I Found 20 Roblox Games to Play With Friends so You Don't Have To

[elfin verge]

hope this thread will not last 50000 messages

@barren oriole time for your professional opinion

first and second pics are title variations

[plush bolt]

I don't think any of the really are clear enough to communicate effectively that they are games

[elfin verge]

thumbnails on their own

[plush bolt]

Like for the 2nd thumbnail with the background, sure they are games and I get that they're games becuase I'm looking super close to them, but when I'm just scrolling; I doubt I'd catch on to that.

For the 1st thhumbnail, the one with the app icon... not really sure what it's supposed to mean.

[elfin verge]

app icon

?

[plush bolt]

Yeah I get that part, but like in terms with the title and the video topic

[elfin verge]

you mean the one with the question mark in it

[plush bolt]

yeah

[elfin verge]

its a roblox game card when you search for them

[plush bolt]

In terms with the title and video topic it doesn't really make sense to me

[elfin verge]

but i guess

yea

[plush bolt]

Yeah I know, but you can't expect people to catch on to that when scrolling mindlessly

the contrast for that thumbnail is good though

[elfin verge]

oh

i got an idea

wait a sec

[plush bolt]

I think you should go with a similar concept to the second thumbnail, but unclutter it, and don't add too much of the lighting you did there, the lighting doesn't help for contrast either.

[elfin verge]

cant show it amongst other thumbnails since i ran out of free previews

gg

[elfin verge]

@plush bolt whatchu think

[plush bolt]

better

try a more long shot where the podium is in the middle

and like you are seeing the podium on the left like rn, and like your "friend" is watching it on the right

[elfin verge]

naw

adding another person will just add unnecessary detail

unless i add a character related to the game but thats gonna look quite bad

[plush bolt]

I'd disagrewe

[elfin verge]

ehhhhhhh

ok

[plush bolt]

Right now

the thumbnail does not give context to the friends part, which yes ofcourse it doesn't 100 necessarily need it. But when you consider that most people just click the thumbnail without looking at the title, adding just a bit more context will definetely go a long way

[elfin verge]

@plush bolt

actually has some potential but there's something wrong

or atleast seems like it

[plush bolt]

Better, but the character on the side has no contrast and like it doesn't seem that balanced because your character is larger

[elfin verge]

oh ye

thats whats wrong

[plush bolt]

like just make it closer together, both characters similar size, and for the secondary character try to like find a better contrasting clothes for them

[elfin verge]

a better one

pinged yunzer for this

[plush bolt]

yeah much better

I like that

[elfin verge]

so the current roster for A/B testing thumbnails is this one
first's title is "20 Games To Play with Your Roblox Friends"
second's title is "I Found 20 ROBLOX Games To Play with Friends so You Don't Have To"

there

first thumbnai's variation (again)

[plush bolt]

Yeah for this I think declutter it, remove the front two guys next to you and just extend the game preview from top to down

[elfin verge]

thats about the max i could do

[plush bolt]

could you like resize the elements and just make them longer?

[elfin verge]

longer no

they'd be either stretched or too big to fit in

[plush bolt]

do you have some shots of the game that you made yourself rather than the game icons?

[elfin verge]

i could get em

but why

[elfin verge]

also this one amongst all of the thumbnails

[plush bolt]

to make the game background for that thumbnal longer from top to bottom of the thumbnail

[elfin verge]

so basically

replace the background

with a shot from one of these games

is that what you're saying

[plush bolt]

nah

[plush bolt]

basically same style of this thumbnail

but just use shots you have from the game instead of the previews so that it can be from top to bottom

[elfin verge]

and like

blend them in

with eachother

it does sound good on paper but it would just be my roblox avatar basically on 3 different colored backgrounds

[plush bolt]

yeah like you did for the thumbnail above

[elfin verge]

i could however just add shots from the games as the background for those specific sections under game's icons

just a sec

[plush bolt]

yeah that could work too mayb

[elfin verge]

@plush bolt

REALLY not sure about this one

also this ig

to fill the gaps in

[plush bolt]

thats better

I like that one

[elfin verge]

sureeeeeee

ok

if thats the case then

ok just a second

gotta organize it

there

improved thumbnail

[elfin verge]

got another one

[barren oriole]

Sorry, I’ve been unavailable the past 24 hours.

