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gameplay design analysis · for Roblox studios

Reverse-engineer any Roblox hit's design in 20 minutes.

Drop in a long gameplay recording. The model watches it frame by frame and hands back a structured teardown — every mechanic, the loops that drive retention, and an exhaustive incentive timeline showing exactly how long it took the player to earn each reward.

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How it works
01

Drop a recording

Upload a long gameplay capture — a full session, an obby run, a tycoon grind. Up to 2 GB.

02

The model watches it

Gemini ingests the footage frame by frame, reading HUD text, counters, prompts, and pacing.

03

Get a structured teardown

Mechanics, loops, the full incentive timeline with time-to-earn, pacing, and a Roblox-design verdict.

Live sample · no signup

A real teardown, rendered live.

This is the actual output for a ~22-minute tycoon session — the same view you get on every analysis. Skim the incentive timeline; that's the part competitors can't see.

Slime Tycoon (representative sample)
22m 0s of footage

A ~22-minute first session of a Roblox tycoon-simulator. The player claims a plot, buys droppers that spit slime onto a conveyor, sells for cash, and reinvests into faster droppers and a second floor. Two rebirth prompts and a limited-time pet egg appear before the session ends.

5 mechanics2 loops10 incentives

Mechanics · 5

Dropper → conveyor → collector economy
economy
first seen · 00:48

Purchased droppers emit slime blobs onto a conveyor that carries them to a collector, converting them to cash. Buying more/better droppers raises cash-per-second.

Intent: Establish a legible idle-income curve the player can feel growing, so every purchase visibly speeds the loop.

  • Cash counter ticks up on each blob collected
  • "+$3" floaters pop from the collector
  • A "cash/sec" readout in the HUD rises after each dropper buy
Tiered dropper upgrades
progression
first seen · 03:10

Droppers come in named tiers (Basic → Bronze → Neon) at escalating prices, each with a higher payout and a flashier blob color.

Intent: Give the player a ladder of always-just-affordable next purchases to anchor the buy → earn → buy loop.

  • Greyed-out upgrade buttons with prices the player saves toward
  • Blob color shifts from grey to neon green after an upgrade
Rebirth (prestige reset)
meta
first seen · 14:22

At a cash threshold the player can rebirth: wipe the plot for a permanent multiplier and a rebirth-currency token.

Intent: Convert a maxed-out plot into a reason to start over, extending the loop past the first ceiling.

  • A pulsing "REBIRTH AVAILABLE" button appears top-right at ~$50k
  • Tooltip shows "+10% income per rebirth"
Limited-time pet egg
economy
first seen · 18:05

A countdown banner offers a hatchable egg whose pets give an income boost; the best eggs cost Robux.

Intent: Introduce a spend/FOMO hook once the player is invested, layered on top of the free loop.

  • "LIMITED 09:58" countdown on a corner banner
  • Egg shop lists a free egg plus three Robux-priced eggs
First-session onboarding arrows
onboarding
first seen · 00:12

Floating arrows and a checklist walk the player through claiming a plot, buying the first dropper, and making the first sale.

Intent: Get a brand-new player to the first cash payout within the first minute — the 30-second hook.

  • A bouncing arrow points at the empty plot pad
  • A 3-item checklist in the corner with the first item auto-completing

Loops · 2

Core tycoon loop

core loopone cycle · ~20–40s early, tightening as income grows
  1. 1Collect accumulated cash
  2. 2Buy the next affordable dropper / upgrade
  3. 3Watch cash/sec rise
  4. 4Wait for the next purchase to become affordable

Keeps them looping: The next upgrade is always just seconds of income away, so stopping feels like leaving money on the conveyor.

Rebirth retention loop

retention loopone cycle · per session / multi-session
  1. 1Approach the income ceiling on the current plot
  2. 2Rebirth for a permanent multiplier
  3. 3Re-climb the dropper ladder faster than before
  4. 4Push to a higher ceiling

Keeps them looping: Each rebirth makes the early grind visibly faster, dangling a "this run will go further" promise that pulls the player back.

