The First 2012 Game to 1 Million, and How It Got There

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ROBLOX Games PageEvery ROBLOX user wants to get to the top of the Games page. It’s symbolic of success. A place reserved for the best. It turns games into trends.

“It feels really, really unbelievably good and exciting when a game you’ve made hits the top of the first page,” said ROBLOX user Playrobot, whose creation, Lakeside, was the first game created in 2012 to reach 1 million game plays.

But it’s certainly not easy.

There are many ways to get noticed on ROBLOX – users can spend Tickets to display advertisements, promote games within their social networks and on relevant forums, and offer incentives, like badges, to players. But users’ core priorities, from Playrobot’s point of view, should be high-quality building and scripting.

“Never underestimate the value of scripting because it opens up endless possibilities for making exciting things happen in a game,” she said. “The more you practice building and scripting, the better and faster you get at it.”

Lakeside - Game Plays by Month

A monthly breakdown of Lakeside's game plays. Click to enlarge.

One of Lakeside’s GUIs (graphic user interface), “Morph Magic,” includes the game’s most complex script, allowing players to change their look, and even transform into various animals. It’s that sort of depth and flexibility that keeps players engaged, and coming back for repeat visits.

Playrobot also recommends that builders think about what their audience enjoys playing. There are many ROBLOX users who love simulations of real life – the classic Welcome to the Town of Robloxia has been played almost 15 million times, illustrating that point – but they’re always willing to try something new. She tapped into that interest with Lakeside, where players can get jobs, socialize, change their looks, and buy and customize houses.

It can be as simple as “figuring out what players feel like playing,” according to Playrobot.

Play-testing is important, too. Each time Playrobot finishes an initial build of a game, she invites about 10 people to come and play it simultaneously. If the game is in good enough shape, and her friends stick around to play for an hour, that initial seed of 10 people usually leads to an “avalanche” of visits.

“If the avalanche doesn’t happen, then I know I need to keep working on it and also get suggestions for improving the game.”

While there’s no silver bullet — no surefire way to be number one — an understanding of building and scripting, familiarity with your audience, and a bit of virality among friends go a long way toward developing the next “million-seller.”

Clearly, it worked for Playrobot.

166 thoughts on “The First 2012 Game to 1 Million, and How It Got There”

  1. Ok everyone Playrobot is a gift to roblox she is the most amazing builder/scripter i’ve ever seen so She one of my favorite robloxians.

  4. My game is very well made and it has had about 3000 visits, but i have spent a lot of Robux to get all thoughs visits. i just wish non bc could get a few robux a day so they could have a chance on roblox. i have played roblox for a very long time and one day hope to see my game on the front page.

    • Dude, Money or Robux is not the option to make people go to your place, You need to do what Playrobot does, She invites 10 people or more, Make your game good enough for others to make them say “wow”, Then you’ll gonna have a popular game, I don’t done this for the first time, But, I think it will work.

    • I agree we hould at least get 1 robuxx a day at least 1 we dont even get one for a every year making us pay 50dollars for robux jjerks wasting are money I say >.>

  6. Roblox there are so many people who make good games but no one will play them i have been trying to get at least 2 servers up for my game but i cant no one will visit also alot of people dont know how to build good or even write a reset script people need help but no one knows how to get that help.You guies need to help us learn to script and build.

    add me zeropoint77 and play my games

  7. Look ROBLOX, we can’t make “great games” because so many retards spam tycoons or pointless cart rides that the well scripted and quality games are drowned out. Also, ROBLOX can’t handle much more than 300 moving blocks. We have to limit our NPC count severely because they lag, and animating them is out of the question because of the lag it creates. Basically, ROBLOX’s engine needs a major upgrade. If you want static creations well CFramed and built, fine. But that’s not what ROBLOX should be meant for. I want full scale battles with my creations, like my Thor mech walker. I can’t though, because only one can be supported before the game lags to h3II. Many more of my creations wont even function in multiplayer because of the lag. This is unacceptable for a game designed for building and creation.

  8. Honestly the game itself sucks, and the Gui is copied. However multiple game critics go there to check it out and that gets it numberous visits.

  10. UM for all you guys that you say games are good. You use free modelsin there So dont say its good unless you Buildt in by hand :P

  11. I’m a pretty good builder but don’t have any “social network” to get the word out or tix to advertise. It’s amazing that games that had no building or scripting skill put into them get visits, and if I get lucky only a guest or someone who can’t talk visits my game. Play Bomb Factory Tycoon and I’ll make it better.

  12. I make good places, but, I have nearly 1.4k place visits. Im makin a New place named Frostbite

    A bit of help will do.

  14. I make great places and models but nobody knows me if if it isn’t at game skill or strategy.

  16. If you guys think your smart, be smart. Because PlayRobot is an administrator of roblox, of course her games will make it to the front page!

