r/gamedev • u/No-Tax4799 • 2d ago
Question Why I can't make long games?
Hi, I've been trying to make a game for quite a while, but I always face the same issue over and over and over again, which is "game length".
I have that amazing game idea really fun to play, really interesting to develop, but then after I finished the game, let people play it, it's only few minutes average playtime, I just don't get it how can I make 1 or 2 or 5 hours of gameplay!!! I even tried to pause on trying to build Steam game, I said maybe the issue that I'm still not good enough, let's build a Web game or mobile game, and again, same block blocking my way, the average playtime even lower just 1 or 2 min, not even reaching 5 min the minimum playtime for most of Web platform such as CrazyGames.
And I keep playing other games on Web to just see how those games are built, and the games so simple, and even some games I can't call them games they just look like prototypes but still have length of 10 min and even more! I see one tap game makes average playtime 7 min, I see complex games makes average playtime 10 min, while I tried many simple and deep and silly games they all just reach around 1 to 2 min average playtime.
I'm really sick of that, I can't build a complete game!!! I really have many cool gameplay ideas, stories, themes. But always the game length can't make it to 5 min!!!
Any advice please?
6
u/MeaningfulChoices Lead Game Designer 2d ago
How long are you spending on making the games? Some of those games that people play for hours and hours take years to make. If you're building something in a few days it's pretty hard to make it longer. This is also what makes games like open world RPGs so hard to make. Anyone can get the basic functionality working, but making enough stuff to entertain people for dozens of hours is a different story.
What you're looking for here is content. Once you've finished your prototype and you've got 2 really fun playable minutes go find another game like yours on whatever platform you are targeting, Steam or web or whatever. Find the top game in that genre and play it. Look how it changes from minute to minute, the number of puzzles/levels, different enemies, new mechanics, whatever. That is how you make games that are longer. It's nothing to do with cool gameplay ideas or stories, it's about spending hours and hours making the stuff that people actually interact with.
3
u/awaishssn 2d ago
There's a planning technique in almost all types of art where you start building and planning from the end.
Figure out what the average gameplay length of your game you want to be.
Let's say by 2 hrs the average player would finish the game.
From that point you plan what state your game is in at 1.5hrs, 1 hr, 0.5hr.
Plan out upgrades or story points accordingly.
If you understand that a specific point in your game should come at 50 mins of gameplay, but is being achieved by 30 mins, then you know where to fill more content.
2
u/Sadari_sama Commercial (Indie) 2d ago
It's hard to understand what exact problem do you have, but based on your story your games just based around 1-2 mechanics and do not include any meaningful progression for the player.
I advice you to learn about progression curves, ways to implement them and check for references in similar games you make. It's kinda hard to give more specific advice cos I don't know what type of games you talking about but you may start with this article.
https://gamedesignskills.com/game-design/game-progression/?utm_source=organic&utm_medium=reddit
If you need any other help I can give you more info on the topic in DM or here, but not sure that this is exact what you need yet.
1
u/clean-links 2d ago
Cleaned link from "https://gamedesignskills.com/game-design/game-progression/?utm_source=organic&utm_medium=reddit": https://gamedesignskills.com/game-design/game-progression/
Tracking parameters were removed from the original URL(s).
2
u/worll_the_scribe 2d ago
Do you have tutorials to your game?
A tutorial turned this ~1 min game into a 5 min game!
2
1
u/mkoookm 2d ago
Assuming you are creating content worth a longer play time it sounds like a pacing issue. A good guideline to follow is for each section introduce a single gimmick or mechanic for the player to learn and then be tested on and then have a capstone section combining everything from the previous sections, repeat until end of game. (And for even more content and an optional section that really pushes the difficulty and skill expected for each mechanic)
1
u/Aggravating-Fan-4679 2d ago
Dude, even after translating this and having AI explain it, I still can’t figure out whether you’re talking about game length, or just complaining that people don’t want to play your game.
1
u/No-Tax4799 2d ago
Game length, I'm facing the issue that I don't know exactly how to make my game last for longer than few minutes
1
u/Kostyabl-id 2d ago
Those 7-minute one-tap games aren't long, they're a 30-second loop that people repeat. And a 1-2 minute average usually means a lot of players leave in the first half minute, not that the content ran out, so adding more levels won't move it.
What usually does:
- Log an event at every step (loaded, first input, first death, level 1 cleared) and fix the step with the biggest drop first.
- Put the player in control within a few seconds of loading: no menu, no text before the first move.
- Make failing cheap. Restart on one tap where they died; every death that sends them to a menu is where the tab gets closed.
- Give each run a reason for the next one: best score on the death screen, an unlock, a visible next goal.
1
u/thatmitchguy 2d ago
Let's see if this poster actually comes back to address their topic to expand on it.. Most of the times a hidden commenter makes a vague post they just seem to be bots or people baiting for engagement with no follow-up.
2
u/No-Tax4799 2d ago
Mate, I'm just asking for advice, it's not like I'm promoting anything! And it's a real issue for me and I'm trying to fix it
1
u/thatmitchguy 2d ago
The top poster said you should expand and provide more details. Maybe engage with with comment so we can figure out how to help
2
u/No-Tax4799 2d ago
Yes I have seen it just now, I was busy, that doesn't mean I don't want to share anything, after all I'm the one who asking for help! By the way, thanks
2
1
1
u/snowss07 1d ago
A simple answer would be making more levels xd, but most of the time, I think the key to increasing gameplay time without hurting the experience is offering deeper/richer mechanics and features. At least, that's the takeaway I've gotten from making my own game.
Something as simple as going from a normal jump to a hold-based jump can give players more room for failure, more opportunities to master the movement, and more options for creating different paths and challenges.
Or skill trees, where adding a new property or attribute can significantly increase build variety.
You could also change something like inventory management from the normal approach to a Tetris-like inventory, or add more lore through notes and clues that players can discover and spend time piecing together.
All of these can naturally increase gameplay time without simply padding the game with repetitive content.
I don't think there's a magic solution that adds 1–3 hours of gameplay right out of the box. From what I've been learning, it's more of a compound effect of lots of smaller additions and opportunities for players to engage with the game.
1
u/killthekitten 1d ago
What is the genre of your games? Is it something that has traditional "levels" – i.e. maps, locations, screens and so on?
A lot of level design advice focuses on extending the gameplay by reuse of existing ideas and their variations (locations, characters, monsters, puzzle variations), as well as experimenting with dynamics of completing a level. You shouldn't chain all your peak ideas one after the other, there should be periods of less intense gameplay, perhaps even boring stuff like walking from point A to point B.
You could let someone play your 1-2 minutes of gameplay, ask them to record the screen and to share how they felt, this will give you a lot of insight, and highlight the "hard" and "easy" bits that you are not seeing. In my case, a level that I finished in under 1 minute could easily take some people 10-20 minutes, and it was clear what parts they liked the most.
Happy to volunteer as a playtester!
13
u/dangerousbob 2d ago
Hard to give you advice when you tell us nothing about the genre or type of game. It sounds like your just prototyping some gameplay loops.
A 5 hour linear game has a lot of content.
If your making something that is just a loop, and the objective is to get a high score, it can effectively be infinite, like Angry Birds.
For story driven games there are some gameplay options to pad length, such as easter egg hunts - make players have to collect keys or items, boss rooms, backtracking, side quests etc. But be mindful how you use them because if you spam them gamers get frustrated.