Incentive timeline · 10

RewardTypeShownEarnedTime to earnEffort
Claim your plot
tutorial-completion00:1200:208strivial
First dropper purchased
Player hesitated finding the buy pad
item-unlock00:3000:5222strivial
First $100 (onboarding checklist done)
currency-threshold00:3002:051m 35slight
Bronze dropper unlock
item-unlock03:1005:402m 30slight
Second floor unlock
Income plateaued; player idled waiting to afford it
zone-unlock06:0009:303m 30smoderate
Neon dropper unlock
item-unlock09:3513:504m 15smoderate
First rebirth available
Player read the tooltip but chose not to reset yet
rank-up14:22not earnedheavy
Daily reward chest
currency-threshold15:1015:188strivial
Limited-time pet egg (free)
cosmetic18:0518:4035slight
Robux "Mythic" egg offer
Hard-gated behind Robux; not earnable in-session
other18:05not earnedgrindy

Pacing

Front-loaded: the first payout lands inside 60 seconds and rewards come fast for the first ~6 minutes, then space out as each dropper tier costs disproportionately more. The second-floor unlock creates the session’s first real lull (~3.5 min of waiting). Rebirth and the timed egg arrive right as the core loop starts to flatten — a deliberate re-engagement spike.

Takeaways

  • Get the first reward inside the first minute — the onboarding checklist + visible cash/sec is doing the 30-second-hook work.
  • A named upgrade ladder (Basic→Bronze→Neon) turns one mechanic into a dozen micro-goals; copy the always-just-affordable spacing.
  • The first lull (second-floor wait) is where sessions are lost — fill dead time with a side action or a cheaper interim buy.
  • Layer the spend hook (timed egg) only after ~18 min of investment, not at the start, so it reads as a boost rather than a paywall.

Roblox design verdict

Why it works

  • Time-to-first-reward is under a minute.

    On Roblox, first-session retention lives or dies in the first 30–60 seconds; the auto-completing checklist and instant cash floaters nail the hook before the player can bounce.

  • The upgrade ladder manufactures a long chain of micro-goals.

    Each always-just-affordable tier keeps the buy→earn→buy loop tight, which is exactly the session-length driver the discovery algorithm rewards.

  • Monetization is layered on top of a complete free loop.

    The Robux egg is additive, not a wall — players who never spend still have a full game, which protects rating/CTR while leaving a clear premium upsell.

Risks & gaps

  • The second-floor unlock creates a ~3.5-minute dead lull.

    A long idle wait with nothing to do is where early sessions drop on Roblox; an interim purchase or a tap-to-collect side action would bridge it.

  • Rebirth is introduced but never made compelling in-session.

    The retention loop only pays off across sessions, yet the footage shows no preview of how much faster a rebirth run would be — a missed re-engagement nudge.

  • The best egg is hard-gated behind Robux with no earn path.

    A purely paid top tier with no grindable alternative can read as pay-to-win to the platform’s younger core audience and dent the experience’s rating.

Pricing

Free trial

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15 credits to teardown a couple of short recordings and see the full output.

Flash model · up to 15-minute recordings

Indie

$29/mo

250 credits a month — roughly four hours of the sharpest Pro analysis.

Pro model · full-length recordings · private library

Studio

$99/mo

1,000 credits a month for a team studying the charts every week.

Everything in Indie · priority queue · top-ups anytime

Credits meter each analysis by length and model — cheaper, shorter runs cost a fraction of a credit.

FAQ

Is my video stored?

No. The recording is forwarded to the model, analyzed, and discarded — only the structured analysis and a few small still frames are kept.

How long can a recording be?

Up to about an hour at the default resolution (2 GB upload cap). Encode long sessions at 720p to fit more in.

Which games does it work on?

Any gameplay footage, but the design verdict is tuned for Roblox — retention hooks, the discovery algorithm, game-pass/dev-product monetization, and the platform’s younger core audience.

How accurate is it?

It reports only what is visible on screen — timestamps, counters, prompts. The Pro model reads subtle HUD cues and subtext; Flash is faster and fine for obvious mechanics.

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