|
| 01 Dec 2013 03:53 PM |
Hey Roblox Community,
After reading Andrew Haak's "ROBLOX Game Marketing 101" article I felt that although it was a good article, it did not cover everything that it needed to in order to make a successful game.
================== ===Qualifications=== ==================
Over four accounts ( SDuke524, BJJScrambler, rayoma, ThePHPguy ) I have gained over 5 million place visits. However if you were to add in all of the other games that were copied from me ( either by being stolen or me uncopylocking the place ) that number gets closer to 7 or 8 million visits.
I am also a wiki writer/editor, a part of many prestigious scripting groups such as "Master Scripters" and "Scripter's Guild". In real life I have also held many jobs as a programmer, for software companies, oil industries, video production studios and other contract work.
===================== ===Roblox Successes=== =====================
My first real break-out game was Football Legends. Believe it or not, I did not make this game for the public. The reason I made Football Legends was because I had a football place that I would play games with my friends at however only I had control to the GUI scoreboard. So I promised to make the games automatically refereed so they did not have to wait for me to play. Even during the process of building the game it started getting popular. The game would have about 3-4 servers at once when all it could do was read incomplete passes and touchdowns, then restart from the top. The more and more I got into it, the more and more servers started showing up while I still had no idea where the people were coming from. After about 3 days of being fully functional ( which was only about 2 days after I started the process of making it ) the place was starting to average 100-200 people on at once. I could not believe it because the place literally spread by word of mouth and being high on the sports page. My place grew based purely on good publicity and nothing else. However it never hit front page, so I asked my friend crazyman32 what to do about it. He just said that I needed a good name and picture to make it seem like a video game. So I went into studio, set up a picture pose and changed the name to "Football Hero" ( later Football Legends because, why not? ) and literally in less than 5 minutes it was on the front page. Then 5 minutes later, #1 game on front page. Blew my mind that that was all it needed. But turns out being that every other game is just a picture of some random people in swimsuits or a building, this stuck out like a sore thumb.
My first breakout game on this account was wrestling chess ( which I later turned into the tournament and moved to a different place ). This game I built because "wrestling chess" is a game we play during wrestling practice sometimes and I thought it would be fun to play with some of the guys in the league I created on roblox. So I began working on it and finished in about 4-5 hours. Then I gave it a prettyish picture design and invited some of my friends from the league to play with me. However after about 10 minutes of playing, I had to leave because I was teaching a jiu-jitsu class that night. So I left and when I came back 2 hours later it was on the front page. Turns out the contrast in the picture made it stick out well and the concept of actual wrestling instead of WWE was so unique it attracted a lot of attention. Then the fact that wrestling is pretty much an instinctual desire for people, everyone loved it and kept playing. Off topic a bit but you can actually see a picture of this game on the front page in this article which was released the same day my game became popular: blog.roblox.com/2013/06/surfacing-quality-games-with-the-top-grossing-sort/
================ ===Game Types=== ================
In both cases I never had to release a single ad. The reason the games got popular was:
a. Creative name and artistic cover b. Functional c. Designed for ME. I did not set out on the task of pleasing the public, I built a game I thought would be fun to play. Sadly a lot of people do not get this part.
However you can see from many other places that this is not the only way to get a game popular. A lot of games such as these:
http://www.roblox.com/Roblox-Point-Theme-Park-OPENING-OCTOBER-2013-place?id=17470283 http://www.roblox.com/Eagles-Castle-Un-copy-lock-abandoned-place?id=4248812 http://www.roblox.com/EBR-Stratosphere-Settlement-place?id=102886073
Popular purely because of their good looks. No real need for fun gameplay, just wonder and awe like a museum.
And then the third category of games:
http://www.roblox.com/BloxCity-place?id=6140560 http://www.roblox.com/Acid-Escape-place?id=112230298 http://www.roblox.com/Skydive-Off-The-Tallest-Tower-On-ROBLOX-place?id=66276738
Where popularity is brought through by the power of advertising and pretty pictures/titles ONLY. These are not widely accepted and fairly notorious games on roblox however they do bring in money.
Making a popular game means aiming to put your game in one of the three categories:
===================== ===Functional Games=== =====================
Attributes: - Most likely well-scripted. Not necessarily a lot of scripting but enough to make it solid and not break. - Not always the most aesthetically pleasing however there is a few that do look good as well. - Based around gameplay and usually have clearly defined goals/tasks for the players. Pros: - Most highly praised of the three types. - High amounts of visits and profit. Cons: - Can be difficult to create depending on concept of game and/or skill level of creator. - Can be subject to glitches/broken servers which cause many distraught fans and very negative reviews. Needed For Success: - Creative video game-like title and picture - Solid scripting that will not break. Even if there is barely any scripting, it cannot break. - Easily defined goals and easy to follow quests. Not necessarily easy quests, just easy to follow.