[barren oriole]

image 2 doesnt really tell me anything, and it sure doesnt have intrigue

[barren oriole]

this style is really cluttered in my opinion, it gets the point across but not quickly

[barren oriole]

i think this format has the most potential

for that format i would suggest a complementary text like "best game"

that gives it an extra layer of the intrigue

[elfin verge]

video isnt about the best game

[elfin verge]

how would you add some intrigue to it

cuz i have a feeling it can perform well but only the intrigue is there

i could black out the character on the right and put a question mark on it

something like this

[barren oriole]

My issue with that thumbnail is that it doesn’t communicate “20 best games”

[elfin verge]

its not about the best games!!!

[barren oriole]

Uh wut

[elfin verge]

the title is (probably) "Finding 20 ROBLOX Games to Play with Your Friends"

its not an "underrated" games list since there are some games that have well over 2k concurrent players

[barren oriole]

Tomato tom(ah)to

Still doesn’t communicate 20 games to me

Seems like a character progression

Like those 100 days Minecraft videos

[elfin verge]

hm

well there's no way to show the games without actually showing their main characters

right

[barren oriole]

But this is a good alternative format

“Best game” w/ arrow pointing to the blurred title might look decent

[elfin verge]

cant add text here due to the clutter it'd create

[barren oriole]

My personal opinion is that this one is the best thus far

[elfin verge]

@barren oriole whatchu think

[barren oriole]

Is there a way to make that text stand out more?

I like that one actually it just doesn’t stand out much

I think it might be a bit too much going on though. What are those other two people around you?

[elfin verge]

characters from the games (their icons at the top)

[barren oriole]

Seems redundant and more to look at? What about just only doing icons, more simple and communicates better potentially

[elfin verge]

that would be just

bland

and alot of free space would be wasted

[barren oriole]

I mean, you’d make the icons bigger lol

To fill the space 😂

[elfin verge]

ofc but i also cant let them be too big to go over the borders of the thumbnail

just a secodn lemme make it

[barren oriole]

Not sure if they fit into the shape of things but there’s a lot to look at and I’d fear it’s too much

Unsure if I’m correct on that one

[elfin verge]

if you meant something like this then they take up too much horizontal space

and it is taken up by my avatar

i COUUUUUUULD MAAAAAAAAYBE make them appear behind me but that would most likely look real bad

something like this

bit more colorful

[barren oriole]

You’re hat is inconvenient lol

[elfin verge]

very

but its a necessity

[barren oriole]

I like the simplicity of that

Branding 😤

[elfin verge]

yep

here it is compared to others

ngl clothing on my avatar is blending in with the environment

[barren oriole]

Is that white thing you’re wearing part of you or can it be changed

[elfin verge]

yea

will do

[barren oriole]

Glad we both saw that lol

[elfin verge]

@barren oriole

[barren oriole]

Rip, died to large hat

[elfin verge]

wym

[barren oriole]

Can’t see anything lol

Your hat is 80% of the frame lol

[elfin verge]

there's also this variant

[barren oriole]

Definitely better I’m just worried it’s too much

Maybe wait for more opinions

[elfin verge]

for those who gonna give their opinions on the thumbnails

this is a current roster

[elfin verge]

@barren oriole yo.

[barren oriole]

hold up hes cookin

potential test against that and removing the character

[elfin verge]

wym

[barren oriole]

like ab version without the background character and with

[elfin verge]

without that second dude it would be the same as this

[barren oriole]

yeah but without your hat in the way XD

[elfin verge]

no

it'd still be there

[barren oriole]

i guess im confused

you should have a photoshop template where you can insert your like 5-6 different versions all together

to see how they compare against each other

[elfin verge]

i do

[barren oriole]

sick

[elfin verge]

did you mean something like this perhaps

[barren oriole]

yessir

thats exactly what i meant

[elfin verge]

eeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhh

maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe

[barren oriole]

lmao

[barren oriole]

put it up in here lets see what it looks like

[plush bolt]

I don't like the ones with just one character to be honest with you

[elfin verge]

yea same

[plush bolt]

Like it doesn't get the message of games that you can play with your friend

[elfin verge]

feels like a lot of colors are gone

and that too

[plush bolt]

