your ad may not show. You should also be aware of what type of ad you make and try not to make it a clickbait ad. In your ads, you should show gameplay and maybe have something convincing like:
Have you ever had a point of playing Roblox where every game was boring. Well introducing [Your game name] and etc.
I’m obviously not someone who has good experience with ads but I feel like that ad I just mentioned may catch someone’s eye. Ad trends may not be the best ad type to follow since those ads mostly flop and become a meme.
For the sake of this, I just bought out an ad that your ad is similar to and another that your ad is not similar to but you should never follow the ad. These ads are the type of ads you should never follow. There are a lot more but I only chose a few.
This actually did help a lot and changed my perspective on things. Before wasting the robux to run an ad ill try to get a few of my friends and some people I don’t know much to give me some opinions, thanks!
Although you’re inexperienced its just basic stuff I missed while trying to fit in with the crowd and follow trends instead of creating something unique that will actually get me clicks.
All my ideas I came up with here were implemented. I feel like the game is in a better place now, but any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
The progression seemed really slow to me. I had to collect items for about 4 - 5 minutes to get the first upgrade. By then, I had explored the accessible areas of the map, and there didn’t seem like much else to do or discover for a long time. It feels better to see quicker progression for the instant gratification that gradually ramps up to then encourage players to purchase speed ups.
Perhaps a solution would be to include a quick tutorial that explains how some items are worth more than others and have them collect a few rare drops (not accessable to other players) that gets them their first upgrade very quickly and puts them nearly at the 2nd.
The game colors and UI animations were very smooth and aesthetic except for the UI for the starter pack. It had two text boxes clipping over the border.
Thanks for these suggestions. I just did a little balancing to keep mid game the same while speeding up beginner progress. Along with this, I removed the obnoxious help popup when a user first joins and replaced it with a much easier to read tutorial that will be prompted after the user presses play. Thanks!
Oh yeah and I also fixed that starter pack outline lol.
or was a meme.