================== ===Artistic Places=== ================== Attributes: - Large amounts of detail on everything. - Usually no defined goals and no real tasks, just for exploration and/or viewing. - Extremely aesthetically pleasing, not a huge amount of scripting except on rare occasions. Pros: - Very highly praised. - If done right, can bring in a lot of profit. - Very high publicity. Cons: - Takes a lot of time and work on finer details. - Although it may get a lot of people visiting, does not get a lot of returning visits and can lack in the total visits area. Needed For Success: - Many areas/items to explore and encounter. - Pretty picture.
================ ===Money Pits=== ================ Attributes: - Filled with common public domain items, "Free models”, except on rare occasions. - Very simple to no real planning. Unless copied/stolen from another source. - Barely any design. Unless copied/stolen from another source. - Tons of advertising and false advertising. - Title/picture is blunt and either says exactly what the game is or some other trap. - Games are designed to lure in newer players to the awesome realm of possibilities on roblox. The games are taking the ideas that new roblox players have about the huge array of things that can be done on roblox and with straightforward titles like "Go skydiving" they immediately know what they're getting and lunge at the idea of it. Pros: - Easy and quick to make. - Mass amounts of profit. Cons: - Extremely frowned upon in the roblox community. - High rise and quick drop. Rarely ever stay popular for long. Needed For Success: - Pretty picture and title attractive for new players. - Change title and picture whenever there is a drop in visits so that it can go back up. - A place that will be interactive enough to keep people busy and staying long enough for other people to see the game in the games page and visit.
====================== ===Attracting Visitors=== ======================
Once you have a game ready for distribution it is time to get visitors to your game. But how? How could your game get noticed in the 30 million+ games already out there on roblox? There are a few simple things that you can use to make your game more visible to the public.
----Genre---- Give your game a genre, DO NOT at any cost leave your game marked as "All Games" genre. By giving your game a genre it allows it to be visible by using the side bar sort and it will be compared to a much smaller group of games. However make sure your game matches the genre it is given, otherwise people looking for a sports game will pass right over your haunted house game.
----Thumbnail---- The more contrast is in your thumbnail, the more your game will stick out from the rest. Also if you imply shallow focus techniques into your thumbnail it will make the game pop out ( or at least that piece of the photo ) from everything else on the page. Video thumbnails really are not worth the trouble. Usually when a user comes upon a new game, if it has a video they'll play it, if not, it will not make or break their decisions. Most thumbnail videos push people away from playing the game and not the other way around.
----Play Your Game---- Probably the most important factor in attracting people to your game, play it yourself. If for some reason you don't even want to play it, then it probably shouldn't be out there anyways. However if you do have a good game and it is a fun game, worth playing, then play it yourself. A game cannot show up on the games page if NOBODY IS PLAYING IT. So play it yourself or with some friends and then people will start to notice it. Yes this does get easier when you are more popular and people will follow you to places however even before I was famous people would still come to servers I was in just to "meet the creator of a game". Plus just having that 1 person on the game is enough to make it show up on the games page. Back when I used to talk to jaredvaldez he told me that he would just sit at his game for hours and wait for people to come. Even when he's on a new account, he uses the same tactic. Sit at the game until it fills up.
----Advertise---- Yes, advertising does help at times, but only if you advertise in places where it will be noticed. If you use the advertising system on roblox, make sure to follow the same steps as with making the thumbnail. However there are much cheaper and sometimes more fruitful ways to advertise on roblox.
--Forums Talk in forums that relate to your game. Also a lot of times forums do not like straight-forward ads so ask the people for help with the game. Ask for opinions or for help finding bugs, for more suggestions, etc. Give people a reason to come that does not look like advertising and they will come.
--In-Game advertising With the new teleportation service, advertising in other games is now very possible, however not many people do it. I have opened up an advertising system on my football games and have seen the people using it for shirts have gotten over 600+ sales JUST from in-game sales at my place. The commission’s window does not show me how many people teleported out however I would expect the numbers to be similar.
--Groups Just like with the forums, talk to groups that your game relates to or applies to. If there is no group that could have anything to do with your place, create one. Make a need for your place and people will come. However know that having a group for the place means you also have to regulate the group and not just the place.
================= ===Keeping Visits=== =================
One of the biggest problems with new games is keeping people at the place. And without people staying a while at your game, the number of people at once at the place will stay very low making it hard for people to find your game.
----Goals---- Give people a goal or an ideal to strive towards. You can make many small goals that are easy to complete and give the players a sense of accomplishment and progression however the main end goal should not be too easy to achieve and make people want to keep on playing until they reach it. For example at my football legends place, a small goal could be to win a game. One of the larger end goals could be to become the games MVPs. Or even after that to get both offensive and defensive MVP in the same game.
----Aesthetically Appealing---- People associate a good looking place with a well-built and professional place. Whether the scripting behind it is terrible and breaks constantly, because it looks good, people assume it is professional. Just the idea that the game was made by a professional is enough for people to stick around longer and experience as much of the game as they can.
