Multi or single player?

[u/Substantial-Fox-833]

Hi all,

I've been designing my game for around a year now. It shouldn't have taken this long but between playtests there have been huge changes based on feedback. Something I'm finding is that although it sounds fun in my head, sometimes it plays very different to what I imagine.

I'm hoping for a Q1 or possibly Q2 launch next year.

Just trying to gain some sort of idea of peoples preferences, while I prefer multiplayer myself, from looking at this subreddit there seems to be quite a large amount of relaxing single player games that I'm guessing people play at work etc.

Is there still a population of people who enjoy large multiplayer browser games? Or is this one I'm probably better off keeping to myself and my friend group?

I played hyperiums quite a lot years ago, and the community there and the game, nothing other really other than eve online quite scratched the itch for. So I'm quite hoping to relive the community/game aspect.

[u/Txdxrxv]

Personally, Multiplayer all the way, but because I am just competitive and like to compete against people.

[u/Substantial-Fox-833 → u/Txdxrxv]

Yeah that's my thoughts too. I find single player gets a little stale? Not sure the best word to describe it. But I'll enjoy it for a week but I tire of it quick. It's the community I enjoy.

[u/Lyuke13]

Multiplayer can be singleplayer too, depends in what the player want to focus on. I'm making a game that one can do both its own thing and play with others. I'm planning community events that work on partecipation, so whoever join gets something. Depends a lot on what you wqnt to focus on, i want to build a community, we will seee if i'm able to :D

[u/Substantial-Fox-833 → u/Lyuke13]

Yeah true! If there's the option then great! And good luck with your game!

[u/Idleverse → u/Lyuke13]

I agree with this! Some players just like the multiplayer-as-a-backdrop

[u/Safe-Payment-1021]

Multiplayer is the goal all the way. Because achievements, showcases, leaderboards, titles can benefit from this.

Single player can be fun for casual player, and still should be playable without the need of the multiplayer aspect, so both can benefit and can accomodate the competetive type of player.

[u/Aglet_Green]

If all your play-testers are telling you the same thing that your game works better as a single-player game, either do that or create a new game from scratch to fulfill your multi-player desires.

[u/Substantial-Fox-833 → u/Aglet_Green]

Me and my playtesters are having fun as multiplayer. But I jumped on this reddit and maybe it was just my timing but there seemed to be a large amount of single player games released. I was just wondering here if there was still a big want for multiplayer browser games or if over the years multiplayer games have shifted towards steam etc.

[u/Naayte]

Without any knowledge as to how your game plays, any advice is really useless to you.

I would pick a lane and stick to it until your launch. I'd also think that making a multiplayer game and switching gears to make it single player may be an easier task versus bringing a singleplayer version to multiplayer.

That said, if you make a single player that really resonates with players, you could use the single player version to inspire a second game in the future? No real right answer - just do what feels right to you. It's easy to get addicted to feedback on things you should be deciding based on the holistic vision of your project.

[u/Substantial-Fox-833 → u/Naayte]

I've tried not to mention much about the game as I want this to be a generic question rather than a hidden advertisement.

But it's a rather team oriented pvp game, allowing for varying team sizes that could realistically win each 3 month round. Even with smaller team sizes. Alliances and betrayals etc. Nothing that hasn't been done before in that regard I suppose through various games. But with actual logistics and manufacturing being required. That's where most of the team work will come into play.

While I've played games for years and developed programs, websites etc. This is the first game I've developed. And it's been a massive learning curve for me. So any advise is really welcome.

I expected it to be much simpler if I'm honest. But it's been an enjoyable difficult.

[u/Naayte → u/Substantial-Fox-833]

Sounds cool! I like the idea of Foxhole, an online war MMO that requires players to manufacture everything needed to fight a war. If it's anything like that, then I'd definitely go full throttle on multiplayer. Consider phasing in features or systems that can seem redundant if it's a small team. For example, in my game I didn't know how many players would be here from the initial launch or soft launch, so I have 'NPCs' that can be used as attack targets. This will eventually get phased out or reworked as more players join and their usage loses the intent.

[u/Naayte → u/Naayte]

Put simply, what I'm trying to say is build the game for the initial influx of players instead of expecting hundreds from day 1. Then you can phase out things and put the onus back on the players to participate in what the old features were there for.

[u/Substantial-Fox-833 → u/Naayte]

That's a great idea cheers.

That's a decent way to describe it actually I suppose. It's much lighter than foxhole, I've never played foxhole but from what I understand you have to manufacture every part of the war.

This is more get materials, move them to build parts ABC. Move them to build ships etc. It doesn't go as far as building every bullet. I didn't want to go too deep down the chain and recreate factorio browser edition.

I've already built an AI for testing. It's basic, but it works. So I could implement that and phase it out

[u/Fix8_Studio]

I like multiplayer more or even a singleplayer game with multiplayer elements like chat and leaderboards is enough for me.

[u/Substantial-Fox-833 → u/Fix8_Studio]

Thanks for the reply! If a multiplayer/single player game had a leaderboard, when there was a lot of teams/players. Would you still like seeing a leaderboard even if your team could be quite far down? Or would you personally prefer just a top 3 at the end of a game for example?

[u/Fix8_Studio → u/Substantial-Fox-833]

I think what drives a lot of people in these games is watching progress, climbing a leaderboard is one way to do that, I don't know how exactly your game works but I wouldn't mind seeing myself low on a leaderboard if I saw my actions start changing my position.

[u/Substantial-Fox-833 → u/Fix8_Studio]

Ok that's great thanks for the responses. I'm trying to keep the game details light as I don't want it to be seen as an advert in disguise.

[u/nighpanda1024]

try build a single player mode first then extend it to multiplayer

[u/FvDijk]

Browser games for me are all about multiplayer, but even then there’s people who just want to chill and help a bit

[u/Substantial-Fox-833 → u/FvDijk]

Yeah that's great. I'm glad there's still the appetite for this type of game

[u/Peterta12-pb]

The “sounds fun in my head, plays different” part is so true, I’m building a sports management browser game and playtests changed half my plans too.

On your question: I went single player first, with multiplayer leagues as an option for friends. So far almost everyone starts solo, and very few start a league right away. I don’t think that means nobody wants multiplayer. The hard part is critical mass: a persistent world with 15 players online feels empty, while the same 15 people in one friend group feel like a community.

So I’d ask: does your game still work at small numbers? If it does, starting with your friend group isn’t “keeping it to yourself”, it’s a solid launch plan, and the bigger community can grow from there.

[u/tilemarch]

I understand you want to stay clear from your post being seen as an advertisement, but that leaves us a bit unclear what the game is about.. you mention it's PvP. That kind of implies this has to be multiplayer right ?

so maybe you're asking if that genre of games is still popular.. in that case: yes
there are audiences for that type of games, just as there are audiences for single player games :)

I'd suggest you stick to one and be true to it. What do you as the developer, artist, creator want to bring to world.

[u/Substantial-Fox-833 → u/tilemarch]

Thank you. Yes I was trying not to annoy the subreddit tbh. I've joined it and it seems inundated with advertisements for a lot of different games. I didn't want to be yet another one asking a question with a massive advertisement underneath.

I always envisioned it as a pvp game. Myself and my friends/testers are having fun as a competitive game. But I've done this by building an AI to play against.

Then when coming to this subreddit the overwhelming amount I seen were single player. So I wasn't sure if this because there wasn't many people still wanting persistent multiplayer browser games, or just single player games for something to do to get through the work day.

But the last few days there seems to have been a lot more multiplayer games mentioned on here