That thumbnail seems perfect for like just 20 best games

[elfin verge]

yea no

that aint the topic of the video

so is this what we doing for A/B testing

im sure we'll have more variants but i gotta recap this entire conversation once in a while

[barren oriole]

When you uploading

My bet is #1 is the winner

[elfin verge]

in like

idk

3-4 weeks

i didnt do a thumbnail first for 69 facts video for some reason

usually i do that

[barren oriole]

Gotcha, keep us posted

[elfin verge]

will do

[plush bolt]

I mean alone it's good but doesn't really fit with the video topic

imo

[elfin verge]

we'll see

no need to bet

[west pendant]

The title isn't really intriguing

the thumbnail is pretty good but the title needs some work

maybe change it to "I Found The Best 20 Games on Roblox" or something similar

Or maybe "I Played X Roblox Games.. Here's what i found"

[barren oriole]

@west pendant

[elfin verge]

the video is about 20 roblox games to play with friends

i dont intend to sell it as "the best of the best"

[elfin verge]

and the title is actually literally that

its "I Found 20 Roblox Games to Play with Friends" and optionally "So You Don't Have To" at the end

(probably not gonna add it but its an option)

[barren oriole]

That would make it really long

… on a lot of formats

[elfin verge]

but just i found 20 games sounds quite

boring

not boring but nothing special

[elfin verge]

for those who have been telling me that thumbnails dont match the friendship theme, whatchu think about this

[plush bolt]

not sure about this one, I don't think it really compliments the title nor the video well

[elfin verge]

why not the video

i can understand the title but the video is about games to play with friends

[plush bolt]

I've got a few reasons but imma boil it down to the main two points

1. The video isn't about before and after
2. The thumbnail shows a lonely guy in before and a happy friend group in after. That makes no sense at all. This thumbnail kind of gives me the vibes that you might not really know what you want to do with the video, because this thumbnail you've got the "target audience" all wrong. Don't get me wrong, it's just giving me a feeling, not pointing fingures or accusing. No one who doesn't already have friends/a friend would click on a video that says "20 best games to play with your friends" or something along those lines. If they don't have friends/a friend, why would they even be searching for games to play with their non-existing "friends" in the first place? It just doesn't make sense at all.

@elfin verge ^

[elfin verge]

placing another person on the left to accompany our sad buddy would just add lil bit too much clutter

not enough space really

before/after refers to finding the video

but how could we fix all of those issues

[plush bolt]

did you read my second point?

[elfin verge]

oopsie

[plush bolt]

the people who will click on this video aren't people who don't have friends

it's people who already have friends

[elfin verge]

but i cannot add another person on the left for the thumbnail to fully make sense

[plush bolt]

the "problem" your video is trying to fix is that people who already have friends don't have anything to play with their friends

[plush bolt]

which means it's a bad thumbnail and you should scrap it

[elfin verge]

m

ill remember that

[plush bolt]

Even with adding another person it's not really going to communicate the premise that well

[elfin verge]

how so

2 people sad cuz they dont have anything to play

2 people happy cuz they got games

blueyippee

[plush bolt]

see? this is why I'm saying you might not have a full picture for your video...

[elfin verge]

im not sure im understanding your point rn

i get it that one person doesnt make sense

but 2 will make sense

wouldnt it

[plush bolt]

lets go back the problem the video will fix: friends not having a game to play together

[elfin verge]

right

@plush bolt so,,,,,,,,,,

[plush bolt]

When you and your friend/friends don't have a game to play together, are ya'll sad? You guys could be sure, but I'm pretty sure that if you guys aren't like super addicted to games it probablyy won't make you guys sad. What it will make you guys is bored. Bored not sad. If you add another person and don't change the way you depict the "before" (because right now it depicts sadness more than boredom), it won't work.

With that said though, at the same time, I do agree that if you add more people the thumbnail will be cluttered. So, what does this mean? You're at crossroads. The thumbnail isn't communicating/complimenting all other elements of your video well, but at the same time in order to make it compliment/communicate your video well, you have to make it visually a bad thumbnail. So it's either visually bad thumbnail, or contextually not making sense. Both are bad ways to go, hence scrap it.