----Comradery---- Building relationships with other people is one of the most important things in a person’s life. It is so important that Abraham Maslow made “belonging” the 3rd element on the Pyramid of Needs. A good game will help to develop relationships between players, making the users depend on each other to accomplish certain things or want to have other people with them so that they can make it through the game together. Whenever people build relationships and friendships in a game, a lot of times they develop certain attachments to the game as well. Think about the game where you met your best friend on roblox at. How long did you stay at that game? Did you ever visit that game again? Making a game that can build strong relationships between players will also get the players to stay longer and even repeat visits.
So how do you do this?
--Team Work Any games that require team work often increase Comradery. Notice there is a difference between games that require team work and games that have teams. If you are to go to Call Of Robloxia 5 or Base Wars, there you do not actually need your team mates, most of the time you just run off on your own anyways.
--Roleplay Giving the players roles and positions gives players the chance to develop connections between others and also gives them new goals that they may not have had before. This technique is mostly seen in artistic places such as Kingdom Life. However this can be done in other ways such as giving the players certain jobs that they have to accomplish which are different than everyone else’s jobs.
================ ===Repeat Visits=== ================ Getting people to come back to your game is very vital to the game continuing its success and not being a one-hit wonder like many games are.
----Update---- Updating your game in any way is an easy way to get people to come back. People will be curious when they see the updates, so they will come back. Many money pit games use this tactic constantly by just updating the picture or title however the same works with functional games and artistic games if you are making actual updates.
----Long-Term Goals---- Goals that can be accomplished over multiple visits will always help to bring people back. These goals can be something like get 100,000 passing yards or get the Lamborghini Murcielago.
----Comradery---- Again, building connections is a huge thing. Whenever people build strong connections with other people, the place they are at is usually largely associated with that. Thus they will almost always enjoy coming back to the same place.
I know most of you will read through this and decide that it is too hard, too difficult and not worth your efforts to try, I know most of you will tell me "tl;dr", but for the few of you that do take this to heart, and will take the time, go through the struggles and make the effort to become successful, I look forward to seeing you in the future.
Good Luck, ~SDuke524
|
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
| |
|
yeldon
|
  |
| Joined: 01 Jul 2013 |
| Total Posts: 211 |
|
| |
|
|
| 01 Dec 2013 05:04 PM |
| Thanks, these tips will help a lot. |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
|
| 01 Dec 2013 05:08 PM |
| I think these tips will help a lot thanks!! |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
Steviiee
|
  |
| Joined: 26 Aug 2011 |
| Total Posts: 327 |
|
|
| 01 Dec 2013 05:21 PM |
| cool im number 1 palyer at ur game |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
| |
|
|
| 01 Dec 2013 06:14 PM |
| Thanks Bjj, I think I'll stick with the Artistic type of games for me because I have no idea how to script whatsoever. :P |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
maxjelly
|
  |
| Joined: 18 May 2013 |
| Total Posts: 8344 |
|
| |
|
LynixF
|
  |
| Joined: 03 Jul 2012 |
| Total Posts: 604 |
|
|
| 01 Dec 2013 07:50 PM |
I remember when I met my best friend on roblox. It was a fine summer night at Football Legends by SDuke524, I was just a noob, throwing a football, missing almost every time. Then, the great and mighty rayoma joined the server. He didn't just let me go, he took me under his wing, and taught me how to play football on roblox. We not only came back to that game, but we did it almost every day. I got better and better, and felt like I belonged with rayoma, being his Wide reciever. This basically ensures that comradery exists.
--Lynix-- |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
LynixF
|
  |
| Joined: 03 Jul 2012 |
| Total Posts: 604 |
|
| |
|
poey27
|
  |
| Joined: 21 Jun 2008 |
| Total Posts: 469 |
|
| |
|
|
| 02 Dec 2013 12:34 AM |
| I booked marked this page for future reference. Thanks again. |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
|
| 02 Dec 2013 04:57 AM |
Thanks,
This article really helped my main account create a game! |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
|
| 02 Dec 2013 04:59 AM |
tl,dr... Too Long, Do read, very wise.
Bookmarking this thread. |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
MrEpic9
|
  |
| Joined: 17 Jun 2012 |
| Total Posts: 5543 |
|
|
| 02 Dec 2013 06:32 AM |
| tl;dr may read it one year though xd |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
|
| 02 Dec 2013 07:10 AM |
| Many likes in game is Robloxity/Alpha and others. |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
| |
|
|
| 02 Dec 2013 08:15 PM |
dude yur game is the best sports game ever i play it every day
|
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
LynixF
|
  |
| Joined: 03 Jul 2012 |
| Total Posts: 604 |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| 03 Dec 2013 03:41 PM |
| Very nice desc. and everything buthow long did this take? |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
|
| 03 Dec 2013 05:28 PM |
| Thanks I liked the help but I just need help scripting. |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|