  17. i was with 400 players online 3 days than something get bad and now i have 50 max players and hackers destroy games sorry bad english

  18. add me iloverubux and play my games! i hope you liek them and apperiate the time and effort i put into that game

  19. i have atleast 3-4 games that is good but people have tons of money and tix so they over run theer ads over mine and it suxs i spend so much time on my ad’s just to get over run by people i have 2 games called Zombie killers and destroy the houses and test gear i spent 1000 tix on ads

  20. I know excatly what to build. A war game. I’ll put in a morph magic, and lots. This war game will be a WWII war game. With flashing sirens and CFraming.

  21. Wow Playrobot, nice job! I looked at the graph of place visits each month. You had an average of 500,000 place visits each month. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to pull that off.

  22. I own a group with 200+ members, but I only have about 1,200 place visits(counting inactive places too)

  23. Honestly I don’t know if I want to be famous.. Mostly because I knew this guy and his game his the front page.. But, he turned into a total jerk and.. I don’t want to turn into a monster :c But If my my game DOES just-so-happen to hit front pagges i’ll be blessed whatever happens. My game will have a grand opening soon and then I’ll be starting on a new project..

    • me neather i would be serwonded in games when i go in games there just like “oh its him…”im fine with that

  26. Inviting people is a jumpstart for a great game, I invite 2-10 people in my game every upgrade, Also playbot did a exellent job on her games

  27. I’m suprised how roblox posted a game reovolved around odering. This game is probally the most odere’d game ever.

  28. Best way to get to the front page : Hard Effort in building,Ads,a role playing game like (complex roleplay)since nbcs like role playing a lot

    • There is NO difference between the personality of NBCers and BCers/TBCers/OBCers

      Except that, much of the time, a lot of people that have some kind of BC (Seems especially OBC) Are total snobs and jerks…

      • Well I have OBC and i’m the nicest guy you’ll find. Probably because I spent 2 years on here before I decided to get OBC. Either way I like to have fun and joke around :/

  29. Thanks for the advice roblox blog. But face it good games almost never go to the top…. But playrobot did a good job.

  30. I just kept on inviting people to my game and they loved it you guys should visit SnowBox (NBC)

  32. ALRIGHT PLAYROBOT!!! :D She made it into the Blog ;D!! Btw There is a Free model game on Front page -_-

    • Playrobot,is an amazing bulider i love all of her games i have been 2 all of them she is a gift to roblox some other people bethanyfrye booshadye XrobloxXhottieX vampire24girl9 see ya later meh peeps :) icecream

  33. Its a good idea to do the 10 people thing that playrobot did,if u want to be in the front page,Ill give u tips

    Tip:Good games need scripting,Itelligance(I spelled it wrong i guess)And it takes time,also it takes many times to build perfect

    For more tips p.m me

  35. I have the building and the scripting down, but if you’re not already famous, how do you get friends to join your game? I mean, PlayRobot probably had no trouble at all rounding up ten friends. But before you become famous, how do you get people to join your game?

    • The answer is be a nice person. Work hard, and if you’re lucky you won’t get over-run with copied games or games they didn’t work on at all.

  38. My Goal is to get it on the first page it only has 91 visits :/ i wish it was on the first page

  39. I would like people to view my place and play my games i just want to be noticed i dont want to be famous becuase i am okay with no bc and i have alot of freinds that are beside me at all times i just want my place to get over 100 place visits that’s all.

  41. Yes, I made the game Fighter Pilot, and I spent millions of tickets on ads. For a while, it lingered around the front page. I stopped advertising, and a few people still come around, but really, not that many.

  43. I’m sure there would be great games at ROBLOX if you fix the steal places exploit (which all we know is very hard to do). But we think it is a priority to fix that. No one wants to open great games if people will share and free model them :(

    I’m sure that if you fix that problem and NO ONE could even steal places ROBLOX would be awesome! And people will be creative in a secure ambient.

    • Its as easy as hell.Dont fix it :) If you will fix something ROBLOX.Block the ..DLL exploits.And you will have to block many more.Because some exploits can steal accounts

      • This is definitely a good idea to inudlce our website in email’s signature. You can also set your IM’s title to your website, put your website’s URL in forum’s signature, and etc to get more people know about it.

  44. I bet it’s a 1% chance that one of my games will make it to the first page

  45. Meh, no matter what I script or build, my game never reach front page, even with the help of advertisement.

    Another thing players need to be aware of is that games requires players to stay, so it can actually reach front page. Getting players only to play for 5 minutes doesn’t help you in this.

  48. About 6 months ago in the past the same thing happened to me… well but it only lasted a single day… and there were only 3 players there at once… and it only reached the 2nd most popular… but still.

  49. Congratulations,Playrobot. That thing you said about the “avalanche” just gave me an idea for my places.Too bad I dont know how to script…Heh heh.

    • So I noticed that some of the games on the front page are being hated alot:but there are amazing games that are unknown.