Now one thing I will say that I really want to emphasize here is know your target audience. Why am I saying this? All the thumbnails that you've showed here including this one gives me different signals of what you think your video is about/what your target audience for this video is. The key to different thumbnail variations isn't to change what the audience think your video is going to be. The key to different thumbnail variations is to have a concrete video that you want your audience think your video is going to be (thats gonna be the actual video itself). And with that, the different thumbnail variations don't change what the audience think that video is goint to be, it only changes the way the video is presented to the audience. I get that that's a bit confusing so I've linked a good example of this. Look at the photo I linked. It's an ABC test that yikes did a while back on the server. It captures my point really well. The thumbnails are all different, but they still clearly communicate the same exact video. The only thing is that they present it differently.

@elfin verge gimme a sec imma show a more direct comparison of what I mentioned up above

[elfin verge]

take your time

[plush bolt]

The 1st one is the most recent thumbnails that all the other of your thumbnails boiled down to. The 2nd is the initial thumbnail batch.

[plush bolt]

These thumbnails are thumbnails all for the same video btw

and then after you see that look at these, which are also thumbnails that all are about the same video

[elfin verge]

target audience bit sounds interesting but ya gotta change the phrasing of it

assuming instantly that i dont know my audience is just a bad way to say it

what i am doing is finding a good looking format that communicates the idea of the video well (and that is 20 roblox games to play with friends)

since i dont have one yet

but other than that

very true

it is just an unfortunate video topic since it requires for multiplayer to be clearly shown on screen

and that multiplayer means that we gotta add atleast 4 people to show the comparison

that is however if we're using splitscreen format

[plush bolt]

@elfin verge I get that yikes isn't really in your niche, so here's a video from cubeinc who seems at least to me pretty similar to you. I'd say cubeinc is a bit "too extreme", but it shows that the same thing can be applied to roblox videos too. https://www.viewstats.com/@cubeincofficial/videos/XeVSCvid7G0

[elfin verge]

but it seems like the most logical format to go on with since it shows a comparison between before and after finding this vid unlike other thumbnails

[plush bolt]

go to the gallery

[elfin verge]

yea i saw that one

but i cant really add a massive crowd of people behind me and expect to viewers to automatically think those are my friends

i did think of doing that face splitscreen format when its bored as hell on the left and on the right its that same dude smiling with a group of friends behind him

[plush bolt]

In the way it is right now I would say you'll have to change it quite a bit to go with that thumbnail, but if you think it communicates it the best go for it

[elfin verge]

but that wouldnt communicate the idea well

[elfin verge]

well

the entire video is basically a promise to fix someone's boredom by providing good games

i see no other applicable format that can do that any better

[plush bolt]

I wasn't saying to do the same, all I'm saying is that cubeinc another roblox channel also doesn't change his thumbnail drastically from ABC

[elfin verge]

oh

well

im still on my trial grounds

finding formats that work for all topics

and what works for this topic when multiple people are REQUIRED to be in a thumbnail

i do not know yet

since all of the videos previously featured only me or other game characters, not other people who are easily perceived as my friends

[elfin verge]

but now that i think about it this thumbnail is just terrible for this topic

[plush bolt]

1. It's not harsh when at least right now from your thumbnails it seems true. If you actually know the target audience good for you! But if you don't, that's not something to be ashamed of. Not knowing something is the best place a person could be because you can only improve from there.
2. I never said you don't know your audience, what I said is that I don't think you know the target audience for the video. In other words, who the video is for. In terms of your audience, I'll agree, I do think you know your audience itself well.

[plush bolt]

yeah, the abc page really puts things into view right? haha

[elfin verge]

yea

awesomely at that

[elfin verge]

what do yall think

still tryna do splitscreen format

[elfin verge]

gonna test all 3 of these since this seems like the best format for this type of video

[barren oriole]

I like that format

[elfin verge]

saday just grew up to a diamond level

blueyippee

[barren oriole]

I’m growing up 🥺

[elfin verge]

kids these days

its like yesterday you were only a bronze

now you're all grown up

sobbing

[swift glacier]

What software do you use? For thumbnails

[elfin verge]

photoshop 2023

and roblox studio for characters renders

[swift glacier]

Hmm alr

[west pendant]

crazy

[icy cloud]

Roblox studio is the best for thumbnails. Do you guys know how to add custom characters? Like a in studio skin editor?

[elfin verge]

that first statement is false

blender is better